The sea got pretty choppy & rough, for a good swell was running. I was very nearly sick on this run, & a good few more were the same way. This little trip convinced me that I am not cut out for a sailor.
The run to Marseilles took us about 4 hours, & I was not sorry when we reached there. Marseilles is a fine big city & has a splendid breakwater which almost shuts the sea out. It is nothing near as good a harbour as either Sydney or Hobart, for those 2 are natural harbours whereas Marseilles is not.
We were not allowed ashore here either, much as we would have liked to get off. We were told to get our things ready to move off that night as we had a journey of 3 days in the train before us.
10th May. This will be my third attempt to keep a daily record of our doings, & I hope it will be more successful than my previous attempts.
The weather the last 5 days has been very windy & cold with occasional showers of sleet & hail, which needless to say made us shiver & pass uncomplimentary remarks about Flanders & the war in particular.
At present we are billeted at a farm, & I & a few others are sleeping outside in an old shed without sides & the roof is like a sieve thanks to German shrapnel. We have been doing “fatigues” (or as they call them over here “working parties”) every night. We go up to the firing line or somewhere close to it, & help build saps, dugouts, build parapets & so on. It is dangerous work sometimes for they generally put the machine guns over where they think the work is going on, & the bullets come very low. Last night one of our chaps was hit in the head & he died this morning.
We leave our billets about 6 o’clock & march anything from 2 to 5 miles according to where our work has to be done. Work starts about 8 o’clock & we knock off about 1 A.M. Arriving home it is no uncommon thing to find an old pig in your bed, & straight away there is a scrap, accompanied by much shouting from the owner of the doss & squeals from the pig. Boot & hair fly rapidly for a few minutes, & then all is quiet once more.
12th May. Our platoon has to do a week’s punishment, on account of the many crimes we have to our credit — no less than 22 during the week. The boys have been having a right royal time alright, nearly all drunks & stopping away from roll calls. There’s not much trouble about getting drink for nearly every other house is an estaminet or drinking place.
This afternoon we built up a stairway with sandbags, so as the chaps who were camping up in the lofts can get out more quickly in case of an alarm. Last week 2nd Division had 400 casualties during a gas attack which was accompanied by a violent bombardment.
Saw an extract from a German paper this morning — not very flattering for they describe us as the refuse of humanity, & they reckon we are a band of murderers, robbers in fact, everything that is bad, & they conclude by saying that it is a crying shame that good & precious German blood should be shed fighting the like of us. Old Fritz had better keep his eye on the refuse for they have a score or two to settle with him between now & the grand finale.
13th May. Last night we were on fatigue, had to go up to the engineer’s dump, & push loaded trucks of barb wire for entanglements, sandbags for parapets, & saps, duckboards, hurdles & etc on the way up to the firing line. Our trucks ran off several times but we had no difficulty getting them on again. We had to run the gauntlet of machine gun & rifle fire more than once. Several bullets hit one of our trucks, & they just missed our heads — if the elevation were a little lower there would have been a few casualties I’ll bet. We had no sooner arrived at the dump than a fight sprang up but it did not last long. On the way up with the trucks one of our chaps got his heel crushed by the wheel, & on lobbing back at the dump one of the boys found that he had lost his equipment, so we had quite an eventful night.
Last night the Germans hung a board out on their barb wire: “Advance Australia Fair” & in brackets “if you can”. They will see us all in good time. When General Townshend surrendered at Kut-el-Emara, the Germans put a big notice board out: “The famous Turk captures 13,000 English”. I suppose they thought it would dishearten us, but they were very much mistaken.
14th May. Last night we were shifted from our billets to one nearer the firing line & this morning we were on fatigue carrying sandbags from the old Weathercock house to our present billets. About 11 o’clock we knocked off & went to church. The church in question consists of an old wooden frame with hessian stretched over it; she is built behind the ruins of an old house so as to be out of sight of the German observers. Small as it is, there is an organ in it, & it seems funny to hear the guns roaring & blazing away while the service is going on.
15th May. Out again last night driving stakes into the ground & running a wire along them so as we could find our way quickly to the firing line in case of an attack. We had a narrow escape: there were 3 or 4 of us lying on the ground having a bit of a spell. We were yarning & laughing away when all of a sudden 3 bullets lobbed right in among us & scattered the dirt over us. You should have seen us scatter — it’s the fun of the world at times to see the boys spring to it. No matter how tired & sleepy you may be, when bullets or shrapnel are coming close you will do a get alright, no matter how much you would like a “Blighty”. The meaning of “Blighty” is a nice little pet wound which will give you a trip to England. It is a great word among the Tommies.
The weather is still wet & windy — whenever will it clear up? This weather is so miserable I can’t say as how I care much about these Imperial rations we are now being issued with. Our rations this morning were a tin of jam (marmalade of course) between 5 & a small loaf of bread for 3 of us. This with stew does us for 24 hours.
The Germans have scarcely fired a shot for 2 days now. I expect they are up to something or other. Last night flares were very plentiful & the Huns had a big searchlight sweeping all around.
