Letters from Charles Edwin Gatliff to his family, January - September 1918 - Part 7

N^o 11

Port Noyelles

France
18.7.18

Dear Father & Mother

Just a few hurried lines for

Hal to post when he is on leave.

I rode up to the battery last night

& saw both Hal & Tom at Ribemont.

Hal is coming down here this morning

& I am seeing him at 9 a.m. His

wagonlines are at Frechencourt 1½

miles from here. The place numbers on

my letters this trip are 1 Boulogne 2

a GBD Havre 3 Lieurcourt in Port Remy

(Somme Valley) 4 Pernois-sur-Somme 5

Petit St Jean SW Amiens 6 Frechencourt

7 Port Noyelles between Albert & Amiens.

The C.O. is going on leave with Hal

so he will have a good holiday - the

weather is very warm at present with

thunderstorms every day. Hal & Tom

are both in good health I have a bit

of a kink in my back this morning

after my ride last night. The bty

is about 6 miles from here. I got wet

thro' by a thunderstorm coming home

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

 

N^o 12

1

France 7
19.7.18

Dear Father & Mother,

On the 17th I rode to 49 gunpits

to see Hal. It was a very sultry day so

I did not leave here until 5 P.M. I

walked my horse most of the way because

of my back so it was nearly 7 p.m. when

I got to the battery but even then I was

glad to get out of the heat down into

Hal's deep dugout which was like an

ice-chamber. Hal was looking splendid

& was expecting his leave thro' at any

moment. While I was talking to Hal

by one of the gunpits Tom joined us

so the Gatliffs had a family reunion.

Coming home I rode into a thunderstorm

as I hadn't an overcoat I got nicely

wet through. Early yesterday morning

I received a memo from Hal saying that

he & Colonel Caddy were going on leave

to England & asking me to meet them

at 49 W.L. at 9 a.m. I was there on

time. Hal turned up at 11 a.m. & said 

the C.O. would not be down until

2 p.m. I had lunch with Hal & Chase

& waited until 4.45 p.m. Then I

started to return to here as I wanted

to finish paying the D.A.C. I had

commenced the pay the day before. I

had got about half way here when

 

N^o 12

2

7
19.7.18

an orderly overtook me & said the C.O. was

at BHQ W.L. & would like to see Hal &

me there. I went there & had a yarn to

the Colonel & saw him & Hal off in a

motor car at 6 P.M. to catch their leave train.

I don't think I have told you that this

section of the DAC moved their camp on

the 16^th to a place about a mile & a half

from their previous camp, so I am not so

handy to the batteries' wagon lines now

Yesterday I had a bad "kink" in my

back after my ride the previous evening -

I was careful & only trotted about a

mile too. I hope there will be no permanent

ill-effects from my accident - the

thought of having weak legs & a bad back

is causing me a lot of worry - still, if

I am spared to return home with

nothing worse, I suppose I have a lot

to be thankful for. This is the latest

"gag" here after the taking of Hamel by

the Australians & Americans. Some

Americans captured a German who

said to them "What did you want to

come into the War for - you can't win,

for we have God fighting on our

side" One of the Yanks replied,

"That's nothing! We must win for we

have the Australians fighting on our

 

N^o 12

3

7
19.7.18

side." Hal will notice the shortage

of food when he gets to England for this

is the land of plenty (plenty of food - &

plenty of "strafe"). The authorities are

feeding the troops well, our rations are

the same as at the beginning of the war

We get a good issue of meat & sugar which

are very scarce in England & we get

white bread while in Blighty they are

eating awful black stuff called war

bread made from wheat, maize & potatoes.

Things are very quiet in the valley where

our camp is altho' every day Fritz shells

the villages in front of us with his big

guns & occasionally shells for the big

town in our rear go over our heads.

This afternoon, however, he sent a

shell into a wheat field not far from

us. I don't know what his idea was

as he did not send any more to keep

it company. It set us thinking for a

while. We have heard a heavy bombardment

down South on the French front &

news is coming through that, after Fritz

did a big attack, the French made a

successful counter-attack & have advanced

a good distance & captured a lot of guns

& prisoners  

Capt C.E. Gatliff

5^th D.A.C.

A.I.F.  

Fond love to all

Your loving son

Charlie

 

N^o 13

1

France 7
21.7.18

Dear Father & Mother,

I got my letters from 50th W.L. They were :-

(1) Paters dated 6.4.18 (1) Mater's . . . (1) Ern's dated 7.4.18

& (1) Wilf's 28.3.18 enclosing snapshots. I also

received a letter from M^rs McMullin, Sister of

a chum of mine killed at Westhock, asking 

me to visit them whenever I return to

Australia; also a telegram from my old L.H.

chum, Jack Mulliner, asking me to lunch

with him at Regent Palace Hotel on June 17th

The telegram had been sent to the British-

Australasian & forwarded from there. I know

Jack was likely to be on leave in Blighty

from Palestine & hoped to meet him when I

was over there in hospital but I missed him.

Yesterday I received an envelope minus

contents from my pre-war chum Barrie

Phillips. When I last wrote to Mulliner I

asked him to give Barrie my address. Barrie's

letter was evidently part of a mail that was

torpedoed for the envelope had a slip

attached "Damaged by sea water through

enemy action". The letter had been written

with an indelible pencil so I suppose was

rendered too illegible by the sea water to

be worth sending on to me. I would liked

to have had news from Barrie. I have not

seen him since we left Egypt, he going to

Palestine & I going to France.

