Letters from Irving Russell Flett to his Family, 1915-1916 - Part 10

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assure you time never hangs on our hands. Only the

other day the Kaiser's Kids let our battalion have over

two thousand shells in 1 ½hours, mostly 6" & upwards,

& we providentially escaped without a single casualty,

which is rather wonderful.
The place is absolutely alive with

our guns, & to look round the fields one would not 

think there was a gun within a hundred miles, they 

are than well concealed. Even when a battery is in

action it is impossible to see anything - not even

smoke or dust. Only yesterday, as we were coming

back from the Divisional baths along the road a

battery nearly scared six months growth out of me

by firing just as we were passing them - the concussion

nearly raised us off our feet, although they were only 

18 powder guns - The 18 pounders is a wonderful 

little gun & is just as deadly as the French .75

which is a beaut. I reckon if ever I have the

to go to another war it won't be the infantry

that I will serve with. I am satisfied that artillery 

is the most interesting job of the lot. It is wonderful

how the artillery, although the gunner is not able 

to see his target, can get hits every time. We all have

absolute faith in our gunner, and although fully aware

of the qualities of the enemy, honestly believe that

 

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we have the upper hand, & will, with the aid of the 

Russians are giving, bring the whole affair to a 

pretty speedy & successful termination.

We have been getting some great news

through about the doings of the Russians, who seem

to be carrying all before them. Austrians & Germans

seem all alike to them, they seem to sweep over all

kinds of opposition, & I shouldn't be surprised any day

to hear that Austria wants to talk terms, as once

the Russians reach Austria bang go their crops, & I

don't think they are anxious to have the enemy in their

country. It would be a fine thing if our Allies could

get there before the crop has ripened as this would make

a great difference to the whole concern.

Well, I reckon I have sprouted about

long enough about war matters as I suppose you get

pretty fed up with reading about the war in the

daily papers, so will switch off on to another track.

I sent a cable home yesterday telling you that Alec

& self were both O.K. I saw Alec & Harold the other

day & they are looking as well as they ever did. I do

not get an opportunity of seeing them every day, but

call on them whenever possible. I intend sending

a cable every two or three weeks as to keep you 

from getting over anxious, & hope they will all reach you

[*Rest of no interest*

 

12th July 1916
Dear Mother & Father

Just a few hurried lines to let

you know that Alec, Harold & all are all OK & in the

best of spirits, the only thing that is wrong being that your

letters do not come to hand at all regularly - the latest
letters I have had from home being one from Wally dated 15^th
May & one from Auntie Alice same date from which I am
glad to hear that you are all well.
The reason of my not writing for a week
or two is that we have been moving about so much that we
have not had time to open a letter pad, much as we should
liked to have done so We marched 54 miles in three days
& after the day's walk was over had to get all the men
fixed up on letters [?} as possible so you can

understand we are pretty tired when we have finished.

I am writing this on the [?] [?] bed on the top shelf of

a very [?] little house - at least an [?] , or

what we call it in English - a "pub" but I have a

good soft mattress, & wouldn't much care if I was in

a [fowls] house so long as the mattress was with me.

We have had a pretty busy time of late

but fortunately both Alec & [?] have been able to

dodge the stuff [?] has been squirting at us, & hope an

 

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[[??]] star will be shining over us as brightly in future

as it has in the past. the country is looking great - it is a

picture to see all the different colored poppies, cornflowers

red clover & other wild flowers in all the fields. The

wheat crops are as good as any I have ever seen and they are

very high. To see all the "spuds" one would imagine he was

in Ireland instead of France. Our [?] now is actually

being carried out under ideal conditions so we are having perfect

weather & pretty [?]. The French people are great and 

cannot do too much for us, & I will always think a terrible

lot of the French after this - they are a good living & sober

crowd, & although beer takes the place of tea in the homes

you never see them [?]. The stuff is that mild that you

could not hold enough to make any impression. 

I will be sending a telegram at first

opportunity but don't know when it will occur. I hope at no

distant date, as I don't want you to be needlessly anxious

about us. I may now only have time to send postcards but will

write letters whenever possible, but tell Wally Auntie Alice &

Amber or [?] also and Tas & Blanche that the one letter

[?] wil have to do the whole lot - much as I would like

to write to them all individually, but there will be no time

as we are all expecting to be pretty busy. Alec, whom I saw

with Harold & Buck tonight, is dropping you a 

[*Rest of no interest*]