I hear there were 3 of B Coy’s men hit last night while on fatigue in the 3rd Battalion’s line & one of D Company’s too. We had a few reinforcements added to our strength this morning, but we are still understrength.
The mobile gun is quite close to us again this morning & tearing into old Fritz.
16th May. At last the weather has taken up. This morning is a beauty, not a cloud in the sky. It is an almost perfect morning: the sun is shining brightly, birds are singing gaily, while the whole countryside is nothing but a mass of green & leafy trees, sweet flowering hedges, blossoming fruit trees, & the paddocks are a riot of wild & garden flowers & the incense arising from all this mass of beautiful colouring is something lovely. You know it is spring time here & we have all heard & read about this part of the world & the beauty of it for 6 months or so, & it quite deserves its reputation, but the other 6 months has a different side to it, what oh.
As I sit here writing the lovely green grass tangled with pretty flowers & clover is well over my knees & nearly reaches to my head. I am behind a hedge & right in front of me is a nice little road, & about 600 yards away are the German trenches where men are waiting to kill one another. What a farce Christianity seems when we have come to this.
The aeroplanes are flying all over the place this morning, & the air is full of the purring sound of their engines as they rush about, sometimes climbing, sometimes doing a spiral descent as the gunners get their range, & now & again they vary this with a steeply banked turn which almost throws them on their side. I have seen more than one of them loop the loop — they have indeed brought aviation to a fine art.
Our guns are blazing away like old Harry. It seems like a 4.7 battery from the sound of their shells as they pass overhead, & from the report of their shells as they burst in the German lines. Old Fritz is also sending a few back, & you can hear the shell as it proceeds lazily on its death-dealing errand; the bigger the shell the slower it seems to travel. The birds here are not in the least frightened by gun fire — they sing away as if it were just an ordinary thing. I suppose they are quite used to it by now & take no notice of it.
Last night we shifted our billets again so as to be nearer the firing line & also closer to our w
ork. We finished the stake driving last night, & some of it under machine gun fire — it’s marvellous how we all escaped scot free. I would far rather be in the firing line than out on these working parties for they are far more dangerous.
17th May. Yesterday afternoon the Germans opened a furious bombardment on our support & communication trenches. The extreme right of the 3rd Battalion & the Welsh Fusiliers were the ones mostly concerned in it. I have not heard what damage they done, but I don’t think there were many casualties. Old Fritz made the pace a cracker from the jump. The bursting shells made one continuous roar, & it lasted for nearly 2 hours. Our batteries never replied for nearly an hour then they opened a gradual return fire which kept on increasing till it reached a pretty solid pace & shut old Fritz up, but I suppose he had done all the damage he had wanted to do & was satisfied to stop.
At “stand to” this morning we were taken away up to Iron Post to build dugouts for the 3rd Battalion. Wasn’t there some growling & strafing — it was about 3 o’clock in the morning & nearly daylight. We finished at 7 o’clock & came back through V.C. Avenue. Arriving at our billets we found an Australian mail waiting for us. How pleased we are when a mail comes in. All hunger & weariness are at once forgotten, & we read our letters over & over so as to be sure we have missed nothing.
This morning an order came through for us to roll all our spare blankets up in bundles of 10, that means a blanket from each man, so I expect we will be moving in a day or so at most. It is nice & warm & I hope it continues like it.
18th May. Some of the 11th Battalion were here yesterday having a look round the trenches they are taking over from us. I think the 10th & 11th are coming up from the 3rd Brigade to relieve our Brigade. We were the first of our Division to take over the trenches from the Tommies & what a difference there is now. The English left this part of the line in a most disgraceful state: nearly all the duckboards were under water & slush, the parapets & dugouts were in a shocking state, & as for communications & reserve trenches, well they simply didn’t exist for all the use they would have been if ever the Germans made an attack. Things are a bit different now — it’s wonderful the improvements that have been effected even in so short a time. We have built 2 more new communication trenches, numerous saps, besides improving all other things out of sight. The Tommies would scarcely know this part of the line now if they were to return.
We had a sing song last night in our billet. This war so far as we are concerned is nothing but a huge picnic compared to Gallipoli.
This morning we cleaned up our billet for we are expecting to leave for Sailly tonight. As I write our gunners are blazing away at a Taube which has crossed our lines & is making for Sailly. This is the first one I have seen come so far over since I have been here.
Last night the mail closed for Australia & there was a fair swag.
19th May. Today is the first anniversary of the great Turkish attack on us at Anzac. This day last year we were getting a bit of our own back, by nightfall we had slaughtered no less than 7000 Turks & taught them a very severe lesson. I wonder where I shall be this time next year; daisy pushing perhaps, or if my luck still sticks to me, home in Australia, for I don’t think the war will last another year at any rate.
Last night we were relieved by the 10th Battalion who came into our billets. We left Weathercock about dusk & marched nearly 4 miles with a heavy pack up before we had a blow. My pack never felt so heavy before, for I was carrying it Gallipoli fashion & the narrow straps cut into my shoulders like wire. I can tell you we were all very glad when we reached our billets about 11 o’clock, & it was not very long before we were all sound asleep.
