Letters from Guy Hartley Arnold to his Father, 1915-1916 - Part 2

Gallipoli 
8 November 1915 
Wishing you a very happy 
Xmas only wish I 
could be with you, 
it is a long long time 
since we had the last Xmas together. 
  
My dear Father, 
Thanks 
very much for your long 
letter which I received yesterday; 
you don't seem to  
have received my letter 
telling you we were having 
a spell at Lemnos Island, 
we were there just two 
months, we did not have 
a bad time, we did 
a certain amount of drill

every day, such as sham 
fights, & also bomb throwing 
& bayonette drill; we had 
two hours of that every 
day, & towards the end  
we used to get silent 
marches at night; we used 
to average about one 
mile an hour, & then we 
could pick our way 
carefully, without kicking  
stones etc. 
We are back on the 
Peninsula again now, 
we have taken up a 
different position in 
the trenches, to what we 
left, I like the position 
better, as we are not subject 
to such heavy shell fire, 
& there is a very deep 
gully in between our trenches 
& the turks, called the Gully 
of Despair & very rightly  
too, as I think it would  
be very deadly for either 
side to attack in this  
particular position, unles 
it was done under cover 
of darkness, & then of course 
we are very much on

the alert. We have patrols 
go out at night, creep up as  
near as possible to the  
Turks Lines, to get as much 
information as possible, of 
course the Turks are up 
to the same game. 
Ken was lucky getting to  
London; he will be able 
to give you a better idea  
of how things are here 
than I can on paper. 
Do you hear very often from  
Rupert; I suppose he is keeping 
an eye on burns Creek Farm, 
just to see how things are getting 
on. 
With love 
Your affection son 
Guy Arnold

Pte G H Arnold 1311 
B Company 
2nd Batallion 
1st Infty Brig 
21st January 1916 
Tel - El - Kabir 
  
My dear Father, 
Many thanks for your last 
letter, I wrote you a long letter the other week 
telling you all about our evacuation from Gallipoli, 
I hope you got it alright. We have been here 
nearly a month now, I think you would call 
us, a sort of third line of defence for the  
Canal. We are leaving here next Thursday, for  
the first line, I think. 
In your last letter, you said Rupert had joined 
on to the 7th Batallion 1st Platoon, I have made 
enquiries, two or three times, but can find no 
trace of him, I think you must have given 
me the wrong address. 
Do you remember Jim Watts of Seckington ^This pristine village England he 
has joined up with A Compy, of 2nd Batallion, 
he came with the 9th reinforcements & joined 
his Batallion up here, he looks pretty well 
on it, he tells me his Father is pretty well 
a cripple, (caused from a stroke), is not able 
to do any work yet. 
I hope you spent Xmas at [[X?s]] Shackerstone

or Brighton & had a good time. 
We got treated very well for Xmas, as 
regards parcels etc. We were all issued  
out with ^Xmas billys' (consisting of all kinds of eatables,  
chocolates etc.) & also plum puddings. We 
also got our own parcels from home; so 
we are still having Xmas gifts, as parcels 
still keep arriving for somebody in the  
tent. 
They won't allow us much leave now, 
since we have been here, one per. unit. of  
Company have been allowed daily; it is a 
bit stiff, isnt it, after all we have 
gone through at the Peninsula. I got 
my leave into Cairo, the second day we 
were here, owing to being one of the 
longest on the Peninsula. I think there are 
only about 8 out of our Company been with 
the Batallion all along. 
With love 
Your affectionate son 
Guy Arnold

  
For God, For King & For Country 
Y. M. C. A 
With The 
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force 
  
Patron 
Y. M. C. A. 
National Council 
H. M. The King 
      _________ 
  
Patron 
Military Camp Dep't 
H. R. H. 
Duke of Connaught 
       _________ 
  
Committee 
For Egypt 
and 
The Near East. 
  
Chairman 
H. E. Sir Henry 
McMahon 
 _________ 
Reply to No. 1311. B Coy. 2nd Bat. 1st Infty Brig 
5 February 1916 
Stationed at Tel - El - Kibir. 
  
My dear Father, 
I have not heard from  
you, for quite a long time; I had a 
letter from Aunty the other day saying 
you had the offer of a post, as bailiff under 
Sir Francis Burdett, but she did not say 
whether you had accepted it or not. 
We had a photograph of the whole batallion 
taken the other day; if they turn out alright 
will send you one on. 
We are not having a bad time of it here 
now, they have knocked off the afternoon drill, 
we go out from eight o'clock to about half 
past twelve, & then we have finished for 
they day. 
I told you in my last letter that 
Jim Watts was in our Batallion, he joined 
us with the 9th reinforcements; I have not 
yet heard what batallion Rupert has

joined up with. 
We had some very heavy rain here last 
night, they say it never rains in Egypt, 
but we have had a fair amount of it 
since we have been here this last time. 
We had hard work to keep our tents 
up, after the ground got a bit wet, the 
sand won't hold the pegs, when it is wet. 
I wonder when this attack on the Canal 
is coming off; I think they mean to have 
a pretty determined go for it very soon 
now; I don't think they will leave it 
much later, if they can help it, because it 
gets so terribly hot here, & water will be 
their greatest drawback. Personally I don't think 
they hold a ghost of a chance of ever breaking 
our lines; they have taken on too big a 
contract of getting too many heavy guns across 
such a space of country; I think one heavy 
battle will just about settle the Canal business; 
& then I suppose we will have to give a 
hand at Salonika, perhaps. 
Did Ralph ^brother get his Commission? 
With love 
Your affectionate son 
Guy Arnold