Letters from Charles Edwin Gatliff to his family, March - December 1916 - Part 4

2   10     23/10/16

 

^have been lost 

that way that we are now used as liasion

officers at battalion hdqrs. What the method is

down the Somme I don't know. It was while

doing F.O.O. in the front line that Lieut McHenry

of Hal's battery earned his Military Cross. At

that time I was doing F.O.O. nearly every

second day & was F.O.O. the day before that

day & also relieved him. I suppose that is

about as near an M.C as I'll ever get

but I will be quite content to do without

one as long as I get back safely to my

loved ones. I can't say when we are likely

to move from here (I don't know, as a matter

of fact) but will send a field service postcard

as soon as we do. Hal is still at Hdqrs

& Frank is away all from his battery - we are

still unable to find out his whereabouts.

We have a new battery commander who was

lately Brigade Major for 5th Div. Artillery. As he

is one of our R.A.A. officers he knows his

work from A to Z & everything is now

running very smoothly with the battery - for

the first time since its existence. I am still

having plenty to do as I have to take my men

and Orderly Officer, F.O.O. & O.P & also act as

battery captain & look after our stores &

equipment which owing to our expected move

shortly we are busy completing.

Fond love to all from

Your loving son

Charlie

1     France 10  

26/10/16

 

Dear Father & Mother

What fools some of those stay-at-home

soldiers must be! As tho' you are

not caused enough anxiety about us

without being caused worry by their

silly methods. I am thankful to say

that I am in splendid health & have

been ever since I left Egypt - I don't

like the cold but it is not affecting

my health in the least - haven't even

had the slightest cold. That "Reported

back from duty" with my name in

the casuality ^list was the date that I

returned from the Artillery School.

They should either have put that I

was leaving duty to attend the school,

previous to what they did put in or

else they should have stated that I

was returning from it. Naturally the

letters I have received from the three

of you show that you think I have

been ill. I have just heard that

Frank is back with his battery. He

came along to Hdqrs & saw Hal the other

day, but did not come on to my battery

as I haven't seen Hal since then I can't

give you any particulars about Frank's

illness but ought to be able to do so in

2       10     26/10/16

 

I am due for 3 days F.O.O. starting tomorrow

morning & as things have been very quiet here

the last week or so I ought to be able to write

you all a newsy letter. As it is now I only

get a chance now & again to scribble a

few lines & don't get time to sit down &

think of items of interest. I still continue

to get back letter but think that all

of them must have now reached me. All

the soldiers in the A.I.F. voted on the

Referendum for Conscription about a

week ago. I believe quite a number voted

against it - while they are anxious that

a lot of the cold footers should be made

to come, they were equally anxious that

no more of their own relations should

come. I most certainly voted YES for two

reasons - 1st the most virile of our race have

already volunteered & they are the ones we

need most for the making of our nation.

Our casualties amongst them are very heavy

& if the cold footers were made to come - some

of them would be killed instead of all the

best men. 2nd because the more men we put

against the Germans the sooner the war

will end. Will close now but will

add that I think the proposed act

affords too many loopholes for shirkers

to escape by. Fond love to all

from Your loving son.

Charlie

France 10

28/10/16

 

Dear Father & Mother,

I am doing 3 days F.O.O. near the front line

my quarters are in the cellar of an old chateaux

which has been razed to the ground by shell-

fire from Fritz. In speaking of the Germans we

generally call him Fritz; the British speak of him

as the Hun; & the French call him the Bosche

You very seldom hear him spoken of as German

or a "squarehead". Then there are all sorts of

nicknames for his different kinds of shells

which no doubt you have read of in the

papers. So ^far the only ones that I have made

the acquaintance of have been his smaller

calibre guns such as the whizz bang his 77

gun which is about the size of our 18

pounder. It is a high velocity gun & gets

its nickname ^from the fact that you hear the whizz of

the shell & the bang of its burst almost

simultaneously. Then there is the "crump"

his 4.2 which he generally used to throw

a few at us at - with. It also gets its

name from its nose. The next is the

"wallbox" 5.9 - which on bursting sends

up a cloud of black smoke - hence its

name. "Archies" are his anti-aircraft shells

& "Minnies" are his minniewerfers

(trench mortars). One of our heavy

guns used to assist us occasionally

2

10      28/10/16

 

when we had a stunt on at -. Her shells

used to seem to crawl thro' the air so she

was nicknamed "Lazy Lizzie". I suppose when

we go down to the Somme we will make

the acquaintance of all sorts & descriptions

of guns & shells. My trip to England

came pretty opportunely I was getting too

many curios & souvenirs to conveniently

cart about. I managed to take a Kitbag full

across to London with me & left them in my

trunk there. The worst of it is they are

so blooming weighty. I have a collection

of about a dozen of Fritz's shell fuses. The

shells themselves are quite out of the

question altho' I have a lot of fragments.

I have got some Mauser cartridges as

souvenirs of the two raids that I was

liaison officer for. When we go to the Somme

when acting as F.O.O. with the infantry

advance I ought to get some good curios.

