by Bill Lamin
(This day’s account seems almost bizarre. The battalion is to march to the front line but, on the way, stops for a picnic and sports. Presumably there was a good reason, but the military mind has not always been easy to understand.)
4th, 5th, 6th [December] Battalion in Support in CIANO.
7th ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘D’ Coys and Battalion [HQ?] moved to new billets. 8th, 9th 10th Battalion in support. Whilst in support Companies worked on defences, and improved sanitary conditions etc. and made hurdles [rectangular sections of fencing made by interweaving flexible branches on a wooden frame; used to shore up trenches, or possibly as screens against enemy sniper fire].
11th Battalion should have been relieved by the 8th York & Lancasters, but owing to continuous shelling of our front during the day and the change in the weather, the Brigade Commander cancelled relief. Warning Order received in the early hours to the effect that Austrians were massing, the Battn ‘stood to’. Casualties: 6 O.R.’s wounded.
12th Battalion relieved the 8th K.O.Y.L.I. and became the Left front line Battalion of the Left Brigade. Relief complete at 7.30 P.M. Dispositions were as follows;- A Company Left Front Company. ‘D’ Company, Centre Front Company. ‘B’ Company Right Front Company. ‘C’ Company [Harry’s] Support Company. Courts Martial Promulgated on: No. 16968 Sgt McGowan J, and No. 16210 Sgt Boyes J W.
13th–19th Battalion in new dispositions. Draft of 98 O.R.s joined at transport lines on 14th inst. 2nd Lt Park M.C. and 2nd Lt Lewis joined on the 14th inst. Whilst in the line, the defence scheme was prepared. Line patrols were out nightly along the PIAVE river bed. Brigade was relieved by 68th Brigade [also of 23rd division].
Two weeks in, or close to, the front line is quite a lengthy tour. Almost certainly, the conditions were better than at Ypres, and the men were well rested and, for the main part, were in support of the front-line units. A considerable part of the battalion’s efforts was directed towards stabilizing and improving the trench environment, bringing it to an acceptable standard for these experienced soldiers.
Yet there was some significant action, with shelling and a potential attack, the battalion suffering some casualties. The Piave front may well have been different to Flanders, but it was still a dangerous place to be. On the plains, where the battalion is at this time, the weather would be reasonably good, although the mountains a few miles to the north would be snow-capped by mid-December.
As normal, once out of the line, all equipment is to be cleaned and checked.
20th [December] In billets at MONTEBELLUNA.
Rifle, Bayonet, SAA, Clothing, equipment, box respirators, P.H. Helmet, iron rations [tinned, dried or non-perishable rations issued to soldiers for use when cut off from regular supplies] and Field dressings inspections. C.O. inspected N.C.O’s of battalions under C. S.’s M. [company sergeant-majors; the war diary is here referring to them as ‘company sergeants-major’]. Specialists trained under their own officers.
Christmas Day, spent at montebelluna, brought a few comforts, spiritual and regimental as well as personal.
December 25th Church Service in the morning.
First Round (Match ‘B’ of the Brigade Football Competition was played between:–
9th Y & L & Brigade Head Quarters and 70th Light Trench Mortar Battery. Kick off 10.30 A.M. Result 9th Y & L, 7 goals. Brigade Head Quarters etc. 1.
The men had their Christmas dinner in their billets which consisted of roast pork, Christmas pudding, fruit and wine.
The Battalion had a concert in the Medical School in MONTEBELLUNA in the evening.
The embroidered Christmas card Harry received from his wife, Ethel, shown above, is a wonder. it somehow survived and came home safely with him.
The regiment itself even provided Christmas cards for the officers and men to send home. The one shown above is in very good condition and is probably the card Harry sent to Jack, mentioned in his letter of 30 December. By Boxing Day, however, the battalion was back at work, as assiduously recorded in the war diary:
26th [December] Battalion training as follows, Close Order Drill, Saluting Drill, Extended Order Drill. Guard Duties and Lectures. The Following Classes assembled at the Brigade School:- Signalling Class 10 O.R’s. Lewis Gun Class N.C.O. and six men. General Class 20 untrained men [from the draft of 13 December]. In the evening hostile aeroplanes bombed MONTEBELLUNA but caused no casualties in the Battalion.
