Letters from Fred Leslie Biddle to his Mother, 1916-1917, Part 4 of 24

12.-3-16 
Dear Mother, 
Well I've got my step at last 
dating from today, & am now satisfied & 
pleased with everything & everybody. 
The battery is going along all right 
& as soon as we are fully re-equipped we 
will soon be right up to the mark once 
more. 
We had a reunion of all the old 
officers of the 2^nd FA Bde a week ago. & 
had a great night of it. 
There were 17 mustered out of the 
original lot of 26. 
Col Johnston was the only one who  
could not get along out of those in Egypt. 
He was busy with shooting practice for the 
2^nd Divn. Arty. 
At present there are only 5 of the  
original lot left here in this brigade. 
The other survivors are transferred 
to new units & so forth. 
Some of the 17 mentioned above have 

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only recently returned from hospital. 
I think I told you Caddy is to be 
a Lieut-Colonel (also Phillips) 
Strachan, Dodd, McCormack, Manton & 
Forbes are Captains. 
Riggall Crespin & myself are Majors. 
Of course there are lots of others, that you 
don't know. 
There's lots of rejoicing as you can 
guess. 
Your letter of Feb 7^th safely to hand 
also Isabel's of 6^th Feb.  Father's has not 
yet turned up. 
You say you have had no letters for 
some weeks.  I don't know any reason why 
they should have been kept back, but they 
must have been. 
I am afraid that the censorship will 
find it necessary again before very long. 
It cannot be helped & even we are 
not by any means in full knowledge of 
what is going on. 
(  So the new maid is a bit of a hard 
(  case, is she?  Well dont you do all 

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(  the work, while she tells her adventures. 
I am surprised to find that Oscar 
Smith has enlisted.  Good luck to him. 
His brother Dudley should have done 
so long ago.  The force is screaming out 
for telephone men. 
All communication is by telephone & 
field telegraph these days, & experts are 
badly wanted to keep instruments in 
repair on a/c of the rough handling, which 
cannot be af avoided, & perhaps more 
so on a/c of the handling by people who 
don't understand them properly. 
Sorry to find the Berrington folk  
have lost their maids. 
I don't think they give their girls 
enough liberty. 
Trust Uncle Job & Aunt Fanny are  
keeping well. 
(  What a rotten crowd H.A. & Sons are to 
(  refuse Isabel a reference. 
(  Of course they could be prosecuted 
(  over it, if Isabel liked to be nasty. 
(  Anyway it's a good job she left &

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(  I am glad to find that she has got on 
(  so well at Sorelle's. 
Had a brief note from Hollis this mail. 
He tells me he is getting much better, but 
has found the weather very trying. 
If the young man, Bruce, doesn't move 
on quickly, the war will be over before 
he gets here.  Hope he has left long before 
this reaches you. 
Am enclosing a few snaps taken by 
Mr Quinn a dentist here, in Cairo that I am very 
"pally" with. 
Some were taken before we left Mena 
& the others at a picnic near the Pyramids 
after we returned. 
Well like yourself I get very stumped 
for news especially on the desert. 
Kindest regards to all friends. 
Trust Uncle Walter is now much better. 
Fondest love to all at home including 
your own dear self. 
Your affectionate son 
Fred 

Off Toulon 
27.3.16 
Dear Mother, 
As the address will show you 
if you have not already seen news in the 
papers we are about to land in the country 
we started out for. 
We are circling round ready to enter 
the port when daylight comes as of course 
in these days all harbours are closed with 
booms at night. 
We left Egypt six days ago & have 
had an excellent trip, beautiful blue sea just 
like you read about, bright sunny weather & 
blue skies. 
The ship (Bohemian Leyland Line) has 
the reputation of never having rolled or pitched 
& she has certainly lived up to her reputation 
As you can guess we were not sorry  
to leave Egypt & its deserts behind.  We 
are looking forward to a good time here for 
a few weeks as we have left all our old 
guns & equipment behind & are to draw new

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in France & do a short training. 
We ought to be ready in nice time to 
join in giving the Bosches a hot time. 
We received very short notice to quit 
although we knew units were moving. 
We were doing a series of practice shoots 
& were ordered back to camp urgently & given 
10 hours to pack, hand over all stores after 
checking, & depart by troop train for Alex. 
The whole Brigade was in Alex. ready to 
embark by the early hours of the next morning. 
Quick moving you know! 
I was rather sorry not to have the  
chance of saying good-bye to several friends 
in Cairo especially the Quinn's. 
Mrs Quinn had promised to let me 
have the addresses of her relatives in 
Marseilles & it may have been useful to 
have them. 
Well my French will come in useful 
now, altho' I have got rather rusty & have 
forgotten the greater part of my vocabulary. 
I am supposed to be the dab of the 
brigade & am telling the fellows that I'll 

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do the talking to the ladies whenever they 
need an interpreter. 
Somehow they don't seem to be quite 
sure whether they will like that or not. 
We're a broken up family nowadays. 
Only four left in the Brigade now, out of 
the old happy family. 
Caddy, Phillips, McCormack, the Gatliffs &c 
came along to say good-bye & I dont think 
promotion appealed to them a bit when they 
saw us go. 
However we hope to meet them all 
again before very long. 
By jove its great to be still with 
the good old First Division.  It isnt the 
same old one, worse luck, & Australia will 
probably never have another like it. 
There's as much difference between the 
old original & the others which came after 
it as between the regulars & territorials of 
England. 
We have the Divisional Staff on the 
ship including General Walker who just 
returned from wounded a week before

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we left. 
He's a great sport, & another Birdwood. 
Everybody likes him & he's got lots of 
dash.  He's as pleased as Punch at getting 
back to us.  So we're all pleased. 
I hope to be able to get week-ends 
in England occasionally. 
War is a much more civilised sort of  
a life here than at Anzac, by all accounts.  
You really are safer back from the 
firing line, which will be a complete 
change for the Anzacs. 
The great anxiety in the Infantry 
especially, was how many men they were 
going to lose when the were "resting" in 
the valleys. 
Here its a billet of sorts every week 
or so right back out of fire 
Of course I must have the best room 
in the Chateau, What! 
Well as I haven't put foot in 
France yet I cant tell you much about 
it, can I? 
What's worse is that when I will

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be bursting with news I wont be 
allowed to tell it, probably. 
I hope you are keeping O.K. 
especially now that the weather will 
be getting cooler. 
(  How is Uncle Walter getting along? 
(  Much improved I hope. 
(  Has Father got his holiday yet?  If so 
(  I hope its not going to be too long for 
(  comfort but just enough to put him in 
(  real good fettle 
(  Isabel I suppose is now 
(  head of Sorelle's & a "great" lady of 
(  Fashion. 
(  And I mustn't forget the brilliant 
(  young soldier our "Budding Napoleon" 
(  Is he as "silent" as ever or weighed 
(  down by the double weight of carring 
(  on RR & Co & the whole Defence Force.? 
Love to all Berrington, Ivy Bank & 
other relations & best regards to all my 
friends. 
Fondest love to all at home 
Your affectionate son 
Fred