A week or so ago I saw Fritz send one of

our observation balloons down in flames. We

don't use obs. balloons as much as Fritz does

our aeroplanes going over his lines instead.

He has very few planes up this way &

they very seldom come over our lines & then

generally at a great height consequently he

has to rely largely on balloons. I have seen

as many as thirteen up at once along our

3

10        28/10/16

 

front when I have been observing from our O.P

here at -. It was a good sight to see 4 or 5

of our planes go over Fritz's lines & then all

the "sausages" (as the balloons are called) being

pulled down as quickly as possible. By a strange

coincidence the day the balloon was brought

down our battery was going to do its first

shoot by balloon observation & by this

particular balloon - we have already done

several shoots by aeroplane observation.

In the morning just as I got to the battery

from the billet Fritz's aeroplane went over

our heads about 600 ft high (he generally

flies about 6000) going very slowly with

one of our planes chasing him. He was

evidently hit by our Archies; however

xxxxx he came down safely behind his

own lines. Shortly afterwards he was up

again & kept on coming over our lines all

day. He was in a very fast plane & our

planes could not catch him. They generally

hustle his planes when they come over

our lines so that our balloons have felt

immune from him. Consequently our

balloons are never hauled down - in

the afternoon just as we were going

to fire for the balloon to observe, Fritz

came over again did a dive & dropped a

phosphorus bomb & it was "goodbye

4

10         28/10/16

 

balloon". He managed to dodge 3 of our planes

& got back safely to his own lines altho' he had

a narrow escape for one of our planes got above

him & did a dive at him but missed. Next

day he again kept our planes busy but

since then things have been quiet in the

air. I think he was a special aviator brought

up from the Somme to see what was

going on behind our lines here.- Over your

side when parting from anybody you just

say "Goodbye"; here it is always "Goodbye &

good luck" - the French say "Au Revoir,

bon chance" which amounts to the same

thing. I suppose by the next mail I

must send you all Xmas wishes - perhaps

I had better do so in this one altho' the

next one ought to be in time as lately we

have been getting letters about 6 weeks

after they were written. I wish you

all a merry Christmas & hope that

the coming year will be an extra

happy one seeing us all reunited again -

three years of war will have elapsed by

then & I really think next summer (here)

will see the end of the war. I do hope

you receive this carbon copies in a

readable condition as if you do it means

I can ^find time to write the three of you all fairly

long letters. Fond love to all from

Your loving son

Charlie

France    10       5/11/16

 

Dear Father & Mother

Just a few hurried lines which may be the

last you will get for some little time. I expect

to go where I expected very soon now. I was at

Brigade Headquarters a couple of nights ago. We

had a brigade dinner as many officers as could be

spared from the batteries attending, there were

fifteen of us including Hal & myself, It was the

first time we had all been together since we

were in Egypt. Fritz got nasty during the offensive

& shelled Hal's battery (Hal was at Hdqrs) &

also put some in line, but short of Hdqrs.

We would have got a good haul if he had

lengthened his range & started shelling us

that night. We had a great time, the doctor is

a splendid pianist & we had all sorts of songs,

sentimental & otherwise, & the fun was getting

rather boisterous when I left which I did

early as I had to ride back to our Wagon

lines where I have been knocking ^things into shape

prepatory to our move. Hal was one of the hosts,

as he is temporarily at Hdqrs; he is looking

very well & is actually putting on condition.

He has been eating quite well for him

since he has been at Hdqrs. He goes back

to his battery when we move. He will have

told you that he saw Frank who is now back

with his battery after recovering from a

nervous breakdown. Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

1

France 11

20/11/16

 

Dear Father & Mother,

As you know by now I cannot say where

I am but you can guess. One cannot describe

what is like here & when one sees the

country that ones troops have advanced

over it makes one think that the much

talked of British bulldog pluck is a very

big factor in the present war. I have

written at various times that I have been very

busy bit it has all been child's play to

what I am doing at present. I am in

charge of the wagon lines & have to see

that the battery is kept supplied with

ammunition & rations. Owing to the

country being all pitted with shell

holes the ammunition has to be carried

up by pack horses. Will try & give more

particulars later. The country is best describe

as being like Broadmeadows camp at its

worst with every square yard pitted by

shell craters. It was terribly cold a couple

of days ago & yesterday the ground was

covered with snow. It made it easier to

work on as all the mud was frozen

hard. Hal is now quite well & is back

with his battery. I rode with Frank

for several hours a few days ago & he is

also well. I am in splendid health.

2

 

I still continue to receive letters regularly

from Mother but Father seems to have gone

on strike as far as letter writing is concerned.

Have only received one or at the most two

letters from him since I have been in France.

Today I received several letters from Lil

one from Mater dated 18.9.16 & one from Ean

I also received papers from Mater Pater &

Ean.

Best of love to all & I hope you are

all well like we three are

Your Loving son

Charlie