Thomas James Richards, Diaries, Transcript Vol. 3, 26 January to 8 November 1916 - Part 23

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August 22nd. Tuesday.

At 11 o'clock this morning, we left the trenches and 

the dressing station and are now camped on the "Brickfields" 

on the safety side of Albert, but by no means out of gunfire. 

I am very pleased indeed to see the last of the Pozieres front, 

not so much perhaps for myself as for the good men than we 

have out there dying every few minutes of the day and night.

Whatever last night's attack brought forward I don't 

know, all we can find out for surety is that it was a very 

successful move. And we know full well, and to our glorification, 

that whatever was done was done with very small 

losses as our waggons all waiting for 12 hours amongst 

shrapnel fire had to leave without a load of wounded. The 

2nd Division are now in front midst the heavy shell fire and 

death. My heart goes out to them. I will not be at all 

content until the whole of the Australian forces are withdrawn 

from the Somme front. Of course things may be just as bad 

wherever we go. Be that as it may, the Somme front and its 

murder is so well brought home and lies so heavily upon 

hearts and minds that a change, even if it be no better, will 

still be a change.

It is a wonder that I had not previously mentioned the 

matter of rats about these places, at Becourt you could see 

them running across the roads at all hours of the night. There 

were thousands of them.

One mile from Albert with some 20 men I had one of the 

most enjoyable swims I have yet had in a large lake off

 the River Ancre which runs through Albert. The water was clear 

and deep and the men enjoyed it more than men ever enjoyed a 

swim and a wash. There were some pictures taken.

August 23rd. Wednesday.  We were up, breakfasted and 

prepared for the march by 9 a.m.  The Germans were bombarding

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nearby but none of their shells came near to us.

By 1 o'clock we were in Warloy fully 8 miles away.  And 

prepared to camp for the afternoon and night under some trees. 

I had four eggs and coffee at a dirty French house and then 

slept for 2 hours, they were two of the most refreshing hours 

sleep I've had for some days, not that the roar of the guns at 

Becourt, as there were whole batteries of big guns within a 

few hundred yards 8 and 10 ins.

At night, after a walk and buying a couple of bottles 

of wine (5 francs) Jack Hynes called to have a chat.

August 24th.  Thursday.

We marched out of Warloy by 9.30 a.m. through Contay 

and Herissart onto the main Amiens-Doullens road and turned

northwards in the direction of Doullens. Now it is quite 

clear as to our intended direction, we've heard a whole lot

about going up to Flanders again, but it seemed so good that 

after our punishments of late I thought the news much too good but now my heart is easy, but it will not be clear until 

after the 2nd and 4th.  Divisions of Australians are withdrawn 

from that murderous failure on the Somme. We are 

camping around some quarries in the open at Beauvel, 5½ kilos

from Doullens tonight, I will as usual be sleeping comfortably 

in the waggon. Beauvel is one of the best towns we have been

in down here on the Somme. And like most towns has a good

big church, and one that attracted a good deal of attention

from our soldier sight-seers.

I met George Barr tonight and had some wine and a chat

with this genial old sportsman.

August 25th.  Friday.

Two years ago today since I signed on in the Army. I

don't feel at all enthusiastic about it either as it has been

24 months of isolation and bondage. Not that I regret it for

a moment, the opposite, in fact; I'm mighty pleased to know 

that I've done as much for my country as the gods running the

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"show" will permit of me. I've just battled quietly  along 

doing as instructed mechanically. One side of my mental 

being has become machinelike and very hardened. Yet through 

it all I believe I've not altered in habit or in manner. 

Although many fellows have developed a lot of faults that 

will require a whole lot of undoing. On the other hand we

(as a body) have been roughing it so long that there will be

no "wild oats" period for the youngsters to sow and they will 

be only too willing to settle down for good and all.

