For Love and Courage
Page 35
I got your old ‘pessim’ today and I am sorry for you old dear that you are so very short of grub. I can’t help thinking that the submarine campaign has been a failure as they will have to get a lot more ships than they have if they are to gain anything out of it. I know it is very serious but it will have to be very much more drastic if it is to accomplish its object. You must cheer up old dear, things will have to be very much worse before we pull too long a face.
I very nearly sent you such a nice ‘pres’ the other day, a really nice ‘Nitie’. Pink in colour and French!! I saw it in a shop and I am sure it would have suited you well. The Chugs wrote me three such nice letters & so awfully well written and expressed. Their writing is really very good & Mairky writes almost as well as Bet which I think is awfully good.
My ‘bête noire’ while I was away went & refused to obey an order and so has got to be tried by C.M. It is really a damned nuisance and gives one a lot of trouble. I am sorry for the fellow but really he is an awful nuisance in the Battalion & I wish he would go. However life is full of little worries and this is really only a little one these times. I enclose you two small presents.
16th February 1917 – No. 10 answering 7 – Tatinghem
The weather is so jolly now that I am certainly picking up well & feel quite fit tho’ I can’t say that I am absolutely free from cold altogether.
I am glad that old Mairky liked her little brooch. You will never get those pearls old dear, you’re not made that way!!! Poor little Ken it was nice of him to be looking for me. I must be off now to see the army old dear, as it is footling about in a field.
My love to you all.
Saturday 17th February 1917 – 10 a.m. – No. 11 – Tatinghem
I have been having a drastic overhaul of my kit & am sending you a lot of stuff back (5 parcels) as I have far too much & even by doing this I have not in the least inconvenienced myself.
Yesterday we had quite an amusing afternoon putting the Battalion through gas. The Div. Gas officer arrived with all his boxes of tricks and it was really very amusing.
It is nearly a fortnight now old dear since our ever memorable time at the Berkeley & in bed last night old dear I could see your dear old face smiling so bravely as we parted just as if you had been there yourself. I shall not forget those last minutes old dear & the splendid send-off you gave me. I’ve got many memories still & it is a huge help when one looks back to the times we’ve had.
My love to you my darling & the Chugs too.
THE 34TH DIVISION, of which 24th Battalion, 103 Brigade, was part, had now been transferred from the Second to the Third Army and had begun their march towards Arras via Wardrecques, Thienne, Valhoun, Chelers and Béthonsart where they carried out further training until moving up to Ecoivres on 1 and 2 March.
21st February 1917 – No. 15 – on pages from a notebook – Valhoun
Tonight I am in my old billet at the vicarage where I was last June. It really was rather like coming home again. Everyone in the village recognized me & were so genuinely pleased to see one. I was most awfully bucked too by the way they spoke of the old regiment. They simply loved it & the men & said they were the best men they had ever had & I was so pleased. I really had a splendid welcome. The Padre is putting me & my Adjutant up & we are messing here too which is very good of them.
We have invested 15 francs in two chickens which are about to appear. Rather expensive but as we’ve had nothing but beef at every meal since I came back it is well worth it. I hope, old dear, that you & the poor Chugs aren’t starving under the new food rules? You must tell me some more about it. I daresay when you have got the thing figured out it won’t be so bad. I haven’t seen an English paper for nearly a week now & so we are all anxious to get one if we can.
My love to you my darling & I hope you are now nearly fit again.
23rd February 1917 – No. 16 answering 12 – Chelers
I got your No. 12 last night & was very glad to see your old fist again, tho’ 10 & 11 are still to arrive. I expect however they will arrive alright today.
I got three top-hole Chug letters too last night & was very struck with the neatness of old Bet’s. She seems to be frightfully bucked at the canaries having made an effort to nest. I am sure that the nesting compartment should be covered with brown paper or else you will find that the hen won’t sit. However I know they will want to look at the nest so often that that in itself will stop any possible success!!
