Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War
Page 14
With best Love
Harry
July 2th/1918
32507/ 9th Batt Y & L.
C Coy 12 Platoon, L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
Just a line to let you know that I am alright and in good health. The weather here is very unsettled and we got plenty of rain. I hope you received my last letter in the green envelope [i.e. one that avoided the battalion censor]. Let me know if you have. I am pleased to hear they are going on alright at home and keeping in good health. I think Annie is worrying herself about getting work but I don’t think she as any need to both [bother?]. You will be glad to hear that Willie is getting a fine lad. I had a letter from Mr Leverton telling me about him. I will write a soon and let you know a bit more news. Hoping that you are both keeping in good health.
With Best Love to you both
Harry
(P.S.) Send a paper or two
This letter gives another clue that Harry is quite optimistic about the war’s progress. He is asking for newspapers, almost certainly expecting to get more good news about the possibility of the war ending. By now, on the Western Front, the tide had turned in the Allies’ favour, and the Germans in turn were beginning to be pressed hard as Ludendorff’s offensive, itself a last-ditch strategy to win the war before American forces and resources could take full effect, began to peter out.
The war diary of the 9th York and Lancasters has nothing to say about a possible end to the war, but records that there was still a fair bit of activity on the Asiago front.
5th to 11th [July] – Battalion in the line. By day, work on the defensive system was continued, and by night our outpost positions were improved, a considerable amount of wire being erected in front thereof. Patrols were sent out by night. Hostile shelling was intermittent during our tour in the line.
I have placed Harry’s next letter from Italy after the war diary entry for 5–11 July, as I am sure it is misdated.
July 8th 1918 [16 July?]
32507/9th Batt Y & L., C Coy 12 Platoon
L G S., I.E.F.
Dear Kate
I was glad to receive your letter dated 7th. Sorry I not wrote this last week but you see we have been up the mountains for about 7 or 8 weeks and all the envelopes were stuck. I hope we get down now for two or three weeks. We have had some trying times up in the front line on what we call sacrifice post up in front of our own wire but I am glad to say we got off alright we only went out after dark till morning. Glad to hear they are going on alright at home, I think it would be best for Annie to stay at home and wait for a bit of work. I have had a letter from Mr Leverton. I bet Willie fancies himself with his new clothes. We have got some very thin khaki and those big helmets [sun helmets, also known as pith helmets or solar topis, and usually issued for tropical service] they are alright out here as it is very hot on the plains. I might get home on leave late in September if I have good luck but I hope the war will soon finish. I think it as been on long enough. I am glad that you are keeping well as I am in the pink at present. The scenery out here is grand it would be alright in peace time for a holiday. we are half way up the mountain now and can see for miles along the plains it does look well. The people out here have some funny ways and not so clean as English, but in towns they are alright they are all Roman Catholics out here. Write as often as you can and let me know how you are getting on send a book or two if you can.
With best Love
Harry
Everything points to Harry dating this letter wrongly. The war diary tells us the summer kit wasn’t issued until 14 July and that the battalion was in the front line on the 8th – letter writing would not have been easy. I would guess that it was written at about the same time as Harry’s 16 July letter to Jack, not least because its content is very similar. It also tells us that letters were taking about a week from being written in England to being delivered in Italy – not too bad for a wartime postal service, under which the General Post Office had to transfer letters for soldiers to the Army’s postal service, for onward transmission to any one of thousands of serving units.
Still close to the mountains, but away from the front line on the edge of the plains, the weather is obviously warm enough to justify the issue of tropical kit and the ‘big helmets’. It seems likely that there were plans to move the 9th York and Lancasters back to the plains; certainly Harry thinks that is a possibility. This is the war diary’s record of the issue of tropical clothing to the men:
14th Church services were held in the morning. Khaki-drill clothing was issued. The Commanding Officer, accompanied by O.C. Companies, reconnoitred the 7th Divisional front.
There was a small problem with the khaki-drill clothing, which was lighter in colour than the standard-issue uniform. While it was fine in a desert environment, at night it showed much paler than the background and the soldiers were easily seen. Harry mentions the thinness of the material in his letter to Jack:
July 16th /18
32507/ 9th Bn Y & L., C Coy 12 platoon,
L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
I have received your letters dated 8th July. I was very pleased to get one. We have been up the mountains for about 7 or 8 weeks and I could not get any envelopes they were all stuck so I have not been able to write many letters. We have started to come down so I hope we shall be down for two or three weeks rest. It is very hot on the plains. We have been rigged out with drill khaki it is very thin alright for summer, we have also got those big helmets. I am glad to hear that you are all getting on well.
