For Love and Courage

by E. W. Hermon

  There’s been some wonderful air fights here today. There is a Hun who flies a bright scarlet machine & it is real hot stuff. He seems to be a sort of star flyer & does most of the fighting. He is a real gallant fellow & we all admire him.4

  They have got some of the fastest planes you ever saw here – go two feet to our one & their tactics are wonderful. Four or five of them fly about together at an immense height & when they see one of our planes that they know they can catch, they simply nosedive right down on it & then a real battle begins, sometimes ours falls, sometimes theirs.

  Thank old Bobbo for his very nice letter. Wallace is in England & has a bone broken in his foot.

  Sunday 18th March 1917 – No. 35 – Arras

  It’s a rare noisy place this. Old Temple had a house in one part of the town where we should have relieved him but last Sunday they had a shell through both houses on either side of them, so they thought it wiser to find a new home & I am glad they did as I hear the house has since been demolished!

  I want both fields on either side of the drive offered to any farmer who cares to plough them up rent free. Will you please let Grantham or Jones know or Arthur5 can have them if he will plough them. I don’t want them broken up & then not cultivated but I do want anyone to have them who will make a genuine effort to raise a crop.

  The old Boche seems to be on the homeward journey alright down on the Somme & tonight we hear we have Bapaume. Last night we could see it burning, the whole sky being lit up. Things grow most absorbingly interesting you know. Whether the old Boche will do us in over the ships or whether we shall have him beat first, it’s a regular race at present. Anyhow I really believe that one side or another will have to chuck it before long. I don’t believe it will go another winter tho’ it’s only my poor little opinion.

  I heard that the Hun had got a hospital ship, but I’m glad they did so well & saved everyone. We went for a walk tonight but there’s so much gunning these times it’s not much pleasure. Both sides seem to be influenced by the spring & are getting quite active.

  My love to you my darlings.

  20th March 1917 – No. 36 answering 38 – Ecoivres

  Back once more in our little wooden hut & jolly glad to be back as our town dwelling wasn’t as healthy as it might have been. Shells are beastly enough in the country but I hate them among the houses & just before we left & during tea we had one good one about four doors off & I think we were all glad to say goodbye to the place for a bit.

  It was the most awful evening you ever saw, blowing half a gale or more with torrents of rain & we all arrived soaked. Thank goodness my Q.M. had a good fire so we undressed & sat round it waiting for the transport to turn up with our kits.

  Today is still blowing hard but the sun shines very brightly between the showers which are snow & sleet. I suppose one of these days we shall have some fine weather but it’s high time it came along.

  We are not doing quite the same tours in & out as we were when I came on leave last & you will have to sort it out from the scraps you can glean from my letters. It’s splendid getting Bapaume & Péronne & the old Hun is going back between Arras & Bapaume I hear. I expect he doesn’t mean to stop till he has reached the Hindenburg Line which runs from Arras to St Quentin in a fairly straight line. It’s all most awfully interesting now, trying to picture in one’s mind what the old blighter is about. Read through German eyes p. 7 The Times of 19th very good. There seems nothing more to tell you dearie mine.

  21st March 1917 – No. 37 – Ecoivres

  Spring commences, so I see in my diary, today. Result, biting wind & snow showers punctuated, however, by bright sun. I expected to move today but in the end I was left behind & so am still in my little hut. One end is the pantry, then a couple of blankets hung on a wire makes the dining room door & wall. At the other end we have six bunks, really quite comfortable & we are very happy & contented.

  I haven’t had time to go and see the horses since I came out & as it has been so wet & cold & they are standing up to their eyes in mud, I have put it off till they are likely to look a bit better!

  The old Hun still retreats south of Arras but remains where he was to the north of the town. If he went back there it would mean his giving up Lens I expect, & I don’t fancy he wants to do that as he probably gets a good bit of coal from there & thereabouts. He is an old beast as I hear he has gone so far as to hack down even the fruit trees in the gardens in Péronne & leave them lying on the ground. Pure wanton destruction. Didn’t even want them for firewood.

  The worst of it is that even if we got into Germany we should never do the same & he knows that well. I’ll bet the civilians in Péronne were jolly glad to get shot of him. It will be rather interesting reading their accounts of the time of occupation.

  Our huts are called ‘Nissen’ and are like this: they are made of tin & lined with matchboard & they put them up in a couple of hours, almost. They are about 30 ft long by 15 wide & really very cosy & warm.

  My best love to you all.

  22nd March 1917 – No. 38 – Ecoivres

  Heavy snow all day in showers & now 6 p.m. it is falling fast. They are only frozen April showers but very unpleasant.

  Yes, it was very bad luck about poor Duncan. There were three of them [who] all ran to help the sentry and Bibby who was close behind was blown right across the room. He is quite knocked out I am afraid & looks very bad. Only a few days before Duncan had given our Padre a little sort of prayer book & written in it:

  Self is the only prison that ever can bind a soul.

  Love is the only angel that can bid the gates unroll:

  And when he comes & calls thee, arise & follow fast

  His way may lead through darkness, but it leads to light at last.