I still find it hard to believe that drill and saluting should form such an important part of training when these men may at any time be involved in dangerous activities in the front line. The football is looking promising, however. That does seem at least a reasonable activity for the men as a diversion from the deadly serious business of war.
28th [December] – All Companies range practices. Revolver practice for all officers. Specialists under their own officers.
‘C’ Match of the 2nd round of the Brigade Football Competition was played between:–
9th Y & L v 70th Machine Gun Coy Kick off 2.30 P.M.
Result 9th Y & L three goals – 70th Machine Gun Coy one goal.
On the 30th, Harry was able to write two very optimistic letters home. Already, we can sense that the Italian experience is infinitely preferable to what he had undergone on the Western Front. Food parcels are, as always, an important topic in his letters.
30/12/1917
32507 9th Batt York and Lancs, C Company,
12 platoon L. G. section, BEF Italy
Dear Jack
I have received a letter from you and a box of biscuits all right. I got them on Christmas morning and you can bet how pleased I was. I have also had a letter from Kate she said she was having a holiday this Christmas the first for seven years. I hope she enjoys herself. I’m sorry to hear that Mr. Thomas’s son as got killed what date did it happen. I have had a letter from Mrs. Higgins I shall write back as soon as possible. Ethel says Connie has not been very well lately but I hope she gets on alright. I am pleased to here you are getting on all right and very happy. I hope you enjoyed yourself this Christmas. They all seem to be well again at home except Connie and I think she will be alright. Glad you liked the [Christmas] card I sent you. I thought it would suit alright. It is very cold out here at night but it is alright at daytime. Write back as soon as you can and let me know how you are getting on.
With best love from
Harry
He manages not to write quite the same things in his letter to Kate, although food parcels again figure, as does his anxiety about Connie’s health. Presumably Kate, as Connie’s natural mother, would have kept a very close, if discreet, watch over her daughter.
December 30 1917
32507 9th Batt York and Lancs, C Company
12 platoon L. G. section, BEF Italy
Dear Kate
I have received a letter from you and was very pleased, it is such a long time since I had one. I have not received the parcel yet and I hope it will come I am ready for it I think parcels will reach us all right after Christmas. It is very cold at night but in the daytime it is alright. I hope you got home for Christmas and found them well and enjoyed your holiday. Did you get the card I sent you. I have had a letter from Jack he’s getting on alright, I am pleased to hear it. I hope Connie is better when you receive this letter. Let me know how Willie is if you happen to get home. Has Annie been to see Jack since he got married. Ethel said she was very likely going after Christmas. Glad you are getting on alright at Leeds but I did not expect you would like it the same as London. I hope you have had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Write back as soon as possible and let me know how you are all going on.
With love from Harry
The new year finds the battalion still drilling:
2nd [January] Montebelluna. Physical Drill. Saluting Drill. Box Respirator Drill and musketry. The working parties supplied were: 1 officer, 25 men for D.G.O. Montebelluna. 1 officer and 30 men at MONTEBELLUNA station unloading flax. 1 N.C.O. and 20 men under O.C. Sanitary Sect
ion, MONTEBELLUNA. Loading party of 1 sergeant and 10 O.R. to report to 128 Fld Co Corps R.E. Dump [i.e. to a Field Company of the Royal Engineers at the ammunition dump for the entire corps]. The Armourer Sergeant inspected rifles of Companies. Bgde Football Championship Final. 8th Y & L v 9th Y & L.
Result 9th 2 8th 0
Baths. Lecture by G.S.O. [i.e. a general staff officer] of the Division, in Bgde Recreation Room BIADENE. All Platoon Comders. attended. Identification Cards issued to all officers.