20th May. Last night while going into the firing line the 9th Battalion lost 60 men. Bad management somewhere for this is the second occasion that they have been hardly dealt with.
Had a bit of fun last night with a couple of old bats playing tip & run. Kelleway the cricketer was there & offered to get us a good set of cricketing material for £1 so we are going to have a set as soon as possible.
We were on fatigue all the morning building a bombing trench for practice. The platoon never worked so hard before I’ll bet, for the sweat fairly poured off us. After coming back from fatigue I went & had a good bath in a pond quite close to our billet, for the day was very hot & the sun bonzer.
3 of us got into a row over the saluting yesterday. I don’t mind saluting a soldier, but hang these flash cold-footed crowd that hang well behind the firing line & have all the skite. We have some wasters among us.
Early this morning an old pig came into our billets & everyone being asleep she grabbed a bloke by the ear. Talk about a row, you ought to have seen the dust & straw flying.
21st May. Yesterday evening there was a cricket match between No. 11 & 10 platoons & after a most exciting match No. 11 won by a run. The scores were 28 & 29 on the first innings.
22nd May. This morning on parade they called for volunteers for a raiding party, & nearly half the platoon stepped out, but strange to say they would not take old Anzac men. We were disappointed but nothing could be done, for it was a Brigade order. Perhaps we are too valuable to lose, but I suppose they have a reason. The only thing we can think of is that they want to give the new men a show, & give them a bit of confidence.
23rd May. This morning on parade we had a gas alarm. Talk about fun, you should have seen the buttons flying off the cover. It took us 25 secs to get them on. Not so bad I reckon but there is no time to lose once the alarm is sounded, for a mouthful of the stuff is about enough to settle a man for life.
25th May. When we fell in last night to go on fatigue, the weather looked very threatening, so they phoned down from Headquarters for it to be postponed, & we were to hold ourselves in readiness. At 2 o’clock this morning we were pulled out of our beds, the whole Company, & marched off to the joint where we were to do our job. The work in question turned out to be trench digging & parapet building. They are building a place to train bombers & raiding parties for their work. The place selected for this is fair in the middle of a nice crop of wheat. It does seem a shame to spoil a good crop like we are but of course the farmer will get compensation, & another thing: practically all of the ground here is under cultivation & it is nearly impossible to do any work without spoiling something or other, but such is the fortune of war.
They are getting our band together again so we will be alright for route marches. The 3rd Battalion have theirs going already. I heard it early this morning & very nice it sounded in the crisp air.
This evening Jock Mackie & I went down to Hqrs to see Len & while there had a game of cricket. Our match had to be put off this afternoon for we had no ball fit to play with.
As I write this we are having a sort of sing song. We have got a cornet or two going & an E flat bass. We started off with the old familiar songs which never seem to grow old, & we are now on some of our favourite hymns. The boys are singing “The Hymns of the Old Church Choir” — I think this is a very pretty thing.
26th May. This morning we had bayonet fighting with our gas helmets on. They are a horrible thing to wear — it nearly makes you sick for the first time or two, your throat gets real dry & your eyes start to water & smart like anything — but still they are a very necessary thing for without them a man would be dead in a few minutes so we take it as a matter of course & put up with it as best we can.
This afternoon we finished our cricket match in fine weather. It was an easy win for us for they only scored 63 in 2 innings.
There has been a very heavy bombardment going on for the last day or so. It sounds towards Ypres.
27th May. The whole Company was on fatigue last night from 5.30 till 9 o’clock. We were working on the raiding trenches again. They are being built on the same lines as the German trenches of which our aeroplanes have taken photos.
This morning there are a number of Tommies from the Labour Battalion working on the road opposite our billets. They are nearly all oldish chaps.
Th
ere was a foot race between 2 of our chaps yesterday afternoon over a distance of 50 yards. The stake was 20 francs. It was a runaway affair, for Hyde won easily.
General Walker & Birdwood were here today. They looked very pleased as they rode through, smiles all over their faces.
28th May. In the billet where we are resting there are hundreds of bird nests, mostly sparrows. You should hear them twittering in the early morning & see them up by the firing line. They are nesting all over the old ruins of the buildings, regardless of the noise of the guns all round them. They have come to regard it I think as an unusually long thunderstorm. They are another example of the prophesying experts connected with this war, for I read on several occasions where these know-alls predicted that all the birds would clear out of France. How they are mistaken for that part of France swarms with birds, especially larks. It’s lovely of an early morning to hear them singing & they are that plentiful that you can hear them above the noise of the guns. They console us by not caring about us, they show us the happy continuance of Nature as they nest in man-made ruins & go on with their eternal labour, & are the same now, poor things, as they were in the days of prehistoric man.
A wire has just come through from Headquarters to say that the Germans have a board out all along their line. It is hanging on their barb wire & reads: “War will be over by June 15th”. They don’t say how it will end, whether they will chuck it in, which don’t sound very likely, or force a decision. Either way would be very welcome to us, but we take it for what it is worth, for on active service one hears such wonderful tales.
In Great Spirits Page 9