Letters from Wilbert Berg to his family, 1915-1918 - Part 7

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prisoner by the 7^th Bgde, the German Officers refused
to be taken prisoner & they were presented with a .303
when they started back again they had 4 prisoners
2 couple of machine guns some papers etc but when
they got half way across “no mans land” one of
the prisoners started kicking up a row so they gave
them a .303 It was a very successful raid & was well
carried out, all the men had their faces & hands
blackened so as they would not be seen in the dark
& they all wore white bands around their arms with
a black cloth around the white but as soon as
they got in the trench they tore the black band off
& left the white one on so as they could tell each
other They are all up to all jokes over here I was
talking to one of the chaps who was in the raid
& he told me that they would not have carried out
the said unless the 18^th Batt helped them I don't
mind telling you that they all take their hats off the
to the 18^th Batt we have got a great name right through
the Division, through the raid we were kept in the
trenches two days over our time so that we would
be in the trenches when the 7^th Bgde made their raid.
Old Doc Brown Ern Conlon Jim Preston & Billie Hellyer all
wish to be remembered to you all Have not seen any
of the other boys since writing to you last. I never
received your letter last mail & it has not turned up
 

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nor have I received your letter so far this mail I Suppose
they have been mislaid somewhere & will turn up later
on. Did you see anything in the papers out there about
a clock over in England Somewhere, one of our chaps
that has just came back from leave was telling me
about it, in the last two great wars this clock fell
down & an both occasions peace was declared three
months exactly after the clock fell & this very same
clock fell down a couple of weeks ago & if peace is
declared this time the war well be over at the end
of August which I hope it will I am full up of
this game new I have been over six months under
continuous fire, four months on the Peninsula & over
two months over here so I reckon that I have done
my share & it is up to some of the shirkers that
are back there to come over here & take our places
but I don't think that the curs are game enough
to come over here, but they will stay at home while
we fight for them & put up with all sorts of hardships
while they stay at home enjoying life & reading in
the papers everday where they are wanted. They call
this place “Sunny France” but I am sorry to Say
that we have seen very little sun over here although
it is supposed to be Summer here now it is raining
nearly every day. I know I wont lose any tears when
I am on the Transport leaving here for Sunny New
 

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Wales again after this terrible war is all over. I suppose
you will wonder what is the matter with me for writing
a letter like this but as it is raining to-day & I am
in the humour for writing I thought that I would
sit down & give you the latest news & then give the
letter to the first one I knew that was going to
England on leave to post over there. I have a lovely
driving band off a German shell & I am going to
take it to England with me & have it made up
into Something nice to I also have a lot of pieces
of aluminium off german shells that I am going
to have made into something. How are all the old
friends give them all my kindest regards next
time you see them I hope you explained to them
the reason why I cannot write to them (on account
of being limited to two a week). Did you receive my
letters with a few pressed flowers in them from the
ruined village of Bois Grenier. The big City of Armatiers
is only a couple of miles away from us & I went in &
had a look around it the other day my word it must have
been a beautiful place before the war it has not been
knocked about much but all the inhabitants have all
cleared out &it is occupied now by ANZACS. The biggest
fighting of the war before the Verdun battle took place
in & around Armatiers. Well Dad & Mum I suppose
you will get sick of this if I write any more so
 

At time Mr
Bardsley still sends
me a card nearly
every mail he is a good
old chap & he sends me
some funny cards. I have
not seen Jack O'Sullivan
for months now, the
5^th Field Amb. are a good
way away from us & I
never get a chance & seeing