 

 

N^o 13

2

7
21.7.18

In reading a volume of Burn's poems the other

day I came across these lines: -

"In the cause of Right engaged,

Wrongs injurious to redress,

Honour's war we strongly waged

But the Heavens denied success."

They seemed to me to be particularly appropriate

to the Allied cause. We have had further

news of the French & American success near

Soissons 20,000 prisoners & 200 guns captured

I wonder if it is the turn of the tide in

the Allies favor. Every night when

it is not raining we can hear Fritz's

planes overhead & can hear him "laying eggs".

So far he has dropped no bombs in our

immediate vicinity altho' two nights after
we "came in" he dropped one which wounded
to of our Trench Mortar officers. They had
been camped near us out at rest & came
into the line with us. The day before
we came in a Fritz plane flew over here &
brought down two of our "sausages" (observation
balloons) & the day after we arrived he came
over & brought down another. I saw the
latter incident - the two observers in the
balloon made a safe descent in their
parachutes. There were four "sausages" &
when Fritz "got" the first balloon the
observers in the other 3 balloons all ^decided
 

N^o 13
3
7
21.7.18
to "get out & get under" per parachute after
the incident two days previously - it takes
some time to haul a balloon down out of
danger. It was an interesting sight to
see one balloon in flames, three others
coming down, & 8 men with parachutes in
the air at one time. Our planes squared
accounts as after the first of Fritz's events
they brought down 4 of his "sausages" & after
the second event brought down another one.
As I am a "spare part' owing to our being
overstrength in captains & now that my back,
as well as my legs, is weak I have
applied for leave to Australia. It would
almost be too good to be true if it were
granted me. I believe Alan Fitcher
is about here Tom has seen him but up
to date I have not run across him.
The other day 57 of our planes flew over
us at the same time - they looked like
a flock of crows. Hal says that he
thinks the negative of "Jerry & Gusty" is in
his spare kit dumped up north. He thinks
he has a print in his kit in London; if he
has he will send it to mater.
fond love to all
Your loving son
Charlie
Capt C.E. Gatliff
5^th D.A.C.
A.I.F.
 

N^o 14
1
France 7
22.7.18
Dear Father & Mother,
I have nothing particularly interesting to write
about, but as playing the gramaphone & letterwriting
is all that there is to do of any evening, & you
three lots of home folk are about the only ones
that I write to, I have been writing you nearly
every evening lately. Altho' most of the
towns where we were resting, about 12 miles back
from here, were evacuated, in the two villages close
by us there are still several villagers living - whether
from love of their homes or love of profit it is
hard to say. They all have a few cows & hens &
sell their proceeds to the troops - eggs, (oeufs) which
are very popular, cost ½ franc each. milk 1 franc
a litre (1½ pints), & butter 5 francs ½ Kilo (1 lb).
Some of them also sell wine & beer, which they
sell to the soldiers at about three times the
price they charge French civilians. Our
first camp, when we came in, was situated on
the side of a hill between two terraces - all
the hills are terraced in France so that it
can be ploughed easily. This camp is down
in the valley - the horse lines in an avenue
of trees with a canal one side & a lagoon on
the other. This fact, combined with earth works
6 feet high behind & intersecting them, makes
them fairly bomb proof. The men are camped
under trench covers in a clump of trees
between the canal & a toy railway with a
 

No 14
2
7
22.7.18
2 ft gauge (they are called Decauvilles). It looks
like the pictures you see of the tent & shanty
towns at a gold rush. The old circular "bell"
tent is very seldom seen over here now - they
are used principally at rest & training camps
& at the bases. In their place we are issued
with tarpaulins (so-called, for they are not
dressed with tar), varying in size, capable of
covering from 6 to 20 men. They are either square
or oblong & can be adapted to any type of
dwelling - to cover a dugout or trench, to patch
up a shell-damaged building, or they can be
erected over a frame & be used as a tent.
They are known as "trench covers". In addition
each subsection has a large tarpaulin for use
as a harness cover; & the D.A.C. carries several
large ones for covering ammunition, if a dump
is established. The boys are having a
great time this warm weather swimming
in the lagoons. It reminds me of the
swimming parades we used to have in
Lake Timsah on the Suez Canal. They also
pass the time away with fishing rods & nets,
but, so far. I have not seen them catch any
fish. The flies are an awful nuisance here -
as the weather is hot & sultry & generally rains
every evening, the flies are too loving - they cling
to one too much for my liking. There doesn't
seem to be any mosquitoes about her, thank
 

 

N^o 14
3
7
22.7.18
goodness! If there was, life would be a misery
with them at night & the flies by day. 
Since I have been with the D.A.C. I have altered
my opinion of the mule. I was previously under
the impression that they would kick at any-
& everything within reach. Out of about 200
mules here there is only one that is unsafe
to walk behind. There is no doubt that this
long campaign has done a lot towards taming
them - like it has the men. The Yanks
& our "diggers" seem to chum well together.
They are much the same type as our men -
free & easy, loose-limbed, healthy, & self-reliant -
very different from the average Tommy, who,
if you see him by himself, looks like a
dog who has lost his master. The Yanks
are also very keen & we have the pick of
them to help us now when our need is
greatest. It is hard to say when the
war will end - I am afraid not until next
year at the earliest. I only hope it is
over before young Wilf has time to enter
the fray.
Fond love to all
Your loving son
Charlie
Capt C.E. Gatliff
N^o 2 Section
5^th D.A.C.
A.I.F.