Letters from Charles Edwin Gatliff to his family and a condolence letter, June 1916 - c. September 1918 - Part 6

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France  14      5.3.17

 

Baton, Rind, & hard; Bayonet, Sword, & Scabbard:

Heaven, Sun, Moon, Moonray, Sunray, Meteor,

& Milky Way; Monsoon, Storming, Windy, Rainy,

& Gusty; & so on. When not doing a shoot

our guns are layed on what are called

S.O.S. lines across No Man's Land. This is

so that, in case of a sudden attack by

Fritz, on receipt of the S.O.S. call from the

infantry either over the phone or by flares

we can at once open fire & put a barrage

of bursting shells between our front line & his.

A couple of nights ago we received word

that some new Fritz troops were coming in

opposite us & to expect an attack. He

attacked alright but we kept a sharp

lookout & when our S.O.S. signal went

up we opened fire almost before it

had reached the ground. I believe we

did splendid work catching Fritz

just as he had passed thro' his

own wire. He didn't reach our trenches,

having to retire having a lot of

killed & wounded in No Man's Land.

I would be so glad to have a few

lines from you Pater altho' I know you

must feel little inclined for letter-

writing after your long office hours.

Fondest love to all.

Your loving son

Charlie

France 14    7.3.17

 

Dear Father & Mother,

As a letter from me would not

be complete without some reference to

the weather I will start off with that

subject. After about a week of nice

mild weather we are now experiencing

strong bleak winds - typical "March

winds" & "equinoctial gales". I am not

looking forward to the time of "April

Showers". The wind besides making us

miserable is a confounded nuisance

as it means I have to work out

extra corrections when shooting & as

it only blows from one quarter for

a couple of hours no two corrections 

are the same. At present it has gone

round to the north & I am thinking

of a little song I have heard Pater

sing. "The north wind doth blow, and

we shall have snow."- it certainly

feels as tho' snow is about somewhere

handy.  Fritz is very

crafty - I don't like this retirement

of his & certainly have no desire to

be in the vanguard when we advance

over the ground he has voluntarily

evacuated. At present he is hanging

on like grim death to the sector in

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14      7.3.17

 

front of us - what we have gained we

have had to fight hard for with the

exception of one trench which he quietly

cleared out of one night & which is

of no use to us. Even in this little

bit he left some "surprise packets" for

us such as a couple of German helmets

(the ideal souvenir in our boys' eyes)

which on being picked exploded bombs

One man had his had blown off.

He blewn in most of his dugout but

left one intact. In it was a pickaxe

leaning against a chair. Luckily a

wire was noticed & it was then discovered

that anyone catching hold of

the pick would have set off a lot of

bombs. Of course these little things

will not affect the main issue

but they can cause a lot of annoyance

& tend to show what a dirty

fighter Fritz is. I am hardly in

a position to voice my opinion of

the present situation but I think

I can safely echo the papers & say

that his retirement does not mean

necessarily that the tide of war 

is in our favor. You can rest

assured he is too thorough not to

have made all his plans beforehand

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14     7.3.17

 

he will no doubt retire to fresh

ground & trenches carefully prepared

where he will be better able to

withstand our Spring offensive &

will leave us all the shell -

shattered front to move our troops

& supplies over whilst he will

have good country to move his

about on. Another thing, by now

most likely our plans are already

made & this retirement of his will

mean a reorganization of everything.

I don't agree with Hilaire B'ellor &

Ean. I don't think the war will

be decided on the Western Front.

We are too strong for him to break

thro' & he has been too long consolidating

his front here for us

to be able to do much against

him. I can't understand whey Rumania

did not wait until the Spring

before joining in (of course we don't

know what pressure was being

brought to bear on her). Coming

in at the time she did let Fritz

withdrawn a lot of his men from

this front, when we could not

attack owing to weather conditions,

& he just swallowed her whole

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14     7.3.17

 

Altho' the papers say the Rumanian

Army is practically intact & no doubt

Fritz will not be able to spare the

men to hold it when the Spring Offensive

takes place, it was such a

fertile country that its capture will

have given him enormous supplies of

much needed stores such as oil &

wheat. The Rumanians did not

expect to get pushed out of hearth

& home (if they did, I guess they

would not have joined in) so quickly

& when they were, they expected

to get back again soon. Under those

conditions they would be loath

to destroy things. In some cases the

push was so sudden it took

them all their time to save themselves.

There is going to be a

nice tangle after the war as

regards the men back pay. However

Australia has taken time by the

forelock & there is now a Finance

Dept in the A.I.F. & a pay sergeant

attached to each brigade. A new

style of pay-book has been issued

which shows how much a man has

drawn & how much is due to him

every month. It also contains all

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14       7.3.17

particulars concerning the soldier it

belongs to &, incidentally has to be

signed in three places by his O.C.

I think I will get a job as "shop-

walker" apres la guerre - I am so

used to sign, please. Bairns fathers'

drawings are so true to the life here.

