In Great Spirits

by Archie Barwick

  27th September. From where I am writing this I can see Messines hill quite plain. It is a fine position for it overlooks the country for miles around, & about 200 yards behind me is the famous International trench, so called on account of its being taken & lost so many times by the British & Germans. Each side has taken it 7 times, but we hold it for good now I think. It fairly stinks with dead men; you can’t dig anywhere without digging them up. The ground, once disturbed, stinks like anything for it is rotten, a regular graveyard, & you can see feet sticking out almost anywhere, & of a hot day you have to hurry round the worst parts of it. There are a few thousand buried about here I’ll bet. The ground is like as if someone had dug it up about 6 ft deep & kept it stirred. You can’t dig a solid trench in it, you have to use sandbags for the lot, & it is nothing but a mass of shell holes & craters, but not as bad as the Somme.

  I can hear the heavy firing quite distinctly down on the Somme & the vibration in the air is easily felt. Everything seems quivering.

  Have had quite a busy day what with booking & inspecting all the firing bays & arranging for the supply of bombs & etc, getting the fatigue parties together, making a dump for the “crater snatching” party’s tools, cutting the barb wire into proper lengths for tonight’s wiring party & overseeing a lot of the little jobs & inspecting all gas helmets. I have had scarce a minute for myself.

  28th September. D Coy had 1 man killed & 2 wounded last night on their wiring party. Dave Mason & I put ours out, & got in safely. These wiring parties look alright on paper but they are in reality dangerous jobs for you are well out in no man’s land & the trenches just here are very close — where Dave & I were working they are only 25 yards distant, so you have to work silently & quickly. That of course comes natural to a man after he has had a bit of experience at the game but I need scarcely add that you breathe far more easily when you are in again & the work finished.

  There was a fair bit of sniping going on all last night from both sides. Put me in mind of Gallipoli for rifle fire is a rarity here compared to there.

  The portion of trench we are holding is mined. The Germans have one under her ready to go off they reckon so we have only a few scattered posts along it. Hope it don’t go up while we are in here, goodbye if it does.

  This morning Capt McKenzie called me down to his dugout as he wanted to see me, so down I went. He asked me about my commission, & I told him what happened. He said it would be alright, it would come later on, he would see to that, & he also said he would do his best for Len. What do you think of that. He’s some Capt, isn’t he.

  Received our first instalment of dry socks this morning. From now on while the Batt is in the firing line every man is to have a clean & dry pair of socks issued to him each day. At the same time 1 pair will be collected from him. We are supposed to have 1 dry pair on, 1 pair in our pack & another pair getting washed & dried. This will enable us to always have dry socks, & we also have an issue of whale oil. The feet are supposed to be smeared over with this for it prevents frost bite to a large extent & anything that will do that is well worth using.

  Things have been fast & furious this afternoon — talk about mortar bombardments, well we have had them — but for every bomb & shell the Germans shot over they got 6 in return quite easily.

  Just at tea time the Captain came rushing in & ordered us all to get out of the line as soon as possible for there was going to be a very heavy bombardment at 5 o’clock, so out we all trooped to the second line & waited for it. She came alright & our guns & mortars crashed & roared & raged for full 30 minutes but the enemy, contrary to expectations, never replied so after the storm was past back we went.

  29th September. Nothing much doing last night except now & again our artillery would cut loose & give old Fritz a couple of bad minutes. The shells would come like a thunderclap; one minute everything would be nice & quiet, the next nothing but a roaring crashing sound of bursting shells. This sort of thing naturally keeps old Fritz on the jump & gives him what is known among us as nerves, for he never knows when it is coming or where it will fall.

  Just after “stand down” this morning I was on my way down to the International trench, on the lookout for some dugouts for my men, when I met Len on his way up to see me. Capt McKenzie had just told him that he & I had to report at Batt Hqrs at 8.30. So after breakfast we went down & after a little delay were interviewed by the Colonel. It was about the commissions & Capt McKenzie had recommended both of us for one. I previously had been interviewed by the Colonel & besides he knows me fairly well for he generally pulls up & has a bit of a yarn when he runs across me in the trench, so my interview was soon over. He asked me practically the same questions as before.

  What a fine thing it would be if both of us could get our commission. I don’t care so much for myself but I know how all at home would like it to come about — wouldn’t they feel proud & it would be a very good record — however I am not banking on it as yet after my last experience of going away to a School of Instruction.

  Today Len has been gazetted full Corporal & he should have had it long ago but for pure accident.

