Diary transcript of Reginald Harriman Heywood, 1917 -1918 - Part 15

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What worries me most is what I am to do after the war.

I've got to hoe in and make a place for myself and all I feel
inclined for is to crawl somewhere into the sunshine and sleep,
sleep, sleep. I'd turn Parsee if there was only a salary
attached to it.

More cribbage, but as the salivary stimulus is still

employed I'm not very keen.

28.6.18. More disturbances during the night but not enough to

prevent me turning up at the V.O's conference at H.Qrs. There

was the usual collection of useless and impracticable memos

from the base, but there were also several things of more

importance. Seeley has got rid of the dog fever to some extent.

I wonder who'll be next.
Col. Moseley has lost a leg, isn't it the limit, and he's

only been A.D.M.S. a few weeks.

29.6.18. Sister Cave has returned to England and is at Southwell

Gardens amongst Australians again where she is much happier.

She's a great little Australian. She's had appendicitis and  

expects to be returned to stock, much to her disgust. However

as I said before she'd be better at home with her mother, tho'

I wouldn't like to suggest it to her.

Went up and saw Sgt. Smith this morn: Fritz has been

blasting holes too close to the Bde. lines to be pleasant but so

far nothing's been hit. These dinky colonels' horses are getting

a bad habit of getting into trouble and Col. Marks' is in the

fashion - been down on both knees and doesn't look like doing

any good this side of Xmas. However there'll be a stir when I

suggest evacuating him. Alan Kelly and Geoff Madden have got

the dog's disease.

30.6.18. Got an order for a '14 man to report to Horseferry Rd.

for transport duty to Australia - a 6 month's trip if he can be

found at the time for re-embarking. Couldn't make up my mind so

rode up to Jimmy who was just endeavouring to bathe himself in

a petrol tin when I arrived at Hqrs. Sunday morn: of course

which explains the lateness of the hour. He and I both came to

the conclusion that the Staff is the man, but he would have to

revert to the rank of Corporal and as he's on leave and we

couldn't put it to him Major Brownsworth agreed to us forfeiting

the allotment and promised us the next one that comes to hand.

By a merciful act of providence our cook, the misguided

Pte. Lear has been snatched from us for a while with a sceptic

arm. Darkie has taken on the cooking and a marvellous change

has set in - to-day the roast beef and baked and new potatoes

were the best I've seen since leaving home. He is gifted in

the way of knocking together edibles when haste muscle and

quantity /

141

quantity are to be considered, and a manner of producing

surprises out of canned and bottled goods seldom imitated and

never equalled.

Jo and I rode over this afternoon to the 'drome near

Vaux where we angled unsuccessfully for a trip in one of their

buses.

1.7.18. This isn't all beer and skittles this O.C. job and the

latest in addition to seeing that the men's throats are gargled

bis-in-die with Condy's is answering anxious inquiries by

perturbed females in England and elsewhere regarding the cordial

tho' dilatory members of this section. It seems to me that all

there is to do is to ask defendant whether he prefers to be

killed in action or die of wounds. Anent the gargling Donald

McSwain now has the dog's disease.

To-day we had another cut out of the comforts fund and we

scored a bat and ball, 28 packets of cigarettes each, 1 doz.

playing cards and tinned fruit all round.

I have been foolish enough to give a clever imitation of

a target with my bung knee, with the result that I am hobbling

round on one leg - not bad enough to get to Blighty or anything

like that you know, just enough to cause me much uneasiness and

inconvenience.

2.7.18. The little Doc. and I had quite an orgy of blood to-day

and accomplished three quite ambitious operations. The first

was the removal of a piece of shell which went in behind the

point of the elbow and finished up in the pectoral muscles of a

horse belonging to the 41st Bty: another was the removal of

a fibroma from the pt: of the shoulder of a donk and the third

was the extermination of a similar tumour from the upper eyelid

of a 13th Bde. pony.

Old Sigs Waring called in and assisted me to bite the

end off a couple of whiskies - his Military Cross hasn't changed

him at all and he's just the same good old stick. He gave me

all the details of the little stunt which is to come off on

Thursday morn: and after which he is going to a depot in England

for 6 months.