Have you seen "The little things that

matter"? Col Fitzshrapnel being

buzzed up during a big stunt &

asked how many tins of raspberry

jam were issued to him on Friday

(or something to that effect). That

sort of thing often happens here. The

other night we were intently looking

at the scratch as we had to 'start'

a stunt in a few seconds when buzz-

a message wanting to know how

many cases of trench feet we had'

had during the last week. Another

night during a stunt a message came

wanting to know if we had drawn

our iron rations & a couple of nights

ago just as I had dropped off to

sleep at 12.30 a.m. I was awakened

with a buzz "Please wire if you have

horserugs for your deficiency in horses".

Our horse lines are only 15 miles

away so of course they got the

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14      7.3.17

 

information (I don't think). The

Major did not come up yesterday &

today I received a note from the

subaltern at the Wagon Lines saying

the Major would be up tomorrow. He

is about the most casual O.C. I have

met - I know him of old in the B.A.C. -

After he came back from leave he was

a fortnight at the Wagon Lines before

going to the school & during that time 

did not come near his guns &

he has not even dropped me a line

since ^he has been back - four days now.

I am still carrying on as acting O.C..

I intended going across to see Hal

today but the wind was blowing

so strongly & was so bitterly cold that

I postponed my visit. He is alright

& so am I. Frank's battery evidently

did not go right back for a rest as

they are expected in on my left

in a day or so when I hope to see

the young beggar. If my letters are

appreciated at home, as mater says,

please remember that letters are

all we have to look forward to

here. Surely someone can write now

& again besides dear little Mater.

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

France 14      (9.3.17)

26.6.17 6     Rd 12/5/17

 

Dear Father & Mother,

Here's some more ancient history:-

Monday June 26th  1916.  I woke up in the train

at 1 a.m. to find myself in a station yard somewhere

in Paris. At 3 a.m. we were moving thro' Paris.

I got up at 4.15 a.m. when it was light. Paris

passed at 4.30. Slight joy at 4.35. Travelling very

slow- quite like Home, houses with backyard fences.

The woods passed thro' now contain oaks. Engine

both ends Joyen-Josas 4.45. Outside Versailles for

¼ hour at 5 a.m. then went thro' station without

stopping - Red Cross girls were waiting there to

give us refreshments (& smiles) but alas! we had

spent our half outside the station instead of

in it. Passed St Cyn at 5.45 a.m. - this is where

the famous French Military School is situated.

Eiffel Tower can be seen in the distance

on our right rear. Country in crop & grass

in places looks like Australia. Not pretty

about here. Outside Beques 6.15to 6.30. Maubec

7.25 to 8. Train with 15th A.F.A. arrived while

there. Country nice but not so picturesque

as South of France. Vernon ¼ hr at 8.30. Gaillon

8.52 to 9.5 whilst 2 expresses pass us. St Pierre

de Lauvray at 10 a.m. - a very pretty hamlet

on the Seine - remains of Napoleon's bridge across

Seine here. Oissel at 10.20 after crossing two

branches of river. The cherries are not yet

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14        26.6.16      (9.3.17)

 

ripe here & they are finished in the South.

Hundreds of railway engines on temporary sidelines

here with the Belgian flag flying on them.

Sotterville 10.40 - several empty hospital trains in

station yard - one named "Princess Christain", looked

so nice & tempting that one almost wished one

was wounded to have the joy of travelling in

it. Two fine churches seen here - one, with a spire,

on the top of a hill & the other, a modern one

with a dome, near the river. Sotterville until

11.30 then across river & thro' a long tunnel.

Half way thro' we stopped for 5 minutes &

as the carriages were not lit up we wondered

what was going to happen. When we got to

the other end we waited for another engine &

then went thro' two more long tunnels. Between

the two last was the station of Rouen-Roche.

It was in a deep cutting so we could see

nothing of the town. However, just before

crossing the river & entering the tunnels &

also after passing thro' them I got with Hal

on the rear platform & pointed out to him the

few sights of Rouen that we could see.

You remember I spent a day here in 1907

on my way from Paris to London. We had

several more long halts so I slept until 2.40PM

Breaute-Beyville 2.50 - lovely chateaux in valley

some factories in pretty valleys well away

from city of Rouen, ideal for working class.

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14      26.6.16      (9.3.17)

 

Overcast all day - rain at 3.5PM, showery. Pretty

village with mansions Bellans-Revant. Orchards,

mostly elms & pines in woods now. Harfleur

at 3.35 P.M. & I thought of the speech of Henry &-

"Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more".

Large British camp here but it is friendly

to France, not a hostile one like that of yore.

Pretty gardens; houses rather ugly; plenty of

small orchards. In France the trees are planted

very close together & they grow very tall -

oaks & elms thus resemble tall poplars

at a distance. Arrived outskirts of Havre,

on new railway to a camp at 4 P.M. Waited

until 4,45 PM & then moved ½ mile further

on to the Quay Station. We passed a lot of

German prisoners working on the line - they

were all a good stamp of men. Raining

pretty steadily. My diary ends here but I

remember we detrained & managed to get some

boiled eggs, cake & cocoa at a YMCA hostel &

then marched thro' Havre about three miles up

a steep hill to a camp on the other side of

the town. We arrived there about 9 in the

dark with the camp well under water. I

smile as I think what a muddy cheerless

camp we thought it was - it would be

Heaven to go there now from here. We

stayed several days at Havre & then moved for

the Front via Calais & Hazelbrouck. 

Yours Chas E Gatliff