Letters from Wilbert Berg to his family, 1915-1918 - Part 6

(4)
nearly full strength again with all the new reinforcements
that we have been getting lately. We have a
new Colonel his name is Wisdom he used to be
Brigade Major. Did you get the letter that I sent
you last mail giving you a bit of an account of
my experiences while on the Peninsula. Remember me
to all old friends I have not got time to write to
them as things, are all topsy turvy on account of us
moving soon. Ern Conlon & Billy Fellew quite well both
wish to be remembered kindly to you all. I have
not heard from any of the other boys. One of the
boys just back from England was telling me that
he saw Ned Tregonning Doc Brown Jack Lockard & Joe Tait
over in the old dart Ned is going back to Aust as he
Cannot walk unless he has a walking stick Doc Brown
is O.K. & coming back soon Jack Lockard has got a
job over there & Joe Tait was better & ready to come back
when he had the hard luck to get run over by a
motor buss but is getting on O.K. again. Well Dad
& Mum I think that I have told you all the news
for this mail so I will have to close now with heaps
of love & kisses from your loving Son XX
Will XXXXXX
P.S. Just went to Church the last before we got away
A. & B Coy went this morning & C & D this afternoon there was 60
of us out of C & D & everyone went up to the rails. Father Clune
was as pleased as a Camels hump. 

France
8/5/16 
My Dear Dad, Mum, & Sister, 
Just a few more lines to let you know
that I am still O.K & hope that you are all the same. When
I wrote to you before I told you that Martie had gone into 
Hospital but he was only in there a couple of days when he was 
out again but he has gone in again there is nothing serious the 
matter with him only a cold so there is no need to worry, he will soon 
be alright again. I have very little news to tell you this mail as I
have not seen any of the Glebe boys, nor are we allowed to say
anything about things over here. I have not been on leave yet
but there is a rumour getting about that after we go out of the
trenches this time that 25% of the Coy is going on leave So if
that is the case I suppose I will be amongst them Sgt Major
Roy has been & is back again he had a real good time. How
is George Bowen getting along I hope that he is getting better again
remember me to him when you see him again. Has Uncle Willie 
left Sydney yet? What did they think of the revolution in Ireland
in Australia, they aught to put every one of the blighters up against
a stone wall & put a bullet into their German money again. I
saw Jack Burke a couple of days ago & he was not feeling too well
on it was suffering from pains in the stomach. What do you 
think of the battle at Verdun, my word the French are great fighters
[*one cannot give them too much praise for the way they met every one of the Germans attacks,
I wonder where the Huns will make their next attack. It was hard luck for Gen Townshend
to surrender after putting up such a great stand but I suppose it is all in the fortunes of war. 
Well Dad & Mum I must
close now as I have not 
a scrap of news for you 
this mail so I will say
ta-ta for the present with
heaps of love & kisses xxx
xxxxxx From xxxx
xxx Your loving Son xxx
xxxx Will xxxx
Remember me to all old
friends I have not heard
from Mrs Webb or the girls 
for a long time now. I am
enclosing a few flowers that 
I got out of a garden in
one of the ruined villages 
Have you got "Beachy Bills"
driving band made into
a bangle yet. I have some
of Fritz's driving bands & I
am going to have them
made up.
xxxx
xxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx*]

Bois Grenier,
France
12/5/16
My dear Dad Mum & Sister,
I am just writing you these few
lines to let you know that I am still O.K. & hope that you 
are all the same. One of my mates is going to England
on leave in a couple of hours time so I thought that I
would write you a few lines to let you know where
abouts we are, well we are on the Western front on
the Ypres, La Basse front & we occupy the trenches
between Armatiers & Bois Grenier, things are pretty
quiet here on our front except for an occasional 
strafe (bombardment) on each others trenches by the
Artillery, we call ourselves neutrals here because
the Germans are so far away from us, they are
anything from 200 to 500 yards away from us.
It is not like the Peninsula where you could
nearly shake hands with each other. We have
had a pretty rotten time of it since we landed 
here it has been raining nearly all the time &
France is a very flat place so you can imagine
what it is like over here, we are not allowed to
sleep in dugouts of a night time over here & I tell
you that it is no joke sitting up in the rain

