Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 2 - Part 7 of 22

20/
On Active Service Abroad 
No Stamps Available 
Heliopolis 8-11-16 8-9 PM 
Mrs. C.B. Mills 
C/- Dr a Burne 
Kinellan 
Dalley St 
Waverley 
N.S.Wales 
Australia 
  
T. F. Rossiter 
23rd Bn

21 / 
@6/25 form up. 
@6/30 move off 
Canal Zone 
Monday 7/2/15 
  
Dear old Girl, 
Got up to the Battalion  
yesterday afternoon & had the good luck to find  
an Orderly just going along to Ismalia so I  
gave him the letter I wrote to you from the Road  
& [[had it?]] post for me, which I hope he has done. 
Got all the stuff out on Camels, without much  
being damaged & the Battalion Camp is gradually  
getting into shape once more, it will not be 
long before we are as comfortable as ever  
in spite of the fact that for some time to come  
all our water and tucker will have to come out to us  
per Camel.  I've seen more Camels in the last  
few days while on the transport job, than I thought  
there were Camels in the whole world.  I can also 
make them get down & get up, but I can't belt 
them the way the niggers do.  One big savage  
brute bit one of my niggers yesterday, got him 
right on the shoulder.  The nigger got very 
angry about it & got even by belting the Camel 
on the nose until it was in a state of 
subjection.  It seems to be the only thing to do 
altho it is so cruel, makes one feel sick seeing 
them bleeding from the mouth. Think they bite their 
tongues.

2/ 
War & preparation for War is a really 
wonderful business. Organisation plays 
such a big part in it. If one man neglects  
his job, it throws the whole machine out 
of gear. Ive got an easy day today. 
My Platoon is inlying Picket & we are 
standing by, ready for anything that 
may come our way. When it warms up 
up we are going to have a pretty rotten 
time as we will have the drill hard, to  
keep in nick. Beyond a few outpost 
scraps there is not much chance of a 
fight for some time to come & probably no 
chance at all. You will probably know 
before we do if there is a chance of a  
big scrap. All the Anzac men are 
simply hogging for a go at the Turks 
on something like equal conditions . This 
time the conditions will not be equal, as 
they will have to come at us & we simply 
have to wait for them to come. Will 
post this now & [[chance?]] when it gets away. 
Heaps of love old girl. It does seem a 
long time since I had a letter but it's 
only 2 weeks. With all my love to you & the 
Boys. Your loving Husband  
Cecil 

O.A.S abroad 
21 
  
Passed By No. 3018 CENSOR.  
GEBlight   

Mrs,. C. B. Mills 
C/- Dr. A. Burne 
"Kinellan" 
Dalley St. 
Waverley 
N.S. Wales 
Australia 

22 
Same old Place 
Sunday 13/2/15 
  
Dear Old Girl, 
Loud Cheers, your letter written  
at Christmas time turned up yesterday, safe & 
sound, altho the flap had come undone. It was 
great getting it as it was almost 3 weeks 
since Id had one & it seemed miles more 
than that. It is No.12 Some more mail came 
in today, & some of it is dated 14/1/16, so there 
is always the chance of a couple more any day. 
We are being kept nice and busy, but the C.O. 
is doing everything he can to break the  
monotony of things for the men - We have  
now got a Sports Committee going and we've sent 
to Cairo for £40 worth of all sorts of materials 
to be paid for out of the Battalion Funds.  
I was picked out to go to Cairo to buy the bally 
stuff, but I got out of it , so all the officers 
want to have me paraded to the Medical  
Officer for examination to see if I'm mentally 
sound. They all reckon there is a screw loose  
somewhere when I turn down a trip with all 
expenses paid to Cairo. Am getting in the  
gloom too much. Get all the odd jobs put onto 
me & as I've only been about 5 minutes in  
the Regt. I don't quite like it, as some of the  

2/ 
other chaps may get snaky over it. The C.O.  
desired that I should act as Mess Secretary,  
well when he desires that one should do a 
thing, it is practically the same as if he 
tells one to take a job on. Hope the Mess Secty 
job will not last long, as the chap who was 
Mess Secretary at Tel El Kebir will be back in  
about 3 weeks. Had my first go on Outpost 
duty  starting on Friday morning. Took my 
Platoon out at 5 am & relieved the other outpost 
at dawn & ran the job until the next morning.  
My chaps played the game for all it was 
worth & the Senior Major in making his 
report to the CO, after his inspections said 
it was the best outpost he had seen since  
we started. My chaps were very cheeky 
about it, but they deserved the praise. 
Am still a bit under strength, only got 
44 men, should have 55, but I've got 
the whole lot of them going well now, the 
outlaws that growl on the quiet, soon get 
shut up by the good men,  & some of the  
outlaws are calming down wonderfully. 
I think I've got absolute control over my 
mob now, that is really the reason why I 
did not want to go to Cairo, don't want to be  

3/ 
away any more than I can help. It was  
jolly cold on outpost. Of course we were under  
arms the whole time, dressed completely, equipment 
on, ready to put up a spar at any moment. 
I rolled into my blanket & big white oil sheet 
about 6/30 as soon as it was dark, my 
Platoon Sgt was boss until 12 o'clock except 
that he had to wake me up when the different 
patrols came in, I let him turn in at 12 
& I stayed up till the show was over, by jove it 
was cold, sitting down in a dug out in the 
sand & I was not sorry when daylight came. 
Was dashed glad they were all so satisfied 
with the way the job was done. It would 
have been hard for anyone to have got 
through. We will give the Turks [[What Ho?]] 
if they do come along. We are sure to  
get a couple of days notice before a big 
attack can take place, but it would be 
pretty awkward if a large mounted patrol 
came in on the rush at night time when the 
whole camp was asleep, Thats what outposts  
are for to put up a scrap & delay the enemy 
until the men asleep can be got out into the 
firing line. We got word this afternoon  

4/ 
that a certain amount of leave is to be 
given. My turn will come round in about 
3 weeks time & I think Port Said will do  
for me. Will give me a chance of seeing 
Ismailia also which everyone says 
is a most delightful spot. It certainly 
looked lovely at night. Another big pile of 
mail came in this afternoon & I got a  
letter from the Secretary of The Masonic  
Lodge in Cairo, telling me they had a 
parcel there for me from the Gordon Lodge 
& asking where they could find me. Will  
get them to post it on, The Lodge wrote & 
said they were sending me some pipes [[&c?]] 
& asked me to call at the Cairo Secty Office 
& get them, but the last time I was in  
Cairo they had not turned up. Not 
going to answer your letter today. Will  
keep that until one night during the  
week. Capt Kennedy the boss of my Coy 
is a good chap. He is easily the best Coy 
Commander in the Battallion. Am getting  
on very well with him, & you need not be