While the prospect of the twins marching off to war together was cause for celebration for many in the little community, I doubt Sarah Marlow met the announcement with any sense of joy. She may certainly have been proud of her boys, but her loyalty must have been divided and her heart heavy. However it is unlikely that the twins’ enlistment would have been openly questioned in a household characterised by a strong allegiance to England and its church. While Sarah may have found some consolation in the fact that her eldest son, Jim, had been rejected on the basis of poor eyesight, she was destined to be the proud and stoic mother of three patriotic and brave soldiers. Surely that would be enough — no-one could expect more from her and her sons.
YEITOUN CAMP, EGYPT, JANUARY
On the first day of the new year, George put pen to paper, clearly disappointed with the quality of the celebrations that marked the festive season:
Jan 1st 1916
2748
6 reinforcements 21 Batt
6 Inf Brigade AIF
Egypt
Dear Mother, Father & Brothers,
Just a few lines hoping all are well as I am at present. It is New Years Day here, they have just given us a couple of oranges and apples each. I thought we would be given a billy but no such luck we never got any in this camp for xmas and in all the other camps they did and got a good dinner too, all we got was salmon and bread and jam. I suppose you are thinking that I am in the trenches by now, we were told when we arrived in Egypt first that we would be gone in three weeks but we are still here … In my letter to Jim I was telling him there is a chap along with me that used to go to school with Alfords, the elder ones, I closed the letter up and forgot to finish his name, the name is Lousada, he asked me to ask you to ask Alfords if they remember him, he has two brothers over here, or on their way back from the trenches. They are holding sports on sunday in the Abbasive camp, some of the men are out running getting in form. I suppose they will be making it compulsory [conscription] in Australia soon as they are doing in England. Downie just came back from the mumps hospital and has gone back to another one now he had a bad cold he has got very thin since he left Australia …
While George was revelling in his new experiences in Egypt, including the pyramids and the aircraft of the fledgling Flying Corps, he remained eager to discover just where and when he would eventually enjoy his first taste of action. He wrote of his mates, particularly Downie, who had been readmitted to hospital and was gravely ill with possible tuberculosis. By now George had realised that his friend was unlikely to recover and his letter is tinged with concern. This would be the first of many new friendships that would be lost in the months to come.
Egypt Jan 18th 1916
Dear Mother, Father & Brothers
Just a few lines to let you know that I am alright and am having a good time at present. My company are all on guard at the different hospitals we have to do a week of it, each company gets it, our company was on a while back but I wasn’t on. I am on guard at the Sporting Club Hospital it is a convalescent Hospital. It is a very nice place all the paths have nice trees and hedges planted on each side of them, it looks lovely. There are a lot of soldiers here and nearly all of them are camped in huts. Lorrie Johnson is in here I met him last night while I was standing at the door of their mess hut keeping them back till the bugle went and when they were going in I spotted him he don’t look too good on it, he says he has been in the hospital nearly all the time he has been in Egypt and they don’t know what is the matter with him. It is like a home here we don’t get many hours guard a day to do, and a bonzer bed to sleep in and the tucker is first class such a change to in the camp I think we will all break out in pimples by the time we are finished here. The company that was here before us tried to get another week of it but wasn’t successful. You wouldn’t believe what a lot of traffic there is in [and] out of these hospital camps. The tram line from Heliopilis to Cairo runs right along side here, I was on guard along the tram line by the hospital last night and the trams seem to go all night long, the trams run on the same sort of line as the trains, a hospital train just went now to the Palace Hospital with wounded and sick men on it. It is nothing but the buzz of the aeroplanes just here, the Flying Corps camp is only a few chains away and the aeroplanes are going up and down all the time. You remember Downie the tall chap from N.S.W that I pointed out to you in Bendigo he is being sent back to Australia also another chap I have known well ever since we left Seymour, there are about five of my company altogether. Downie has just come out of the mumps hospital and was only out 2 days and we went on a rout march and it seem to settle him and went into the hospital that night, the doctor says he has consumption [Tuberculosis] and he looks very much like it too he has got very thin, just like a skeleton now. I am very sorry for him he was such a nice chap. I am afraid he is done for now, they were supposed to leave here today. I answered your last letter about Al having an accident. I suppose you are getting my letters and that silk I sent. I hope Allan is getting better. Ray Leed and I went out to the Pyramids last Sunday week and went right through them also climbed them this is my second trip to them, when coming back we called in at Heliopilis and met Amos Haw in there he looks real well I also met Young Erickson. These troops that just came in on the train have just arrived back from Lemnos Island they have been there in the Hospital for a long while, the red cross wagons have been flying about like the devil shifting the men into the different hospitals some came in here. I got no idea when we will be going to the front there don’t seem to be much doing at the present. Well I hope the crops have yielded well and [you] are getting a good price for the wheat. One chap here got a letter from home saying that they have stopped recruiting in Australia. I haven’t met Bert Gibson yet, Lorrie Johnson said today that he heard that he got wounded over in Tripoli. It might not be true, so don’t tell his mother, some of the light horsemen were sent over there just after I landed here. Well I have no more news this time so will close hoping all are well as I am at present, with best wishes to all.
