Letters from Frederick Warren Muir, 1914-1915 - Part 6

minute or two everyone promptly went to sleep. Instead
some of the time we were actually walking in our
sleep stumbling through the fields over all kinds of
obstacles. We carried our entrenching tools with us
and every now & then a dull thud or splash would
show that some one had jettisoned a pick or shovel
We  climbed up near the native village and at dawn
delivered a bayonet charge on a hill close by.
After breakfast the enemy having presumably retreated
we made a fresh attack on their position & at
2 o'clock retired to our camp. We had another
nights rest and on Tuesday "folded our tents
like the Arabs & silently stole away" and marched
back again to Mena -quite pleased to get "home"
again. The more so as we had five days holiday
in consideration of our hard work. The Head Quarters
Staff who were out with us were encamped in an old
native cemetery & were constantly digging up bones &
skulls out of their beds.
I was vaccinated again the other day but
although it has "taken" it is not causing any
inconvenience much to my relief. Owing to being
away from camp so much lately I have got rather
mixed up as to my letters & do not know whether I
have missed a mail or have sent two letters in
one mail however you will know nothing is
wrong if I miss a mail occasionally
Best wishes to all
Yours affectionately
Fred.

Cairo 28 July 1915
Dear Mum.
Have received several letters from you lately
also some papers which are very acceptable. Have
also received letters from Will Cochrane, Myra
Warrington & Aunt Minnie,  am very pleased to know
that my letters are arriving all right now.
We are having a fairly easy time at present
as our training is practically finished. we do about an
hours drill in the morning & then have a rest till
6 o'clock when we go out for a march till 9 or 10 o'clock
This is just as well as the summer is creeping on now
& the weather is very hot in the middle of the day
The Dean of Sydney sent for me the other day & gave me
the box of chocolates which you had given his wife to
bring over. I was very surprised & pleased to get them &
as you can well imagine we soon polished them
off. The Dean said his wife wanted to see me &
promised to send across again when she was
in camp. 

we had an issue of some of the clothing given by
the Red Cross Society the other day. There were all kinds
of things; shirts, socks, comforters, Balaclava Caps, handkerchiefs
& so on. Many of them had notes in the pockets from
the ones who had made them. The socks & handkerchiefs
were the articles most sought for as we are begg
beginning to get short of these articles. I
I had a look into one of the Cairo Courts one
day last week things are carried on much the same
as in Sydney except that the proceedings were in French
& things were a bit more gaudy. There were about
50 barristers present of all nations & colours.
I am enclosing a few snapshots which may interest
you. The photos of the Pyramids & Temples were taken on our
last bivouac near Abũser which I spoke of in my
last letter. They are not very clear as the day was very
dull, but I will sent some better ones later. The hippo
which appears in one of the photos has been marvellously
trained by his keeper & obeys him just like a dog
& does just as he is told. Many of the natives object to
be photographed as it is against the Koran but if you do
happen to take their photo they crowd round you &
ask for "backsheesh."
will write again next week,
Best wishes to all,
yours affectionately
Fred 

Cairo 7 March 1915.
Dear Mum,
We are still here sweltering amid the sands
of Egypt but having a fairly good time nevertheless.
We were pout yesterday & Friday on a divisional bivouac
the most important manoeuvres we have yet tried as we
had over 12,000 men engaged. We went out at 2 o'clock
on Friday & returned on Saturday morning. Spent a
very cheerless night on the desert where we nearly froze.
I had a visit from Les Newman the other day
& went out to see him yesterday. He is in the Railway
Transport Section of the Army Service Corps & they are
encamped at Abbassia near Heliopolis on the opposite
side of Cairo to us. Les is looking very well & is having 
quite a good time over here. I will probably see
him often as they will be attached to our division
If you are writing to Mittagong you might tell them
that I have seen him & that he is getting along alright.
I notice that some of the Sydney papers
have been giving us a very bad name & 

publishing all kinds of reports about us. The men here
are very indignant about this as the behaviour
of the great majority of our troops is very good. There
are an great of course a few bad characters but
many of these have been returned to Australia &
the others have quietened down a good deal. as a
matter of fact the Australians are I suppose as a
whole the best behaved troops in Cairo although we
are blamed for many of the misdeeds of the N Zealand
contingent and the Territorials.
I think this is all for the present
Love to all,
Yours affectionately
Fred 

