Letters from Charles Edwin Gatliff to his family and a condolence letter, June 1916 - c. September 1918 - Part 10

 6 

France 22    25.5.17
The strength & the staff officer is on the
sick list . A couple of days later another
blooming general rode up to our battery

O.P with his orderly. On being told he
could be seen by Fritz & he was in
rather a warm locality he promptly
galloped back. The worst of it is these
casual visitors make things pretty
warm for the poor observing officer who
has to stay on the spot all the time. We
got shelled out of the only spot for decent
observation ^ here [[?baf]] officers of all sorts coming
there to see the country. Some even used
to pull out maps - & a poor subaltern
can't very well "roar" at a colonel. l Still
I think we are winning the war. The
infantry officers here are up all night. I
went up to my work party about
midnight & stayed there until 1.30 a.m.
Then I had a yarn to the officers here &
as I have to send a message thro' to
Hdqrs at dawn, about 4 a.m, thought I
would finish this letter - therefore it is
rather a long one (much ado about
nothing). I will get (D.V.) about 7 hours
sleep between 4 & 11 a.m. & if things are
still quiet will write again in the
afternoon Fond love Yours Charlie

1  

France 23   27.5.17
Dear Father & Mother,
I am still 'liasion' to the infantry 
hdqrs but they moved to fresh quarters
last night. Generally L.O. is a pretty
comfortable job but the couple of times
I have struck it lately have been very
unsettled. We generally turn in between
3 & 4 a.m. Have breakfast - lunch at 11.30 a.m.
a cup of tea about 2 pm, & another about 4.30
p.m. & have dinner between 7.30 & 8 P.M. We were
ready to turn in at 3 a.m. this morning but I

have now orders to wire thro' every morning
about 4 a.m. to the battery that "stands to"
in case of a german "tank" attack that it is
"all clear" - they then " stand down" - so I did
not turn in until after 4 a.m. I am
thankful that Hal went to his wagon lines
to go on leave last night for Fritz had another
"shafe" at his battery today & I am sorry to say
 killed one officer & wounded another. There were 
no casualties amongst the men, The casualties 
amongst the officers of our brigade have been
phenomenally light, the only previous one being
Lt Brown (also of Hal's battery) killed.
Yesterday a squadron of our planes (14 of them)
were returning from a raid over Fritz's
territory when Fritz opened fire with his
"archies" & brought one down. The pilot had the

France 23   2   27.5.17
plane under control until within a couple
of hundred feet of the ground when it caught
on fire & crashed to earth. Both aviators were
killed. It fell in No Man's Land not far
from here & our patrols went out last night
& brought in the two bodies & also the two
machine guns. When the Archies are shooting
after a while the sky looks rather pretty
being dotted with puffs of black & white
smoke - black being H. E. shells & white shrapnel.
Fritz uses all H.E whilst we use mostly
shrapnel altho' lately we have also been
using H.E. Some of the bursts go so close one
could swear the plane was hit but it sails
serenely on - the aviators seem to treat the
Archies with contempt very seldom swerving
from their course on account of them except
when they are flying rather low. There
are a lot of swallows about just now. This
country is alive with insects of all sorts & I
should imagine is a Paradise for insectivorous
birds. Owing to the exigencies of the war
they are building in all sorts of quaint places.
One pair were building in the old dugout I 
have just left. Sometimes there would be
3 or 4 officers in there & as long as we kept
quiet they would carry on their building
operations without being frightened.

3 
France 23      27.5.17
The Australians had to return to Ordnance
on the 15th inst one of the two blankets
issued to each of them & have to hand in
the second one at the end of the month. Last
year the authorities let us kept one blanket
during the summer as we had just come
from the hot climate of Egypt & were not
acclimatised - the Tommies at that time
had no blankets on issue to them. I
have ^not written much about the weather of 
late, very different from a couple of months
ago when I was in Gun Valley  - then it
was a regular item of news (& complaint)
in my letters. The weather now is ideal -
we have perfect lovers moonlight nights at
present - pity they are being wasted! I
received today letters from Lil, Pater & Ern
dated 2.4.17,  2.4.17, & 18 (25).3.17 respectively.
Am glad that Tom has joined the Artillery 
in the A.I.F.  As he has held stripes in
the C.M.F. he ought to soon get them
again in the A.I.F. I wonder how 
long it will be before we three here
are as lucky as Ern in seeing all the
dear home faces again. This year, next
year, sometime - or never?
Fond love to all
your loving son 
Charlie 

1  
France 24   31.5.17
Dear Ern & Florie,
I was relieved from duty as liasion
officer yesterday at midday & arriving
back at the battery position found that
we were pulling out the guns that night
& going to the wagon lines for about a week
to re-equip & reorganize a bit after our
brigade will come out in turn for a week
In about a month's time I hear that Hal's,
Frank's and my artillery will at last get a
spell out of the line. They say it will
be for six weeks, to do some training.
I have been told that I am to go to the
next 1st A.N.Z.A.C. artillery School. It starts
in a few days & lasts for a month. The 
whole three of us are now out of the 
line & , if the report is true about the six
weeks training, we are likely to be so at
the time you receive this - two months hence.
Our wagon lines were shelled again a few
days ago & had to be moved. Frank also had
to move his - he has moved to a village on 
the left (facing Fritz) & we have moved to
further on the right than we have ever
been before. As we are the only troops in
this village we have splendid horse lines &
plenty of accomodation for the men in 

