20th Dec 1917
Dear Jim,
… We are expecting a mail soon we got a letter last mail from Auntie Florrie to say that Grandfather had died, and soon after that you will have got the sad news of Geordie, I have written to you all before and told you all about it. I wrote to the Clearing Station and asked where Geordie’s grave was, the C.O. sent the Map Reference and the name of the Cemetery, so far I have not been able to get hold of the map but I saw a French map and was able to trace the place. I cannot tell you where it is owing to Censor, it is a hard blow to all of us and it is hard that he should die so suddenly. Harry Street got word the other day that Bill had died of wounds. I wrote to the Streets yesterday he lived about a fortnight after he was wounded, Harry did not hear where Bill was buried. Well I will close for this time and will be writing again soon, I will say goodbye with sympathy to all.
I remain
Your loving Brother
Charles
Harry Street had also suffered the agonising wait to hear news of his brother. He wrote to his parents in a letter which later appeared in the local newspaper:
Harry Street, writing to his parents from France, where his brother met his death in action there towards the close of last year, said: I suppose you have heard of Will’s death long before this. As nobody here seemed to know where he was and none of his mates got any word of him, I decided to write to Military Headquarters, London, and to my surprise received word saying that he died of wounds in the head and side, penetrating the abdomen. He was wounded on 12th October and died on the 26th, so I fancy he must have had a very bad time, as he lingered a fortnight before death. I suppose blood poisoning set in. The last time I saw him was the day before I was wounded myself. That was about June. I can just imagine that you folks feel it very much, as I can tell you I do, away in the wilderness, and no friends, but anyway I feel that we have given the best, and I hope that I shall be spared to return home to tell the tale of this terrible war. I am trying to find out where he was buried so that I may get the chance to have some little bordering put around his grave and get a photo to send to you, but there are others that are broken hearted as well. If he was buried in England I would have got someone to visit his grave, but of course I do not know yet where he is buried. Some of his mates tell me that our Battalion was marching up to the front line to go into action; that Will was at the head of his gun team, when a big shell from the German heavy artillery landed just in front of him, with the result that a good number of the men were put out. Alb. Sinclair told me he saw Will in the dark not long afterwards, and he said he felt very ill. He was walking back to the dressing station, so I had hopes after hearing that that when he could walk a bit he would not be so bad; but as no word came from him I felt anxious. I will not say more about it at present. It is dreadfully cold here now (17 Dec.) It has been snowing all the morning and we have been out doing fatigue work. We are short of men and of course: get a lot of extra work to do and we don’t get much rest. I am well at present and hope you are the same. I know the bad news will spoil your Christmas, but you must cheer up. I will be out of the line for Christmas, and will certainly think of you all, as I do every day. I will enclose the letter I got from London.25
With the death of Bill Street now confirmed, on Christmas Eve Charlie’s thoughts turned to home and the grief he felt over the loss of his brothers:
Christmas Eve
In the field
My Dear Mother, Father and Jim,
A few lines tonight to say we are all well, Allan is at a junior officers school, it is not far away he was here yesterday and I saw some of the officers today, I think he will be back here tomorrow. Tomorrow of course is Christmas day and under the circumstances we will have an excellent dinner we Sergeants have got two turkeys, pork, beans, nuts, chocolate, plum pudding, cake, cigarettes and numerous other things, the men I think will have a splendid dinner of something the same as us bar turkeys we have got an excellent cook. I will tell you tomorrow what it is like, but there is to me a sadness tonight when I think that Albert and Geordie are gone … I have partly found out where Geordie is buried and I will make certain next week, he is buried In Lyssenloek [Lijssenthoek] Cemetery I will, in my next letter, give you the town which that is near I will just write the name of the town so you will know what it means, and later on I will give you fuller details, get hold of a map of two countries, it is in the same country as where Albert is buried, well I will close for tonight and will write again tomorrow and tell you about our Christmas. Percy is here and is quite well …
Charlie wrote again on Christmas Day:
25th Dec 1917
My Dear Mother Father Jim
Just a few more lines tonight we had a splendid dinner, it will no doubt interest you to hear what we had, I mean sergeants, well we had two turkeys, pork, plum pudding, custard with the turkey, we had onions, potatoes seasoning some sweets of all descriptions, bread, coffee cigarettes, and for those who wanted it beer wine champane I did not partake in the last 3 items, but the turkey was my height it was splendid beyond words and the best feed I have had since I left home we had our dinner at about 5 oclock, the men had dinner at 1 oclock and the sergeants waited on them, I was Orderly Sergeant for today it was my job to see that the men were all fed etc, the men had roast beef carrots potatoes and plenty of it plum pudding tinned fruit custard and beer cigarettes they had a splendid dinner, of course ours was much better but we paid for the turkeys we have a sergeants mess, the turkeys were young and fairly dear. Allan is at a junior officers school but he comes here every Sunday etc he was here today. I do not know if I told you the YMCA gave every soldier a nice little writing wallet this is the paper I am writing on. Well I am looking out for a mail from you, we will be out of the line for a long time so do not worry. I share you feelings today in the loss of dear Geordie and Albert, it sets a sadness to it all. I will say goodbye with sympathy to all
I remain
Your loving Charlie
A few days later, Percy described his Christmas dinner to his family:
In the field
Dec 28
My Dear Mother Father & Jim
Just a few lines to let you know we are all well hoping you are the same. Well we have had xmas, no turkey for dinner, roast beef, carrots, and potatoes, plum pudding to follow, it was a fairly good dinner. We were out of the line, that was one thing, it was snowing part of the day, the place was white. It is very cold over here now, some nights you would nearly freeze. We have some lovely frosts, and I suppose you are nearly roasting over there. How are you getting on with the harvest, were you finished by Xmas.
