Well Jim, I will say goodbye
From
Albert
Lark Hill Camp
Sunday April 22nd
My dear Mother & Father
…We are having some decent weather at present, and things look as if it may last. It is supposed to be spring at present, the trees are just coming in bud and the bulbs in the garden are in flower, so things look much better. We went into Salisbury yesterday. It is rather a nice place & has a lovely Cathedral in it. We were shown through the Cathedral, and I can tell you it is worth seeing. It is an enormous size and the Cathedral at Leicester is like Mologa Church in comparison to it … I put in for leave this week to go up to Leicester again, but could not get it. I could have got two days, but that was not worth the train-fare. I told Jim that I was on draft, and expected to go on Tuesday, well I hear that the draft is not going till Tuesday next week, so I will be here another Sunday. The King was out to see us on Tuesday. It was a grand affair, 30, 000 Australians being in the march past, and about 9 bands there. Then there was a host of Australian nurses. I got a good look at the King, as he rode past on horseback. There were about 20 Colonels etc. following him. I did not get to Church parade this morning as I have a lot of letters to write. Well Mum, I am putting the weight on here. I weighed 12 stone 4 yesterday, just a stone heavier than when I left Australia. This place seems to be agreeing with me, although it has been cold at times. I have not got any letters from Australia for some time, as they go to France. Charlie said a paper came there for me some time ago. I hope to get a heap of letters when I join up the battalion. I don’t know if the Stone boys are here & could never find them if they were here unless I knew what coy they were in …
Albert visited a photographer while in Salisbury. On April 29 he sent his parents and George a copy of the photograph.
Monday – April 23rd
Dear Jim,
… I put in for leave to go to Leicester again but couldn’t get it, because I am draft. I would liked to have got leave because I couldn’t see Flo Wilson when I was there before, on account of the rotten weather, also I wanted to see Auntie Lee at Water Farm. Anyway I hope some day to see them, if the war doesn’t last too long. Well Jim, I have not done much drill lately except digging trenches & putting up wire entanglements. We had some new style of bayonet fighting this afternoon, it was damn hard work. We had to run about 100 yds and jump over 5 trenches and bayonet dummies, as we went, it was the hardest work I’ve done for a long time. The 7/38th are coming in tomorrow, I might happen to strike someone I know…
Salisbury Plains
April 30th
Dear Jim,
… It is glorious weather here now, it is quite warm here at present. The grass and crops are starting to grow & the hedges are beginning to look green, the place looks so different, to what it did a few weeks ago. My word the grass does grow here when it starts. I am leaving for France tomorrow, so have been busy all day getting ready to go. I nearly got kept back today on account of my teeth, we have to be medically examined tomorrow. We all got a clean change of clothing, plenty of socks and anything we liked. I met Neil Haw a few days ago, he is in this camp. His boat was torpedoed when a few hours sail of Plymouth. They all got off safe on to destroyers only one chap getting injured. The huns fired two torpedoes at her, the second one missing. The boat, the Ballarat, sank a few hours after. A destroyer was with her & I hear that it sank the submarine. The poor devils on the boat lost everything, some of them came here in blueys, some without boots & hardly any clothing, but they got plenty when they got here. I havent had any letters “except the one you sent to Paynes” since God knows when. I hope to get a pile when I get to France, well Jim it is very nearly “Lights out” so I will have to close hoping this finds you all well I am
Your Aff Brother
Albert
After four months of training on the windswept fields of Salisbury Plain, Albert was finally on notice that he was to leave for France. As Albert wrote with news of his neighbour Neil Haw, he appeared unaware that Joe Stone, the brother of his girlfriend, Myrtle Stone, had also been aboard the Ballarat, a troopship torpedoed in the English Channel on 25 April 1917. Albert had been keen to catch up with both Joe and Jim Stone but had been unable to trace their whereabouts. Joe wrote a lengthy description of his experiences aboard the Ballarat to his mate Jim Marlow.