I remain your loving son Geordie
The latest furfie we heard is that we are going to France but of course we hear such a lot of them here, don’t know whether to believe it or not. Send the address of my relations in England, might chance to get there.
Nineteen-year-old George Downie was invalided home in late January and eventually recovered from his illness.1 In 1923 he signed for the Victory Medal which was issued to all soldiers who had served. If Downie had indeed suffered from tuberculosis, he was fortunate to still be alive. These were the days before the advent of antibiotics and the effective treatment of bacterial infections. In the hospitals of Egypt, the makeshift tents on the Western Front, in the best medical facilities in England and across Europe, men were dying not only as a result of the conflict, but also from secondary bacterial infections. Weakened by their wounds, often festering in the filth of the trenches and no man’s land, exhausted from days and weeks in wet dugouts where sleep and nutritious food were equally rare, the bodies of the sick and wounded had little protection against the ravages of infection.
Just where the Australian troops were to be sent remained a topic of hot debate. George refers to ‘the latest furfie’, a term often used to describe the rumours that quickly spread throughout the camps. The troops would gather around the water carts exchanging news and gossip which rapidly became ‘the latest furphy’. The water tanks perched on the carts were boldly labelled with the manufacturer’s name: J FURPHY & SONS.
Reinforcements arrived from Australia, the Anzac troops returning from Gallipoli were reorganised, and those drilling in the dry desert sands of the Egyptian camps waited with growing impatience for their turn to strike at the foe. The reorganisation saw the two AIF divisions increased to four, the additional divisions formed by splitting the old divisions in two and making up numbers with the newly arrived reinforcements. Five Australian infantry divisions were raised in this way. British General William Birdwood commanded I Anz
ac Corps which comprised the 1st and 2nd Australian divisions and the New Zealand Division. The 4th and 5th Australian divisions formed II Anzac and were commanded by British General Alexander Godley. The 3rd Division, under the command of Australian General John Monash, was being raised in Australia and consisted of those troops recently enlisted. The Anzac Mounted Division comprised the Australian Light Horse regiments and New Zealanders who would remain in Egypt to provide protection against expected Turkish incursions.
On 23 January, mounted troops were deployed to fortify the Allied position east of the Suez Canal and prevent Turkish troops in Palestine crossing the Sinai Desert and entering Egyptian territory. Soon after, additional infantry divisions were sent to the canal to reinforce and relieve the mounted troops.
In Europe, the need for Anzac troops to fortify the Western Front had become urgent. On 21 February German Chief of the General Staff General Erich von Falkenhayn launched an unprecedented artillery bombardment which targeted the fortress city of Verdun in the north-eastern sector of the French front line. Verdun and its forts had guarded the eastern approach to France for centuries and formed a crumbling bastion, a traditional symbol of strength. Falkenhayn’s plan was to hit one section of the line with massive firepower, his objective to bleed ‘France to death’.2 While the determined French were staunchly holding the line, an influx of fresh fighting men was desperately needed to stem the German advance.
As rumours heralding a move to France began circulating within the camps of Egypt, George was enjoying the mild winter climate and making the most of time free from drill or duty to write home to his family and friends. At the same time, as George describes, discontent in the camps continued to grow.
Egypt Jan 21st 1916
Yeitoun Camp
Dear Charlie
… I am having a good time this week, we are on guard at the Sporting Club Hospital, it is a convalescent hospital, there are 20 of us here altogether, the rest of the company are on at the other hospitals, we have to do a week of it altogether. It is different to doing guard at the guard tents, we only do about 24 hours altogether for the week so don’t lose any sleep over it. I wouldn’t mind if they left us here until we go to the firing line. We get the same tucker as the hospital staff, it is good too, such a change from the camp tucker. Yesterday the staff complained about the dinner and brought in the orderly officer to see it, they ought to go into the camps for a day or two and would have something to taught [talk] about. All the hospitals are let by contract to the French people for supplying the food and you cant beat the French cooks. There are a lot of men in the wards some very bad cases of frost bite from the Dardanelles. Most of the returned chaps have a very poor opinion of the Tommies as fighters they have a better opinion of the turks and say they are very fair fighters. We see plenty of aeroplanes flying here they are camped just a little bit away, they came over to the hospital and gave a concert it was very good they come once a week. We are having some bonzer weather here now, it is winter time but the days are nice and sunny it is cold at night. I see by today’s paper that all the reserves in the Egyptian army are called up. Half my company have been sent down near the canal, they picked out all the worst of the companies and sent them away, things have been very lively in Cairo lately, and they reckon that is the reason they were sent away, they are not in any fighting but are drilling just the same as here, they say it is a b___ down where they are, a lot of them are sleeping out in the open, not enough tents for them all. It is rumoured here that we are going to France, it is quite possible that they will send all of us over there and leave Tommies and Indians here, of course it is too cold there yet. I see they are calling for another 50,000 more men in Australia, I suppose there aint many enlisting there now. Downie and Grittons the chap I pointed out to you in the pictures that night, are on their way back. Lorrie Johnson is here in this hospital, he says he is going back to his unit today. Well Charlie I hope the crop has yielded well and that you get a good price for the wheat. I will now close with best wishes to you all.