We are expecting a mail anytime now, it’s a good while since we had one. I suppose there is a lot of traffic and they cannot get the mail over the channel. I suppose you heard about Bill Street, it was bad luck, he died on the 26th Oct of wounds, received on the 12 Oct. I believe Dave Mullens, from Terricks, was killed. I saw some of the chaps that was in his Company. Gordan McKay is not far from us, Charlie and I went to look for him yesterday, we did not see him. Les Townsend will be back soon, he is in England at present. We are in huts now, they are not too bad, they are warmer than tents.
Well Mum , I will ring off now, I will be writing again in a few days, so I am your
Loving son
Percy
As promised, Charlie wrote to his family and included the name ‘Poperinghe’ to tell them where George was buried:
Sat 29th Dec
In the field
My Dear Mother, Father & Jim,
… I have not gained any more information regarding Geordie. I wrote to the Sergeant of the T.M. and he was at a school and could not give me the information I required but said that all Geordie’s private things would be sent home to you I do not know about his watch when I last saw him it was not going I do not know if he had it on him at the time he was hit, but I wrote to the Sergeant about it, however I think it will go home if it was on him. I would very much like to get
it. I hope you got those photos safely and will you send one of them to Pearl for us. I wrote to the Chaplain of the Clearing Station but so far I have not got an answer.
Popperinge.
We are camped near where Albert is buried Allan is at a junior officers school, I think Percy will be going on leave to England next week he was asked about it today so I think he will get it alright. Gordon McKay is camped about a mile away from us but I have not seen him. Bill McKinnon told me he was there, all the Australians are in the one corps now and we wear our hats up at the side like the others. I do not know if you know that our division at first wore the hat down all round and the badge in the front, none of the men cared about it and were very pleased when it was altered. We are a long time getting a mail I was very sorry to hear of grandfather’s death but it could only be expected on account of his great age. We heard that Dave Mullens was killed so inquired and found that it was only too true, I wrote a letter of sympathy to the Mullens’… I see by the paper the Hughes Conscription Bill failed again I wonder what he will do next … I suppose you will be finished harvest by now, the time seems to go so quick I have been 12 months in France, we are well out of the line. Well I will draw to a close for this time I trust that you are all well but I know how you will all feel at the terrible blow which we have received through this war, but trust that there are better days to come. I will say goodbye with love and sympathy to all. I am your loving
Charlie
Allan found time to scribble a quick line:
Belgium
29-12-1917
…Well we had a very decent Xmas & I hope you had the same. It snowed all day but that was nothing. Well dear mum we are out of the line at present and I think we are going to get a bit of a spell and I hope it is true. Well dear mum we are having a pretty decent winter this year not near so bad as last. Well dear mum I am at a brigade officers school and we are having a pretty decent time. I believe Percy is going to Blighty soon. I have not got away to Paris yet but hope to get away as soon as we finish up the school … Well dear mum I suppose you are terribly busy [with] the harvest yet I hope it turns out well. I believe you have a good year over there … I don’t think the war will last much longer now…
THE MIDDLE EAST AND EASTERN EUROPE
As 1917 drew to a close across the theatres of war, the overall position of the Allies provided little cause for jubilation. In the Middle East, the famed Light Horse charge at Beersheba on 31 October had paved the way for the Allied forces to gain control of Jerusalem and Baghdad. By late December, Germany and her Turkish ally had effectively lost control of the Middle East. But the good news was tempered by sombre reports arriving from the Eastern Front. The Russian army had ceased to exist. German forces were making their way en masse to the battlegrounds of France and Belgium while the Kaiser boasted that his storm troopers would be invincible. By spring 1918, the concentration of German soldiers on the Western Front would create a formidable force.