Some of or chaps were very bad last month with a complaint we called mountain fever. I had a slight attack but I did not go sick [i.e. report in sick]. all the use goes out of your legs, sore throat and cough but you soon get well, we were isolated for a fortnight but we are alright now. I should not be surprised if we don’t get on another front again, perhaps the Piave. I am in good health at present. We have had some trying jobs lately in front line on advance posts what they call sacrifice posts out all night about a thousand yards in front of our own wire and we have to stick it and only retire in case of a big bombardment, any minor raids we have to stick at all costs. This last month it has been something like France only the Austrians front line is at least two kilos away. I have had a letter from Ilkeston and they are getting on well they are making Willie a suit or two so I expect he will fancy himself. I have also had a letter from Mr Leverton. Hope you will keep writing every week as I am always glad to get a letter.
With best Love to you both
Harry
We can see that the tactical situation is quite different from that in Flanders, where the enemy lines were less than 200 yards ahead – and sometimes less than 100 yards. The advance listening posts – ‘sacrifice posts’ – were not at all popular in Flanders either, where they were even more dangerous because of the proximity of the Germans.
August, marking the start of the fifth year of the war, finds Harry still in a cheerfully relaxed frame of mind, as this letter to Jack shows (he may not be quite clear about the detail of Romeo and Juliet...):
Aug 4th
32507/ 9th Batt Y & Lancs, C Coy 12 Platoon,
L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
I hope you are getting on alright as I am in good health at present. The weather out here is very hot at present and the grapes and the figs are looking well but they are not ripe yet. I expect we shall be up the mountain when they are ready for picking. last time we were up we were there for eight or nine weeks it is a long time to be up and see nothing only plenty of fir trees so I think we have earned four or five weeks rest which I hope we shall get well we have had just over a fortnight now. The scenery is alright here we are at a place were Shakespeare wrote his poem about Romeo and Juliet. There is two castles just above our billets on a big hill and it is said that it was in one of these that he wrote this peace. it would just suit you to have a roam about here, but it is very quiet. I see from the papers that the Americans have arrived
in Italy and have been to Rome. I wish they would take us to a place like that were we could see things. I have had a letter from Kate and she said that she was thinking of going home for August and she was going to send Connie to a school at Liverpool. I hope she [Connie] gets on alright it will be hard for her to leave home but I hope she gets treated alright if not she would be better at home. Well it is Sunday today, and the fourth anniversary of the war, we have just been to church service. I think it looks like going on another year although some people think it will be over this year. I hope so at any rate. I expect I shall be getting a leave late on in September or early October, well I hope so. What do you think about the war. Do you think it will be long. We are up at 3.30 A.M. and finish at 9 A.m. Then we have an hour at night, that is while the weather is so hot, and while we are out for a rest. I am sending you a photo or two if you get them will you send one or two to Kate and Annie when you write they are photos [postcards] of the castle. I have been up to them.
With best Love to you both
Harry
The war diary prosaically records that Harry’s hopes of four or five weeks away from the line were vain; nor did the issue of tropical kit last long:
14th [August] Khaki-drill clothing was withdrawn and service dress clothing issued. The Battalion marched from BERGANA to CAMISINO.
16th The Battalion relieved the 1st Battalion, South Staffordshire Regt. in the CESUNA SWITCH (left Brigade, left Divisional sector): relief was complete at midnight. Battalion HQrs and ‘A’ Company were in the CESUNA TUNNEL, the remaining three Companies occupying the SWITCH.
17th & 18th Reciprocal artillery fire during the day. At night a working party from ‘A’ Company improved PERGHELE TRENCH, and repaired camouflage on CESUNA ROAD.
18th C. of E. Service was held at 3 pm in the CESUNA TUNNEL.
About a month after issue, the hot-weather gear is handed back. The plans must be to send the 9th York and Lancasters and the rest of 23rd Division back into the mountains. Sure enough, Harry’s next letter confirms that they have moved back – Cesuna is on the Asiago Plateau, a few miles west of the positions they had held for the battle of 15–16 June. The letter is written on YMCA notepaper, which accounts for the different address layout.
Reply to: Company C Bat 9th Regt. York & Lancs
Aug 19th 1918
12 Platoon L.G.S.
Dear Jack
I hope you got the post cards I sent in my last letter. Ethel is having Willies photo taken so I expect I shall be getting one. We are up the mountains again now it is much cooler than being on the plains, the worst part about it is getting here it is such a big climb I can tell you, and it takes us a long time to get up we are all beat when we get to the top. The village we are at now used to be occupied by Italians who were well off. they used to come up here in the summer, it was too hot on the plains for them but of course no one lives here now as it has been knocked about a bit. I think the Americans are coming up here, well I hope we are not up this quarter for the winter as it is terribly cold for six or seven months and plenty of snow. I shall be glad to see you all again, but I expect I shall be home on leave sometime in the next month if I have good luck, so I expect to see you. I am glad that you are both keeping in good health as I am pretty well at present. I am sending this letter in Ethel’s so I hope you get it alright. Write as often as you can. I am always pleased to get a line from you.