Codford England
April 8/1917
Dear Jim,
Just a line in haste hoping it finds all in the Best of Health as it leaves us at present. Well Jim we arrived safely but under difficulties on (Anzac Day) & I don’t think I will ever forget it as we were the first Australians to be torpedoed coming from Australia. The Voyage. After leaving Port Melbourne on the 19th Feb we had a pretty rough trip across the bight some of us were not half sick either I think I had my share of it. We called at Albany and we were the first lot to get leave there though it was only one night. We had a good time there as we got a few Tabs and had a dance in the YMCA till it was time to go back to our old lugger, next we called at Fremantle and spent our four days leave in Perth. After leaving there it took us three weeks to get to Cape Town (the dirty hole). We stayed there another four days, after leaving there we called at Sierra lieone in the North West of Africa, here we stayed another four days but we did not get off the boat, as, I suppose they thought we would interfere with the blacks as there is 50,000 blacks and 150 whites there. After leaving there things went all right till the 25 of April that was the day we had been longing for as we were to reach Plymouth about 10 that evening all was excitement on the old Boat, and our Quarter Master Sergeant was issuing us with our waterproof sheets and I was forming the Company up out side when all of a sudden the submarine Guard yelled run aft. I did not bother any more about the men but went to where they were running from and I could see the torpedo about 100 yards away of course we were on the move and the torpedo struck right aft where all of them had run too. Well I stood and watched it explode about 30 yds away. There was a loud report and the old ship gave a big lurch and a shiver then began to settle down. We all fell in at our tables and waited for the advance, then made for our boat stations. Well I had to report our boat all correct to the Heads, then go back and get down a rope ladder into the boat, it is rather an awkward job I can tell you although of 1700 men there was not one fell off the ladder. Our boat being full we pulled away, meanwhile the operator had been sending out S.O.S. signals. We had only been in the boat about an hour when on the horizon we could see little black specks of smoke. It was the Navy coming to our rescue, they turned out to be destroyers and after sighting them it was no time before they were there as they came at the rate of 40 miles an hour, after they got there they cruised around in hopes of finding the submarine also to prevent it from firing us another torpedo. Then one pulled in along side the ship and got off all the remaining men while some of the rest came around and picked up the little boats full of men, what a relief to be on board again after being in the little tubs for over 2 1/2 hours and though it was a calm day you had to look out as you might be capsized any minute. All the men picked up, the first boat left for Plymouth after 6 oclock it being 90 miles away it arrived there the same time as my boat the HMS Hardy at 10.30 that night it was terrible cold as on the destroyers we had to stand on top and travelling at 25 miles an hour on a cold night with hardly any clothes on it is no picnic. After arriving we were marched to the Big Naval Barracks at Devonport where we slept that night they gave some of them tea but I was too cold to wait for it and went to bed among about 100 Naval Guns I got in bed about 1 oclock. We got up next morning about 7 oclock and went around the place to have a look around it. Then we had a good breakfast my first meal on old Blighty, afterwards falling in and calling the roll to see who was missing, at noon every one was accounted for. Rumours were afloat about whether the ship sunk, But at 10.30 our feelings were relieved when it was officially announced that it had sunk at 4.30 that morning. After we strolled about awaiti
ng our departure to our different training camps there to settle down and learn to uphold the traditions that the Anzacs had made for Australia. At 4 oclock we entrained and made our way to what is to be our homes for a few weeks. On the way the people of Exeter gave us a cup of coffee and a good big bun and I can tell you it was very acceptable as we felt the cold after being so long in the tropics. At 10 oclock we reached Codford and our Coy got out the others going on to Salisbury there was a band to meet us and bring us to our camp 2 miles away, a good lot of the lads turned out to see us as we came along, as, it is small camps all along the road. They gave us a good tea and we got to bed about 1 oclock and got up at 8 the next morning. Too much cannot be said about our gallant C.O. of troops Lt. Col. McVea V.D. he remained on the bridge till the last. He was as cool as a cucumber all the time. The troops on board the Ballarat found him a true soldier and a man and that is a good bit. They say the Australian troops have no discipline, but not that day the 25 April shows whether they have it or not and it was perfect all the time there was not a slightest bit of panic anywhere. Getting over 1700 troops off a sinking boat with out one getting wet through falling in is one of the things that will live in the history of discipline and it speaks well for the Australian soldiers. This is the first time that Australian soldiers have landed over the sea in a new land bootless and hatless. Here ends one of the biggest Dramas that has ever been played and came out without a scratch. The sinking of His Majestys Australian Troopship The Ballarat A70. May it rest in Peace. All on board at the time will have something in years to come to look back upon and think of the watery grave they would have had it not been for the efficiency of the British Navy, every man on board that ship is able to say The British Navy has saved my life. May it continue to do so, here the story ends. Well Jim you will notice a X on page 5 I got up to go out and see the 23rd Reinforcements leave. We are next. Before you get this I may be there, no one knows. I wrote to Albert and Percy about a week ago I expect to hear from them any day. Lark Hill is only about 11 miles from here if Albert is there I will go and see him Sunday. Well Jim I have a beastly cold and it is getting late I think I will close.