PART FOUR
1918
EIGHTEEN
WE SHOULD BE HOME FOR
THE NEXT HARVEST
THE WESTERN FRONT
As winter set in, fighting on the Western Front stalled and, as the troops shivered in the front line, the Allied commanders continued to plan the Spring Offensive. There was no unified strategy. The French demanded that the British take over more of the front line — indeed Paul Painlevé, the French Minister for War, recommended that all forces be combined under French command. Haig insisted that more reinforcements be sent to Flanders, a demand rejected by Lloyd George, who argued that it was futile to send more men into the fray. Six divisions of British and French troops were instead sent to Italy to prevent the collapse of Italian forces following the disastrous Battle of Caporetto. At the same time, 35 German divisions were rapidly making their way to France and Belgium to launch a major offensive.
The great battles of 1917 had inflicted massive losses on I and II Anzac Corps, with some 55,000 men becoming casualties. The Third Battle of Ypres alone had cost the Australians over 38,000 men. By the end of the year General Birdwood was becoming increasingly anxious that losses of such magnitude would render the five Australian divisions untenable. With the fall in reinforcement numbers arriving from Australia, Birdwood estimated that his shortfall in men would amount to some 18,000 by the end of the year. The only real solution was to combine all five Australian divisions on the Western Front into one Australian corps, a proposal that had been floated as early as 1916, but which had been resisted until now. The Australian Corps, under command of General Birdwood, was formally established in November 1917. The men of the corps were no longer regarded as British troops but as members of an Australian force with Australian officers, albeit a severely depleted force without a sustainable supply of recruits and reliant on the return of sick and wounded to reinforce their ranks. As Charlie had written previously, the 3rd Division was also entitled to wear the iconic hat of the Australian forces in a manner that no longer identified them as late arrivals. They had done their time.1
The corps remained in a quiet sector at Messines resting and reorganising. The repair of the trenches and breastworks and the nightly patrols continued, but heavy fighting had stalled with the winter rains, reducing the likelihood of major offensives. The 38th Battalion history records that, on the last day of December, the battalion moved to Aldershot camp, a short distance from where Albert was buried at Neuve Eglise. Here the men endured rain, followed by frosts and snow. In the wet and mud, the battalion continued training, the men also involved in the constant maintenance of the support trenches. Fatigue parties were detailed to dig up the shallow water pipes and rebury them at a greater depth to prevent the water freezing in the icy conditions and bursting the pipes.2
The beginning of the month saw Percy on leave in England for 14 days. Charlie followed one week later and organised a few days’ leave with Percy in Devon at Water Farm near Manaton, home to their aunt, Annie Lee, and her family. Both also spent time with another aunt, Lizzie Payne, and her family in Leicestershire. Percy rejoined the battalion in mid-January while Charlie returned a few days later on 24 January. Allan was sent to officers’ school not far from their Belgian camp, but then briefly returned to the trenches before being sent to another school, some two days’ travel away ‘on a famous battlefield near where the Australians made the first push’. He was probably referring to Amiens. This was a bombing school, and Allan was completing refresher training so that he could instruct others once he returned to the line.
MESSINES
On 27 January the battalion left Aldershot camp to move to the familiar Warneton sector south of Messines close to ‘Grey Farm’ on the Douve River. The four companies rotated through the line with one company in reserve, sheltered in the series of tunnels known as the Catacombs deep beneath Hill 63, a short distance from Ploegsteert Wood. The Catacombs had been constructed throughout 1916–17 by men from a Canadian Tunnelling Company and the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company of Hill 60 fame. The deep, intricate dugout accommodated around 1500 men in a series of chambers containing sleeping quarters complete with bunks and a small hospital.3 The main entrance was a busy junction aptly named Hyde Park Corner.
As the weather improved the men began repairing the trenches, draining the knee-deep mud and fortifying defences for the expected Spring Offensive. While the sector was relatively quiet, they were still subject to bombardment by German trench mortars and the threat of German patrols, snipers and machine-gun fire remained ever-present.4
Charlie received his first letter from his parents following the death of George and replied with a carefully constructed missive.
In the field
4-1-18
My Dear Mother Father & Jim,
… Percy went on leave to England 2 days ago he has got 14 days. Your letter was dated Oct 22nd, so you will have heard the sad news about dear Geordie before I did, it came a sudden blow to me I have been writing to different ones to try and find
out all I can about him but cannot get hold of much information I have had no answer from the Chaplain of the Canadian Clearing Station but hope to get a reply soon. We are camped not far from Albert’s grave Allan and I are going to see it on Sunday, I am getting the Pioneers to make a cross and getting a brass plate with the name on it, I do not know if we will be here long enough to get it finished, the trouble is to get the wood but I think we will be able to manage it at any rate I am going to have a hard try, and will do the same with Geordie’s grave if I can manage it. When I get Albert’s finished Vincent Kelly said he would go and have a look at it and would write to you. I may get leave to England shortly they are sending a lot away on leave now. We are out of the line yet there were some American Generals having a look around our camp the other day they will be a big help in the war which I think will wind up any day now… I share with you all the sad loss of our dear Albert and Geordie. Your parcel will come in about a fortnight.
I am
Your Loving
ANZAC Sons Page 54