Photostat copy of diaries of Benjamin Bennett Leane, 1915-1916 - Part 17

106

Father Divine. None of your

comfortable, sleek priest about

him, but a tall gaunt, sharp

featured Irishman, with a head

that takes a 7 3/8 hat - by he

way. I lost drinks to him over

the size of his head __a voice

that is manly, a keen sense

of humour, a laugh that is

hearty, and a mind that is 

broad. He is the type of

Catholic who makes you wonder

why the Protestant Church is so

bitter against his ilk.

His particular friend is Capt

Woollard our MO - an atheist

and a propaganda, as he calls

himself. So sure as the Padre

takes up one line of argument

the Doc will take up the opposite.

He is very clever, and has a strongly

developed humorous vein, so you

can guess that the discussions

become both lively and personal

 ___ but always with good feeling

and an entire absence of malice.

He is a little fellow, about 5'5'

but he can straffe with the best.

He is never lost for a word

He abuses the Padre most unmercifully

calls him "The man of God" " the

Jesuit" The Parasite of Faith"

and several other equally unpleasant

names ___ and the Padre chuckles

away until he has finished and

then opens out on him with equal

force. But they are real good

friends.

We had some war news

by Marconigrams yesterday.Quite

108

stirring accountof the North Sea

battle. From all accounts the

Germans lost several vessels while

we did not even get our new

paint scraped off. But I always

feel dubious about these one -

sided reports, don't you?

Tuesday June 6th

Just so! Today we get

news of the loss of at least

three ships" and - the 'Queen Mary"

'Invincible' and Warrior".

We have been hearing some

exciting news of our own today.

we have passed within close

call of no less than three

submarines, the skipper says.

One of them gave chase to

the "Kinfauns Castle" on which

are the 46th Bn and our Brigade

Headqrs. I'd like to see one of

these queen fish pop up, so

long as she didn't get us

This afternoon we had a very

good concert on the Saloon

Deck. We have quite a lot of

talent in the 48th both

among officers and men.

Perry, my batman, came

to light with a comic song

and some rather clever patter.

He quite surprised me. I didnt

know he had it in him.

He quite brought the house

down, and made me feel

decidedly proud in a sort

of" reflected glory "fashion.

Carter, one of our new officers,

has a splendid baritone voice.

Jove, I wish I could sing, kiddie.

110

Wednesday June 7th 1916

Very bad news today.

The 'Hampshire' with Kitchener

& his staff on board, has

been sunk off the Onkneys

and it is practically certain

that all are drowned. 

At any time the death of a great
man is a sad thing, but just
now it is particularly unfortunate.

Others will arise, I suppose to

fill the vacancy, and may

fill it even better, but there

is no doubt that his loss will

give the Germans as much elation

as would the capture of a whole

Turkish army corps. However,

we're not going to lose the war

through it, are we?

We expect to reach Marseilles

about noon tomorrow. Where we

go from there I don't know, and

won't know until the MLO.

comes aboard.

Thursday June 8th 1916 11 am

All day yesterday we

had the coast line of Sardinia

in sight, but this morning

all is grey mist and a

fair sea is running. The

boat shows very little motion

though.

The skipper reckons to

 berth about 4 pm. He had

to alter his course yesterday

on account of submarines. A

steamer about two miles from

us sighted one ad fired three

shots at it.

11 pm We berthed at about 5.30 pm

112

and are now laying alongside

waiting to disembark in the

morning. So far we don't 

know where we are to go.

I hope we are not kept long

away from the trenches.

I bought a" Daily Mail" of June 7th

today, and in the list of

killed there are two officers of

the old 10th One, Capt

Bates,, was a particular chum

of mine, and a fine fellow.

He was also a chum of Heritage's.

Poor old Charlie came through

Gallipoli safely only to meet his

death of the hands of these cursed

Germans. I hope I may be

able to get one in for him.

The other name was that of

Lt Shaw. Shaw was the chap

who swapped jobs with me just

before the landing on Gallipoli,

and went back to the Base as 

Orderly Room Sergeant in my

stead. I never had too much

faith in his courage, but he

has evidently had enough to

get himself killed. Poor chap.

France ___ or that much of

it that I have seen so far, ___

is not at all as I had pictured

it. The coast line as one

approaches the harbor, is very

rugged and not particularly

fertile. The cliffs appear to

rise almost sheer from the

waters edge, and are built up

of strata upon strata of grey

clay or sandstone. Further

inland the hills appear to be

114

well timbered. The first

thing to be observed on approaching 

Marseilles itself (after the

lighthouse which stands on a 

low rock well out to sea)

is what appears to be a

castle perched high on a 

hill peak. A closer view
(Notre Dame de la Garde)

proves it to be a R.C Cathedral ,

with an enormous gold figure

of The Virgin Mary surmounting

its tallest spine. The town

itself ___ as seen from the

ship ___is like most other

big seaport towns , rather

closely packed, rather smokey,

and rather dirty. As we

steamed in past the first

docks we got our first welcome

to France ___ three or four

buxom working girls in very dirty

overalls and with very unkempt

appearance altogether, ran down

the quay and waved their

greetings. An old man

caused much amusement by

leaning against a public

fountain as we went by,

quite oblivious to the fact

that on the other side of the

board a good stream was

running from the tap, suggesting

something that set us all laughing,

at which the old chap looked

all round to see what  the

joke was, but still remained

in his suggestive attitude.

