Letters from Charles Edwin Gatliff to his family, January - September 1918 - Part 3

N° 59   1  Belgium 3  22.3.18
Dear Father & Mother

I phoned Hal tonight & told he told me

that Tom's transfer to 49 has been approved

so tomorrow ought to see Tom at Hal's wagonlines

& the next day at the gunpits with Hal.

I am very short of officers at present - this battery

is as badly off as when we were in here before

only this time, thank goodness, I am not a

subaltern, _ so I have been unable to pay Hal

a visit or go down to my wagonlines. Oh! I was

forgetting - several of us, including Hal & myself,

had to attend a Court of Enquiry the other

day so I went out my way to pick up

Hal & Major Lister. I regretted it afterwards -

first I had to cross a RIVER (so-called) & in

doing so had to pass a spot which Fritz had

been consistently strafing all the morning. I
got past there alright & was making a bee line
for a spot on a road where I had arranged to

meet Hal when Fritz dropped a 5.9 close to there.

I made a detour & got on to the road but

could see no sign of Hal. As the 5.9 seemed to
be an orphan I strolled down towards Hal's

battery. I heard a shell coming towards me

& stopped facing the sound. It sounded tired

& I judged that it would fall on a ridge

about ½ a mile in front of me. The next fraction

of a second I was down full length on the ground

(it is marvellous how quickly you can "flop"

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after you have had a few narrow escapes) for it

burst about 30 yds in front of me. No more

shells seemed to be coming so I walked a little

towards Hal's pillbox & stopped However Fritz

put another one over slightly increasing his

range & putting it over my way a bit. After

doing another artistic flop I decided that I

would like to see the interior of Hal's pillbox.

Fritz put over about 30 mostly along the road

that Hal & I thought of taking so we decided

to go & see Major Lister & take a track from

his battery. When we got back to Bde

Hdqrs Fritz sent a few Quick Dicks over

our heads mostly going over in the direction

of my wagonlines I did think of going there for

tea but the Quick Dicks took my inclination

away. Fritz has lately taken to using his

high velocity guns on towns villages & camps

in the back areas. I had to get in the

General's car to my wagonlines & bring back

one of my Sergeants as a witness. I passed a

Nissen hut that had been smashed into

matchwood. It was part of a dressing station

two men were sleeping in it & were only thrown

out of their beds by the shell (HV) bursting

near where our wagonlines are. So often that

the lads were at the gun pits have Christened it

the _ Express. The wind being favourable

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or us we have given Fritz a couple of doses

of gas the last few nights. He has retaliated

by bombarding us with gas shells the last

couple of mornings. Today we got word

that Fritz attacked on two of our Armies

fronts & also on the French front but was

unsuccessful in every case. One part he 

attacked was between Lagnicourt & [[?]]

the scene of his big raid when we were

down there, which ended so disastrously

for him. We also received information 

that there had been a naval engagement

off Dunkirk - German losses, 3 destroyers &

4 or 5 torpedo boats - our losses, nil

As soon as I know that Tom is with

Hal I will go across to see them - that is

if Fritz is behaving himself - if not, I

will be content to speak to them over

the phone. One good thing is, Fritz is

back on his Somme artillery tactics - he

keeps principally on one line & as long as

you are not his target you are pretty

safe, not like that hell at Ypres where

no matter where you were you never knew

that a shell would not land at your

feet. 

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

N°.60    Belgium   24.3.18

Dear Father & Mother

I rang up Hal last night & he

told me that Tom had reported at 49

gunpits that afternoon so now we are

all three in the same brigade. The

weather is glorious now, nice, warm, sunny

days, altho' there is a ground mist during

most of the day which makes it difficult

for observation. News is just beginning

to filter through about Fritz's big push

down Cambrai way. Apparently he has

met with some measure of success so I

suppose it will be "Australians to the

rescue" again - whenever there is big

fighting there you always find the "Aussies.

I may not have an opportunity of writing

you again for a little while in consequence.

I do hope this will be the last

big battle deciding one way or the other

which side is going to get the most favorable

peace terms. If not the war will go on

indefinitely. All leave has been cancelled

One of my subalterns had started on his way

to England & had to return (no! he didn't swear)

And after the 1st prox leave is to be down

from 14 days (winter) to 10 days (summer)!

Fond love to all from

Your loving son
Charlie 

N.° 61A Belgium 3   30.3.18

Dear little Mother

It is good receiving letters from you

so regularly. All I want is a few lines

each week to let us know that all our

loved ones in Australia, so far away, are

well.  Other news is of little importance

as it is so long ago since we left your

sunny shores that we are rather out of

touch with Australian affairs.

My last letter from you was dated

9.1.18. I received it nearly a fortnight ago

so another letter ought to be now due especially

as Hal & Tom had both received letters

darted about 25.1.18 the other day when I

was at Hal's wagonlines.

There is absolutely nothing you can

send us, dear, except your love &

news of home. Hal & I have plenty of

money at all times & being senior Officers

can always give a man a pass to get

us anything we require at any of the

towns behind the lines that we cannot

procure at the canteens. Tom is not

in such a fortunate position but he

now has both of us look after

him & help him in every way.