With best love to you both
Harry
Harry was a little optimistic about American involvement on the plateau. A small contingent, an infantry regiment, had arrived in the mountains but by this time had been transferred to the Piave front.
While the Austro-Hungarian Army may have been becoming demoralized, it still had plenty of artillery. The war diary notes an increase in activity on the Asiago front:
19th [August] Little artillery fire during the day: At night the Brigadier General and Brigade Major accompanied the Commanding Officer round the post line in CESUNA SWITCH.
20th Hostile artillery very active during the day, a number of shells falling in the vicinity of CESUNA. Work on PERGHELE TRENCH was continued.
21st Hostile artillery fire again active, in consequence of which two companies of the 8th Battalion K.O.L.I. [KOYLI] moved down to CESUNA TUNNEL from MAGNABOSCHI.
22nd Artillery quiet during the day. Working parties were continued at night.
23rd Considerable increase in enemy artillery fire during the day, a large number of shells falling on the N.W. slope Mt LEMERLE.
Three of the five postcards that Harry sent to Jack early in August 1918.
We should note Harry’s birthday. On 28 August 1918, he was thirty-one years old, and had been on active service for a year and three months, during which time he had not seen his family once. His son, Willie, who was now two and a half years old, he had known for just nine months. There follows a gap in the letters, however. This is certainly due to Harry being granted leave back to England, all the evidence suggesting that he would have had two weeks towards the end of September 1918 back at home.
In general, ordinary soldiers could expect to get around two weeks’ home leave each year. Harry has definitely not had leave since he arrived in Italy in late 1917. I initially suspected, but had no firm evidence, that he had been granted leave in August 1917, while serving in Flanders. I have since discovered, however, that there was no leave from that sector at that time. I am amazed that he hasn’t made some sort of comment in his letters, given that he had gone without leave for around twenty months.
August turned to September. On the Asiago Plateau, even as Harry was on leave, his unit continued to play its part in the front line.
19th [September] The Battalion relieved the 8th Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment in the left front sub-sector, right Brigade left Divisional front. ‘A’, ‘B’ & ‘C’ Companies relieved during the morning and ‘D’ Company (Outpost) at night.
20th–24th Reciprocal artillery fire day & night. The trench system was improved and a considerable amount of wire erected on forward slope of STAFFORD HILL.
During this period, Harry was away from the war, on leave back in England. While he was away, his battalion shifted from the mountains back down to the plains, where he was to rejoin them.
I would guess that this photograph is the one that Harry mentions in his letter to Jack of 19 August 1918 (I have several copies of it in a box of ‘bits & bobs’). Willie certainly looks the right age. I have also received a number of comments from followers of the blog suggesting that Connie is using the chair for support, since it is very likely that the cerebral palsy affected her walking – probably her balance. My sister Anita still has the chair, so the picture may have been taken by a visiting photographer rather than, as was often the case in those days, in a studio. The photograph would have been an expensive item for Ethel and so I think it likely that Kate would have helped out with the cost.
CHAPTER 10
THE ENDGAME
THE ALLIED STAFF, RECOGNIZING that the Austro-Hungarian Army was close to collapse, planned to complete the job with a major offensive on the Piave front. At the end of September, as part of this plan, Harry’s battalion was shifted eastwards from the Asiago Plateau to the plains.
The offensive actually began with an attack back on the Asiago Plateau. This was merely a feint which succeeded in drawing the Austro-Hungarians’ meagre reserves from the Piave front into the mountains.
On 24 October, the first anniversary of the start of the Battle of Caporetto, the main attack started, in foggy conditions, with the capture of Grave di Papadopoli, a large island in the Piave, about ten miles (16km) north-north-east of Treviso, at the centre of the plain, which was an important and strongly defended outpost of the Austro-Hungarian line. (The reduction in the flow of the Piave in the decades following the Great War has left the river a shadow of the multi-channelled force that once swept past the island, which is now scarcely an island at all.) This was followed by a second att
ack some thirteen miles (20km) to the north, directed at the town of Vittorio Veneto, the main target. The Italian Commander-in-Chief, General Armando Diaz, realized that Vittorio Veneto was the key to victory. Its capture would separate the two fronts and cut off the enemy’s forces in the mountains to the west, so that they could be ‘rolled up’ at leisure.
As we shall see, four days later, Harry’s battalion joined the attack.
Harry arrived back from leave prior to the start of the offensive. He reports in a letter to Jack that ‘they were just coming out of the trenches [on the Asiago Plateau] when I returned.’ The battalion was relieved in the line on 26 September, and the war diary takes up the story:
26th The Battalion was relieved by the 2nd Battalion, 49th Italian Regiment and a portion of the 2nd Battalion, 50th Italian Regiment, and on relief, moved to SERONA camp.
27th The Battalion moved [south] by motor lorries from SERONA camp to BEREGANA camp near THIENE, arriving in latter camp at 12 noon.
On the following day there was a ten-mile (16-km) march almost due south to the next billets.