Letters received by Field Marshal Lord William Birdwood, 3 January 1917 – 14 December 1917 - Part 5

Tout mon bons
souhaits et mon meilleur
souvenant, mon cher
camarade.
Je savait que votre troupe
avaient été trés belle
sur le Front Francais.
Ici, nous nous preparons.
Tout à vous - 
Sarrail
Commandant en chif les
Armées alliées en Orient.

Expedition: Gnl Sarrail
PASSED BY CENSOR N^o 4141
FIELD POST OFFICE
B 13 FE 17

Général Birdwood
1st Anzac Corps
France 

FIELD POST OFFICE H.C.I. FE 25 17
  
DONATED RECOR
3376
3rd Series (9)

London
16 Feb 1917

Dear Sir
With reference to my
telegram concerning an appeal
to G.H.Q., the copy of the cable
you sent to Australia is certainly
not quite what I had been
led to believe. At the same
time your views, as expressed
in your letter, were entirely
unexpected by me.  Any Appeal
even if upheld would in these 
circumstances be futile,
because I should still have
to return to Australia.
General White has no
doubt informed you that 

I am leaving England by
the Kaisar-i-hind today.
I trust your opinion of
the 2nd Aust. Div. may 
now be changed
Yours obediently 
JW Legge  

Gen. Sir W^m Birdwood, KCB&c
Comd 1^st Anzac
France

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GENERAL HEAD QUARTERS, 
BRITISH ARMIES IN FRANCE. 
19TH FEBRUARY, 1917. 
No. MS/H/ 4806. 

My dear General 
With reference to your letter of the 16th instant, 
the following is the correct position regarding the award 
of Foreign decorations to British Officers & Men. 
Anyone is eligible for a decoration from each Allied 
Power provided he is nominated by name by that Power. 
This is what you refer to as a "personal" decoration. 
No officer or man (excepting in the case of officers 
of the highest rank) may be proposed by the Commander-in- 
Chief for more than one decoration " out  of  a  bag". 
Therefore, an officer or man may have one decoration 
on the nomination of the C-in-C, plus as many as he is 
nominated for by Allied Powers. 
The Montenegrin decorations were considered "personal" 
decorations. 
I have heard nothing about the French calling for 
further names. 
Yours  
WE Peyton 

Lt-Gen. Sir W.R. BIRDWOOD, 
KCSI.,KCMG.,CIE.,DSO.

Pine Wood 
Ferndown 
Nr. WImborne 
20.2.17 

My Dear General Birdwood 
So my many thanks for your 
very kind letter of sympathy on the loss of the 
good old Cornwallis. We were struck by 2 torpedoes, 
the 1^st at 7.58 am, & the 2^nd about 900 ___ 
As you may imagine, the discipline & conduct of 
officers & men were splendid. We had 
special stability arrangements for uprighting 
the ship when heeled, they worked admirably 
& as soon as the ship was upright boats were 
got out. In the meantime the destroyer escort kept on 
circling the ship so as to keep the submarine down, 
& about 8.30 I got her alongside putting about

600 men into her & the final140 into boats. 
they were all well clear when 2nd. torp. hit ship though I remained 
onboard as I wanted to see the state of 
deck below & also paid a visit to my after 
cabin to make certain of security of 
confidential books - & on going forward 
to the fore & aft bridge the 2^nd. torpedo hit 
us envelopping me in a cloud of water, 
steam & flying debris, however providentially 
I was unhurt & was able to climb down 
the side & drop into my boat before the old ship 
turned turtle & sank. The 2^nd. torp only missed 
the destroyer by a few feet. Ultimately I ordered 
all boats crew into Destroyers who took us 
all safely to Malta -I was so thankful to know 
that barring the loss of 13 lives by explosion 

DRL 
3376

2 
& so proud of conduct of officers 
& men that I had the blow much lessened. 
I am now on leave & at moment of 
writing laid up with acute bronchitis & 
gas poisoning, so am rather piano, however 
it is great happiness to see my children 
again though 1 son is at school & the  
other in the "Benbow", the latter I'm glad to 
say is fairly happy. As a Court of Inquiry 
was held & the young bullies got a dressing  
down & kicked out of the ship. I dont know 
what my fate will be. I lost one job thro 
being sick. I had a very nice letter from 
Adl De Robeck. in reply to my yarn telling him about 
the ship being sunk, but he said that he had no 
power whatever in the way of appointments

in his battlesquadron as that lies entirely [[?]] 
the Adty which alas for me though good for the 
country is entirely composed of Grand Fleet. officers, 
So there is nothing doing for Dardanelles 
Captains I expect, however I'm not proud, 
& will do any job I'm called upon to do. 
I can't do more than satisfy my own 
Admirals afloat, for the rest I must wait. 
Please excuse this scrawl written in 
bed. Im looking forward to the Great 
Offensive & only wish I could be your  
ADC or orderly 
Yours very sincerely 
AP Davidson 

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3376 
3rd Series (9)