In the evening Adrian came along - he is still dragging

spare with the 2nd D.A.C. but expects a vacancy to fill in one

of the batteries after this stunt.

3.7.18. Struggled manfully up to Hqrs. by lorry and per boot

for the cash, but the worthy D.A.D.O.S. brought me back in his

"Sunbeam". Afraid its going to be sometime before I can get a

leg over the pigskin.

The stunt in the morning is evidently in honour of the

Yanks/

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Yanks as its to happen on their great day, July 4 - the Yanks

also are going to lend us very material assistance. One drawback

is that Fritz has at least 6 divisions out in front of us,

but there are 11 Fld. Artillery Bdes. behind our division -

compree 11 Bdes? There are other infernal contrivances too, but

I won't even write of them.

The Yanks are leaving out a nucleus as our battalions do

much to the disgust of several of the said nucleus. One ex-cowboy

remarked casually - "they've had me trailing this gor-dam

thing round Texas for 11 months and now the business starts they're

sure goin' to hide me behind a bunch of trees."

Had stiff luck to-night as I found that the French ambulance

568 has been in the lunatic asylum at Dury and I have been

living only a few kilos away from Bobbie Duffy for two months now.

I sent Shadow Walsh over post haste but the ambulance had moved

to Thoix only a few days ago.

4.7.18. The barrage opened shortly after 3 a.m. and she was some

barrage, believe me. From what we can hear the stunt was quite a

success and we got all our objectives with moderately light

casualties. Apparently everything worked well - the whippet tanks

with ammunition and rations were right on the spot as were the

'planes which were also to take up machine gun ammunition if

required.

A healthy sign is the steady stream of prisoners going past

all day, somewhere about 20,000 they'd tot up to.

Snowy Reynolds paid me a fleeting visit and promised to

bring Phil down about the end of the week.

5.7.18. They stirred Fritz up alright yesterday, and its no

exaggeration to say he dropped hundreds of bombs last night. I

know we've got 8 float cases to collect anyhow.

To-day Seeley officially returned to the 10th Bde: and

I have been appointed O.C. of the Mobile.

The Staff returned from Blighty to-day where he seems to

have had the usual good time. Amongst other things he spent a

couple of days chasing submarines in a destroyer.

Fritz made a series of counter attacks last night but the

only impression he made was with a few more prisoners.

6.7.18. Hamel held. British take 1500 prisoners. What did I tell

you? if it had been the English troops, we'd have seen -"Buff

Orpingtons' brilliant advance" or "the Ayrshires dash" or

something like that.

The bung knee is progressing slowly tho' favourably

which/

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which is fortunate as the "little Doc" and I have had quite a

busy day, gashing, hacking, probing digging and otherwise

withdrawing a miscellaneous collection of hardware from the

anatomy of horses belonging to various units.

Another inquisitive female writes interrogatively re

a member of this section. I reply suitably tho' quaintly and

may I be forgiven. See what would you do? The English girls

take us all for fools and we're not, not all of us.

7.7.18. After I closed last night Arthur Waring called in -

he is on his way to England for that 6 months' trip. I think

he's earned it anyway. He was on Gallipoli and hasn't been

right since he was gassed at Passchendale. The cutting opposite

reminds me of the 5th Bde. boy who was badly wounded and coming

in on a stretcher. A tommy M.O. stopped the bearers and said

"excuse me, do you think you could walk".

The boy replied, "I can't walk Doc. but I'll --- well

crawl if that's any good to you." Clive and I continued the

probing &c. but without a great deal of success, and we've got 6

float cases awaiting that motor float of Corps.

Clark dropped in for a couple of hours and had tea with

me and later Jimmy paid me a surprise visit. He wants a man to

replace Bert Shoebridge who is going on leave so I think I'll

send Jack Austin.

8.7.18. Forgot to mention that Gen.Foch and M. Clemeneau

called at Hqrs. yesterday. They passed here in a car but

didn't recognize me, otherwise expect they'd have dropped in.