Will you send me the English equivalent of my old chair as I miss it awfully & must have another. You can get them at Harrods or Wilkinsons. You might ring them up and tell them to send it direct. It’s the Indian pattern – original made in Sappers & Miners workshops in Rorkee.
I wish we could see some of that ‘Spring’ of yours. We have had thick fog for days now, cold & chilly in the extreme. Poor old Spoot, it is rather a nuisance if she is going to bite folk, tho’ it’s rather nice the way she won’t allow any interference with anyone who has to do with her. Thank all the Chugs for their letters.
My love to you my darling.
25th February 1917 – No. 18 answering 10 – Béthonsart
You needn’t have worried about the photos as I never for a moment intended them for you nor did I look on them in that light when they came & I saw them. As you say there is nothing in a photo. No warmth, no love & they can never, never convey anything like the impression one carries in one’s heart. That is why I have never bothered about one of yours. It would give me little pleasure to look at as it would never represent truly what I value, so we are quite quits on that point.
Old Wallace2 was riding out on a horse to do a job for me the day before yesterday & the old beast stumbled & fell with him & has, I am afraid, bust a small bone in his foot. It’s an awful bore as I can ill spare him now. However it may not be as bad as one thinks & I am going to see him this afternoon & hope to find him better than I expect. I am just off to the kirk such as it is, I expect a very draughty barn.
My transport officer too has now developed a temp of 103 so he’s got to go into hospital too which is another beastly bore. However I have old Heath & also another K.E.H. boy one Donnelly who knows a bit about horses so I am really luckier than most folk.
My love to you my darling & to the little Chugs too.
25th February 1917 – No. 19 answering 13, 14, 15 & 16 – Béthonsart
My dear old thing I never really took your ‘pessim’ seriously, tho’ I am cheered to think you are not exactly starving. The men have not had their ration reduced since the introduction of the food laws & tomorrow if I can remember, I will tell you exactly what they get a day. They get a magnificent ration & have no cause to grumble at all. Occasionally there is a slight shortage of potatoes but it is nearly always made up in a day or two afterwards. Parcels of food are always acceptable because they make a little change but they are not necessary at all.
I was very pleased with the photo of you on the old horse, I like that one very much. I’ll pay you the compliment of saying that it looks as if it wasn’t the first time you had been for a ride!!!3 I’m awfully pleased that you are really feeling better old dear, as it is wretched being seedy these times. I enclose old Bobbo’s letter.
All my love dearie mine.
28th February 1917 – No. 21 answering 17 & 18 – Béthonsart
I wonder if you remember the name of the place where the big towers were and where I was when I left the Old Corps. Well I am now some 8 miles due south of that place.
I am so glad to hear that Pa is so much better. Will you ring him up & thank him for his letters and cigars & tell him I will write as soon as I can but I am fearfully busy just now. Wasn’t it luck your keeping fit until after the honeymoon! It would have been too hard if you had been seedy then, especially if you had had to go to bed at the Berkeley.
Give my love to the Chugs & thank them for their nice letters. I am glad to hear that the 60 hens are laying better now.
My love to you old dear, it’s
fine getting Kut4 back, & it will be very interesting to see what this German withdrawal5 means.
2nd March 1917 – Ecoivres (X Hutments)
I wish too, dearie, that I could tell you more of what I am doing but of course it is impossible. I am some eight or nine miles further east than I was, with a shade of south in it. I know it must be rather beastly not knowing one’s doings but of course it is quite out of the question to tell you, I am afraid.
We are still all very interested in the Hun retirement & how far he has decided to go and over how great a front. I suppose we shall know soon.
Do tell me who it was who made the flattering remark on your appearance at ‘Houpla’? I have paid for our man Scholey and I have also subscribed to the Eton Memorial £100 in year instalments of £10. In case of need it might help old Bobbo or even his boy!
Well darling mine au revoir.
