Correspondence between Field Marshal Lord William Birdwood and Lady Janetta Birdwood, 1915 - Part 13

You will see that I have done all I can to find out about
poor "Punch's" husband and I fear there can be no doubt
about it that he was killed. There were a tremendous lot killed
on 25 - 26 April down at "Y" landing where some of Genls. Hunter-
Westons & Paris' Divisions landed & I fancy he must have been killed
then buried in a common grave with many others. Such a pity
too, as from his Colonel's letter, he was quite an exceptionally
fine fellow. General Paris to whom I wrote, commands 
the Marine Division. Poor woman I do feel so sorry for her,
& I suppose she is left very badly off - any children?
How are you sleeping now little one. Well, I do hope - and Nancy
tells me you are all well, while May in writing the other day
said you both looked so fit & pretty - ahem!- You simply must
sleep all right. By the bye have you had Chris' teeth looked
at lately? If no do write to Mr Rintunl & tell him to send
Chris along to the dentist at once just to be overhauled. As
I am sure this is so very essential with all boys &
should be done constantly with them - every six months I think.
Talking of teeth - I wonder if you'd look in the little brown
leather box in which I keep my studs etc - & which I
sent home from Egypt in this rather nice brown leather
squarish box. In this small box you will find an
old tooth plate of mine, which you might send me-
not that I want it at present, but you never know

2)  when you may not break your plate or chip a 
tooth off it, & if I did this now, I should be quite

done, so always like to have the old one handy - See it is

very much wrapped up in cotton wool, as it's no good
risking breaking it.
There is a small middy here who reminds me so much of Chris &
who tells me his father was at Clifton. A boy called Bush who 
says he will be 16 in August, but who really looks 10. Such a
tiny little child & yet very much all there, so much so that
they call him "Commander Bush", for he commands everything! They
each have to take charge of a picket boat & I fancy it does them
a lot of good having a little show of their own while so young,
& teaches them to be very spry too, for it's not too easy manoeuvering
their boats about & alongside ships when big seas are on -
at present though, it is always very calm. I had this little chap
to come in to dinner with me one night, which he quite
enjoyed & made laugh with his schoolboy talk. "All the
other "shots'" etc.

I'm very glad you sent £20 to the Aust. War Contingent
Association - that was quite right - But don't run
away with the idea that we are too well off! Just
at present while I am here a good deal of money -
practically all my pay is being paid into the Bank
& accumulating there, though I may have to draw a certain

amount here at any time - But you must remember
this will not always go on and we will have heavy
expenses later on - going out to India - setting up house there
again somewhere (we still have to pay for Somerleyton this
year) - getting all our kit about India - etc. etc - while all
ordinary expenses are bound to go up enormously - Also my little
one though I have every idea & intention of coming through
everything perfectly safely, yet you must look all possibilities
squarely in the face & do what you can to provide for
them. With shells & bullets constantly flying about, &
likely to do so, as far as one can see for a long time yet
there may always be a chance of catching one - though the
chances are of course very much the other way - But if

anything happened to me either at the war or ordinarily in any
other way, my big pay would stop at once, & you would
only have the much smaller pension. So I should like to
think that you had everything possible, and any
accumulated pay now, would be a tremendously good
thing & would mean so much. Read the article
I enclose which I happened to see in the Times this
morning, and which really is a think. Every single
English man & woman should think of & keep in mind
for the sake of the country. Don't you imagine for

3)  for one second that I am hinting or thinking of
you being extravagant, for indeed I am not - for not
only do I think, but I know you to be so very much
the opposite & you never spend money unnecessarily-
The Times article however puts things in rather a new
light & shows how necessary it is to buy nothing that has
to be imported - i.e. for which money has to be sent out of
India England. Of course there is practically nothing you can
do personally in this regard as I don't suppose you eat or 
wear imported things - but many people might help - e.g.
the planting of vegetables everywhere possible - rearing fowls 
for eggs etc. would mean a lot of money not going abroad. If
all tried in their tiny way, as all do in Germany, the
total results would be enormous. Then if Watson cares
to invest your money in Govt. Loans well & good - It is
lending money to the country where it is wanted - i.e. if
this loan has not already been fully subscribed which
I rather believe to have been the case. That however
he would know all about, & arrange for you if necessary.
Your father too, I fancy uses practically no imported
things, while I am sure he will be all on for
having no unnecessary waste in the kitchen -
coal etc - etc. Which are all things the Germans now
save on so much - I don't quite know why I have

written all this - but it certainly isnt because
I want to say you are extravagant in any way, my
little one, for I know you are not.
I told you I think that I got back my own Australian
& New Zealand troops all right again - In fact I put 
them thro train a month ago after von Sanders big

 attack on me, as I felt it safer having them here
in case he came on again in large numbers. I then
got rid of the two Brigades of the Naval Division & was not
at all sorry to do so, as they were nearly useless, though
I believe they have improved by now. Punch's husband
belonged to one of these, but not to any of the Battalions
which I had with me.
I am glad Nancy is to make herself useful in the
Harefield Park hospital - it is just as well every girl
should do something now a days if she can & down
there it should be healthy & the work will do her
good. A good deal of the correspondence about
the starting of that hospital passed through my hands
when I was in Egypt Mr B-L write to me about
it, telling me all about his vegetable & fowl
raising arrangements. I told him how
grateful all the Australians were to him. 

