Letters from Charles Edwin Gatliff to his family and a condolence letter, June 1916 - c. September 1918 - Part 3

14. France 2.2.17  
Dear Father & Mother
Each time I write I seem to be
busier than the previous time. Am back
as acting battery commander again — some
class this time as I am fighting the six
gun battery. Before I was only a /B.C. of a
four gun battery out of the line a month &
the following month when in the line my
guns were taken from me for tactical
purposes & I was left to administer
the battery from the wagon lines. It
is too long a tale to go into detail
at present (I am writing this between
a couple of "shoots" at 11.45 PM-have no
earthly chance of writing during the
day) but the B.C. got a shaking up
just before he went on leave & on his
return he stayed at the wagon Lines the
battery captain shooting the battery. The
latter got knocked 5 days ago (only
slightly) so the C.O. told me to come here
& carry on. The next thing Major L. was
detailed to go to a school on the 10th inst
so I thought I would be back as battery
captain as soon as Capt D. came back
a few days as acting battery commander
Then Major L. got thrown from his horse
& put out of action & now I have just 

2

14         2.2.17

heard that Capt. D. has been sent to the
Base for 3 weeks. This all when we are
trying to get the battery reorganized.
am only a few hundred yards away from
Hal but have not had a chance to
see him since I have been here. He is
O.K. Frank's battery is out of the line
again, for how long I don't know.
The Temperature for the last three
weeks has been anything between 10°
& 22° Today it has been 15° Pity me
coming here to 22° below freezing point
from Egypt where it was 120° in the
shade just before we left. I struck
my first by stunt in shooting the
battery last night when our lads
"went over the parapet" & took some
of Fritz's trenches &, incidentally, a
few prisoners. Have just come in from
doing a little shoot — my last for the
night, I take my turn on duty with
the other subalterns — & as I was up
all last night during the big stunt
I will close this & get off to my
dugout for a few hours sleep.
Fond love to all

Your loving Son

Charlie 

France 14   10.2.17
Dear Father & mother
went across to Hal's battery
to see him the other day.  I had just
arrived there when I received a message
over the phone that I was wanted back
at my battery as we had to do some
registering for a "stunt". Still I saw
him & that was all I wanted to do
as I can ring (buzz, I should say) him
at any time & have a yarn with him.
He is well & looks it. The officer,
Lieut Cowlishaw, who came to us
with our new section brought a
gramaphone belonging to his battery

commander, who is away in hospital.
If things are quiet of an evening
we have a few tunes & I hold the
telephone receiver so that Hal can

hear them. The officer to whom the
gramaphone belongs has been given
command of Frank's battery so some
day he will hear the times that
are now cheering up Hal & me.
Gramaphones used to be my pet
abomination in Australia but as
they are now our only means of
hearing a little music I have

changed my opinion of them. 

2    14    10.2.17
The snow is still thick on the ground &
there is no sign of a thaw. The temperature
has been down to 8°. Tres bon! (perhaps !!)
Still, altho' we are having such a cold
time I could put up with two winters
in succession provided the second xxx
was an Australian one, but I am
very much afraid such good luck will
not come my way. Fritz stirred up
this battery just before I came (which
owing to Capt. Dreyer being wounded necessitated

my coming up) but since I have
been here has left in alone with the
exception of one day when we thought
we were in for a warm time but
fortunately he switched on to another

target. It was fortunate for Hat
that the reorganization took place
as he went to a new position. The
day he left his old position Fritz
poured Hell into it & has done so
several times since (his aeroplanes
had spotted the position). The day
I went to see Hal, I passed his
old "possy" & saw the effect of

Fritz's shelling. One big shell had

burst right on top of Hal's dugout

& blown it in. As the battery
burst right on top of Hals dugout

& blown it in. As the battery

commander is generally in his 

3   14   10.2.17
dugout within reach of the phone it 
was nearly a case of "Goodbye, Hal!"
We have not had any news Frank
but believe he is still "out of the line".
Fritz has been very cheeky lately
with his planes. As the days have been
pretty clear we are praying for a thaw
as his aeroplane photos will show all
in battery positions. The only thing
that saves us is that there are so many
of us he won't know which battery to

shoot at & as the heavies annoy him
more than we do he generally has a

shot at them, except at times when we

worry him too much — then he throws

a few lumps of hate at us. All

of our officers have now had leave & my

second turn should come soon but

while I am acting battery commander

I won't be able to get away. I won't

be sorry when I am relieved as there

is a lot of responsibility & work

shooting a six gun battery on this front

& as I have had the  command for nearly

3 months I think I should have been

given temporary higher rank

Finish!

