Letters from Charles Edwin Gatliff to his family, January - September 1918 - Part 6

No. 6    2   3        4.7.18

 

was complete with officers he was not wanted

so got a job on Headquarters where he has been

all of the two years in France. He is Corps

Traffic Officer at present. Lieut Billy Coleman

who took the 12/4 L.H. Regts with me to

Egypt is on the same corps hdqrs as William

Coleman is O.C. theatres & amusements. I

think I told you that last year I met Lieut

Phil Bayliss (L.H) at Ypres where he was

acting as Corps Timekeeper dashing about in

a motor synchronising watches. So you see

some of my old L.H. chums have dropped into

good billets - even old Jack Mulliner is on the

Anzac Div Hdqrs in Palestine. However I

have raced them all in promotion - Mulliner

was made a captain after me & the others

are still "loots". The last time I saw William

was over two years ago in Egypt. Today is

America's Independence Day. Yesterday Havre,

which is a big base for American troops, was

gaily decorated with flags, principally French

& American & today a great celebration is

taking place there. France seems to have

forgotten poor old Britain - posters are pasted

all over Havre bearing the inscription

"Amerique champion le droit" & "Amerique

savieur de France". Enough!

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

No.7     1    France 4      6.7.18

 

Dear Father & Mother,

After 30 hours at the R.A. Refts Camp I

have moved a little nearer the line. This

is our Div. Refts Wing Camp at our Corps Refts

Camp. It was from here that I entrained in

the Ambulance train from the line when I hurt

my back a couple of months ago.  This

afternoon our infantry held some sports here.

Besides details passing thro' each battalion has

a nucleus camp. There were a lot of officers

at the sports but I only knew two, Capt Les

Schott of Carlton & Lt O'Meara both of the-

Batt. O'Meara was in the next bed to me at

No.8 Gen Hosp. at ROUEN. Of the officers belonging

to battalions that I did most of my liaison

& F.O.O. duties with I knew none. All the

old officers I knew are either gradually getting

killed or being wounded & sent to England or

Australia.  Capt Moyan, of my school, who I

last saw at MESSINES was killed the other

day getting a 5.9 all to himself. The pity

of it is he was a married man. When

we were at the R.A. camp on July 4th we

heard a terrific bombardment. The papers

yesterday & today contain accounts of

the brilliant little stunt carried out by

the Australians assisted by Americans

air planes & tanks in the taking of HAMEL

Vaire Wood & Ridge. I am thankful they

No.7      2         4         6.7.18

 

have taken the ridge as Fritz had splendid

observation from it. He observed from there

my battery moving into QUERRIEU when we

moved down to the Somme early in April

when he shelled us - the dirty dog!

Our div arty was out at rest for about

5 days close to the R.A. Refts camp. They

got sudden orders to return to the line a

couple of days before I got there. I was

sorry to have missed them. Now it transpires

that they returned for the 4th July stunt &

it was their guns I heard a couple of days

ago. I move off from here tomorrow but as

I shall have to pass thro' 2 staging camps

I expect it will be 3 or 4 days before I

reach the batteries. I thought I

had finished with beds & clean sheets

when I reached HAVRE, but I am in one

of the best billets here that I have ever

been in & a large room all to myself

with a nice bed & nice clean sheets It

is about the best house in the village

since the stunt the other day we haven't

heard a gun fire. Fritz is taking a long

spell - we are all wondering where his

next push will be - it is bound to come

soon. One good thing, we have a fine lot of

Americans over here now - as you will have seen

in the papers, over 1,000,000 on July 4th.