Cairo Sunday 14^th March 1918
Dear Mum,
Received a couple of letters from you by
last mail, also about ½ a dozen papers, Bulletin, Sydney
mails & local papers which were very acceptable. The
papers are seized upon by everyone as we all like to
know what is happening back in Australia. I always
pass the local papers on to one of the Wollongong
or Unanderra boys when I have finished with
them. Sam Duxbury came along to see me last
Sunday & was also along this morning. He is
in the 3^rd Battalion & is looking very well.
I saw Mrs Talbot the other day. She sent
up for me as she said she promised you that
she would see me & report on my health & appearance
She also promised to fix up anything I might
want done if I would let her know. She is
only young & seems very nice as also is the Dean
we have had a fairly strenuous week
during the last 7 days. We did not do much 

on Monday or Tuesday as the weather was not too good
but on Wednesday we rose at 4 o'clock & went out
on the hills with the rest of the Brigade to dig trenches.
Trenching in this country is not a very easy matter as
the sand keeps slipping in. It reminds me of the poem
in "Alice in Wonderland" where the walrus & the Carpenter
walk by the seaside & "weep to see such sand"
"If fifty maids with fifty brooms
Swept it for half a year
Do you think" the walrus said
That they could get it clear
I doubt it said the carpenter
And shed a bitter tear.
we also feel inclined to shed bitter tears when we
try to dig in it & see the sand trickling back almost as
fast as we shovel it out. On Thursday we rose at 3 am
I went forth to wield the pick & shovel again returning to
camp at 12 o'clock. There was a strong wind blowing
& we were enveloped in clouds of flying sand which
made everything very disagreeable. We mounted guard on
Friday which saved us the ordeal of sleeping in the trenches
at night as the remainder of the Battalion had to do.
Saturday was a general holiday & we spent the
time having a good rest and a sleep
Love to all
Yours affectionately
Fred. 

Anzac Cove
Gallipoli Peninsula
8th May 1915
Dear Mater,
Now that we are permitted to write longer epistles than
the laconic brevities of the official cards I find it somewhat
difficult to say all that I have to say but will start from the
date of my last letter & do my best.
During the latter days at Mena we had almost
persuaded ourselves that it would be our lot to swelter
amid the desert sands for a few more months. However towards
the end of march Sir Ian Hamilton arrived in Cairo and
reviewed the Colonial troops which of course gave us to
fresh hopes & many rumours. On 29^th March we were lined
up on the plain to the South of the camp & were inspected by
Sir Ian accompanied by General's Birdwood, Maxwell &
Bridges. We made I think a very fair showing & Sir Ian
seemed quite satisfied with us. After this things resumed the
even tenor of their way & we looked forward to having several
days holiday at Easter, but circumstances were against us.
The 1^st Battalion had even arranged a Sports meeting for
Easter Saturday which was to be quite a large affair & we
had the grounds laid out & programmes printed in
anticipation. Good Friday dawned inauspiciously- we
had some of the traditional hot cross buns for breakfast
and after a short service in the morning wended
our way to Cairo. The city was full of Australians
1 

2
and New Zealanders - thousands and thousands of them
more than I have ever seen in Cairo before. The Maori
contingent were also there in full force & I think that
Good Friday was one of the liveliest days Cairo has
ever passed in all its chequered existence. The troops
wandered home late at night & in the early hours
of the morning to learn that the edict had gone forth that
we were to leave Cairo on Saturday night.
Saturday was a day of toil & bustle. Tents had to be
struck and packed, kits packed, transports loaded and
stores removed. So liberal had been the issue of clothing
and equipment from the government and the Red Cross
Societies that we were hard pressed to store all our
household goods in the small space at our disposal
and many a carefully treasured memento of Egypt had
to be cast aside. The tents were pulled down one by one
and we saw  xxxxx the camp vanish away around
us "like snow on the desert's dusty face". By three
o'clock we had everything packed up, the lines cleared
& were ready to move off and at 6 o’clock we bade farewell
to the desert & the Pyramids and, headed by the band
set out for Cairo. All the men were in the best of
humors & whistled and sang as they marched. A fairly
large crowd gathered in the streets of Cairo as we
marched through but they did not seem very enthusiastic.
We reached the railway station at 9.30 and entrained
immediately. The journey to Alexandria was uneventful 

3.
we were rather crowded in the train but managed to
snatch a few hours sleep. When we awoke we could feel
the tang of the sea air and at 6 o'clock on Sunday morning
embarked on the A11. The S.S. Minnewaska. The "Minnewaska"
is a big boat off the Atlantic run & is one of the speediest
troopships afloat. She had not been fitted up as a troopship
however & we had perforce to sleep, eat our meals on the
hard deck but this did not concern us a great deal
Alexandria during these days was a hive of
military activity. The harbour was crowded with troopships
both French & English - The wharves were stacked with stores of
all kinds and train after train arrived from Cairo
with troops, horses & guns. For six days we lay in the harbour
loading ammunition, provisions, clothing and the hundred
more things necessary for the welfare of an army. Sometime
the loading operations lasted far into the night & we were
kept awake by the glare of the arc lights & the rattle of the
winches. Among other things we took aboard a number
of Spanish mules- huge powerful brutes which kicked
and struggled vigorously while, being hoisted aboard.
By Friday we had our cargo all below & were ready to
sail. We had on board about 900 horses & some 1500
troops including all head quarters staff. We had no
less than 5 generals on board with us - among them being 
General Birdwood commanding the Australian New Zealand
Army Corps & General Bridges commanding the Australian
Division. In addition there were some 15 Colonels and