(2)
all night, but we do not have much night time over
here we have stand to of an evening from 7.45 P.M
till about 8.30 P.M. & then of a morning from 2.45 A.M.
till 3-45 A.M. So you see we only have about 6 hours 
nightime over here. It would make you cry if you
could only see the villages over here they are
nothing but a big mass of bricks now & before the
war they were lovely little places. Churches suffer
the same fate as the houses So far we have not
had any gas or liquid fire from Fritz but we
have had a couple of false alarms. When we were
out for our spell last time the Huns bombarded
our trenches (the 20^th were in at the time) & the 20^th
withdrew from the front line while the strafe 
was on & after it was all over & they went back
into the trench again they found that Fritz 
had been over & pinched a couple of our trench
mortars. Haven't they got a hide eh? Over here 
two Battalions work together we are working
with the 20^th & the 17^th with the 19^th. we work it
four days in & four days out, we do four days in
the trenches & then the 20^th relieve us & we go to
about four miles behind the line to our billets
where we have a hot bath & get clean clothes
every time. The trenches that we are in are the
trenches that the British occupied after the big

(3)
retreat from Mons. We are not far off the
Belgian border here the border runs through
Armatiers so we are just about in Flanders, the
people are a treacherous lot around this quarter
they are a mixture of French Belgian & Boschs
& I tell you that they do a great deal of spying
for the Huns. There is a great rumour getting 
about this morning about the Germans asking
for peace which I think is pretty correct
we will all be having Xmas dinner together
next Xmas eh. Good God fancy sitting down to
a plum pudding or a roley now a bit different
to our menu, never mind better times ahead.
"Cactus" I have not heard from Martie since he
went to Hospital last it was only a cold he 
had so I am not worrying much. We have
seen some of the world since we left Australia
haven't we we went right through France from
Marseilles right up to within an hour or so
from the coast by the way you can get from
where we are now right into the heart of
London in about five hours, we never went
through Paris but we were close enough to
see the great Effil Tower in the distance, but
when its all said & done there is no place like
Sunny New South. I saw Harry Neaves yesterday

(4)
the first time I have seen him since leaving Lemnos
Island he is still the same old hard case & looking
well as ever he asked me to remember him to 
you all when I was writing next, I have not
seen any of the other Glebe boys. I have to give
up writing now over here as we are limited
to two letters a week & an occasional one that 
we sneak through now & again so you might
tell all old friends not to be offended if they
do not hear from me Well Dad & Mum as Bert
is nearly ready to go I will have to close my
letter now so I wont keep him so I will
say ta-ta for the present with heaps of love
& Kisses xxxxxx 
I am
Your loving Son xxxx
Will xxxxxxx
Ern Conlon Billy Fellow & Jim Preston all wish
to be remembered to you all. 
Remember me to all
xxxx

France
3/6/15
My Dear Dad, Mum, & Sister, 
Just a few more lines to let you
know that I am still well over here & in the best 
of health & I sincerely hope that you are all the
same. I have not a scrap of news for you this
mail as I have not seen anybody from the Glebe
nor have I seen or heard anything of Martie lately
I have had a couple of narrow escapes during
our stay in the trenches this time the first one
was a bit of nickel off one of the bullets hit
me in the shoulder went through my tunic
but it stopped when it reached my arm it
just put a little lump & a red mark on my
arm & the other I was talking to Sgt Allum when
a bullet passed between us it must have
missed us by inches, bit of luck eh. We had
a little bit of excitement yesterday one of our
aeroplanes fell behind the German lines in front
of us & we brought down two Germans, I saw
one of the Germans get brought down by one
of our planes from a terrible height up & the other
German was brought down somewhere behind
[*we have been talking to who have been down there say that Verdun
is nothing but a perfect hell thank the lord we are not down there
we have been in one but I do not want to be in another. Hope all the
Glebe folks are
all quite well also
other old friends
Well Dad & Mum
I think that I 
have told you all
the news for this
mail so I will
have to close now
with heaps of love.
xxxx
& kisses xxx
I am xxx

