Letters from Charles Edwin Gatliff to his family, March - December 1916 - Part 5

France 11

24.11.16

Dear Father & Mother

Just a few lines to let you know

that Hal & I will be out of Fritz's reach

for a couple of weeks as our lot are going

out of the line for a spell. Frank stays in

till we come back. Yesterday was rather

a red letter day for me. It was my 34^th

birthday & was the anniversary of the

day I left Australia for the war. Also I

was made acting battery commander of this

battery. Our O. C. left us last night to

attend a six week's artillery school in

England & I am to have charge of the

battery while he is away. It is a big

responsibility as when all is said I

haven't had much artillery experience &

this is such a warm corner of the

firing line. So now all three of us boys

have command of batteries. I have already

had charge of this battery for 2 or 3 days at

a stretch several times. I have 3 subalterns

under me two of whom are very capable

so I think this little battery will "keep

its end up" while I have command. I

hope while we are "out" to be able to

write you all at greater length.

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie 

France 12

27.11.16

Dear Father & Mother,

We are now well out of "the line" &

are billeted in a town about 12 miles from

the biggest town in this part of the world.

The day we left the line it rained steadily

all day, it reminded me of some of my

campaigning days in South Africa. We had

a very bad camp the first night - in tents

with the water metre deep on the ground. However

we put a trench around the tent & scraped the mud away

& as I had found an old A.M.C. stretcher when I had

put dry clothes on & laced myself in my sleeping bag.

I had one of the best nights sleep I have had for a

long time. It rained all night & when we moved off

next morning it rained for several hours & was also

bitterly cold. Leave started for our lot as soon as

we got on the march & I believe as many as possible

are to be granted leave while we are "out"

but I hardly think it will come to my turn

again before we go "in". Battery commander is a

good job - I am having the easiest time I have

had for months - there is more responsibility but

not nearly so much work.

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

France 12

30.11.16

Dear Father & Mother

A couple of hours ago I met in this

township an officer from Frank's battery. He

said that Frank was leaving the firing line

in a couple of days to attend a six weeks

artillery school in England like the one my

battery commander is at present attending. So

all three of us boys will be out of Fritz's

reach for a few weeks & you will have no

cause for anxiety. The artillery A.I.F. is

being reorganised & I am afraid it will be

a case of "how are the mighty fallen" as I

will most likely drop from acting battery

commander below battery captain to a section

commander. It is just possible that I might

be transferred to Hal's battery, I am not

allowed to write more particulars. It

is now cruelly cold here - the men are suffering

terribly with their feet. I don't like to think

what it will be like later on as the winter

has only just started. One good thing it freezes

the mud. My letters are not very newsy at

present but am trying to write as often as

possible, if only a few lines, to let you know

how we all are.

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

NAOURS   France (12)

3.12.16

Dear Father & Mother

Hal has just been granted 10 

days leave in England so he & Frank

will be there together. We had 8 days

at the Somme front line - my battery

was alongside what was once the

town of Flers. Amiens is the big town

I visited a couple of days ago. It

is about 12 miles from here. Hal has

only a few minutes before he leaves so

I will close this. These are the places

I have been in whilst in France

1 BLARINGHEM plus Hazebrouck

2 BOIS GRENIER    Amentieres

3 TILQUES         St Omer

4 CALAIS

5 FLEURBAIX    Dead dog Avenue

6 GRIS POT        near Amentieres

7 FLEURBAIX    Tin Barn Tram line

8    "          "           opp No. 5

9 CALAIS

10 ARMENTIERES       Gunpits

10th    "                           F.O.O.

10th     "                          Wagon lines

11 MONTAUBAN          near Albert Somme

12 NAOURS                       "  Amiens

Love to all

Chas

12      5.12.16

Dear Father & Mother

Nothing startling has occurred

since I last wrote. We are still busy

overhauling & cleaning equipment & from

what I can see will be doing so all the

time we are here. The harness is as dirty

as ever five minutes after it is in use

as the mud & slush about the wagon

lines is now getting as bad as it was

at the front line. We also have a long

way to go to water the horses & as we

water twice a day it takes up most

of the parade hours. The men are feeling

the cold pretty badly & a lot are suffering

from sore feet thro' the cold but it is

astonishing how cheerful & philisophical

they are about it. I have seen enough to

fill pages about the war but two things

prevent me 1st the cannon & 2^nd I don't seem

to be able to strike form. One of my officers &

several men are going on leave in a few days

I don't expect to get away again for some

time to come. Hope all are keeping well

at home as I am here.

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

12     8.12.16

Dear Father & Mother

The reorganization I spoke of in one

of my previous letters was, instead of having

3 four gun batteries with 15 officers in a brigade

they are going to have 2 six gun batteries with

10 officers. This will mean that there will be

a battery commander over in each brigade & he will

have to act as a battery captain in one of the

other batteries. There is this difference - battery

commanders can will all ^be majors & battery captains all

captains. It is doubtful whether Hal will get his

majority but it is certain that I won't get my

captaincy - this is because of the seniority list.