Fond love

Your loving son 

Charlie 

1   France 14   14.2.17
Dear Father & Mother
It is getting quite warm
again the temperature today is 25°
We have had a couple of false alarms
that it was going to thaw but after
each time it seemed to freeze harder
than ever. Over in Australia, when we
have a frost, generally only clear water
freezes — here anything that is at all
liquid gets frozen. We get a small
issue of unsweetened milk (condensed)
& also get some from the canteen. When
I was at the Wagon lines altho it was
so cold I often used to have ice-cream
& jelly for dessert. The condensed milk
would be frozen & I only had to sprinkle
it with sugar & I had ice cream to order.

Another thing that I have to thaw
before I can use it is a bottle of ink
(which I had hard work to procure
& keep for addressing envelopes only).
Sometimes the bread is frozen as
hard as a brick & it is difficult
so cut it into Slices. At times I
have been tempted to shave clean
as when riding the moisture has
clung to my moustache & then froze.
One thing I am thankful to say I 

2   14     14.2.17
am not suffering from cold feet (in
either sense of the phrase), altho' xxxx when
we were at [[Naoms?]] they got icy cold
& numb a couple of times.
There is nothing startling of interest
to relate (if there was I suppose I
wouldn't be able to write about it)
There is the usual daily shoots —
retaliation, counterbattery work or
worrying Fritz — with every second or
third night a minor operation, either
a raid or a bit of trench-snatching
The latter have all been successful &
we are gradually nibbling away at
his whole front. However something big
will have to be done to end the
war — in the Spring I suppose there
will be several big pushes.
Hal informs me over the phone that
he is quite O.K. & so am I — no news
of Frank yet.
There is this consolation when it
is freezing gas can't be used — altho'
couple of times lately when it
looked like a thaw Fritz put over
a few gas shells but they were of
no use. Fond love to all at

Croxton
Your loving Son
Charlie 

France   14      17.2.17

Dear Father & Mother
There has been a "breaking of the
drought" — in other words, the thaw has
set in. The last two nights light rain
has fallen all the night. all the snow
has gone & the earth for a couple of
inches on top is now of a thick

gluey consistency. Underneath that

it is still hard as iron — harder, in
fact, for we broke several pickaxe
heads when doing our many pioneering
 jobs. We are building a forward
gun position for anti-tank protection
& progress was so slow with pick

& crowbar that we had to loosen

the earth by blasting with ammonal;

the soil here in summer time is of

a soft friable nature. In addition

to commanding a battery whilst

only a subaltern I also had the

job of starting a brigade canteen
& now have the additional job of

running the anti-tank gun position.
Still it all keeps one busy &

prevents my dwelling too much
on thoughts of home, sweet home.
Fritz gave us a bit of "hurry up"

yesterday. The nearly "got" one of

my officers, a 5.9 shell burst 

14      2    17:2:17
right alongside him & he was all
smoke begrimed. The pieces of the
shell however all went over his
head. As I mentioned in one of
my recent letters, provided you are
not where it bursts the closer
you are to an H. E. (high explosive)
shell burst the safer you are.
In today's paper & notice the
German submarines have torpedoed
the "Afric" — the boat Ern & I
returned from South Africa on.
I gave Fritz an extra little bit
of "hurry up" today because of it,
heard yesterday that Franks
battery came into the line again
a few days ago about five miles from
here. Report says they are only "in"
for a little while on account of a
"stunt". It is grand being in
telephonic communication with
Hal all the time on a line of
our own — it is almost as good as
being in the same battery together.
Frank really should be close to
us but the reorganization is not
yet complete. Later on, I dare say,
we will all three be near each
other like we were at Fleurbaix. 

14    3    17:2:17
not far from here there is a board
which makes me think of one of
Bairnsfather's pictures every time I
see it; "— CHURCH" written on it.

There was once a village there but now
there is not the slightest trace of
a house. The picture I refer to was
not in either of B's books — I saw it
in the Bystander. It shewed two
officers in a ruined village studying
a map — one was pointing to a heap
of old bricks & was saying "Well! You
see here's the church & there's the
postoffice " or words to that effect.
B's pictures have done a lot towards
making the lads here" pack up their
troubles in their old kitbags & smile
smile, smile. They are so numourous
& yet so true to life. Lil has
written that she has received my
snaps one of which had the quotation 

"I am staying at a farm" on
the back. It was very appropiate
in describing where we were three
months ago but doesn't apply to
the farms about here. The whole
country is devastated & desolate
with only a few military made
roads, trenches & the shattered