Thomas James Richards, Diaries, Transcript Vol. 4, 9 November 1916 - 31 May 1918 - Part 5

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To-day I met an awful grumbler. He seems to have the best
knowledge of war matters than any and all, to hear him talk;
but alas! he only has one star up and a mournful story of
his treatment etc. I have met some 40 officers of varying
ranks and I fear that my only trouble in living up to and
aobve many will be my backwardness at cards, for the rest of
the game I only want a little experience to be up with them.
There seems to be an awful feeling of depression
concerning the state of the war just now. Men who were
confident we were winning easily are now shaking their heads
and asking one another "will we be in the final peace conference 
at all, or will Germany have it all their own way?
There is no doubt that we have paid heavily for our successes
on the Somme and now that the enemy have given us a display of
their power in overcoming Roumania with such rapidity and
apparent ease our chances look very gloomy indeed.
The Australian people have shown clearly that they
are sick of the whole business and now that the English people
are being pinched there is an inclination to squeak right
through Great Britain, while France is nearly depleted of man
power and there is clearly something lacking over in the Russian
area. Yes, we Allies are fast weakening and show signs of
almost impossible attempts at organisation. There are gaps
right throughout our service. Gaps that make one stop and
glare in dazed wonderment. There are days and days wasted
waiting for materials. For instance here we are with a party
of 80 and three officers and this the fourth day that we have
been sitting on the job, besides five days arrangement before
we came out and the workings have not yet been surveyed nor
have we one set of timber to commence operations with. Everybody
complains of the same thing, and nobody bothers much as it
"belongs to the other department", so we sit around unconcerned
and wait, wait, wait. We will ever remain waiting too, I
suppose. I seem to have been doing nothing else since 1914.
 

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Now as for the Central Powers they know their war game like
a good bridge player knows his cards and the actual value
thereof, so that they prosecute the war to meet the strength
of the cards and anticipate every move of the Allies' cards
as is so easy to a bridge player. But admitting all this
grand knowledge and superiority, they have suffered tremendous
losses. Losses not nearly as great in actual numbers as our
own but losses nevertheless that make them a weakened and a
fast failing army. Germany's latest move in drawing upon
every available source for men shows clearly that there is a
shortage of man power. The Austrians have been very badly
knocked about and would be easily overcome without the wonderful 
power of Germany. So it is the Germans that we have got
to beat first. I believe one throughly organised push would
break them down too, but to move an inch at a time as we are
now doing leaves us without a chance of success as our losses
are too heavy and the position we take too battered for the
protection of our forces, from the devastating fire of the enemy.
Then our communications are so badly hampered that our men have
to suffer not only from exposure but lack of food stuffs as well,
and there are no comfortable billets for the men to rest in when
out of the line unless they are taken 12 to 30 miles back. On
the other hand the Germans can make new and solid positions to
fall back upon and their roads and railways are not injured
seriously, while ours have entirely disappeared. No, we will
hardly beat Germany by our present methods, the cost is too high
and if we just hang on and wait our merchant shipping will be
all sunk by submarines, so the Allies must pull themselves
together and make a dash for liberty and success. But no!!
I expect them simply to hang on and wait and keep waiting with
the persistency that has made the British nation just what it is.
Although the honours of war will go to the Allies there will be
no spoils for the victors, in fact I can not see that there is
going to be any victors at all, it is like a dog fight in which
 