As for newspapers, Australian papers 

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are not much appreciated now - the war
news is so old by the time the paper reaches
us & as for local news, well! we have been
so long away that everything has altered
so that we cannot follow it properly.
The only Australian paper that is always
welcomed by the boys is the "Bulletin",
There is always one or two of every issue
knocking about which I manage to see.
The average English newspaper doesn't
contain much news but at the present
moment we send out a mounted man
to hunt until he can buy one. It
is good to see by the papers how
calmly the British public are taking
the seemingly big defeat the Germans
are now inflicting on us.
Hal received the snapshots Wilf
sent him all right but I don't
think he has yet received Edith's parcel.
Yes! I guess it will be a bit of a
job moving my "spheres" but they
will be of immense interest to us
boys after the war as we have been
on so many fronts now
In going thro' your letters I notice where
you say it does seem hard that we don't
receive your letters. Don't worry about that
dear I think we get most of them a
attached list of letters I have received since I came
back from leave in Jan. will shew
Fondest love from your loving son
Charlie 

N° 62   1  Belgium 3  1.4.18

Dear Father & Mother

It is strange that the weather always

seems to favor Fritz. In our big offensives

last year against him at Ypres we were

prevented several times from following him,

after we had started to push him back,

by the inclement weather now, during the present

crisis, the weather was glorious nearly all

March giving him a chance to mass his

troops & launch them in a big attack.

After several days success on his part

while the fine weather lasted just when

we were beginning to hold him & were 

expecting to do a big counter attack the

weather broke & it has been raining for

the last 3 or 4 days. From what information

we can gather hostilities have practically

ceased down there so I suppose Fritz has

taken advantage of the wet weather to

consolidate his positions & strengthened his line
of communications. However the weather has
now improved so something big may eventuate

on our part in the course of the next few days

For the last month we have scarcely seen

a Hun plane altho the weather has been

favorable for flying. Fritz relied on his "Archies"

to keep our planes from getting too cheeky while

he saved his planes for the Somme offensive.

Yesterday however a Taube came over, as the weather 

2   1.4.18

was fine, evidently to get some information as

to what had been going on behind our lines here

during the offensive down South. What he learnt

was of no use to him as he was speedily brought

down by our Archies close to this position. Today

another Taube came over for a few minutes but was

driven back by our A.A. fire.  We have had no

news the last couple of days as regards the situation
down South "Situation Quiet" is all the official wires

state. I suppose be for very long we will be

finding out for ourselves. I dare say this will be the

last letter you will receive from me for  some little

time.  Rather a coincidence the other day - I

^received letters from two one time B.Cs of mine now in England

Capt Ken Prior who was my B.C.  in 51 at Fleurbaix

& has since been to Australia & back, & Capt

Mellor who was B.C. here for a couple of weeks

after Major Thornthwaite left us. I have xxxx been

in command for five weeks but may get relieved

at any time now either by Capt Mellor or a new

B.C. I have written you a couple of

times about the 3 Charlies of this brigade. We

are all now battery captains Charlie Chase 49^th

Charlie Orr 51^th & Charlie Gatliff 50^th. Last

year we received our Xmas boxes from the Comforts Fund

about Mar 10^th - this year we received them on Mar. 25^th

a few days ago - they were in time for Easter, if not

for Xmas Fond love to all

Your loving Son Charlie

N°63  1    France 4  9.4.18

Dear Father & Mother

This morning I had to ride up to our
gunpits so went & saw Hal whose guns are
close to ours - too close to be pleasant - they
are first behind ours & last night had a
premature which wounded one of our sergeants.
Hal is looking well but is not exactly
leading a life of luxury now as he is living
a small dugout in an embarkment - quite
like the old days of the Somme & plenty of mud
about as for the last fortnight we have had
a lot of rain- April showers. One good thing

the ground has not been torn up by shell fire
& we have good roads to the guns. This
afternoon I sent across the 49^th W.L. & asked
for Tom to be allowed to come & see me so
that I could write you tonight about both
Hal & Tom. Tom came across with about 3 days
growth of beard. He had lost his haversack on
the trek down. Luckily I had some spare gear
so was able to fix him up. He is well &
likes the life. I thing it will do him the
world of good. He admits that he is only too
glad to eat now whatever he can get. He
stayed to dinner & tonight wrote some letters here.
I am quite O.K. & having an easy time at
wagonlines   Fond love to all from all

Your loving Son Charlie 

 Photograph - see original document

Third London General Hospital,

Trinity Road

Wandsworth, S.W. 18

7.5.18

Dear Father & Mother

Am still in above hospital

but expect that I will be

boarded in a few days & sent

to a convalescent home. I

heard Gen Ryan say to the

sister that I could be massaged

just as well in a convalescent

home as in hospital. I have

been lying on my back ever

since I hurt it on Apr 24^th

I got up for a couple of hours

yesterday morning & sat in

a chair in front of the fire

I felt rather tired afterwards

& slept heavily most of the

afternoon. A girl comes in