  They are all such nice lines that I thought you might like them. No, I was in the line when it happened or I should most probably have been there. I wouldn’t allow any services the Sunday I was in the town, much to one Padre’s annoyance tho’ the others were in agreement. I wasn’t going to risk my men. It’s the height of folly to go & collect a huge lot of men together in a town that is constantly under shellfire. It’s quite bad enough to have to live in it, let alone collect in bodies.

  I should have your governess if I were you as I like her shoes & stockings!! Good boots are always a good sign!!!!

  Give my love to the Chugs.

  23rd March 1917 – No. 39 answering 39 & 41 – Ecoivres

  We had a very heavy fall of snow last night but it’s all gone now & has been a lovely day & I’m hoping that we shall have a bit of fine weather.

  I seem to remember some very dusty Easters in the old cars. I wish I saw the prospect of another. I should love to take on old Arthur in his ‘Henry’ with our cheap American!! I fear those old days are gone for ever now & somehow one never seems to contemplate going a trip with old Arthur any more. Let’s hope our next trip will be one here to see the result of the war with the Chugs.

  Of course, by now you know more about the German retirement than I do really, as you have had one more Times than I have. The Hindenburg line runs north from St Quentin to Bartouzelle where it turns westwards & runs by Marcoing, Inchy, Mercatel to the scarp at Arras.

  According to the papers he is retiring there so that, if any preparations have been made by us for the much-talked-about spring offensive, we may have to start again & [take] them all over again some miles further on & in the meantime his submarines will sink all our ships. However the best-laid plans often go wrong & as he has been so very wrong often before, perhaps he will have miscalculated again. War is one of those delightful uncertainties that a very small thing may completely upset. It is all most awfully interesting & I hope I shall see the end. I often long for the time when one will be able to read the history of the early phases & know why he didn’t do some of the many things that he ought to have done.

  I got three delightful letters from the Chugs too, today. I wish I had more time to answer them. Thank dear littl
e Mary for her nice message & her letter too. I am so pleased to hear she sat on her pony so well when it fell down!

  Goodnight my darling.

  24th March 1917 – No.? answering 42 & 43 – Ecoivres

  Things have been pretty lively in these parts lately but we have been fairly fortunate I am glad to say, & I only hope it will last. As you have gathered I haven’t seen anything of this last beano as it is south of me mostly. Don’t think, old girl. It’s a bad habit & it’s all in the lap of the Gods.

  You are quite right this is a damnable game, the more you see of it the less you like it & some of the scenes with the civilian inhabitants of the towns & villages that the Boche has evacuated must be beastly. It was bad enough having the women & children in Loos but they hadn’t been there so long as these have.

  I am glad you are having the Governess as she seems to have many things one wants & I expect the rest will come if she has a nice inside, as you seem to think.

  Our mud is awful after the snow & frost – carts up to their axles & one is over one’s boot-tops when one steps out of one’s hut & off the duckboards.

  25th March 1917 – No. 41 – Ecoivres

  It seems astonishing that I can only write ‘41’ at the top of my letter. It seems years my love, since I saw your dear smiling old face as I left you. Darling mine, that smile has simply lived with me ever since. It’s my last memory of you & whenever I think of you it’s there to cheer one up. I’d give worlds to hold you in my arms once more my love, but I am afraid that there’s a long, long trail to be trod before that happens again.

  Tonight I went to church in one of the church Army Huts close here & we had such a nice little service, ending with a celebration6 for which I stayed. All the time the service was going on the Hun was throwing some very heavy shells into the village about half a mile off & what with the church being lit up & it dark outside & the whistle & crash of the shells it made the whole thing very weird & also impressive & I’m afraid that my voice was not particularly strong as I sang the third verse of hymn 322.

  And then for those, our dearest and our best,

  By this prevailing Presence we appeal;

  O fold them closer to Thy mercy’s breast,

  O do Thine utmost for their souls’ true weal;

  From tainting mischief keep them white and clear,

  And crown Thy gifts with strength to persevere.

  However, it was all very, very nice in spite of the surroundings being a bit odd & I was very glad of the opportunity. This afternoon Barber motored over to see me as a full-fledged staff officer, G.S.O.3 of a Corps. He looked awfully well & was very well turned out & quite a credit to the old corps.

  I can’t help thinking that they have lately been actively engaged in operations against the Hun as I understand that they are S. of Péronne somewhere. It will be rather an irony, after all, if they [K.E.H.] get in the first blow. Jimmy will have quite another crow over officers who desert their regiments.

  I had two letters from you yesterday dearie & so I drew a blank today. However, I can’t complain as I have got them most regularly & when you come to see figures like those in the papers today, 11,000,000 letters & 800,000 parcels a week, it’s rather wonderful how they turn up at all, let alone punctual to the minute 19 days out of every 20. I got the nominal roll book from Gale & Polden today. Very many thanks. The other parcels too.

  Well dearie mine I’m busy these days and must to bed now, especially as we started summer time last night & I lost an hour of sleep, not to mention the fact that the padre, who sleeps just under me, dreamt that he saw a man cutting the rope of one of the observation balloons & jumped up shouting at the top of his voice to stop him & nearly flung me out of bed in the process, & I felt rather as tho’ a mine had gone off underneath.