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both contestants are weakened to despair, physical and financial
ruin, too weak to continue the battle and at the same time
neither is strong enough to move ahead to grasp the spoils of
victory. "Stalemate".
December 14th.    Thursday.
Our mining job is still going in a very half-hearted
way owing to lack of timber, and we dare not cut in far into
the chalk without it. There have been several Staff Officers
down and about lately, but it seems that even they cannot
hasten along the materials for the job.
Lieut. Issacs laid off the levels in good style
to-day so that we can commence our vertical shaft almost at
once to a depth of 40 feet.
Following upon the remarks of yesterday, news comes
through that Germany has put forward "Peace Proposals" through
several different neutral sources, but these proposals seem to
be based upon a German victory inasmuch as they hold on to
Belgium, giving back the whole of the French territory. This
is not a serious sign at all, just the/effect of weaking that
all nations concerned are feeling, and a general desire for
peace which the whole world is craving and praying for. Anyhow 
it is a good start and being the thin edge of the wedge it
may open out on to something worth stopping the war to the
satisfaction of all that are left.
December 15th.  Friday.
Weather conditions don’t so much matter now-a-days
as there is very little necessity for me to go out into the
open working as our men are underground. But anyhow, the
weather is most damnable for those poor devils in the trenches
or working in the open. There is no light for observation so
things are rather quiet in regard to gun fire.
We have taken our bearing of the levels and all is
ready for going right ahead only for the lack of timber.
 

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Timber we can't get at all, and Lieut. Issacs has been
ringing up regularly and being promised from day to day.
We have as usual played bridge after tea for 1½ hours.
I hate to think of the few valuable hours I have spent
playing cards (without betting) during the past 5 days and
nights.
Tonight the conversation drifted between two officers,
11th and hth Battalions, on their attacks and the awful mistakes
that occur. Whole Battalions get lost out in "no man's land"
and shoot one another. Patrols get into bombing range of one
another and kill their own men. One said that the 5th Division
were positively slaughtered at Flanders not only were they let
down by the Tommys on either side but they failed to get orders
and went on to their death. Some 9,000 Australian casualties
were reported and nothing gained whereas the charge was a glorious
success and would have broken the German line to hell had there
been any support for the men. But no, they were the only
Division to attack and away they went with great dash only to
meet the concentrated fire of the Germans for miles around.
They say it is positively the worst mistake since the war started
and these mistakes have been many and gigantic.
The stories of these officers would have been humorous
were it not for the seriousness and the loss of life entailed.
Yet we did laugh, we laughed when the story of the wounded German
being buried alive was told. A fellow came along and saw the
earth moving as it was being thrown out of a trench. The
sergeant's attention was drawn to it, and he coolly remarked,
"Yes, sir, I know there's a German b-– under there, but we
didn't bother about him."
There was a tin of petrol caught alight last night
inside our cellar residence, there were a dozen men about and
strange to say every one ran out and let it burn. I came out
and with two men kept the woodwork from burning until the spirit
burnt itself out. The officers who got away themselves (there
 

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were bombs and cartridges in the corner) said that it is
astounding how our soldiers so readily run away from danger
nowadays.
December 16th.    Saturday
The job is moving along now that the timber is at
hand. Mining is splendid work in this cold frosty weather
and the men seem to delight in being down under ground, it
is so warm or easy to keep warm.
In conversation with Lieut. Issacs to-night he holds
strongly to the British system of operation and shows that by
our present Somme methods we can so weaken the Germans that
a big attack in the coming Spring will about break the Germans
all to pieces. I might agree with him too if I knew the
strength of the British reserves. He says we have millions
of men. I don't know.
December 17th.   Sunday.
A terribly dull and an awfully frosty day. We had a
rifle inspection to-day and I felt rather an outcast as well
as an imposter not to have taken one of the three sections
and examined their rifles. But now that I have seen the
procedure and understand the orders etc. I will in future be
able to hold my own.
The ups and downs of ones ideas on military matters
is strange and liable to rapid fluctuation. The men who were
last week asking themselves whether we would lose the war or
not, are to-day gleely declaring a victory, taking the German
peace terms as a sign of their weakness and a good chance of
the damn business being over before long. I still sit stolidly
on the fence waiting, ever waiting, and by no means satisfied
that the "Terms" are a sign of weakness; certainly the German
people like ourselves are desirous of peace, and they must be
weakening also, but we will just have to sit tight and wait,
wait and keep waiting – - 
 