him. Guess who is over
here in the 19^th Batt ?
brendon Shearer, I have not

spoken to him but a mate of
mine knows him & he told me
his father is also over here, he
is a Capt. in the A.S.C. Well
I think that I will have
to close now, but I will
write again in a few days
so with heaps of love &
Kisses I am X X X 
Rour loving son X X X 
X X Will X X
[*Remember me to all*]
Trenches
France
24/6/15
Just a few more lines to let you
know that I am still quite safe & well & hope that
you are all the same. I had a few lines from
Martie last night & he said that he expected to be
coming back any day now, we all thought that he
would not come back again but I suppose he wants to
he with the boys. The weather has not been too good
over have lately & I can tell you that this is not a nice
place to be when there is any rain about. I got your last
letter alright I think that it was mislaid somewhere
Nearly every letter that I get from you & Millie you say
that you have not had any letters from me for a
good while, I don't know why because I write as often
as I can, you should get on an average one letter a
week from me, & some weeks I writes twice, there must
be a fault in the post office Somewhere. I get your
letters alright I have not mssed one so far. All the
boys over here are first class Doc, Ern & Ollie I don't know
whether I told you before that Ned was wounded
again soon after rejoining us the was hit with a
piece of bomb dropped by a taube & he is over in
 

I forgot to give you before our new
address Viz.
Reg No 1132
Cpl. W. N. Berg,
Bombing Platoon
18^th Battalion
A.I.F.
France
Don't put anything else on the envelope
as there is a chance of me not getting
your letters if you do. This address is
a military order. You will see that I
am in the Bombers now, I was in it over
on the Peninsula & now we formed up a
Platoon over there & are attached to Batt. Hqrs.
The Bombing Platoon is commonly known
to the boys as the Suicide Club not
bad, eh? Ta-ta X
X Will X
X X X
 

2
England again the lucky devil. My good luck is
still sticking to me, we have been in the trenches
now for three months I am still safe. It will be
twelve months to-morrow since we left Aust, & out
of that I have been seven months under fire not
a bad record eh.? I have not been on leave yet & I
have not heard any news when I am likely to go. The
Russians still continue to do good work on the Eastern
front, I think that they will take a lot of Stopping. The
Artillery has been very active lately around here also the
aeroplanes. I have seen a couple of great air duels
the last few days, the first fight three of our planes
brought down two taubes & the other was a draw.
From what Millie tills me in her letters, Dad seems
to be having a great time with all the women that
the has its take care of while we are away, I think
those games of 500 must be very popular with Dad,
I hope you got those letters that I got posted in the
Old Country alright. I sent Willie a couple of little
handkerchiefs that I got over here, I did not send you
anything, but when I am going on leave I will get
Something from here for you all & have them posted &
registered in England. I had a few lines last mail
from Mollie, they all seem to be first class although
Grandad & me are very old on it now, I keep my
writing up as best I can to all but I find it hard
 

Ward C 3
War Hospital
Bradford
Yorkshire, Eng.
10/8/16
My Dear Dad Mum & Sister,
I suppose you know a good while ago
that Fritz got evens on me at last. I hope that you have not
been worrying about me as my wound is not serious. I had
very stiff luck to get dominoed I had been in hell for thirteen
days & had just got relieved & was about two miles away from
the firing line at the travelling kitchens waiting for the remainder
of the Batt to come along There was about five of us lying down
together & I was on the outside & all of a sudden I felt a funny
feeling in my left leg just above the knee & then I heard the shell
burst, so I was hit before I heard the shell. The Stretcher bearers
were handy so I was not long before my leg was in bandages
There was no ambulance handy so they put me on one of our Transport
Carts which took me about two miles to a dressing station
but Oh God what a ride it was, Ollie Norman was driving & I
think that he ran into every shell hole there was about, Anyhow
they dressed my leg at the dressing Station & then they took me & put
me in a motor ambulance & off we went & eventually arrived at
a clearing station at the village of Punchvillers, we stopped here
till evening & then I was put on a Hospital train with a lot of
 