With Best Wishes
I Remain
Yours Sincerely
Joe
Remember me to Father and Mother also tell them a Little that used to stay at the Stiffs Retreat that used to teach your Father to play patience is in our coy he came in the 23 refs but is on home service on account of bad eyesight. Remember me to all Mologa friends don’t forget the nice girls as well. Joe
FRANCE AND BELGIUM, MAY
As the arrival of spring brightened the Western Front, Allan, Percy and Charlie made the most of their opportunities to enjoy its pleasures. The 38th had been withdrawn as a reserve battalion to a farm west of Ploegsteert Wood, to the north of Armentieres, once the picturesque hunting ground of the King of Belgium. For two weeks, despite remaining within artillery range, they enjoyed the relative safety of the area while preparing gun pits and cable trenches.1 To the south on the Somme, Nivelle’s attack in the Aisne region had achieved limited success while further British attempts to push through at Arras had fared little better. At Bullecourt, George was once again to engage in bitter fighting as the Spring Offensive forged on in the face of fierce resistance and the fortified defences of the Hindenburg Line.
On 3 May, 17 weeks after arriving in England, Albert sailed for the battlefields of France. On the same day, the 2nd Division was ordered to attack in the same sector of the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt that the 4th Division had breached, but had been unable to hold some two weeks prior. They were again to be asked to attack into a re-entrant. The battle raged for two weeks and involved the 2nd, 1st and later the weary 5th Division. Troops of the 1st Division were sent in on 4 May to relieve the 6th Brigade (2nd Division) which had successfully breached the line and was steadfastly holding a sector that bulged precariously into enemy lines. The dead lay all around them. The 5th Division arrived on 12 May. George, as a member of the 2nd Light Trench Mortar Battery of the 1st Division, would be witness to the bloody and brutal hand-to-hand combat and raging artillery duels that savaged the Australian forces as they fought off seven major counter-attacks and waves of minor assaults, until the German withdrawal from Bullecourt a fortnight later.
By 20 May, only two sectors had been captured along the 25-kilometre front between Arras and Bullecourt where 14 Allied divisions had advanced during the Battle of Arras. To the far north, Canadian forces had captured their objective, but were to hold it only briefly. To the south the Australians had played a major role in the capture of Bullecourt which would remain part of the Allied front until March 1918. Breaching the Hindenburg Line had drawn accolades for the Australian forces. Through sheer tenacity they had achieved an unlikely success despite appalling casualties; in addition to the enormous toll from First Bullecourt, the Australians had lost 7000 men in the Second Battle of Bullecourt. The combined Bullecourt battles had cost the four Australian divisions 10,000 casualties, with over 1000 soldiers now prisoners of war.2
In between stints in the Bullecourt line, George took time to write to his family. His friend Amos Haw who, as George often wrote, was always just 100 yards further up the trench, had been wounded. Amos was a 24-year-old farmer from Mologa who had suffered a serious gunshot wound to his leg. He slowly recovered to rejoin the 5th Battalion on the front nine months later. In the last months of the war he returned to England to train others in the techniques of gas warfare.3 George was unsure of the extent of Amos’s wound and typically provided little detail of his own experiences other than describing the debacle as ‘lively’. He focused on snippets of news he had received, including the loss of his potential love interest. George had been gone from Mologa for over 18 months, a considerable time for a young heart to wait.