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December 18th.     Monday.       Pay day, drew £l7.18.4
                                                                            viz. 500 francs.
There is nothing exciting in our daily existence
just now. Fritz does drop an occasional shell around about,
but we seem to be isolated. There is plenty of animation
around yet I have not ventured 100 yards from our job so that
I know nothing about goings on nearby even. More Bridge
playing to-day, for a franc a hundred too, but after 4 hours
play there was only 41 points on our side.
A fellow officer to-day tells of how in the rush to
dig a trench at Pozieres it was necessary to throw a wounded
man over the top of the half dug trench to take his chance.
It was hard but had to be.
December 19th.  Tuesday.
It is about the coldest night on record. This
morning and all day the ground has been frozen hard. It
was the first time that I heard the horses' feet ringing as
though on the hard streets of London. The poor brutes
slipped and skidded about frightfully, more so as they have
experienced nothing but mud for weeks on end.
It will be interesting now to see how the mules
compare with the horses on the frozen tracks. Personally
I like the mules, they take shorter steps and have a nack of
recovering their footing quickly. To date the mules have
clearly shown their superiority over the horses in rough work
under the conditions at the front line. Why we have not gone
in for mules to a greater extent in Australia bothers me as
they are vastly better than horses at hard and trying work.
This evening snow commenced to fall and later a bitter
wind sprang up so that to-night is a fair terror. It is said
that when the ground freezes hard and deep there will be further
attacking on our front. This I suppose is all right but then
the trouble arises in the fact that the shells will now break
on the surface and scatter broadcast whereas they would bury
themselves in the mud and hurt nobody.
 

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Our building is lousy the men complain. To-day
the men were discussing what they should do with the Kaiser
when they get him. The punishment and the language wherein
expressed are unwritable, but the fellow who took my "eye"
came out with these words intermingled with many adjectives.
"When we get the --- we should put a chatty (lousy) shirt
on him and cut his two hands off."
The rum issue last night was a little short. To-day
when "down below" a fellow let a plank fall on himself, in
sympathy with him I observed - "Damn bad luck boy", he replied
"Yes, my luck is dead out lately. I played Bridge for my rum
issue against another chap's last night, and lost!"
December 20th.    Wednesday
The sun has not shone, nor has the atmosphere been
clear enough for observation of any kind for some days and days.
This morning, with the results of last night's fall
of snow still upon the hard frozen ground, the sun shone weakly
but prettily in the east, and there were signs of a brilliant
day. I felt overjoyed at the prospects of a walk out. On
coming up from a look around the dugouts there was a sky full
of aeroplanes hovering around and fighting one another in an
angle of the front. Then gun-fire could be plainly heard all
around and big shell commenced to land nearby with a crounching
burst. In a moment I saw the fruits of a bright day and my jaws
came together with a hard cynical jamb. To think that man had
turned so fine a day into a butchery such as the early Romans,
with their lowly form of civilisation, could never realise.
Dugouts and those half round houses were blown up men and other
contents. The body of a traffic officer was thrown up 70 feet
into the air. The snow had just about disappeared by afternoon
but still the sun shone faintly. At dusk all was quiet again,
and somehow or other I long for a dull foggy day tomorrow so that
neither side can see. This casual shelling is too cold and it
puts the wind up men that would laugh at them if it simply rained
 

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shells when in the front line trenches. There they are
expected and you can hear the shells from our own guns
travelling overhead. These bring forth consolation and
cheer as we know that our own losses are avenged. Here
with only a scattered battery about there is only the
bursting of German shells and the retaliation process is
not noticed.
Two parcels to hand to-day from K. Evans and
Mrs. A.A.H. Griffiths, 45 Auburn Street, Auburn, Melbourne.
The latter lost her husband at Gallipoli. I wrote her.
Both parcels were through Griffiths Bros., and were the best
I have seen of the kind. All good eatable tinned stuff.
I will lose some of my parcels owing to change of address
I suppose.
December 21st.     Thursday.
A very quiet day to-day. At midday it rained and
that means a lower temperature, viz, a thaw, and with a thaw
comes mud and slush. We would rather by far see the frozen
ground so as to keep the feet dry.
We played Bridge again to-night. The only reason
that I feel satisfied to leave this job tomorrow when the 2nd
Brigade take over from us is to avoid having to play cards.
I would much prefer writing. We have played for ½ franc a 100
three times. Twice the scores differed by a few points, once
I won 3 francs and played for 5 or none and won the five. But
my play is very poor considering the class of the other men.
Tomorrow the lst Brigade take the line bar the lst Battalion.
We do fatigue work up to the front line or something of the kind.
I regret or will regret if we don't go into the line as I want
to see myself up with the next and best of them.
Lieut. Wallar and Lieut. Issacs go into the trenches
and by the feeling and the talk of them they realise to the
fullest extent the danger of their undertaking and talk more
jokingly than seriously about it. They say that raiding
 

