Letters from George Leslie Makin to his family, 1916 - Part 14

[*No other news just now.

your affec Brother 

Les.*]

France

28/11/1916

Dear Jim

Your letter of 12/11/16 to hand

also a verbal message per one Corp

Smith of this battn who has rejoined.

He told me that he had met you

at the Depôt.

Things are much about the same over here,

but I suppose next week will tell a

different tale.

We leave these billets in a couple of days

& our destination, needless to say is the

trenches.
After our last experience, none of us are

looking forward to our next trip in.

I have received letters from home up

till Sept 24, but there is a later mail

waiting to be sorted.

We had a football match here yesterday

& beat the 1^st Div Motor Transport by 5

points

Stan Hiskens of South Melb & several other

prominent Melb footballers played with

them, so our victory was very creditable.

France

3/12/16

Dearest Mother

Your letter of 23/10/16 to hand.

You mentioned having sent two boxes

& scarf etc the previous mail.

I have received nothing yet, but have

not yet given up hope, as parcels take

much longer than letters.

I saw Alex Phillips the other day. He is

in the transport of a battn of the 5^th

Division.

We passed on the road & as we were

both mounted, we had to be content

with a hand wave.

Gordon Sterling has rejoined & seems

to be his old self again.

I expect it will be about Christmas

by the time I have an opportunity

to write again.

We move up to the line tomorrow, but

may be out again by Christmas.

I have been lucky the last two

years, spending one Christmas in

Egypt & the other in London.

I hear pretty frequently from Jim & if

he is over there much longer I may

see him, as I hope to get leave to

England before very long.

I still have his diary & if I get my

leave alright, I will send it home

by registered mail.

You seem to have had some remarkable

weather over there lately.

We heard that the Cup had been

postponed owing to rain.

It is not so wet over here now as

everything seems to be permanently

frozen.

The water remains frozen right

through the day & by golly it is

cold.

Well dear Mother I must stop for

want of news

Best love to all

from Les

PS Give my love to Harry & Essie. I will answer

Harry's letter next mail Les

P.S. Gordon Sterling & Tom Parker are both

well. R Kelly I have not seen or heard

of since before I left the Battn.

Les

France

22/12/1916

Dearest Mother

I have received letters from you up

to 31^st October. I also received last mail Ruby's

card & letters from Harry & Perce.

We have just finished our turn in the front

line & are now just behind it engaged in

road marking etc.

We do not go into billets for about a fortnight

so that means Christmas & New Year here.

The weather is very bad. Rain & snow almost

every day & everything frozen hard.

Our last 8 days in the trenches was were a real

nightmare. We are making roads & good

trenches, but it takes time & meanwhile

the mud is knee deep almost everywhere &

in the front line in places thigh deep.

The trouble is that the ground we are on has

been pulverized first by our own artillery & then

by the Germans & the bad weather hinders

the work of repair.

We are quite used to being wet day after day

& its really wonderful what one can stand.

I am a bit screwed up with Rheumatics

but otherwise alright. Your parcel of scarf &

2

& handkerchief came just as we were leaving the

trenches & they were the only dry things I had.

We have our kits back here however & will be

at least dry on Christmas Day.

When I am ploughing through the mud

sometimes I often smile & think how I used

to pick out the dry spots in Collins Street

after the watercart had passed.

So Conscription has failed. I don't know what

has come over the Australian people.

Anyhow we would rather have no reinforcements

at all than men who were forced to come.

Not only has conscription failed, but if all

accounts are true, some people even went so

far as to express pro-German feelings & even

assault people who spoke for it & I even heard

that a returned wounded soldier was illused.

If these things are true, then all good Australians

over here will be ashamed to own the fact

that they are Australians.

I am sorry for Mr Hughes who has shown

such enthusiasm & energy in trying to get

compulsory service.

You've no idea the bad effect it has had on

our men. At this time, during their trials,

when they want good news badly to cheer them

3

up, we get the most astounding news that

the anti-conscriptionists were prepared to

go to any lengths to secure their ends.

