Nov 2nd
Well Mum, we are having a good trip. The sea is lovely and calm. We saw a few whales yesterday. Things are livening up a bit now. We are having a sports meeting on board on Tuesday. I am in the potato race and the “onion and bucket” race. Each company has to have 6 men in each event. We are having a separate potato race for our company tomorrow. The winner gets 5/-. We have run off some of the heats. I won my heat. We are going to run off tonight. There is about 8 of us left in it. I got vaccinated the day before I sailed, and it is just starting to take now. It is getting a bit sore. We expect to get to a port in a weeks time. I will write from there if we get off. It is the place where Allan sent the leaves from. We haven’t heard yet if the referendum passed. Well Mum this is all this time so I will close hoping all are well as it leaves me at present.
I remain Your Loving Son
Albert
We are going to do drill soon but it wont be much, as there is no room. Don’t worry about me Mum, I am quite well and in the best of spirits.
In the last days of October, Australians went to the polls and voted in the conscription referendum. Conscription was rejected, defeated by 72,476 votes from a total of 2,247,590. The issue had clearly divided the nation. Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia voted in favour, while the remaining states were firm in their rejection. Australian soldiers also voted for conscription with 72,399 in favour while 58,894 rejected the proposition.2 While it was a blow to the campaign of Billy Hughes, the veteran politician would not give up easily and the conscription debate looked set to continue.
It is difficult to know how the mothers of soldiers such as Sarah Marlow might have voted. Her youngest son’s departure prior to the conscription vote and her allegiance to the staunchly pro-conscription Church of England may have prompted a ‘Yes’ vote consistent with the majority of Victorians. On the other hand, she may have sought to spare other mothers the anguish that she must have felt watching her boys depart. As the war entered its third year, reinforcements were needed more than ever to fill the places left by the dead and wounded. Despite Jim’s earlier rejection by the medical officer, it was still possible for the last of Sarah’s sons to be called up as the casualty list continued to grow.
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME ENDS, NOVEMBER
As the bitter winter began to bite in earnest, the opposing armies on the Somme front continued their attempts to break through.3 Australian troops were sent in at both Gueudecourt and Flers, but the attacks were bogged down in the mud and all movement stalled in the morass that was no man’s land. Enemy trenches were briefly captured and held but then abandoned. British High Command eventually accepted that no significant gains would be made and the big guns fell silent in the now devastated Somme Valley. In some sectors the front line had not moved while in others between 11 and 13 kilometres of territory had been gained at the cost of over 600,000 Allied casualties, of whom 150,000 had been killed or were listed as missing.4
As relative quiet descended on the Western Front, raids and small attacks into enemy territory continued while the troops struggled in the personal battles with more immediate enemies: mud, frostbite, trench foot and the plague of rats that invaded the trenches and ventured into no man’s land to forage among the bodies of the dead. Wooden duckboards began to arrive to line the base of the trenches and provide solid footing along the routes to the front. Fatigue parties were kept busy improving the appalling conditions under which the soldiers were required to live and fight.
Albert’s friend Jack Price, who had hoped that Albert’s parents would consent to his enlistment, was blithely unaware that his old school mate was now on his way to England. Jack wrote of helping the local farmers harvest their mangolds, a type of beet used largely to feed stock. This young man from the country had enjoyed being a ‘cockie’ again.
France
Sunday November 5th 1916
Dear Albert
I got another letter from you yesterday and was glad to hear that you were all well. It is Sunday afternoon over here today and things are a bit quiet. We are billeted in a village a few miles back but I think we will be going further up to-morrow. It is a fortnight since we left the last front we were on. When you write again tell me what Battalion Geordie is attached to and I will try and find him. I suppose it is fairly warm over your way by now. You will be taking on a bit of bag sewing again this year I suppose to get hold of some ₤ S.D. to have a good time on. Charlie’s old job would suit you allright only I suppose you are wanted at home. We were cockies again yesterday pulling mangolds and heaping them up. It was a nice change and not a bad job at all. By what I hear Allan and Percy are over in this country now just arrived. I have just been down for a tin of 3 castles. They are I franc 75 centines for a tin of 50. I think I will soon have forgotten the English coinage. Well boy I want to get my hair cut this afternoon so I will close with best wishes to you all.