Six privates have gone from our unit to the 1st 

Brigade as one-star men, 5 to the 1st Battalion. Captain

Lee said that he would send my name in for a commission, but

I don't think it fair for an ambulance man to run over the

top of the hard-done-by infantryman, and again our men will

need a lot of training before they will be of much use. The

infantrymen from other battalions should be given the

positions.

Lieut. Sparkes (one of our newly appointed men) 

who joined up with the 1st Battalion, spent the last stay of

8 days in the trenches in charge. He said that in his company 

50 men were detailed as a fatigue party and all that was left 
of the company then to march out to entrain were 3 officers, 

2 N.C.Os. and one private a batman. This is all that is 

left of 240 men.

August 26th.  Saturday.  We left Beauval at 2 p.m. 

marched 6 kilos to Doullens, got the transport aboard in less 

than 30 minutes and hit off on our journey northwards by 6 

o'clock. At 8 o'clock we were stopped at St. Pol after

passing through some beautiful scenery in the form of copses

and ripened fields. The class of scenery is distinctly

unlike any other I have seen, sometimes it might resemble

some of the closely settled districts of Australia. It is

distinctly unlike England's rural land as I know it on

account of the absence of hedges between the fields or along

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the roadside. There are miles of hilly downs here, a

large clump of trees here and there with different crops,

from lucerne to the now ripened what and oats, perhaps a

short line of trees will break the rolling country but

seldom a single farmhouse. The rural population live in

villages and journey to their work each day. Most of the 

harvesting is done by hand but still there are reapers and

binders at work.

August 27th. Sunday.

At 12 o'clock we were on the train at Hazebrouck

last night. At 2.30 a.m. we were on a military railway

siding without a name but near Poperinghe, we marched some

distance and put up at a line of very pleasant huts at 4

a.m. I slept until 9 a.m. and later in the day discovered

that we were near the town of Reninghelst, not far from the 

large Belgium town of Poperinghe or yet far distant from 

Ypres.  From our present position we may go to either part

of the line between Armentieres and Ypres. I will probably

have a chance to run down to Outtersteen from here, but then

we may not be here more than a few days.

I strolled into Reninghelst and heard a fine Scottish

Band playing at the Y.M.C.A. tents, it was fine indeed, the

best I've heard for a very long time.  The only music in

fact for a very long time.

There are hundreds of Canadians about and they look

excellent soldiers so clean and smart, brass buttons all

aglow, I think they have only recently arrived in this

country.  Anyhow, their appearance on the street beat our

men all to pieces.  Our man always look untidy, their

sleeves rolled up or neck buttons all agape. Careless to

the core.

August 28th.  Monday.  I have cleaned and greased the waggon

and sitting inside looking over the just delivered mail. We

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We seem to have a small mail delivery every four or five

days these times.  The two letters, one from Ruth, the

other from Jim Miller are just beautifully written and so

confidential.  Four papers, one the Bulletin from B. Blaxland

and three from K. Carroll.  Both these girls are very

regular indeed, and I feel quite proud of them.  I receive

a whole lot of Sydney Bulletins now, the dates are sometimes

old, anyhow I am such a slow reader that the Saturday Evening

Post fills up all of my leisure hours.  A book once in a

while I enjoy and as writing comes painfully slow, it takes

up most of my time.  I seldom spend much of my time in

gossiping about the Camp, there are several fellows I would

like to get into proper conversation with, but in the main

the fellows have nothing to talk about of interest, they

have never been thinkers for themselves.  Some of my most

trusty pals have, like myself, been so long out of the world

that we also have but little to talk about that has not

previously been well chewed over.

This afternoon I went into Poperinghe after evading

the guard and had a good look around.  It is a large town

right enough but nothing pretty about it other than the two

or three churches, it is a mass of heaped together bricks

and red tiles.  The stores are common places, I was told

it was a good town, but came home somewhat disappointed. At

the Tommys' canteen (a poorly run show, the Canadians put it

all over them as business men) I Learnt that Roumania had

commenced war against Austria. This is very pleasant news

if only for the fact that the Roumanians have seen fit to

join us, this shows we are on the winning side and that the

tide of fortune is fast turning in the Allies' favour.