France
May 8th 1917
Dear Jim
… I came out of the line a few nights ago but are still well in the range of shells, while I was in Amos’s battalion was along with us so I enquired after him and found out that he had been wounded in the leg I don’t know how the others got on it has been lively in this part of the line lately I will enquire after young Twigg. I had a letter from Allan saying he had been slightly wounded but is alright again and has joined his battalion up again so don’t worry about him. I had a letter from Albert saying that N. Haw had arrived and that he met him his boat was torpedoed but all were saved … You are always asking about the conscription, we are not allowed to say anything about it, well I voted the same way as you, the answer to the other question is yes. You say Dick and the one that was promised to me the night of my sendoff have made a start, I don’t think there will be any girls left when we all get back. I think I will bring one back from England there are plenty there and what about one for you. Dad said in his letter that Mrs Gamble had sent us cigarettes etc. well I have never received any of them. Well Jim we have had our voting day and I voted for the same ones as you would …
France
May 11th 1917
Dear Mother & father
… I wrote to you a few days ago, we had just come out of the line but went back again it was lively too, both Amos and Ewin were wounded I havent heard how any of the other local lads got on, I got out of it safely. I will inquire about young Twigg and will let you know in next letter as this mail closes in 10 minutes so have to cut it short I had a letter from Charlie yesterday Allan has joined them up again and all are well I will now close hoping all are well.
I remain
Your Loving Son
George
My Dear Mother
Just a card to let you know I am well all well hoping all are the same. I had a couple of letters from you and Jim a few days ago. That dream you had wasn’t true I have been splendid. I haven’t heard how Ewin & Amos are getting on. I told you in my last letter that I heard Jack Price was killed well it is true. I saw his name and number in the Anzac bulletin. Allan’s was in the wounded list. I
will write again soon. George
PS Am sending a small parcel today
The beautifully embroidered card that George sent to Sarah.
Ewin, often referred to as Hughie, was Alexander Ewen Johnson, a 25-year-old farmer from Mologa who served in the 6th Battalion. He was seriously wounded on three separate occasions, the first in May 1917. He recovered and returned to France on 20 September 1917, but was wounded again five weeks later on 28 October. He was once again sent to England to recover where, in March 1918, he married Christina Cameron of Ballachulish, Scotland. He rejoined his unit in France on 23 May 1918. Twenty days later he was shot in the chest and arm, sent to England and listed as dangerously ill for months. Ewen miraculously survived and returned to Australia in January 1919.4
Further north in France and across the border in Belgium, George’s brothers were preparing for an attack in the Flanders region. Haig now had his opportunity to prove that his projected attack east of Ypres to capture the heights around Passchendaele and then assault the German flank was superior to Nivelle’s failed attempt to the south in France.
Charlie wrote:
3rd May 1917
My dear Mother,
Just a few lines to say that I am quite well also Allan and Percy, Al is none the worse for his experience, he was only away about 12 days … Al got your parcel a few days ago and was pleased to get it. I got a lot of mail in the trenches last time also a parcel and papers from Pearl, we are out of the trenches at present, it is lovely weather here now the days are quite hot, it is such a change from the awful winter, they say that it was the severest winter that they have had in Europe for over 35 years and Flo Wilson says that she saw in the paper that it was the coldest April for 60 years. I got a letter from Geordie a few days ago and Al got one last night he is getting on fine we have not met him yet as we are a long way away from where he is. Albert is still in England but expects to be over here very soon. Percy had a letter from Joe Stone the other day, they had an exciting time coming over. I hope you have got my letters for I have written to you often. I get all your letters now since I have joined the battalion. The trees are beginning to look green over here now and the grass and crops are growing very fast, but they look as though they want rain …
ANZAC Sons Page 37