From your sincere pal
Jack Price
Allan and Percy had yet to reach France, while George remained on the deadly Somme front close to Pozieres. On 1 November he moved into the front line at Dernancourt where machine-gun fire and artillery regularly swept the trenches. On 6 November they were relieved and some days later were treated to the luxury of a hot bath, albeit one in which many weary soldiers had already bathed their filthy bodies. On 19 November George wrote to his mother telling her that he had been promoted in the field — he was now a lance corporal. His expression of disappointment that Albert had been granted permission to enlist will not have eased the apprehension that Sarah was enduring.
France
November 19
Dear Mother & Father
Just a few lines to let you know I am well hoping all are the same. I have just come out of the trenches again so have missed one mail and it was the xmas mail, we were in the lively part again and was raining nearly all the time so there was plenty of mud about, while we were in Charlie Fyffe and Charlie Wales were wounded but don’t know how bad I passed them in there one day that was the last I saw of them, they had a short turn in the firing line only about a month. Amos and Hughie Johnson are both well I was with them the other night we often see one another. You seem to think that Allan & Percy are here fighting well I had a letter from them about a week ago, they were still in England then and were well. I also had a letter from Charlie saying that he had arrived in England. I am getting your letters regular the last were written on the 24 September and one from Jim written on the 25 saying that he was down in Melbourne seeing Charlie off, I have had several papers one with poor old Ray’s photo in. I had a letter from Theo. Phillips also give him my proper address he had it addressed to the 7th Battalion. I received that small parcel which I thank you very much for. I was surprised about you letting Albert come away there are enough of us here now. Well we had a surprise two mornings ago when we got up to find snow on the ground but it wasn’t so very cold. Well I have a lot of letters to write so I will close. Wishing you all a happy New Year.
I remain
Your Loving Son
George
Later
Just received a letter from Allan & Percy, written on the 16 of this month saying that they hadnt left England yet also saying that they had a letter from Charlie and are going to look him up. I am a Lance Corporal now and in charge of a gun and crew, I think I told you before that we have small guns for firing bombs from our trenches into the enemies. Hughie Johnson told me that George Leed is in his Battalion and he didn’t know Ray had been killed. Will be writing to Jim in a few days time.
So Goodbye
George
While George’s luck was holding, his friends were less fortunate. Charlie Fyffe, a 23-year-old local farmer, had been serving in the 6th Battalion. He had enlisted in March 1916 but returned to Australia in July 1917 having been badly wounded on 11 November 1916.5 Farm labourer Charlie Wales from Bald Rock near Mologa was also a member of the 6th Battalion, having enlisted in January 1916. He was wounded
in the leg on 22 September 1916 and remained in England convalescing until April 1917 when he returned to France. He was killed in the village battles of 1918, shot in the chest on 9 August near Lihons, some 20 kilometres east of Villers-Bretonneux.6
AT SEA, NOVEMBER
Charlie wrote to his family describing his journey as the Shropshire steamed up the west coast of Africa:
Sea
Dear Mother, Father & Brothers
I am writing you a few more lines today as the mail box closes very soon, yesterday we crossed the equator so you can guess that it is very hot here the boys kept up the old custom of ducking everyone under the taps and showers, and I can tell you there was some water flying. They would catch a man and put him under clothes and all, of course our clothes on board are the blueys and every man that got drenched joined the mob, and at times things were a bit fast some of our chaps showed fight, however they did not get me, we can get a drink of water on board as cold as ice and there is ice on the pipes that lead to the tank. It will not be long now till we reach the other side and I think I have a good chance of seeing Al and Percy there also I think I will stand a good chance of seeing some of the relations over there. They had a 1/-sweep on board for the Melbourne Cup and I won a 5/- consolation prize, we have been paid ₤1 since we have been on board. There was a splendid concert on board last night some of the items were very amusing, it was the best concert we have had since we left Victoria. There was also a good boxing contest last night one had a job to get near the ring for men. The weather has been calm all the way since we left Cape Town, in fact the trip all the way over has been grand. Tom Roberts and Les Cant and Bill Crossman are in the same deck as me I have got in good with a lot of fellows the Major said that the people of Durban thought we were the best troops that have passed through there. Well I suppose this will reach you somewhere near Christmas, so I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year and hope the crop turns out well. I will write to you as often as I can when I get the other side, I have written a good few letters home and hope they all have reached you. I will now draw to a close hoping all are well as I am at present
So I will now say goodbye
I am Your Loving Son and Brother
Charlie
… Tell me how the conscription business is getting on I saw in the paper where 60,000 odd had registered … We get war news by wireless every day.