The motor float happened along, but as usual developed

alarming symptoms, and they only relieved us of four of our

float cases. It's time they got a digger to drive it.

Got on old Dick this morn. and was so charmed with the

experience that I rode over to see my rustic friends. Arriving

there with my tongue well out Madam dug up a bottle of '03

Rothschild's Chateau Something-or-other fizz, for which on

pressure she charged me 5 fr: (3/8 at current rate of exchange).

It seems to be some sort of a holy Jo week over in their

village and tomorrow I'm asked to a party.

9.7.18. Renewed my acquaintance with the 4th Bde. where they've

got a fine collection of "minnies" machine guns and other

miscellaneous ironmongery.

Saw also the 4th Pioneers whose horses look tip top.

They used to be the thorn in my side but now are second to none,

and reflect great credit on someone.

In /

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In spite of about 3 mean average rainfalls on the

way over - arrived safely at Argoeuvres and it was some

party. The '03 champagne was conspicuous by its absence,

and is evidently reserved for select occasions. What wonders

horses are - I rode Brownie across country on the way to

Argoeuvres and in spite of the rain and dark and my being

rather hopelessly lost he found the path to a fraction of an

inch.

10.7.18. Clive and I resumed the probing &c. this morn: and

got a very nasty piece of bomb out of a thigh near the femur,

but there was considerable splintering of the trochanter so

reluctantly I sent him on.

Old Fritz started to shell Amiens again to-day after an

interval of about 3 weeks - I hope a lot of the curses that I

hear cast at Fritz reach him with their full effect sooner or

later and sooner for preference.

. Vet. Sgt. Charlie Cooper called in here to-day - he is

still going strong with one of the 3rd Div. Battines and looks

much the same as when he won the Austn.Cup on "the Parisian".

11.7.18 Went up to the 4th Bde. this morn: but left my run a

bit late as some of the Battalions had gone while the rest

were in the throes of moving. They're going to Querrien for a

"rest" - that's about 20 yards further back than where they

were, only more liable to be shelled and bombed. Yes and this

div. has been in the forward area for over seven months now.

Ref: the paragraph opposite - in nearly every unit

there are to be found one or two, perhaps more, particularly

good and sound horses.

They are invariably treated like cup horses and there's

no need to ask about them, they're "Diggers". This is something

I'm entitled to talk about, and in my humble opinion and from

what I've seen, the old "Foundation Stones" stand alone, or

perhaps I should say they stand up with our soldiers.

Talking of paragraphs - hidden away in to-day's paper

are a few lines to the effect that Australian forces have

captured just on 4,000 prisoners during the last 3 months. I

wouldn't mind betting, in fact I'll lay a shade of odds, that

that's more than have been taken by 60 odd English divisions.

12.7.18. Attended the weekly conference and for the first time

since May 31, the full complement of V.Os was present.

The main topic was the question of remounts and a

suggestion was made that the veterinary people should handle

the/

145

the whole affair. This would mean a considerable increase

in work and responsibility but would I think considerably

benefit the division. At present the position is most

unsatisfactory.

In the evening I took another little jaunt to

Argoeuvres where Madam came to light with some more excellent

wine. I returned rather late and had to get thro' a perfect

barrage of tommy sentries.

13.7.18. 4th Bde. Hqrs. are in the chateau at Querrien, and

as we have an excellent Bus Service from our door to their's,

I dispensed with a horse. Buses of one sort or another pass

here on an average of about 1 every 2 minutes.

Saw Maj. Tovell but the Brig. is acting Divnl.

Commander. Tweedie and Waring on leave and Capt. Thompson has

been appointed D.A.D.M.E. or something equally important in

Blighty.

Shadow came back with the news that Divisional

sports are to be held shortly, so we have put 3 or 4 of our

horses into work right away - quite a string.

Besides we are all very keen and this evening we

started at 6.40 and wound up at 12.5 a.m.

14.7.18. Perambulated across to the 5th Mobile who are in a

wood behind St. Gratien. In all probability we will be relieving

the 5th Division in 8 or 10 days, so I arranged with Capt.