It is raining slightly today but is not so cold as

it has been lately.  Have not heard from

Frank or Hal since they have been in England.

By the way, I also doubt whether Frank will

get a battery now as there are so many others

senior to him in the division.  Expect we

will be back in the line a few days before

Xmas - will send a field service p.c. as soon

as we leave here.

Fondest love to all

Chas

1

12      10.12.16

Dear Father & Mother

I am going on strike as far as the battery is

concerned & am taking a couple of hours off this evening

to try & write you all a letter which will contain

something of interest. Instead of things getting easier they

are getting busier than ever with me. At present I am the

only officer left with the battery; have only 4 N.C.O's available

for duty out of about 24, & only about ½ of the men. In

addition to ordinary camp routine we are cleaning &

overhauling our equipment & a syllabus of brigade

training has been issued. The latter we have barely

had time to look at - it is taking us all our time

to carry on & look after the horses without attempting

manoeuvres. In any case the weather is not favorable

for that sort of thing in the country. One of our officers in

at a school in England, another at a school in France,

another in England on leave & the fourth is away on

a 3 days trip getting fresh horses for the brigade.

A battery commander's job should be done by a major

with a complete personnel of officers & other ranks & here

I, a poor subaltern, am carrying on with the staff

mentioned at the top of the page & yet owing to the

reorganization I am not likely to get even a battery

captain's job owing to other being senior to me - still

"it's a way they have in the army" so I must just

grin & bear it. Besides I must be careful what

I write as I have just sent one of our birds

up for court martial for criticising the powers that

be in 3 of his letters written to Australia.

3

12     10.12.16

I think I wrote & told you that when we had four

officers we each had a day off in turn to visit the

large town which is about 12 miles from here. I

was unfortunate, as far as the weather was concerned,

the day I went as there was a heavy fog & the

temperature was several degrees below freezing point

As fast as the fog settled on my greatcoat, moustache,

the horses' mane, etc. it would freeze. There is a

fine old cathedral there & except that not many

people were about owing to the cold, business was

being carried on a usual - in the early part of

the war the Germans occupied the town. Owing

to the cold I only stayed a few hours there.

The town where we are billeted is situated in a

valley & in the side of one of the hills there is

a large network of caves excavated hundreds of

years ago by the inhabitants for refuge whenever

the country was invade by other races. Hal

& I went thro' them one day & found them very

interesting. By a strange coincidence the night

I arrived ^here I read about them in a "Herald"

sent by Pater or Mater & received by me when in

the front line but which I did not have

time then to read. It was in an article

referring to the underground defences at Thiepval.

I intended cutting the article out & sending

it back home, but I lent the papers to

another officer & that was the end of it.

It gets dark here very early now. When I first

3       12      10.12.16

arrived it was daylight at 10 PM & now it

is dark at 4 PM. Several other Australian

batteries are camped about here for a spell. Hal's

old battery is one of them. One of its officers is

Lieut. Staley. I met him at Macclesfield 8 years

ago - he is a nephew of M^rs J.Hunt (nee Stirling)

& his mother was a Mifi Ballard (?) a friend

of Pater's years ago. I met him at Groppi's in

Cairo - he was then a sergeant. He told me

that he had known Hal & Frank on the

Peninsula, that he had had enteric fever &

was leaving Egypt in a couple of days time

for a 3 months trip to Australia. The next

day after I had seen him he was offered a

commission so came to France instead of

going to Australia. Hal & I were going to his

mess for dinner last Monday but Hal got

leave to England that day so I went with

our veterinary officer who is an old pal

of Staley's & we spent a very pleasant evening

yarning about "good old Melbourne town".

It is very pretty about here even tho' the

cold makes one hate this country- in

the summer time it must be glorious -

who knows? We may be here next summer

The news in yesterday's paper wasn't

particularly bright for the Allies. Bucarest

taken by the Germans; Pollisti the centre of

the airfield taken by the Austrians & the

4    12      10.12.16

Greeks trying to cause trouble. Back in

Australia most of us used to curse gramaphones

but most officer's messes here now have one

which is often bought at a big price & carried

about at cost of a lot of bother. If it wasn't 

for them we would have no music at all.

That is what I am looking forward so 

eagerly to leave for, to go the theatres &

music halls & hear some nice music - I

don't want to go sightseeing, because I have

already seen all the sights of London.

My program for my next visit there is to

sleep in a nice bed between clean sheets

till about 10 a.m. & then sit in a cosey

chair by a nice fire until it is time to

go to a play - the dose to be repeated daily.

We had a cruelly cold spell of about 3

weeks but for the last 3 days it has been

showery & not so cold. It is now very

muddy & slushy especially at the wagon

lines - before, the mud used to be frozen hard

& one could walk on it. Still I can put up

with being wet & muddy, it is the cold

that hurts (& hurt it does in every sense

of the word). Just to show you how cold

it has been - one morning the jug of

water in my room had ice on it. I

haven't been sleeping too well lately - since

I have left the Somme have been suffering