We took the wrong road on coming home but with a

pretty cross country walk we managed to get back home very 

pleased. 

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August 29th.  Tuesday.

There has been a succession of sunshine and rain all

day.  Another mail today, I got a fine parcel from Ella

Rollston and it pleases me very much indeed as Ella is a 

fine girl.  Letters came from Spenza and Mabel Richards.

I will spend a whole lot of my time now getting squared up

as I have a whole lot of correspondence laying about here.

I seem to have an ideal job as waggon orderly Corporal

and should get plenty of valuable time to try and improve

myself.

Hollingsworth writes a long letter but says nothing

about the placing of photos.  although he has attended to

the orders I asked him to fulfil and Elvy Evans and Mabel

and Spenza are very thankful for them.

August 30th.   Wednesday.

It has been raining all the night and is still

raining this morning, putting everything in a terrible

plight.  Last night I sat up writing until 12 o'clock,

during which time there were two gas alarms and the fellows

were all dragged out of bed.  Nothing came of the alarms

and all settled down peacefully again.

It seems that we are in the worst gas zone of all,

the level country seems to suit the flow of gas to

perfection.  The Canadians have always been amongst the

gas, though I believe a whole lot of them are now down on

the Somme Front.  The Germans have a system with their

gas in sending over three to five attacks of harmless black

smoke and when the men get a little careless they send the

real stuff along and seldom fails to get some of them

unprepared.

We are getting quite a lot of Canadian Davis,

Toronto, pork and beans.  Our men all complain that there

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is not enough pork.  Sure enough, and in all truth, the 

pork is very limited indeed, but I think that getting bacon

every morning as we have done almost without a break for two

years has taught us to eat it like ordinary meat.

August 31st.   Thursday.

I have received dozens of Sydney Mails with Bert's

photo. in and dozens more of the fellows round about have

brought the paper to me to show me Bert's photo.  I have 
done nothing much today but write letter, I believe I have

a better job than the Colonel at present, nothing at all to 

bother about and read, write, eat and sleep in my ambulance

waggon.  At 5 o'clock I went for a walk and was very 

interested in the picking of hops.  There are a whole lot of

hop patches about Poperinghe.  They grow on trellises to a

height of some 16 feet and look very well indeed.  The girls

and women engaged in picking the hops receive about 2 francs

for 50 lbs. and the best that a good picker can do is 80 lbs.

in a day of long hours.

We had a glass of beer at 2½d a small glass and it was

much better in quality than down in the Somme area and yet

very light indeed. 

September 1st.  Friday.  Poperinghe.

The first day of another month.  Its remarkable where

the weeks and months go to.  It is five full months since we

landed in France, months of much interest and through many

kinds and changes of weather.

We shifted camp this morning from near Reninghelst

around to the other side of Poperinghe.  A little nearer to

the town perhaps.  Here we have taken over a Rest Station and

from the look of things will be about here for some considerable 
time too.  The place has been occupied by Canadians,

and I believe by the comfortable buildings and laying out of 

this place that it was build by the Canadians also.  Anyhow, 

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it is an excellently appointed place and we found it very

clean this morning distinctly different to most camps that we

have taken over.

A large Canadian clearing hospital right opposite is

a picture, the large patches of rich grass and lines of 

flowers are splendid.  The tracks about the place are built

up high and dry above the muddy ground and the Huts are well

appointed and very clean indeed.  A small motor generates

electric light for the whole buildings.

September 2nd.   Saturday.

There was a muster parade at 7 a.m., those not on duty

had to submit to physical drill for half and hour.  I tried it

but my back was not up to the body bending exercises, this 

damn lumbago trouble seems to get me still.

My name appeared for leave from 1600 to 2100, so I went

into Poperinghe, had for tea a plate of meat, roast potatoes

and green peas, washed down with beer.  Belgium beer, a kind

of mineral water with a peculiar taste is all it was.