4th March 1917 – Ecoivres
Far from being disappointed I got a clinking good letter from you & also the photos with which I am delighted & congratulate you on the top-hole job you have made of them. Exactly what I wanted.
The Padre asked me to bring you to see him après la guerre. Our weather isn’t good yet tho’ we have had no rain for some time, but thick fogs & still bitter cold. There was no church today so this evening I went to our Padre’s service. He calls himself ‘united Board’. It merely means that he combines Non Com, Methodist, Primitive Methodist & Wesleyan all in one!! Service very simple. The only prayer we had was the Lord’s prayer & he had one long sort of conversational prayer – seemed to me just what came to his mind to meet the actual circumstances. Several hymns and a sermon. It was really rather nice & after all one was only out for one object, & it was all so odd in a big hut, with some men in bed & others sitting about & then those who were joining in the service. Bits of old candle stuck in fellows’ equipment & in jam tins on the floor. I don’t know about Methodist but it certainly was primitive!!
Will you thank Mimi & Nell for their letters. The mac turned up alright thanks. I am awfully glad to hear old Bobbo talking about his football as he seems so thoroughly keen about it and sounds as tho’ he is coming on well.
It’s rather amusing but now I have been confirmed in my rank I believe I rank senior to old Temple. Anyhow he tells me so. He lives only a few huts off & I have seen a lot of him the last few days and we went for a walk together this afternoon.
Well darling I must to bed. My very best thanks for your topping letter old dear & the photos.
Ever your Robert.
1 During leave he had built an aviary for the children’s canaries.
2 His second-in-command.
3 His wife rode side-saddle.
4 Kut, in Mesopotamia (Iraq), was recaptured by General Maude in February 1917.
5 The German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line.
ARRAS
WITH THE ADVENT of spring, the joint offensive planned by the French general Nivelle, and agreed by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, was about to begin. German defences were to be attacked in three places, with British and Canadian forces concentrating in the Arras area and the French further south near the River Aisne, with the aim of pushing the Germans further east so that the Allied armies could link up in a pincer movement. Unfortunately this had been made more difficult now that the Germans had retreated to the heavily fortified Hindenburg Line.
Expectations that the United States would come to the assistance of the Allies were finally realized when President Wilson declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. In Russia, however, the rumblings of the revolution which would erupt in October were already creating political turmoil.
On 7 March, the 24th Battalion left Ecoivres for the town of Arras, around which the forthcoming assault was to take place. While Robert was careful not to overtly mention the build-up to the assault, his wife would have realized from those letters she received – mostly written in pencil on pages torn from a military notebook – that a major offensive was about to begin. The following day, the 24th Battalion relieved the 20th Battalion in the front-line trenches. From hereon the pattern of life for the battalion would be days in the trenches punctuated by rest periods in the town of Arras, itself under constant bombardment.
8th March 1917 – No. 28 answering 25 – Arras
My darling,
Your letter about the lovely weather is most encouraging but as I happen to be sitting in a house without any glass in the windows & as it is snowing hard, I fail to see it!! I am in the big town close handy to where I was. I didn’t get a letter yesterday so hope for two tonight, with luck.
I can’t say that snow is much fun under these conditions & I wish to goodness it would go. The sun keeps peeping through every now & then so perhaps it’s going to cheer up. I rode down here yesterday in the most biting cold wind I ever remember. It blew clean through one.
My darling old girl, you are not getting the least prosy & I love you ‘rambling on’ as you say. The length is one of the nicest parts of your letters & I wish I could write you more. Give my love to Ken & thank him for his interest in Father.
Ever your Robert.
9th March 1917 – No. 29 – front-line trenches, Arras
Dans le premier ligne once more. Life rather strenuous.
I think you did perfectly right about old Bobbo, dearie, & I certainly should have done the same so you need not worry. With all the boys down [with measles] the chief thing of school, i.e. the mixing in the crowd, is gone. If Stanford1 wished it, it was the least you could do.
Dearie mine, I’ve been worked to death the last 30 hours & must stop. I’m very fit. Weather damnable, snow falling all day in showers.