We have come to the conclusion that the

majority of our countrymen have suddenly

taken leave of their senses.

If by any chance conscription does come

in, I will be living in hopes of some

day having a squad of them to look

after.

I have not heard any word from Jim for

a long time. I think he is disgusted

with me for not writing, but honestly I

write every opportunity I get

These are not like the old times. For

nearly a month we have not had the

slightest chance of writing.

I did write you a few lines while in the

trenches, but it got wet & there was

little hope of getting it away so I destroyed

it. Anyhow, I am glad I did not let

it go, as it was such a despondent

letter that I felt ashamed at letting

myself get so down in the mouth.

We have a lot of troubles & growl a lot, but

we still keep smiling almost all the time.

Best of love to all from Les

France

22/12/16

Dear Harry

Your letter of 31^st October to hand. You 
had just received my letter from Ypres. Well we

only had 12 days in the trenches there, before

we were dragged down here again.

^In The letter which you had received I had

mentioned having written in a dugout.

You say it must be peculiar living underground. 

Let me correct your idea of

dugouts as built by the British Army.

We unlike the Germans have not as yet

gone in for deep dugouts.

We have a few now, but we captured them

from Fritz.

The dugout I spoke of consisted of about

four pieces of timber with a sheet of iron

over head, which would not have stopped

an egg thrown by an anti-conscriptionist.
It has been a mistake with us. Our idea has
always been that we did not know the day
we would advance & regarded the digging

of dugouts as a waste of labour & energy.

However, I have no doubt that we could

have saved a lot of life if we had followed.

2

Fritz's example in this matter.

I believe that deep dugouts make cowards

of good men.

If they can run into a deep hole when

the shelling starts & stay down there

without any fear of being hit, then when

in a tight hole & being heavily shelled

they feel very much the need of those

dugouts & when in open ground without

cover become very much rattled.

I know by personal experience & by the

experience of others that when forced

by necessity to work under shell fire, that

one gets quite indifferent to them it & is

satisfied to leave things to fate, but if

you live in a deep dugout for some days,

& then have to go up amongst a barrage

of whizz-bangs or Jack Johnstons, you are

as nervous as a kitten.

Still, for a defensive position deep dugouts

are essential for protection of Machine Guns

& gunners, bombers etc.

By all accounts the Referendum has failed

miserably. I am disgusted & so is everybody 

else here at the behaviour of some of

our own people. If some of the things we

3

hear are true, then all Australians with

any sense of shame ought to hang

their heads before the rest of the world.

Mr Hughes goes to England & the whole

world is stirred by his passionate, patriotic

speeches. He tells the English people what

the Australian people are going to do for

the war & everybody says "What a noble

people they are.

Then comes the report of stormy meetings

& disturbances over Conscription.

We even heard that a returned wounded

soldier had been assaulted in the

public street.

If this be true, then all I can say is

that I am ashamed be belong to a 

race of demented savages.

I think the Anzac vote would show a majority

for "Yes", but a lot of chaps would not think

enough about it. Their idea is this. "Oh I

would not bring a man over here to suffer

as we have done. Australia has done enough.

So they voted "No", forgetting that they were

helping the men, who were content to

let other men go & suffer for them.

I can hardy explain how I feel about it.

4
I am so indignant that I can scarcely

express myself.

I think it would be better to reduce

the number of divisions than send

reinforcements who were forced into it.

They would be continually giving

trouble & would be sure to get a very

cool reception from the boys here.

As usual there is hardly any news from

here except war news.

As far as I know Christmas Day will

be no different from any other day

here.

I haven't the faintest idea what my

Christmas dinner will consist of, but

it won't be turkey or goose.

Anyhow whatever it is we will make

the best of it & be sure that my

thoughts on that day will be all

of home as I know yours will be

of Jim & I

Love to all at home

from Les.