Letters from Charles Edwin Gatliff to his family, March - December 1916 - Part 7

1

France 13
31.12.16
Dear Father & Mother
This will be the last letter that
I will write to you this year. I wonder
how many I will write you next year &
whether it will indeed be a Happy New
Year seeing us all reunited.  At present
I think the end of the war is not yet
in sight for all Germany's talk of peace.
She would like to cry "enough" now
because I think she has conquered
country exceeding her wildest dreams
& I think also that those at her head
know that eventually she will be
beaten thro exhaustion of men & money -
resources of supplies & ammunition I
thank she will always have as she
has so well organized the resources
of all the rich territory she has
conquered as well as that of her own
country.  As for the Allies they cannot
even dream of peace with Germany
holding so much of the map of Europe
(leaving out Russia & Scandinavia).
However I think possibly this coming
Summer may see the end in sight for
there is no doubt that the Allies will
(must) make a big move then - only
I think it will only be at the cost
of a great loss of lives.  In the
 

2    13      31.12.16

meantime we are freezing here praying for
the Summer to come when we can be
"up & at 'em" & get the war finished.
The Australian mail is late this time;
it is over a fortnight since I last heard
from you. Perhaps our move has upset
the postal arrangements.  You would

hardly credit some of the tales I
could tell you about the MUD here. That
is about ^all the lads write about to their
people in Australia. I laugh when
I think of the outcry the people
in Melbourne used to make about
the mud (so-called) at Broadmeadows
camp. It was a perfect home compared
to here. This mud is of the same loving
nature as that of Broadmeadows but
in addition every square yard for
miles around is pitted with shell holes
& craters & the traffic of transport in
all directions is enormous. When
moving about on foot one has to go
very cautiously. Last time we were
here one of our officers rode into a
shell hole. His Horse disappeared in
the mud & he was only rescued
with great difficulty. He had to be
pulled out with ropes & in doing so
they strained his internal organs.
 

3       13       31.12.16

He is now in Blightly & it will be 3 months
before he is fit to rejoin his unit. It is a
common sight to see men pulling another out
of the mud - it clings like glue. I went to
Group Hdqrs today Fritz was chucking some
"lumps of hate" about from a high velocity gun.
The worst of it is you don't hear the shell
coming it travels so fast. You are only aware 
of the fact he is shelling you after the
shell has arrived. I was riding quietly
along when suddenly up went the
road a short distance in front of me.
A little further along I came across a couple
of wagons & a horse he had got a direct 
hit on. The horse was saddled but was
badly smashed about (killed on the spot) 

I wondered how the rider fared & was
told that the shell burst under the
horse & blew the man up in the air.
He landed on his feet unhurt & ran
for his dear life. He ought to take a
ticket in Tattersall's as we say in
Australia for he is a mighty lucky man.
The ordinary gun fires a shell which
you can hear coming - some of them seem
to travel so slowly that the soldiers have
nicknamed them "Lazy Lizzies". I think
I told you how when we were at
Fleurbaix  some time ago I reckon
 

4         13       31.12.16

I saved one of my gunners' life. He was walking

along the trench in rear of the gunpits

when I heard a shell coming. I yelled out to

him & he made a dive into one of the gunpits

falling in there unhurt whilst the
shell burst right on the spot where he
was when I sang out. The C.O. asked me today
which of the two batteries I wished to
go ^to, if this battery is split up. I told

him Hal's. He said he doesn't believe
in brothers being together but thought
it would be better in our case so
that I can keep my eye on Hal &

see that he looks after his leg. Of

course you all know what [[?]] thinks

of Hal & he told me he doesn't want

to lose him because of his leg not
standing the strain of this mud. However
no one has heard anything definite
about the reorganization yet. The
weather has been a lot milder the
last few days (altho' we have had
rain every night) & we are now settled
& are pretty comfortable. As we have
a good road right up to the guns we
don't have to work so hard carting
ammunition as we did when last here
Every spare minute however is spent in
trying to cope with the MUD problem here.
Best of loving wishes to all for the coming
year

Your loving son Charlie