I remain your loving Bro
Geordie
Send the addresses of the relations in England if the others haven’t sent them, I might have a chance of getting to England.
A week later, George wrote to Charlie’s girlfriend, Pearl:
… I received five letters yesterday the first since Christmas I have been looking out for a letter from you. Charlie said you were going to write I hope you have got mine, it is a luxury to get letters here … There are a lot in the hospitals hopping about on sticks some have got some bad frost bites at the Dardanelles, they are all back from there now. Les Whitfield and all those other chaps are back here in Heliopilis they had a fairly rough time of it towards the finish. I got no idea when we will be going to the firing line. I wish they would send us off somewhere out of this it is sickening drilling day after day. There cant be many men in camp in Australia now, I see by the paper that they are wanting another 50,000 we heard here that they had stopped recruiting for a while, I suppose there werent many enlisting while the harvest was on. One of my mates is on his way back to Australia I think there are four out of my company gone back altogether and two have died here lately. General Birdwood inspected all of us last week …
FEBRUARY
Sunday, Feb 6th 1916
Dear Mother, Father and Brothers,
I received your last letter on the 29 Jan also 2 from Charlie, 1 from Auntie May and 1 from Miss Lowrie, they had been written on the 13th and 21st of December, they are the only letters I have received since the day after xmas there must be some gone astray somewhere because auntie Etta, Sharps and Allan had been writing regular. A lot of our mail had been sent down to the brigade down on the desert near the canal and it is rumoured here that they destroyed what didn’t belong there. Well I hope you have been getting mine I have been writing regular but the worst of it here we never know when the mails leave Egypt. I suppose Al’s shoulder is better again, I met a young fellow from Pyramid he didn’t tell me his name he had Pyramid written on his hat, so I spoke to him, he knew who I was straight away and was telling me about Allan getting hurt. He is in the same battalion as me but the 8th reinforcements. Jack Jamison is in the same lot as him, they are camped in tents right alongside our huts. They were telling me that Bill Hesens and one of the Hogarths are going to enlist, I think they will have to come. Frank Donaldson that used to play football with Calivil is here he is in the 7th reinforcements of the 21st Batt. I often see him. Archie is a Lance Corporal now, stripes are not much good here because as soon as we join the original Battalion they all lose their stripes. I have met a lot of chaps that were in my company at Bendigo they have just arrived here. Ray Leed has been getting the Pyramid paper sent from home when he is finished with them he gives them to me then I pass them on to Archie … about sending things over, you address them the same as the letters but I don’t think it would be wise to send any now as we might not be here much longer than a month well it is about time they shifted us out of this. I don’t think there will be any fight in the canal after all, according to the paper we get here, so I think we will be left here until the winter is over in the other fronts and that we will be either sent to France or Salonika. This is a lovely place to sport the winter it is no wonder that such a lot of people come here for the winter, the days are nice and sunny but the nights are cold, it is gradually getting hotter coming on summer again soon. I went into Heliopilis with Reg Evans last night, Dad and Charlie met him at Broad meadows, he wanted to see his sister she is a nurse, we got wet through coming home my word it did come down we have had such a lot of rain here lately, nearly all the huts leak they are not made to keep the rain out, I noticed in one of the paper[s] that they got a lot of recruits in the month of January, they are making it compulsory in England now. Well I suppose that you will all be having a spell now that the harvesting is finished. They must have had a very lively meeting over Miss Lowrie send off. My word the lucerne plots in the irrigation
look lovely it seems to grow very fast, they cart a lot of it away on the camels. Every morning before breakfast our company goes for a fast walk of about four miles past the lucerne plots and will always see the niggers carting it away I think some of them work all night. They have a lot of wells put down and pump the water out with horse works but they have a bullock or cow in them and go all day and night it is fairly slow of course there is the irrigation channels too for watering they don’t seem to run much water down them in the winter time but in the summer they are always full. They don’t have the ground fenced off here only round the roads and there it is a hedge fence and the way they feed the stock is have a rope around their heads and tied on a peg or else they stand there and mind them. We got a surprise today they gave us our xmas puddings for dinner that we should have got on xmas day it was just the thing, the tucker is better now than what we used to get. Well I have not much news this time so will close hoping all are well as I at present with best wishes to all I remain your loving son and brother.
Geordie
That chap from Pyramid is Millar.
Later news
We have just been warned to leave here in four days time for active service. I wont be able to write so often now but don’t worry I will write when ever I get a chance.
ANZAC Sons Page 7