(2)
others & we arrived next morning at Boulogne & from the train I was
taken per motor ambulance to a Canadian Hospital & I dont wind
telling you that I was glad too, I had too much travelling & was very
tired & sleepy & my leg was very painful. The Canadian Nurses soon
had me in bed & stripped & giving me a bit of a bath, but I did
not mind as I was beat, They left me there a day & a half, & one
cannot praise the Nurses, Doctors, etc, too much for they did every
thing to make everybody comfortable. Our next move was onto a
Hospital ship & then across the Channel to Dover & then into another
Hospital train, we travelled all night & eventually arrived here
next morning. It is not a bad Hospital but all the same I would
have sooner stopped at the Canadian. It is a long time since I
wrote to you but it was not my fault as they stopped all letter
writing We did just on three months in the trenches at Bois
Grenier without a spell & then we were relieved by the 4th Brigade & we
came back to Erquinghem but were only here a few days when we
got orders to pack up & to be ready to move off in half an hours
notice, we did not know where we going to go to, some rumours had
it that we were going to England while others had it that we were
going to the River Somme to take part in the big offensive (that
rumour was true alright) Anyhow we got notice to move & started
off on a beetle crushing tour until we arrived at a place called
Arques & there we went on board the train which went right
through the North of France & then along the Channel for an hour
or so & then turned south it was then dark so we turned in for
a sleep, the next thing we were awoken up & we found ourselves
 

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at Amiens, we left the train & went about 5 miles away from Amiens
to a village called Argoeuves, we stopped here a couple of days so I
had a chance of pinching in & having a look at Amiens (which I did
without getting pinched) Amiens is a beautiful place one of the
largest towns in France, Fritz had it once but was driven out of
it & the civilians paid the Germans 20,000,000 Francs not to
Knock it about & for once they kept their word. We were the first
lot of Colonial troops down that far & you would have laughed
if you saw how the French people went out of their way just
to get a look at us, but we took real well with them & most of
us could talk a little French so that made things all the better
After we had a good look around we went back again but only
stopped there till next morning & then we were on the move again
& kept an waving a few wiles every day until we arrived at
the one time beautiful town of Albert where we bivouaced for
the night, the 1st Aust. Div was now right into the Germans &
they were still keeping up the Good name the Aust, have, It was
now Sunday night & the 1st Div went into the fray last night
All our big guns were about Albert but we could see all the
shells bursting on a ridge about eight miles away, when
looking at it from a distance one would wonder how any
thing alive could live amongst the bursting shells. We stopped
there all day Monday & moved up to reserve trenches on Tuesday
night where we stopped for the night & then we went in
on Wednesday night & relieved the 1^st Div. it was a perfect
hell. The Bombers were camped alongside Hdqrs & we were
 

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waiting to be called to the front line at any minute but we
did not go up till about 5 P.M. the next day & then it was
to the assistance of the 17^th Batt bombers who were hand
to hand fighting with bombs with Fritz, as soon as the 32
of us got into Fritz we soon had him singing out “Kamerad”
but we wer’nt taking prisoners & bogged into him all the more
& we knocked off at 11 P.M. with 70 yds of his trench, not too
bad eh? Fritz left about 10 killed to our three but I dont
know how many wounded he had but we lost about 20
out of the Platoon, so you see I was once again lucky, there was
only five others out of the Bombing platoon came out of it with
me We lost our officer too who was wounded early in the game
but stayed with us till the last He is a game fellow his name
is Docker a relation to Judge Docker, We did not do anything
after that till the night before we came out when the whole
of the 2^nd Div was to take the German 2nd line trenches
that were situated on a ridge just outside Pozieres, which we
did without any trouble, I will not tell you about this charge
now but will leave it till later on, anyhow we held the new
trenches for 24 hours & then we were relieved by the 4^th Div & it was
just after we came out that I got hit. This stunt was modern
warfare right up to the mark, talk about artillery, the bombardments
that we were under for thirteen days was more terrific than
Verdun, the Germans used gas, liquid fire, tear shells & all sorts
of things against us down there. Poor Olly Hellyer was killed by a
shell when we were in a couple of days & Dave Webster just joined