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commanders, which Lieut. Issacs is to be, get either Military
Crosses or wooden crosses. They, however, are not gloomy
even if they do feel inwardly concerned which any human being
must do. There is much misery to be faced as well as death
in the front or any line nowadays.
I have before me a secret map of our trenches, at
least our particular sector and the names of them are good.
The number of trenches in this small sector is remarkable.
The names appear on maps only; why the names are not posted
on each trench and sign boards erected beats me all to bits.
Men spend hours instead of minutes going a message and some
get lost altogether.
Trench names:- Switch Tr., Flare Alley, Fish Alley,
Grove Avenue, Smoke Tr., Pilgrim Way, Chalk Lane, Cheese Road,
Biscuit Tr., Hilly Tr., Greese Tr., Whale Tr., Grip Support,
Bayonet Tr., Cloudy Tr., Stormy Tr., Needle Tr., Possum Reserve,
Pioneer Tr., Bulls Tr.
I will spend both Xmas and New Year here about
I suppose.
I saw Jack Hynes Stg. Major now looking splendid.
December 22nd.    Friday
A day of much concern to the men of the 2nd and Ath
Battalion of this "Mining party" as they move off into the line
at once. The feeling that seems to come over one is akin to a
gambler going out with his last pound to make good or die of
hunger. Or a thirsty bushman making for the last despairing
water hole in drought time. Many times these men have gone
into it and come out all right but like a man getting a run of
heads in a two-up school, they can't go on indefinitely, fate
must recoil!!
To-night I have three 2nd Brigade officers here. In
the morning I leave for new quarters.
A bright afternoon and made hideous again by more
strapping.
 

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Parcel from B. Blaxland, letters of cheer from
Ruth, Powell, Cousin Ada, Carroll, Brother Bert.
December 23rd.    Saturday.
This has been the windiest day on record. It has
been blowing so strong that it is very difficult to keep on
the duckboard walks without being blown over into the thick
mud.
With 21 men I changed over to Bernfay and have put
up in Bow Huts, the finest style of thing and the most commonsense 
thing I have seen in the British Army. It means that
instead of having to sleep in wet dugouts and in the rain and
mud the men rest comfortably in the half round huts about 15 ft.
by 24 ft. housing up to 40 men. The Germans were remarkably
lucky in the shelling the other day as two of these places were
landed on to with heavy shells. The huts disappeared at once,
naturally, but to show how local the effects were the huts two
yards on either side were not injured. There has been heavy
firing all to-night.
Xmas Eve.
December 24th.    Sunday.
Longueval, Flers & Delville Wood.
At 1 o'clock this morning I was sleeping contentedly
when a messenger knocked and asked for Capt. Walker. On reading
the message he referred it to me. It ran - "The Mining Platoon
will have breakfast at 6.45 a.m. and move off at 7.30 reporting
at lst Aust. Brigade Hdors. with 24 hours rations". Now, my
men are sleeping in different places and it won’t be daylight
until 8 o'clock!! I sent a "runner" back with a note to my
corporal, and after a whole lot of bother and bustling we set
out along the road through Longueval in a depth of slush and mire.
There were shell holes in the middle of the road and as the road
was under water there was no detecting the pitfalls or possible
chance of avoiding them. Two and a half miles of this slush
and I reported in at Brigade Hdors, on the tick of 9 o'clock.