Fond love to all   Your loving son  Charlie

No.8        1     France 5    8.7.18

 

Dear Father & Mother,

On the morning of the 6th inst. a lot of

our div details marched under an infantry

captain from the Reft Wing to the Corps Staging

Camp. I left in the afternoon on a motor lorry

with the kits. On arriving at the staging camp

I found the O.C. was an old L.H. pal of mine,

Lieut Lord. A small word separated the

staging camp from the aerodromes of 3 R.A.F.

squadrons. The planes were buzzing about

like a swarm of bees, doing all sorts of

fancy stunts & some of them used to do

a dive & fire their machine gun at a

target in the wood. Sometimes they would

fly over our tents only about 50 ft from the

ground. They made me jump several times -

they made me think of the time when the

Fritz plane dived & fired a few shots at me

when I was walking along the duck walk to

Broodallende Ridge. Yesterday morning we

had reveille at 4.30a.m, breakfast at 5 a.m., &

the men moved off from the camp at 6a.m.

The infantry & other details went to the Divisional

staging camp, but I took charge of the artillery

& sent them on to our D.A.C. which is at present

out of the line. I followed at 7 a.m. in the motor

lorry with the kits. Unfortunately our D.A.C.

is camped the other side of a big town which

is closed to all troops, so our kits (& myself)

No.8      2.      5  8.7.18

 

were dumped at a cross roads only 1½ miles

from the staging camp. I left a guard on the

kits & proceeded here (about 8 miles away) on

foot. I got a lift in a French cart driven

by two French peasant women for about a

mile to -----------. Here I met some D.A.C. men

mounted on mules proceeding to the railhead

to go on leave to Paris. I decided to

wait until they were returning & then get

a ride on one of the mules. I strolled thro'

the village & found the 13th A.L.H. were billeted

there. While I was standing at a corner wondering

where their officers (some of whom I know) were

some of them came along. It was 8.30a.m. & they

were going to breakfast. One of them came across to

me. He was Lieut Peritt who used to be a cpl

when I was L.H. adjt. at Seymour. While I

was talking to him a party of mounted artillery

men rode along. At their head was Captain

Reynolds who was our brigade veterinary officer

when I left. He told me he had been transferred

while he was talking to me the 13 A.L.H.

interpreter joined us. He also was at one

time with our brigade as interpreter - Dr

Longchamps is his name. Rather a coincidence

the thrill ^of us all at one time together in the 

same brigade & now all three in different

units, meeting unexpectedly in a little village.

During my wait for the D.A.C. men to return

No.8        3        5       8.7.18.

 

a car dashed along in which was Major

McKenzie. ADVS 3rd Div, one time vet. officer

of the 4th A.L.H. Unfortunately he was going

in the opposite direction to the way I wanted

to go. As the D.A.C. men were a long while

in returning I decided to walk on so

as a L.H. trooper which was the right road.

After talking to him for a while I mentioned

my name. He asked if I was from Emerald.

He turned out to be young J. schampion

(pronounced Champion) whose father had a

small vineyard at Great Western when Ern

& I were there, & then had the property

adjoining "Kookaburra" between us & J.B.S.

I walked thro' several deserted villages &

arrived here about 11 a.m.I found that my

men had reported at the D.A.C. alright so I

went & reported at D.A.H.Q. in the village

next to this. The Brigade Major & Staff Captain

were away but I saw Capt Mellor who is

acting as B.M. trainee. He told me to report

to the C.O. of the D.A.C. until the Staff Captain

decided to what unit I was to go to.

Rather strange, both Capt Mellor & Major

Thornthwaite C.O. of D.A.C. have both been

my O.C. in the 50th Bty. I am at present

attached to No.1 Section 5th-D.A.C.- doing nothing.

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

 

Capt C E Gatliff

5th D.A.C.

A.I.F.

