Correspondence between Field Marshal Lord William Birdwood and Lady Janetta Birdwood, 1915 - Part 20

enthusiasm for the way in which Lord K. had received him
& for all his kindness, & was full of hope of getting another
command in due course, but it is rather hard to see what he
can get - unless he were to go to East Africa - and of course
he couldn't well come & serve in my Army Corps. I do think
though that he might well have come here when Sir Ian
went & in  xx his place, for I quite think he would have
been the very best man for it - he has so much experience.
Poor Sir Ian had to leave here the very day a new horse had
been got ready for him and he was to have changed his Head
Quarter from one to the other side of the Island.  My servant described
it as a "huge place" & felt sure I'd feel lost in it!  As a
matter of fact it is only 2 wooden rooms, but very nicely
situated will be comfortable enough. It is strange that I should
be occupying it as the first C- in-C - and proud I am
to be doing so. I shall be quite happy though to return to
my humble dugout at Anzac. It's horribly cold here
just at present & I don't at all relish leaving "Cornwallis"
permanently for the shore! For some extraordinary reason
they have made no fireplace in the Chief's quarters, the 

2)
 

intention being to warm it by a stove which hasn't
yet arrived!  I daresay Genl. Monro will have one, & I hear
some are expected any day.
One of the midshipmen on board "Cornwallis", is I find a
son of Col. Malleson's & he got a V.C. at the landing at
Cape Helles on 25th April.  Such a fine looking boy he
is & he has struck me as a fine sailor too, in the way
he has handled his piquet boat two or three times when
he has landed me or taken me aboard in this horrible
rough weather we have been having here lately - it's been
blowing a storm day after day, & it's often doubtful if
a boat can be got alongside the ship at all or not.
I haven't liked to ask the boy about his Mother - he told me
he hadn't seen his Father for several years - and I noticed
that one of the picture days papers the other day published

a photo of the present M^rs M - as his Mother!!
 

Do you remember that comical fellow who used often to send

me newspaper cuttings - he was a telegraphist with on Lord K's 
staff in Pretoria. He sent me a cutting of that picture of me
swimming which he had marked "From photo taken by M^rs Pankhurst"
I have just heard that Genl. Monro arrives 27th or 28th when
I'll go back to Anzac.
I am very sorry to see that poor little Davidson-Houston of the
58^th is missing in France, which I fear must mean 

almost to a certainty that he is dead - and Captain
Whitehead of 56th - do you remember what a real

reckless fellow he was - just the man to be killed in
his first charge, for nothing but bullets or bayonets would
ever have stopped him. Another death I am so sorry
about is poor old Sir a. [[Ken?]]. He was such a dear
single minded & simple old fellow & I fear it will 

must leave her very lonely. I suppose she will

leave India now & go home for good,  but with house
 

property as they have out there it must take

some settling up. I fancy old Sir James Walker

will have to go out again to help look after the bank

a bit.

I am absolutely all right again now little one, so

 don't you think I in not - and after a week's
beastly weather I'm glad to say it has now cleared 

up & we are having a lovely day.

Tomorrow I am going all round the French position

& trenches - as C -in C for the time being they come

under me, & I may just as well see something

of them. When you go there however, I hear the

important thing in their eyes is the dējeuner

which is most elaborate, & as a sort of secondary

idea you see their trenches! A great part

of their troops here are Africans & I don't fancy

very much good. To show that I have been

a C -in C even if only for a short time, I
 

enclose a copy of my first order on taking 

over!

 

Goodbye my own little lamb - All my love

to you always

Ever your very loving old

Will

 

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Dardanelles Army
12 Nov. 15.
My own darling Jenny Jane -
At last two letters from you. the ones you sent by Sir Ian
by Kings Messenger and dated 22nd & 25th November. I have had
nothing from you since the one dated 31st. October between them. So
goodness knows how many of them may not have gone wrong & been
lost. You mention two having at least got one from me, written just
before I was to meet Lord K - but you do not say if you have
got my others answering all the questions you wanted to know
about - Chris's  £500 - your investments - the Simla Bank
Pass book - the  £52 I asked you about being credited to our
account at home etc. (has this been done?]. Do please tell me if you
have ever got my letters telling you all about these things - for
I have now written about most of them, at least 3 times I
think! I haven't yet got the Diary for 1916- "Letts. No. 35
Indian & Colonial Rough Diary" - Has it been sent yet, for I am
much hoping to get it during the next fortnight.
I am having a horribly anxious time of it [[?]] I have no
wish ever to go through again. It does seem wrong that I
who am the one person to have been opposed to the present
policy am selected as the man to carry it out, for I
just hate it- and it has such possibilities of terrible
disaster and none of glory or victory! However, that is neither
here or there- I am given the job & I am going to see it
through as well as I possibly can & I hope I have made all the 