More saluting . . . It just seems so good that Harry’s battalion has won the football final. It must have been a morale booster for the men (although Harry never mentions football in his letters). I am not sure of the military function, if any, of the flax that was unloaded; the working party may have been detailed to empty a train so that it could be used for a military purpose.
The war diary entry for the following week confirms that the Piave here followed several channels:
5th–12th [January] Bn in the line. During this period in spite of snow and exceptionally cold weather several attempts were made by patrols to cross the river and to reach the enemy’s line but owing to the swiftness of the stream its depth and the lack of any chart, no crossing could be effected for some time. Towards the end of our tour in the front line however 2/Lt Flory with a patrol succeeded in definitely locating a sufficiently shallow spot in each stream to enable a continuous crossing to be made and this route has been definitely established. On the first occasion of a patrol crossing the entire bed of the river it was heavily fired upon by a post and withdrew but this post as was ascertained later was removed to a position further East.
We can see how things are quite different on this front. By now the cold weather would be spilling down from the mountains. Patrols would have to deal with a river in the way, rather than, as in the Ypres sector, the barbed-wire entanglements and shell holes of no man’s land. Defensive measures would be rather different, too. In Flanders, gaps in the wire necessary to allow patrols and even attacking troops a way forward through the entanglements would be targeted. Here the focus would be on the shallow river crossings as possible danger spots.
For his part, Harry takes advantage of the relative quietness of this sector to write home again (Bonser was Harry’s mother’s maiden name, so Shelton and Jack must almost certainly be an uncle and a cousin, respectively):
Jan 9th/1917
32507/9th York & Lancs Batt, C. Company,
12 Platoon L.G.S., B.E.F. Italy
Dear Kate
I have just received your parcel alright everything was in good order. I am glad you are going on alright and like your job. How did you go on at Christmas. Ethel tells me you managed to get home for a week. How did you find Connie and Willie where they alright, well how did you find them all. I hope you enjoyed yourself. I am going to write home. It is very cold out here at night but we have some nice days. I am sorry to hear about Uncle Shelton and about Jack Bonser getting wounded. I hope he gets on alright. Write as often as you can. I think we shall get our letters alright now. I shall be glad to see you all again.
With love
from Harry
A few days later:
Jan 14 1918
32507 / 9th Batt York and Lancs, C Company,
12 platoon L. G. S., BEF Italy
Dear Jack
I have received your letter. I have also received two parcels of woollen goods from Mrs. Higgins but you can’t carry a lot of stuff about we have enough to carry about. It was very good, their was a nice jersey home made which I am keeping and some socks so I had a clean and new rig out which I wanted. Your biscuits was grand and I enjoyed them. I have also had a nice parcel from Kate she said she enjoyed the Christmas alright at home. Willie and Connie as not been very well but they are going on alright now. Kate says Willie gets a rum little chap and can say anything. I am pleased to hear you are going on alright and that you are very comfortable and settled down. It is still very cold out here at night and we have had some snow. it is different to being out in France [in fact, Belgium], very quiet. Write and let me know how you’re getting on as soon as possible. As Kate or Annie been to see you yet. I have wrote to Mrs. Higgins so I shall no doubt have a letter from either Mrs. Higgins or Miss Worthington. Pleased you liked the card.
With best love
Harry
In that war, the soldiers of the British infantry carried everything they owned, as well as everything with which they had officially been issued (and for which they were personally accountable). As attractive as extra clothing must have seemed, the penalty was that it would have to be carried. Harry is sensibly selective in what he holds on to. Food is not a problem as it can soon be shared out and eaten. Clothes are a little more difficult. Within the restrictions of the regulations about uniform, the soldiers would wear anything that made them more comfortable. It wasn’t always possible to exchange torn or worn-through articles of uniform or issue clothing in the line, so they just had to improvise or ‘lump it’. As to the rest of the letter, I’m afraid that I know nothing of Mrs Higgins or Miss Worthington, but it is likely that they were either neighbours or family friends.