No.9       1     France 5  13.7.18

 

Dear Father & Mother

On the 9th the No.1 Section D.A.C., to which

I was attached, moved into the line so I

was transferred to No.2. section, which is

still out of the line but is likely to go in

at any time now. When I was at our

Div Reft Wing Camp the adjt wanted me

to act as prosecutor on a F.G.C.M. but I

managed to get out of it. Yesterday a

F.G.C.M. sat here & I was detailed as

prosecutor in five cases. The court was

supposed to assemble at 2 P.M. but owing

to the Corps Courts Martial Officer (permanent

member of all F.G.C.M.) being detained it

did not sit until 8 P.M. & my last case

finished at 10.45P.M. This is the only

duty I have done since I have been with

the D.A.C. They don't do any training like

the batteries do when out at rest & there

are plenty of subalterns here to do

the stables routine & orderly officer stunt

We are billeted in evacuated houses

(no furniture) & the horse lines are

situated in a wood on the banks of

a canal. It is a good camp except

that there are too many mosquitoes

& flies. I have visited several of 

the small villages round here - altho

they are from 12 to 15 miles from the

No.9    2       5     13.7.18

 

front line they are nearly all completely

evacuated, like the big town close by.

I don't think Fritz is likely to get as

far as this, but I suppose the folk

who were here did not want to run

the risk of sharing a similar fate to

the villagers who lost everything in

Fritz's advance on the Somme in March.

At one time only British troops were

to be seen behind the British front but

one can easily see that it is an

Allied Army fighting here, as during

the last few days I have met Tommies,

Australians, New Zealanders, Americans,

Italians, French poilus, zonowes, spalies,

& Chinese- it is indeed a cosmopolitian

army in these parts. Coming from the

base to here are I saw enormous numbers of

American troops. I only wish their

aeroplanes would commence to arrive as

I think air tactics are going to be

a large factor in ending the war.

I heard from some of the batteries'

officers who attended the F.G.C.M. that

Hal & Tom are both O.K.  I am

longing for letters & news of home but

the batteries are too far away at present

for me to go for my mail.

Fond love to all

Your loving son  Charlie

No.10        1               France  6      15.7.18

 

Dear Father & Mother,

We left our camp at rest at 9 p.m.

last night & arrived here in the line at

2.30 a.m. All "treks" near the line are now

done at night. The weather lately has been

warm & sultry during the day with rain

& thunderstorms at night. Last night was

no exception - it commenced to rain when

we were half way on our march & lasted

until we "turned in".We fixed up a large

tarpaulin (an ammunition cover) & crawled

into our valises under it & were soon asleep.

It was good to be on a horse again altho'

I did not go out of a walk. I hope I can

get my little pony "Snip" back again.

The battery wagon lines are all near here

We are between Brigade Hdqrs W.L & Hal's

battery's W.L. My old battery's W.L are about

a mile away. Today I went to the Bde P.O.

& got a nice budget of letters, & I also went

to 49 W.L & saw Capt Chase. I was lucky

enough to find Tom there, altho' he expects

to go on a relief up to the guns tonight.

Tom is looking very well & has broadened

a lot. He seems to treat the war as a

huge joke & is always smiling; but he is

young & fresh & has not seen the horrors

of war like we older soldiers saw at

Ypres last year- Ypres & Hell were

No.10      2       6      15.7.18

 

synonymous in those days - I often wonder

at the number of us who came out alive

from there. The letters I received today

were 4 from Lil, dated 27.3.18, 6.4.18, 20.4.18

& 11.5.18; 2 from Ern, 22.4.18 (with snapshots)

5.5.18; 1 from mater, 29.4.18; 1 from Pater,

5/12.5.18; & 1 from Wilf 12.5.18 (with snaps

enclosed. It was grand getting such a

fine lot of home letters after being without

any news for nearly  six weeks - the

snapshots were particularly welcome.

Tonight I heard that there are some more

letters for me at 50 Wagonlines - hooray! I

believe we have to move our camp tomorrow

so I may not be able to get my letters from

50 W.L. or be able to visit Hal at his

battery position. Our batteries are having

a very quiet time - they are super-imposed

(only fire if there is a S.O.S.) & Hal has

a 30 feet deep dugout to camp in so he

is pretty safe. A new censorship

regulation is, that all letters must have

writer's rank, name &  unit at the end --

here are mine:-   Please address

Capt C.E. Gatliff    letters as before.

5th D.A.C.                Fond love to

A.I.F.                          All

Your loving son

Charlie