Love to you all.
11th March 1917 – No. 30 answering 28 & 29 – front-line trenches, Arras
I’m very weary old dear & so you must excuse a somewhat short letter tonight. I’ve had an awful lot to do lately & life is pretty strenuous. I’ve had two very nice letters from you & the photos too tonight. Meggie is very good but riding a hole or two too long. Pookie’s position in the one by herself is ideal & good enough to print in the Cavalry drill book!! I never saw a kid sitting like it. If I had posed her I couldn’t have put her in a better position. Make old Bet keep her heels down a bit more. Do you know, I couldn’t for the life of me think who it was standing by little Meg till I see the one of you with them all!!!
Darling mine I can’t write you any more I’m too tired & must be up at 4 a.m. I’m rather in the dumps tonight as I’ve lost a few men these last few days & my friend Duncan the Padre was killed today. He was actually conducting a service at the time & a shell came in & killed him.2
My love to you my darling.
12th March 1917 – No. 31 – front-line trenches, Arras
This is a pretty lively spot as both sides do a good deal of shooting at one another. However it’s all part of the game. I’ve got quite a good dugout here but the fire smokes something awful & you can’t see across the room.
This snow & frost & now the rain makes the mud pretty bad I can tell you. I never saw the mud much worse than it is now. Richardson came in & had lunch with me today. Poor old Temple had a very hot day yesterday but he is alright himself tho’ I fear a bit shaken up & I don’t wonder as the same shell that killed Duncan killed two of his officers too.3
The Huns brought down three of our aeroplanes yesterday. Just got a wire I must go & see to.
15th March 1917 – No. 32 answering Nos. 30, 31 & 32 – Arras
Out again once more after a very bad tour so far as weather conditions were concerned. We went in, in a hard frost & the trenches were like a pavement. Then we had snow & rain with the result that the last four days of our tour were really terrible. The mud was in evidence to a degree that I have never seen before, men literally up to their knees in it. One morning I got absolutely stuck going round the line & looked round to see my runner stuck too about 10 yards behind. There we were, quite immovable. After a most frantic struggle I managed to g
et on to the parapet & got to my runner & took his rifle, then got him out.
That will give you some idea of what one means by mud in the trenches. However, we got out alright & I was well cheered up on getting in by finding three lovely letters from you. With regard to the scale of rations – what I sent you is for infantry in the front line. Folk further back have a trifle less but very little. As for picking up crumbs from the French – well no Frenchman wastes anything & there are no crusts to pick up!!
At this point Jackie dropped in to see me. He tells me Algy went home ‘returned empty’. He’s got a bit too old for the job. My poor horses are now standing up to their necks in mud & he is going to have them in his stable I think. Anyhow, I hope so. There’s not much more to tell you now, old dear. I’m very well.
16th March 1917 – No. 33 answering 33 – Arras
I am in no mood for writing dearie as I’m beastly cold & the damned guns make such a beastly noise, & one has one ear sort of listening for ‘arrivals’ all the time, which as we have no cellar is most unpleasant. No windows in the house & a shortage of coal today doesn’t help much. Poor old Peter, I’m sorry he’s dead, but he was a real tiger. I wish I had the same courage as he had.
I had two nice letters from the Chugs today for which please thank them.
17th March 1917 – No. 34 – answering 34 & 35 – Arras
The Huns are hardly ten miles from Bapaume yet, tho’ I hear that they have set it on fire today which looks as if they wouldn’t be long before they were a decent way back. I saw little Rory Dickens had been hit & I hope he isn’t bad.
I think our bit of line is quite good & I like the trenches better than breastworks, but of course it is a bit more strenuous. The great objection to trenches is that they are most difficult to drain & consequently one gets a lot of mud & water at the bottom of them in wet weather. They are however, in my opinion, far safer than breastworks. One can make a good dugout under these conditions which of course was quite impossible without cement & a very great deal of labour further north.