Grant to take over from one another. I'm not too keen on the

location - too many dumps &c. about, but Grant has got good bomb

banks built which is a consideration and they are a big job

for us with our limited number of men. We and the insectivora

have infested this old shanty for over two months - which is a

record stop in any one spot since this section came to France.

What a little world this is, some artillery has

been passing along the road just outside for the last 20

minutes or so. I went out to inspect and ran into Jack Gray

whom I haven't seen since we got off the "Benalla".

I might add that its a dark wet night too. The

training operations are in full swing, and Norman Rutherford

on his big brown horse and I on Dick went over half a dozen

fences this evening in dashing style.

15.7.18. Gad, what a lot I don't think of France. The

weather is most disgustingly muggy, beats Sydney hollow. And

the flies! of every description and name, both profane and

otherwise. It never gets hot enough to settle them, or make

them/

146

them cling to the ceiling like it does at home, just keeps

them at concert pitch all the time. 

We got some good fences up during the day, and this

evening schooling was in full swing. Tracker Trounson rode

Dick to-night, and he went over four fences with Norman's

horse particularly well. Brownie is coming on well too but

I'm afraid he's very backward in condition - he put on a lot

of beef during the six weeks he didn't have a saddle on him.

16.7.18. The Boch is on the assault and battery again and

attacking the French and Americans on a 50 mile front, Rheims-

Chateau Thierry way. From early accounts he hasn't done much

good. We know what its like to fail on a 5 mile front, we can

guess what a 50 mile "partial success" means.

I can't say enough for the weather - not here anyway

it wouldn't look nice.

An off day on the tracks today but our team are doing

alright; in fact we've added another as old Tas Morgan has

asked me to ride his big black.

A movement order came from Hqrs. requiring Snowey to

report in London and undergo training with the R.A.F. so I'll

have to send him off tomorrow.

17.7.18. The Boch is making frantic efforts down South of us

not too far South either, while I write this old shanty is

fairly humming with the vibration. The papers say he isn't

making any headway and in fact that we can look on it as a

defeat for him, but perhaps its a bit early yet.

Disaster has overtaken us - old Dick has broken his

neck. Like all good jumpers when he made a mistake it was a

proper one, and he broke Tracker's collar bone. Dick never

laid a toe on a fence all the time I had him, but tonight he

didn't rise an inch - a good pal gone West. Snowey set out for

England and the R.A.F., and its rather a coincidence that old

Dick should go under a few hours after Snowey left. They've

been pals since 1916 and no-one else has ever looked after

Dick.

I would rather have seen him go out like that, but its 

certain I'll never get another like Dick. I was very fond of

him.

Reading thro' these pages again makes me realize the

utter futility of the pen, of mine in particular, but not alone.

The things you see and the things you feel, how

impossible/

147

impossible it is to make others aware of them. Then

there are the things you think that you wouldn't want

others to know. I remember standing outside our shanty

that night at Bavelincourt when our 13th Bde. marched up

the road on their way to the line. I saw them only

indistinctly thro' a mist of call it what you will, but

I'll never never forget them. How are you going to tell

anyone else about them - he wouldn't understand. Those

transformers of the pure gold of truth into the baser

amalgam of fiction - the reporters who write reams and

reams can't do it - how can I? I thought Ashmead Bartlett

on Gallipoli was great but that was before I saw for myself.

It has dawned on me that all I write these notes for

is to serve me as a reminder - to oil the mental machinery

and to take me back some day to that night - so dreadful

and so grand - when the 13th Bde. went singing up the hill
into Bavelincourt.

I'll be able to stand on the side of the road and

see that battered and spent 51st Scottish division, with

the men dropping out like flies, and then our own boys

passing them up that hill - absolutely unbeatable and on

their own.

Am I proud to be an Australian? ask me another!

They beat the band. I don't suppose Hindenburg and

Ludendorff Ltd. will ever know it, but the colonials made

them miss their gait. Yes they beat the band and then some.