arrangements & taken all the precautions I can. Indeed I am
confident of doing it successfully as far as is humanly possible,
but I have the worst, most fickle & most relentless enemy to
contend with-viz- hot weather. We are entirely dependent on it. It
favoured us landing & I pray God it may do so again now. After
that fearful storm & blizzard one realises what the weather can be
like here, and a continuous storm for 3 or 4  days would put us
in most fearful jeopardy. All this last week it has been all right of
have been getting away men, guns, ammunition & stores as fast as I
can & I'd have checked almost everything & got away all the men
had this been possible, but they require an enormous amount of
lighters & barges which have to be collected from all over the place
those are not all ready yet - just a few more days fine weather &
I am all right. And then I have another enemy in the moon!
I'd hurry on now like anything to avoid it when almost full
but I can't. Then I'd like to put it off till the full moon was again gone,
but I simply daren't  trust the weather holding out & must
take advantage of every fine moment I can - You see what a fearful
gamble it is, and on top of all this. I am quite dependent on the
provision by the Navy of all the necessary small  craft, which may
get scattered or broken up by storms. But I can not help
feeling confident that all will go well. What will happen  in
the future I haven't an idea - nor can I say where I will be
a fortnight hence!  or what troops I will have with me.
I have just been spending a day with the French General here,
a very nice little fellow called Bruelard. It is such a nuisance
not being able to talk French as of course I have to make all
sorts of arrangements with me. He & his troops are now
directly under me & we are the best of friends. They
to everything so very differently to me, and strike us as 

2)   very casual in many ways.  a lot of their arrangements

though are much better than ours & they certainly know how to

feed themselves excellently! They give me a most wonderful dejeneur
at Sed-el Bahr Fort whenever I go over there to see them!
A few days before I got your letters I had one from Capt. Pollen
telling me you had been lunching there. Both he & Col. Wigram
said very nice things about your youthful looks which I must
keep as a swop!!  I'm so glad too that you met Sir Ian there-
as he is a dear & I'm so very sorry for him. I can't look upon  
him as a very big man, as he is really shallow by nature-
artistic if you like it too,  but I don't know that he could
ever concentrate himself very deeply in thinking things out. I
may be wrong and I certainly like him very much. I am glad to
say he tells me he has put on a stone in weight since he has
been at home, & he can well afford to put another. I don't think
he was ever too fit all the time out here. He too said such
nice things about you.
Very glad my message for the Christmas cards was all right, &
what you tell me about the design of the card sounds
capital, &I'm so glad you had arranged everything equally
for the New Zealanders. But I don't know how you are
going to get cards to all the men at home, for there seems to
be several thousands there.
I am so sorry to hear you are & sleeping so badly again
little one after all your rushing about in town - not that
I have heard much of that as I expect you told me
about it in your letters which have not turned up.
one mail at all events I am nearly sure must have been
sunk by a submarine. I do hope a quiet time again
 

at Thurlby will put you all right, though I suppose the
house will be very full again for Christmas.
Peel House must be a wonderful place for the men & I had not heard
of it before. I must say people have been most extraordinary good
in the way they have provided such places.
I'm so glad you were able to see Genl. Walker, but you don't
say how he was! I have heard nothing of him since he got
home, so have no idea if he is likely to be right soon & able
to come out & rejoin us again or not. What did he say
about it?
I will try & make sure that Peacock gets his letter But the
Division is just on the move with all this change before us
that I shan't be able to make sure of anything getting to
anyone for just a short time.
I see Lady Chesterfield tried with exactly what I had [[?]] [[early]]
done about your serving on her committee - & that your name

was what they really wanted!. Only very few are wanted
to run such things - large committees do nothing - one
working member generally does everything, but I suppose that

at the present time while I am with the Australians
your name is used useful in such a thing. I can't

imagine that Mrs Cliff is of any great value in the

committee working line! Does she ever talk of her step mother,

my A.D.C's mother! I expect not - my fellow is a real

good man in his way that I feel absolutely certain

he would die for me at any moment & risk anything

in the way, of certain death for me - but he is so

 

3)   uneducated as not to be of any f real value - & his accent

is the worst & commonest I have heard!

You can tell Lady Chesterfield that I always do all I possibly

can for the Y.M.C.A., as both here & in Egypt, I have found

them doing so much real good work for the men and they are

deserving of every consideration & help.  I often wonder how they

manage things so well as they do.

Coming to think about it I am not at all sure that the letter

I wrote you about as having been captured by the Austrian sub

-marine off Messina was dated from "Lord Nelson" - I rather think

I must have posted that one at Mudros in the previous week. If

so the one you will not have got was sent from here on my

return from Mudros about 27th November.

Leaving my Anzac position & trenches, is for me almost like leaving

a child & I was quite heart broken when going  round them again

a few days ago to see all they had been doing & which they

showed me with so much pride to meet my wishes in the

way of making themselves impenetrable against heavy shell fire.

There they had beautiful [[?]] underground chambers dug 20ft

under the earth, with several shafts leading down to each

so that the air was quite fine, with several entrances you 

couldn't be buried in the event of a large shell blowing 

up one in there. They had no idea that they were not to

stick to them & I am sure they will feel it terribly when

they find they have to leave. I am issuing them the

best order I can on the subject.

I was going round all my old haunts & found that the 

Turks had evidently discovered where my pet sniper

 

Sing used to shoot from, as they got on to his place with

their artillery & had simply blown it to pieces! However Sing

in the mean time had been invalided for rheumatism, after

having got just on 230 Turks. They are careless fellows

&when going round that day I had a _^small hole made in my

leg by a bit of a bomb, but luckily it was through my

thick leather gaiters, so did no harm.

Ive enclosed letter from "Dolly Wight" will amuse you! 

I haven't the least idea who she can be, have I? : I

think she must be an entire stranger - What rum 'uns

there are in the world - But it was very kind of her to

have thought of writing - I had a letter the other

day from Mrs Monty Butter asking me about some 

man she wanted me to send home.

Goodbye my own little lamb &all my love to

you &the children.

Ever your very loving old,

Will.

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