2
France 24    31.5.17
the ruined houses. We six officers are camped
in a fine large room which is practically
intact - all that is left of a fine big house.
This afternoon I took the gunners of my
section to a neighboring village so that they
could have a shower at the army baths
which have just been erected there. I 
had a smoke in the shade of the trees
until they had finished & then brought
them back. The next officer to take his
section to the baths used to be in the 
D.A.C. While his men were having a shower
he went and saw his pals at the D.A.C.
who were camped close by. He saw
Frank there & when he came back he told
me so after tea I rode across to see if
I could find him (Frank). He was playing
cricket when I got there. I had a yarn
to him for a little while & found out 
where he is camped - about 4 miles away
I did not stay long as we were going 
to fix up our subsections tonight
However when I got back two officers
from another battery were here so
for politeness sake ^ NO WORK is being done. One
of the officers has just returned from
leave to Paris & is giving our officers
an account of his experiences there so 

3 
France 24   31.5.17
I am seizing the opportunity to write you.
The D.A.C. are camped in the lovely grounds
of a chateau I have been there several 
times - once with Frank just before I went 
on leave & a couple of times in connection
with the recent court martial case. Frank
told me that he is now camped in a lovely
spot even prettier than where the D.A.C. is.
E If I haven't gone to the school by  then
I am going across to his wagon lines to
see him next Saturday afternoon. He is

looking very well but is getting very fat
again - he was too fat to run fast
after the ball when fielding at the 
cricket match this evening.  When
going back to the gun pits from the court-marshal
the other day three of us rode
back together. There was one officer from 
each battery & all three of us were
names Charles  the only 3 Charles in
the brigade.  I am sorry to say both the
other 2 Charles have been wounded
during the last few days but neither
seriously - I hardly think ifhr Fritz will
be so unkind as to hit the third

Charles  - ME.  The others are getting
a bit rowdy so I will finish this now.

Fond love to all three

Your loving brother Charlie

France 25  3.6.17
Dear Father & Mother,

Am now well out if the sound
of the guns - am at the 1st A.N.Z.A.C.
Artillery School which is due to last
for a month.  Our adjutant made a 
mess of notifying me & my N C O s  so we
were a couple of days late in arriving
here.  In consequence we also missed the
motor bus which brough the others to 
the school. I was not sorry for the latter
as I had to then make my own transport
arrangements. I mounted all my party on 
horses & took some drivers to take the horses
back to the wagon lines & I put our kits
on a "pill-box". we made a two days trip 
of it & and as the weather is now glorious & the 
country we passed thro' very picturesque
we had a very enjoyable ride.  When I 
arrived at the school  I was told that I
could not keep my own horses there but I
could make outside arrangements if I liked.
Hal's & Frank's old division is resting
around her & fortunately for me Hal's
old battery is at present acting as 
depot battery for the school. I went &
saw the officers & they were only too
glad for Hal's sake to attach my groom
& two horses on to their strength for

 

2
France 25    3.6.17
rations.  I am the only officer attending
the school who has his horses with him
so I am very lucky. As we have Wednesday
& Saturday afternoons and all day on 
Sundays off I am looking forward to 
seeing some of the pretty villages around
here & also to riding to the big town
which I visited when we were out
resting at Naoms. Jim Staley who was
with Hal's old battery when I visited
them at Naoms has been struck off their
strength as he has been away ill in
England for several months.  One of the
officers in it now, Lt Lord, had a brother
who was an officer in the L.H. with 
me at Seymour.  There are officers from 4

divisions at the school & a lot of them
know Hal & Frank & as there is an
officer from Frank's battery & the one who
used to be in it I feel quite friendly to
them all.  Coming here we rode along
one of the national routes - it had a 
fine avenue of plane & acacia trees, the 
latter in bloom, for part if the way &
for the rest the avenue  was composed

of apple trees.  I couldn't help thinking
how pleased the little boys would be
if we had avenues of apple trees along
 

3
France 3. 6. 17
our main roads in Australia. We 
passed along the same road when we 
went into the line last December but
it presented a very different aspect.

Then the trees were all bare of leaves
there were no crops or grass, & the road

was crowded with transport of every
description.  This time we had the road
practically all to  ourselves & the
country looked as tho' there hadn't been
a war in its vicinity for years.  We
passed several gangs of German prisoners
working on the road & I rather envied
them. Our "Government stroke" is hard

work compared to the way they work &

they have short hours, good quarters & 
rations. I think they know when they

are well off & they are not likely to 
try & escape. I met one of my old chums

of the days before I went to England
10 years ago. He is now a machine gun
officer, Lou Nathan,  He was riding
along by himself so I let my little
cavalcade go on & had a yarn to him.
Coming here I had to pass thro the 10
miles belt of shell torn ground of the 
Somme offensive.  It was astonishing

how nature has striven to hide its