While writing to his parents and Jim describing events on board, Charlie’s letter to Albert also includes a dose of big brotherly advice. However, Charlie’s main concern was still the security of his money, as the AIF was not immune from petty pilfering. By the time his letter reached Mologa, Albert was nearing the shores of England.
… there are some very good singers on board also some good violin players, when you come over you ought to bring your mouth organ. Also you want to get a good money belt get one for your arm and put surplus money in it also have one as a belt round your waist to have cash that you need in it you want to take great care of your money belt when you are in a crush watching anything and at all times, remember if your money is gone your done, some fellows will get at the back of a man in a crush and cut his belt with a razor, that is why I say to have one on your arm also, and another thing don’t lend money to anyone unless you know you are sure of getting it back. I lent money here and had a job to get it back …
Sea Nov, 6th 1916
Dear Mother Father & Brothers
I am writing you a few lines before we land so as to be able to post them as soon as possible, we will land in about 4 days from now, after a grand trip we called at a place called Dakar at Cape Verde on the coast of Africa for a Gun it is about 1000 miles north of the equator … we landed at Durban on the 15th Oct, and landed at Cape Town on Oct 20th and landed at Dakar on Thursday Sept 2nd. I am feeling real well and have enjoyed the trip first rate so far the sea has been very calm tomorrow I think we will be going through the Bay of Biscay.
I have written to Al and also to Geordie and will write to Percy and the relations in England I think I will be able to see some of them as far as I know. I have so far no idea where Al and Percy are, we get war news every day by wireless. Nov 8th Bay of Biscay Later News, you will see by now that we are in the Bay of Biscay it is very rough, last night was the roughest night we have had, we have our life belts on all day in case of submarines but I think we are pretty safe, we are not allowed up on deck now for long if we are up on the decks we have to get behind deck houses, away from view, we are not doing any drill now and having a real good time down below playing games etc.
Arrived safe mail closes in a few minutes will write later. I am at a place called Bovington Camp near Wool in the County of Dorset.
I am Your Loving Son
Charlie
LARKHILL, ENGLAND, NOVEMBER
Having received a generous delivery of mail from Australia, Allan spent most of his Sunday writing replies:
England
Sunday 5-11-16
My Dear Mum
Well dear mum I got your most welcome letter dated 18 Sept I got 4 letters altogether 3 from home and 1 from L Sharp. I was pleased to hear that everything is looking well … About us being in action is a perfect rumour but it wont be long now as we are on the move now … I got a letter from Georgie last week. He is well. He said Amos Haw is only about 100 yds from him. Well Mum I have been on the look out for Charlie every week but every letter I get is that he is not sailed yet …
To Albert he included a note concerning the conflict at home over Charlie’s wedding:
… I went over to Perrin Downs yesterday to Joe Cocking but he had gone to France again. I believe he was on leave from the trenches. Albert what a time you must have had at Calival. The fuss over C- wedding seems to have quitened down a bit now. What a good job too.
The boys’ cousin, Ida Payne, wrote to her Uncle Charles from Leicestershire. Ida and their other relatives would provide a link to home which the boys would value; when in England they invariably travelled to Leicestershire or Devon to enjoy the company of their English family. Ida’s letter describes how life has changed in England since the war began.