I went on to the Picture Show, there are three of them

in town, and enjoyed the show right enough although there was a 

love contest so thrillingly and sobbingly contests that I 

was displeased, more by jealousy than anything else perhaps.

An office robbery picture was not the stuff I wanted either,

neither was the usual crowd of people chasing one another,

this picture was a run-away hat with a mob of women following

it through hedges, over walls and into barbed wire fences.

The one picture of an American outlaw story was full of life

and gave our eyes a distinct change of scenery, as well as

some decent horsemanship.  The piano and violin follow the 

films pleasingly along.  The place, however, was very close,

no ventilation whatever, and the fellows would smoke until the 

air was putrid.  It was a treat to breathe the fresh air at

the conclusion of the performance at 7.30 o'clock.

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The large board told us a Gas Alert was ON.  That

means the wind was blowing from a favourable direction. 
And

gas may happen suddenly along.  I bought some pastry and

a whole lot of other rubbish and came away home quite happy.

Poperinghe is a fairly large town with some money

making shops in it of a decent kind.  But it is a desolate

kind of place looking a little the worst for the shells

that are fired in it now and again.

September 3rd.   Sunday.

No Church service today.  Nothing out of the

common about the camp so I went out for a stroll, first

taking a car down as far as Godewaersvelder, probably 10

kilos away.  From here we walked up to Mont de Cats. A

rain storm unfortunately came on as soon as we reached the

summit of the high hill which overlooks the country for

many miles around and spoilt the whole of our outlook.

The abbey on top of the Hill is still a stronghold of

monks, and is no doubt one of the few monasteries left in 

France.  It is a huge place and part of it is used for a 

hospital or rest station - a delightful place for the 

purpose too.

In Boeschepe we, Owen Burton and myself, had eggs and

potatoes, the French girl was a peach as far as girls go

nowadays and her English was very entertaining.  Midst a

lovely evening light and cloud effects we came happily 

homeward.  There is a delightful young moon in the sky.

September 4th.   Monday.

I have been very pleased with an article in John Bull

concerning the great strength of Russia and her possibilities

if the English and French we only give them ammunition and

plenty of it.  The editor's story about Germany crumpling

up and a rapid peace was very fine also.  But at the same 

time I cannot see where peace is going to come from.

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I have posted to Bro. Bert a parcel containing a whole

lot of letters, cuttings, German and Turk bullets, postcards

and four of my old diaries.  The postage cost me 2 francs

and 4 pence.  I hope above all things that it won't go

astray.  I feel also afraid to let anybody handle those

books as I have written mostly in them as offset to my

monotonous surroundings which may be taken for growling

in the hands of anybody else.

September 5th.   Tuesday

Today has indeed been a miserable day, dull and showery

the whole time.  A Sports Committee of three (I amongst them)

has been selected to arrange a program for Saturday week

which is intended as a "Picnic Day".  The Officers are

desirous of pushing on sports as much as possible to keep

the fellows occupied and in condition.

There has been a big gun of ours about here firing at

intervals of 20 minutes all day today.  Probably it is to

make up for the knocking about Poperinghe got on Sunday last.

I fancy the big gun of ours is on rails and they run it about.

It is cold also, and our fellows fear for the Winter.  But

it is not yet winter by any means as the crops though cut

and stacked are not yet gathered in.  The "hop pickers"

have a lot of work to do, in fact they have only just

commenced a very long job.  Hop picking is slow and tedious

work and gathers in women of all ages, right from mere

infants up to grandmothers.

I went out for a ride on a fine little hack of Tom

Brennans, but it was so wet and rainy.

September 6th.    Wednesday.

Today has been a great day, so delightfully soft

and sun shining so innocently that one would hardly think

that it ever rained, or was disagreeable in Flanders.  There

is a cricket match this afternoon but as Capt. Lee's horse

was at my command I naturally preferred to go out riding.