4)  I'm glad too that Mrs Freemantle is down there, as she
can always look after Nancy a bit if necessary, & she will
be able to go down to tea with her etc she is tired-out
I daresay it will be harder work at first than Nancy has
bargained for - but it's an excellent thing that she has taken 
it up - and very good of old Sir G. Reid to have bothered to
get it for her. I am glad you went to that Memorial service
at St. Paul's as the Australians & Sir G.R. will have liked it.
And I hope you will have gone on to Clifton for Chris'
[[?common]] after. I am afraid you will not have got
my letter suggesting your going on from there to Isabel Vaughan-
Hughes in time, or it would have been nice to go on there 

in all that hot weather. Poor little Chris he was
evidently very keen on your going down there & staying as
long as possible & I do hope you were able to put in the two
days he wanted.
I wish you had been able to see Lord K. while in town - but
I fancy he has few spare moments & that can't well be helped,
but I'm glad you saw Fitz. I had a long & interesting letter
from Moncount Butler who had seen & dined with K. I write
very happily.
A wire has come saying I have been made a G.C.M.G.,
& that is no end of a "bug" - if it's really true, though
there seems to be an idea it was to be a K.C.M.G.
The former is the sort of thing they give to Ambassadors

Sir G. Reid etc I see Smith-Dorian & Will[[?]] have 
been given it, but Sir Ian thinks Sir John Maxwell & I may
have got "K's" & not "G's" - but we have heard nothing

 official. I got a very nice wire from Sir G. Reid of
congratulations, but he didn't say what for, so we
shall not know till we get the London Gazette. I had
rather thought I might have been promoted Lieut-General
instead of getting any further decoration, & it really would
have been more useful - though I feel that any reward
is premature - and too it makes one very sad to think you
get a reward for all the good & hard work done by so
many officers & men, only very few of whom can hope for
any reward - and many of the best of whom have alas
been killed. But that must always be the case in
war. I wired to Sir G.R. & told him I felt I had done
so little while the troops so few of whom can be
rewarded have done so much. A great deal of firing
all this morning - bullets & shells flying about a lot, as I
have been making a demonstration to help an attack
by the Southern force & have succeeded in getting into
the Turkish nicely. Goodbye my one sweet wife. Lots 
& lots of love to you always. Ever your very loving old
Will

[*Lone Pine*]
Mediteranean Expdy Force
4th August 15.

My own darling girl.
We are just about to make another big advance, about
which I have been busy for a long time & I do hope & think I have done
all that can be done to ensure success. It is going to be a real
big business - just as big as the day we landed and extraordinary
difficult. I have to take an extremely difficult hill held by the Turks in
great numbers, and I feel my only chance is by attacking them at the
most difficult part where they will least expect us. It is a bit covered
with deep ravines and precipices everywhere over which we must
attack at night, so it will be a very high trial. Lots of men will 
lose themselves, but will have to keep pressing on & will I hope
find themselves again in the morning, and with real determination
they will I hope succeed. If th we attempted this by day, the Turks
who are on the hills above & have "interior lines", could easily
move 20,000 men to face us anywhere, which would make success
impossible. I have been given a Division & a half of Genl. Stepford's
Army Corps in addition to my own Army Corps, so I have a stronger
force, but the difficulty of the country really prevents me using
one's full strength to best advantage. Stepford will be co-operating
close by with the remainder of his Corps & I do pray we may meet
with combined success. It will be a very big thing and much
depends on it, as if we are as successful as I hope we should
be in a position to jeopardise the safety of the whole Turkish Army
here, far more than we have ever done before. It is a great gamble,

and it will be awful if we don't succeed as weather is
so important to us here, & one can not depend on its' remaining
fine very much longer. I have been landing troops here steadily
for some nights past & I am glad to say so far in safety. The Turks
gave us a tremendous shelling the afternoon before we began
& then luckily stopped after dark - in the middle of the night
they began again for a short time, but luckily just when troops were not being landed. It is a very high trial for new troops straight
from home to find themselves being heavily bombarded while
landing in a strange country in the night. As it was I fear a
few of them were hit by stray bullets which go over our heads
all night & strike right out to sea. It is the first we have 
seen of the new Kitchener army & I must say they seem quite a
nice lot of men but of course they & most of their officers must be
very "green" & this is more trying over the mountainous country
where troops have to act independently & do much on their
own initiative, than I fancy it can be in France where
all are shoved into trenches shoulder to shoulder, and fighting
must be more mechanical. I do hope these boys will rise to
it & my men's example will help them a lot. I find I
now have 23 Generals under me, so we are a big swarm of
them! Genl. Williams has I am glad to say just arrived
from India & I am delighted to have him with us, as he
is such an excellent stinking fellow in every way, and

2)  will I know always be a great stand by in times of
stress when we are in despair about water!
Just got your last letter little one of 20 July & very glad to get it too.
but I am so distressed to know that you are not yet sleeping
really well. I can't think what it can be, for I am sure you
ought to be right now & I pray every night (Have for long done
so) that you may sleep well & happily - and I am sure you will.
I was very glad to see Nancy's letter from Mansfield where she
evidently seems not only happy enough but to have lots to do, which
is quite right. She seems to have any number of friends in the neighbourhood & I quite foresee her difficulty will be in
getting through her work if they are all wanting her to go & see them.
It seems rather hard lines that the people round should not ask
the Australian nurses to tea etc. regularly in turn with the men, &
I pray they will.
You write about investments. I think I have already told you fully
what to do about them in letters which have crossed. Briefly, I
think what you should do is to put every penny you can save
into the War tr loan month by month - just having enough balance
in the Bank to carry you on until the next month's pay arrives -you
will always know about what you will want in this way
from month to month. I am taking it for granted that
you can still go on putting money into this War loan
after 10th May, which but some of the papers rather lead one
to suppose that it would be closed then. Mr Waters