33 Green Lane Road
Leicester
Nov. 5th. 1916
My Dear Uncle,
I was so pleased to receive a letter from you … I like to write to the boys as often as I can for I know how a letter is looked forward to when they are in the trenches. When I received your letter we had already met two of your boys and fine boys we thought them too. We are expecting to see Charlie almost any day now. I have not had a letter from Allan this week but he was expecting him to land a fortnight ago. I hear from George pretty regularly. Ethel writes to Percy and I to Allan. Percy & Allan sent us their photos last week. We thought they were very good. George has been hoping to get leave for some time now but has not managed it yet. Allan tells me that Albert has joined now, so you will only have Jim left. I hope for your sake that he wont have to come & I hope & trust all your dear lads may be spared to come safely home to you. My brother Clem is knocking about the Red Sea somewhere. He has been in one or two fights with the Turks & Arabs & was wounded once but we did not tell Mother so she knows nothing about it, but he is alright so far. He had a very narrow escape in one of the North Sea battles. Harry Marlow was badly wounded in France & has been in hospital for some time. He never writes to any of us. Friends are more to him than his relations. Neither he nor his sisters take after the Marlows. They all have their Mother’s temper & disposition. Uncle Ted’s son is in the “Blue Cross”. He looks after sick & wounded horses & has been out in France for some time. Am glad to say we are all pretty well & up to now have got on fairly well. Mother has had to turn out to work as things are so dear, it costs twice as much to live now as it did before the war. The war has not touched us much in other respects. We have not had the horrors of Belgium & France. The only things that can harm us are the Zepps. We have escaped them so far in Leicester but they have been over Corb
y twice. Aunt Edie was about scared to death. They dropped about 40 bombs near there during the last raid, but luckily they all fell in fields & no damage to speak of was done. I have a piece of one of the bombs that fell there. The holes were seven yards across and about 4 feet deep. It is not safe to go out at nights. The streets are kept in total darkness & we get heavily fined if our windows show any lights. But the darkness has saved us from the Zepps so we cheerfully put up with it. Mother sends her love & says she expects your boys will think their Aunt Lizzie is a funny woman. She told them some fine tales I can tell you. Aunt Edie is inclined to be dosy & Aunt Charlotte is rather shy but Mother is the saucy one of the family I tell her. She keeps everyone alive. Aunt Annie is very nice but is very prim & proper & one always has to be on best behaviour with her. Well, think I must close now. I will write again soon. Hoping this will find Auntie & Jim & yourself all quite well & not feeling too lonely. With love to all.
I am
Your loving niece
Ida Payne
Charlie arrived at Plymouth on 11 November. He travelled to Bovington Army Base at Wool in Dorset and immediately tried to send word to his brothers who were some 80 kilometres to the north. In the frozen English training camps, Allan and Percy were eventually reunited with their older brother and eagerly received news of home and of Charlie’s wedding. In mid-November the three young soldiers from Mologa were to see their first snow.
The twins wrote home with pleasure at the prospect of being reunited with Charlie.
Wednesday Night 16.11.16
My Dear Mum
… Well Mum we have finished our 12 day stunt and I am not a bit sorry either. We have had nothing but instructions lately. We have everything ready for the front now. They tell us we are going on Tuesday. So that is not to bad. I got a letter from Charlie to day and oh mum I was pleased to hear he has just landed and is [in] a camp called Bovington and where it is nobody seems to know but I am doing my best to see him on Sunday. He said he had a great trip over. I got another letter from Geordie. He is well and still going strong. I get letters from the Aunt’s and cousins every week. Flo Wilson sent us some socks cakes and cigarettes last week, it was very good of her. Tell Albert I got his wallet and the Pyramid papers. Mum I will lose all my letters in answer to the first we wrote on the Arabic. I am not sure but I think that will be the boat they are on. It is bad luck. I would love to have got them. I hope you get the parcel all right.
ANZAC Sons Page 24