Your loving son
xxx Will xxxxxx
Remember me to
all the friends
around about

2 
L MCade
2/ Co
our lines & then just before dark he noticed one
of our observation balloons had got away we
saw the two men who were in just up it jump out with 
parachutes umbrellas & as soon as they got clear
our artillery opened out on it to bring it down
but they did not succeed by the time darkness
came on. I think, that is the first bit of 
excitement that we have seen so far. I never 
got your letter this mail but I suppose it will
turn up later on. Ollie Hellyer had a couple of days
in Hospital over here with some sort of a rash
but he is better & back with us again. Ned has
gone away to Hospital again I do not know what
is the matter with him.  Old Doc is O.K. & asked 
to be remembered to you I think that he wrote to
you he asked me one day for our address & said
that he was going to write. We have lost a few
of the old hands over here who went right through
the Peninsula with me, so you see we are a very
small little batch now, there were only 25 of us
out of the Company (240) in the first place who
went right through everything & now I think that
you will only find about half a dozen of us
who are still here. Our boys who came back
from England lately say that the people over
in England are very confident that the war
will soon be over, let us all hope so, we are all beginning to
forget what Sunny New South looks like. The Germans still continue
to attack Verdun but without any particular success, Frenchmen whom

Bois Grenier
France
12/6/16
My Dear Dad, Mum, & Sister,
Just a few more lines to let
you know that I am still quite well & I sincerely
hope that you are all the same. I have not heard
from Martie for a couple of days I had a few lines
from him dated Tetaples 27/5/16 & he said that he
was out of Hospital but the Doctor was going to
keep him in Details for a fortnight to see how his
chest got on. I was talking to Mr M^cNabb the other
night & he told me that he was trying to get Martie
a Base job & I thanked him for it, I hope that
they send him back home to you, as I fully realize
now what a terrible strain it is on you to have
the both of us over here at this terrible war. I
suppose you all got a terrible shock (like us) when
you heard the death of Lord Kitchener, he was a
wonderful man I think England will be a long
time before she gets a man like him again. What
did you think of the great Naval Victory I see by
the English papers to-day the Admiral Jellicoe said
that the Germans lost about forty ships which 
[*I will
have to close
now hoping that
you are all in the best

of health & spirits & with heaps
of love & kisses xxxx
xx I am xxxxx

xx Your loving son xxx

xx Will xxx

I have not been on 
leave to England yet
but I am going shortly
if I have any luck
Remember me to all

old friends

Will

xxx
xx
xxx
xx*]

2
they did. The Russians are pushing the Austrians
back as fast as they can go & making the German
line in a dangerous position I honestly think that
it will be Russia that will win this war for us
The Germans are still plugging away down at Verdun
but are not making much headway. It was arranged
the a other night for the 7th Brigade to have a
raid on the German trenches opposite their front
while the 18^th Batt. were to draw the German fire,
Something happened the night it was to have come
off & they did not go over while we stood to arms
all night in the cold & rain So it was arranged for
the next night we got the order to stand to again
at 9-30 P.M. and at 11-30 P.M. nearly every gun that
was near us started pouring shells into the German
trenches opposite our front (the 18^th Batt) & it was not long
before the Germans were pouring it into us but we
lay flat on the duck boards close to the parapet &
although the shells were bursting all around us at
the average of 4 a second for nearly two hours not
a soul in D Company was hit that A & B Coys were
not so lucky as they had a few casualties. While all
this was going on 48 men out of the 7^th Brigade went
over to the German trenches & raided them there were
a good many dead in the trench owing to the Bombardment
& what was left were either shot or taken