I believe the 2nd Division

had a 58 hrs. train journey

after they landed. I wonder

116

is that in store for us.

I sent you a postcard

yesterday dear, and I have

a letter ready to post as 

soon as we get ashore. I

am enclosing several snaps

in it, also that menu I

told you about. I wish

we could have brought our

cameras with us, instead of

having to leave them behind

in Egypt. I expect we'll

find that everybody else has
them.

Saturday, June 10th 1916

I am writing this in the

train,. so please excuse

if the writing is bad. We

have just passed through Lyons

and we now travelling

through beautiful country very

like that of dear old England.

There is a wealth of greenery

everywhere, all washed clean

with last nights rains, with here

and there a red roof on a

white wall, or perhaps a

silver streak where the river

winds its way. Ray is in

raptures with the beauty of the

place, just as I was with my

first introduction to England.

We disembarked yesterday

just after lunch. Unfortunately

we have had to dispense with

all baggage except our valises.

I handed mine over to Cook's

agent with instruction to forward

it on to Uncle Arthur.

We left Marseilles at 5.30 pm

118

and expected to be three on

our journey. However, we have

a comfortable first class carriage

and a kerosene case full of

provisions, so it won't be any

greathardship. The men are

all in horse trucks, thirty

to a truck. I notice that

all the French troops who

have gone past have been in

3rd class carriage. Just a little

discourteous of our allies, I think,

considering the fact that we are

their guests. However, things

could be worse.

We picked up five bags

of mail at Marseilles ,and have

sent them on the  journey.

I was lucky enough to get two,

one from mother and one from

you. Yours was dated May 1st

Dear old sweetheart, it was so

bonny to have home letters to

meet me on my first day in

a new land. I have answered

it at once.

There are five of us in this

carriage___ C.O, Major Imlay,

the Doc, the Padre, & I. Last

night the Padre slept on the floor

while the rest of us tangled up

together on the two seats. I think

the Padre was most comfortable of

all, except that once or twice

somebody placed their feet

on his face. At 11.30 pm

we reached a place called

Orange where hot water was

obtained for the purpose of

making tea. The station was

120

badly lit and we all floundered

about in mud puddles and

water holes for about half an

hour. Then suddenly, without

warning the train whistled and

moved off and there was a 

wild scamper to get aboard.

It is indeed beautiful country

we are passing through. The
sun is shining now, and

all the vineyards and orchards

and woods are such a bright

clean sparkling green. It seems

a sin to bring war and all

its horrors into such a 

paradise. And everywhere
are poppies, poppies, great

scarlet patches among the green 

fields. And among the poppies,

working in the fields are

women, women and the old men,

taking the place of the young

men -___the husbands, brothers, sons

 ___ who are away in the

trenches. And not one of them

but waves or throws kisses to

us as are rush through to go in

their men folk in stemming

the progress of the invader and

forcing him back to his own

country. One old chap

drew his hand across his

throat several times, pointing

in the direction of the front

The while as though to urge

us on to slit the windpipes

of our common enemy.

The old Padre just raised a

joke unintentionally. He was

looking through a copy of

122

"Le Vie Parisienne" (a French

paperdevoted to sketches of

the French girl in various stages

of deshabille ___ very tasty and

very chic) when he suddenly

said " Well, these are not

good drawers, at all." Of  course

we all  deliberately misunderstood

him and rushed to judge

for ourselves the merits or

demerits of the "drawers,"

professing great disappointment

when we found that he

referred only to the artists.

The poor old chap went red

and straffed us for having

evil minds.. But he is a

good old chap and always

laughs most heartily when

the joke is against himself.

Sunday 11th

Still travelling. The country here

is ever more like England than

is the country further south, We

passed through the outskirts of

Paris about eight o'clock this

morning, but not near enough to

see anything except the Eiffel Towe.r

We are now well into the north of 

France. It has been a long, but

a very interesting journey from

Marseille. We have passed through

all the southern country along the

route Marseille ___Arles___ Lyons___

Dijon ___ Versailles ___ Paris___Creil.

According to a French R.S.O. at

the last station we should reach

Hazebrouck, our destination at

2 am tomorrow, Hazebrouck is 

away up on the border of Belgium,

124

between Lille and Ypres, and not

far from Boulogne.

The boys seem to be enjoying

their journey immensely. The

train, which is a very long one,

is festooned from end to end

with garlands of bracken fern

and poppies, while every doorway

and opening is crowded with Khaki

figures who wave and cheer

and cooee]to the folk who

turn out all along the line to

see the Australians go through,

of the girls of France give kisses

as] readily and as extravagantly

as they throw them, our boys

are in for a good time. But

"I hae ma doots aboot it."

Young Allan had a letter

 from his father yesterday. He says

that he and Allan (Senr) have

just returned from nine days

trip to England & Scotland

Wednesday June 14th 1916

"Somewhere in France" at last
We reached out journey's end
___Bailleul, just past Hazebrouck__

at about half past six Monday

morning. It was a wet, dizzly

morning and when our train

stopped at the station we found

the 16th Bn, who had gone

through four or five hours ahead 

of us, bivouacked in a

field near by. They must

have had a cheerless night

in the wet grass and the

soft, incessant rain. I think

our boys for the first time

thoughtly appreciated the