  27th March 1917 – No. 43 answering 45 & 46 & Chug letters – Ecoivres

  I wrote you a very scrubby letter last night & I am afraid that this will be even scrubbier as I have little to tell you beyond the fact that the Hun woke us up by throwing a few shells into the camp just to let us know he was still there. However he did no harm to anyone so it didn’t matter.

  It’s funny, old dear, how our letters have crossed again with almost exactly the same words in them. You are quite right, a dugout is by far the most preferable place.

  I quite understand about the fields & felt all along that such was the case, but I wanted it known in the village they were there & could be used by anyone who would properly cultivate them. I should be quite willing to let any folk in the village have allotments in them, starting on the piece behind Miss Payne’s if any cottage or village folk want a bit of ground to grow anything in. Mind, don’t cut yourself with the hay knife. Look out when you have cut a truss that it doesn’t slip & down you go with the knife, onto the floor.

  My love to you all, old dear & to the Chugs & a thousand thanks for their dear letters.

  29th March 1917 – No. 45 answering 47 & 48 – Ecoivres

  I am glad to hear that Mary is still riding the new pony & likes it. Keep her at it as that pony will teach her far more than old Mary Ann. I read Buckin your letter & he was awfully pleased, especially with the flattering reference to his own flowers!!

  I’ve had a very happy day today carpentering, building a framework over a water cart to carry some more water in petrol cans. It’s very handy having it in cans like that. The pioneers did the work & I just chipped in with advice!! You know. Beyond my carpentering I have hardly done anything today except deal with a mass of correspondence & some urgent military matters. I am going over with some folk to see old Trevor tomorrow, who is about 9 miles off with Temple & Richardson and another.

  THE VISIT TO Brigadier-General Trevor was to receive instructions for the forthcoming attack: Temple, Richardson and Colonel Hermon being the commanding officers of the Northumberland Fusilier battalions involved.

  30th March 1917 – Ecoivres

  We’ve just settled that the vote should be given to the women! Most heated argument but carried ‘nem. con.’. Well I had my bus ride today & had quite a pleasant day. Saw Richardson & Temple & old Trevor lent me a horse. Met the Corps Commander and the Div. Commander. The former a most charming old gent. Perfect manners & most pleasant. The day was alternate bright sun & ice cold & very heavy showers, but tonight is fine with a newish moon & everything looks like a fine spell. I wish we were together for just one night as I could tell you so much more than one could write & lots that would interest you, but if speech is silver, silence is golden.

  1st April 1917 – No. 48 answering 49 & 50 – billets, Arras7

  I sent you an unnumbered letter of surpassing shortness last night which should have been No. 47. I got two lovely letters, old dear, this morning. Before I forget it, you remember that I promised old Buckin that his wife should be our special case should anything happen to him. Harry I haven’t paid for a long time & I don’t know what I owe him, but he could tell you alright.

  We’ve got a lovely day today – coldish but still bright sun. I am just going to take up my residence at my town house. We are all rather sorry to leave our little hut as we have got to look on it as home. The Padre who replaced Duncan had one look & didn’t like it. Felt his nerve wasn’t strong enough & has had to be evacuated. Thank goodness they aren’t all like that.

  I think, old dear, that for the children’s sake you must keep on with the bread & potatoes. If they want to reduce things they should put you on compulsory rations. So long as you are below the ration scale I should rest content, because I do not see why you should give up rations in order that those who won’t accept the scale should have more. Stick to the ration scale & if you can keep below it, do so.

  My love to you my darling, now and always.

  2nd April 1917 – No. 49 answering 51 & 52 – Arras

  Life is full of little worries, my house has no windows, it’s damnably draughty, there’s nearly two inches of slushy snow on the pavement outside & the dirty Boche put a
shell through the house next door this morning & woke me up. However, we’re bearing up & wonderfully bright & happy & your nice letters help & crown the lot of the soldier. I’m sorry to say one of my boys, young Wright by name, was killed today, but it is no good moralizing these times.

  There’s little news for you old dear, as I hear or know little beyond what I read in the papers. I am so sorry about those beastly measles, it is bad luck & just as you thought you were clear.

  I am very glad indeed that you offered Bram the car as it will be a little return for what he did for me. I know the old bus does eat petrol tho’ I was perhaps a bit shy at confessing it before you when I was at home!!! I do like still getting the bits from the men. I would far rather have the regard coming from below than above, as the former always knows best.

  My love to you old dear.

  3rd April 1917 – No. 50 – answering 53 – billets, Arras

  A lovely bright day today but bitterly cold and the snow still deep in the back yard where the sun hasn’t touched it. Old Begbie has just been in to see me looking splendid as a Highlander in full rig-out. I was awfully glad to see him – it is so nice how any of the old folk when they hear one is near, always come round & see one. It makes life well worth living.

  I got a ripping letter from you, old dear, today & have simply loved it. As you say old dear we have got beyond appearances when we are alone, but I still like to hear of you described as the ‘best turned out woman’ in public!!