21st–31st [January] Bn in the line. This period has been distinguished for the great deal of work done in the connection with the improvement and strengthening of our trenches and dug outs also for the nightly patrols. Officers & men have been continuously practised in patrol[ing] the river bed at night and the negotiable spots of the various streams have been pointed out to each officer and man. Enemy posts have been engaged but we have suffered no casualties up to date. A miniature range has been built and every man has been trained and practised with the rifle whilst the promotion of Inter Company and Inter Platoon [shooting] Competitions has [sic] interested and encouraged the men tremendously.
MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES
(London Gazette Supplement, December 21st 1917)
Lt Col. D. Rumbold D.S.O. M.C.
Major D. Lewis M.C.
Major F. Colley D.S.O. and bar
Capt. R. J. M. Leakey
Capt. N. Macleod
Capt. L. Tester
No 15394 – CSM [company sergeant-major] Oldfield
The defences occupied by the battalion needed continual attention, to get them, and then to keep them up to the standard that they were used to in Flanders. As the war diary mentions, all the likely pitfalls or advantages that might be of use in an assault have been scouted and then pointed out to everyone, signifying a really competent approach by the battalion. (A mention in dispatches indicates that an officer, warrant officer, NCO or other rank has been singled out by name in the official dispatch of a senior commander, usually the army commander, in the relevant sector of the front. It is indicated by a small bronze oak leaf worn on the ribbon of the medal awarded for that particular campaign; the recipient also gets a certificate.)
Harry’s next letter, to Jack, is undeniably a curiosity:
Jan 29/1/18
32507/9th Batt Y & L, C Company,
12 Platoon L.G.S., IEF
Dear Jack
I have received your long letter and tin of salmon which was very good. I was sorry to hear the bad news about Uncle [Shelton] and Jack Bonser. I did not know he was died but I heard he was wounded very bad. I was glad . . . [turn page] . . . to hear that you and Kate went to the funeral it was the least you could do. I am also pleased Mrs. Higgins liked the letter which I wrote. We are on that part of the line you seen in the paper and it is quite true except for the long march after but they left the rum bottle out which they never forget to take . . . [turn page] . . . Their is five or six parts [i.e. channels] of the river they have to cross before they get to the other side it is very wide and the farthest away from the enemy I have been when in the front line. I have not had the job yet but might get it any time a fighting patrol mostly as a lewis gun and three or four of the team . . . [turn page] . . . with them our batt as had no luck yet, mostly get spotted. I was pleased you found Willie and
Connie alright, but we can except [expect?] dad being bad I think he has been very lucky I hope he gets better. I hope the war is finished before you have to come out their are plenty of younger men [Jack is forty-nine].
Write as soon as possible.
With Love from
Harry
This is a strange letter, for it doesn’t quite make sense. I have indicated the ends of pages so that readers can form their own judgements about it. I wonder whether there’s a page missing, or whether ‘they left the rum bottle out which they never forget to take’ may be significant. If so, its finders were battle-hardened soldiers, and I can imagine that coming across a gallon of strong rum lying unattended would not have caused a lot of earnest discussion among them. Nor would they have been much worried by such trivial matters as the likely consequences. At all events, I hope that Harry and his pals did actually enjoy a few mugs of rum. It may be that he then tried to write a letter . . .
According to the battalion’s war diary, Harry was in the front line when he wrote this letter. It was not without its dangers, but it would have been quieter than the front line in Flanders. And for all that the letter rambles in places, it contains a very clear description of the River Piave, as well as an indication of what the troops faced in the forward trenches.
(Note for the enthusiast. ‘BEF Italy’ [British Expeditionary Force – Italy] has just changed to ‘IEF’ [Italian Expeditionary Force]. I gather that this was an official change to reflect the involvement of the other Allied forces.)