  I have withdrawn my platoon from the firing line & am now in supports. We are still dropping bombs & shells on old Fritz & rolling his barb wire up lovely. They are making a good job of it.

  As I sit here writing in my dugout our fellows have started a very heavy bombardment & things are very lively. The old dugout is rocking & swaying like a ship in a storm while our shells are sizzling past over my head & pretty low like lightning. All our men have been withdrawn from the firing line in case a shell or bomb might drop short, for they are cutting things very fine & just skimming our parapets. The Germans are pretty busy with their Minenwerfers but the majority of them are going over our heads, thank goodness. They are powerful brutes alright & make enormous craters & fling earth & timber hundreds of feet high.

  30th September. Had my platoon out digging & repairing trenches which had been damaged by the bombardment of yesterday. We were supposed to work from 8 to 11 but about 10.30 we ran out of sandbags & had to chuck it so we had a fair night’s sleep for once in a while.

  After breakfast this morning I took my men up to the firing line to work on a job of trench building & I’ll bet we done more work in this one morning than has been done on this same job for the last 3 days. The Capt reckoned we had done splendidly. When we are filling the bags we often get the bones & clothes of men that have been buried about here, & the earth positively stinks.

  We have given them 2 more solid hammerings this afternoon & old Fritz hardly replied. The raid is coming off tonight so I expect we will have some fun.

  1st October. Well last night the raid came off but an hour or so before they went over, we opened a heavy shell fire on the trenches to our left. It was very pretty to watch the flash of the bursting shells as they landed in the enemy’s trenches, some dull red, yellow, dark green & different sorts of colour as they flashed for an instant against the dark sky. There must have been a demonstration, for heavy rifle & machine gun fire broke out & continued for the best part of an hour & then gradually died down.

  About half past 9 they sent down for me & I had to bring 4 men with me for “prisoners guard” so up I went & they gave me some more from D Coy. The raiding party looked very funny: they all had their faces blackened & no hats on, nearly all wore steel waistcoats strong enough to stop a bayonet & they carried short “waddies” to break their heads in with. They are a nasty-looking thing — there is a handle about 18 in. long & on the end of the “nulla” they have a steel head shaped like a cog-wheel something. One crack from that will settle any man.

  Exactly to the second on 10 o’clock our guns opened & the raiders crawled out to the German wire & lay there & waited for the fire to lift — they were in the trenches while our guns were pounding them. We all waited anxiously to hear how they were getting on. At last came a wounded man, & shortly after the whole lot came in as cool as you like. They raided the trenches for a d
istance of a couple of hundred yards long, killed about 20 men, bayoneted 7 of them, & got one prisoner as that was all they wanted. They were bringing 2 back but one of them was so terrified that when they got him on the parapet he refused to budge so they shot him, for they could not afford to waste time over him. They reckoned the German trenches are a mass of craters inside, the result of our bonzer 60 lb bombs.

  The most remarkable thing about the whole concern was the way old Fritz took it lying down. We all expected to get the tripe knocked out of us but to the surprise of all he only fired a few feeble old whizz bangs over & a dozen or so “pip squeaks”. It’s very puzzling to all of us how quiet he is keeping & all sorts of opinions are hazarded regarding him & movements, but my opinion is that he has had such a towelling up lately that he is satisfied to remain quiet rather than run the risk of an artillery duel with us.

  Today is Sunday & this morning I heard the church bells ringing away beyond the German lines in some little Belgian town, waiting for deliverance from the German yoke.

  2nd October. 8 hour day in Australia & I can picture the crowds going to the races & etc in our “Sunny land of the South” while here we are cooped up in our muddy & cold trenches & rain is falling falling as if it means to flood us out. But never mind, it’s not going to last for ever & there’s a “silver lining to every cloud”.

  We got 32 reinforcements for the Coy last night, & 3 of them were hit on the way to the trenches, for they were unlucky that a machine gun fight was in progress. It’s a wonder more of them were not killed for they rake the tracks they have to come up pretty dangerously & you are shot at from all sides for we are in a big salient. Of a night time flares appear to be going up all around you, & you would think you were surrounded.

  3rd October. Big top boots are all the rage today for the trenches are swimming in water & there is a foot of sloppy mud everywhere, especially in our communication trench & Hedgerow. It has been drizzling all the morning & things as you may guess are in an awful state, but the big rubber boots which reach to our thighs are waterproof so we can paddle away to our hearts’ content. To tell the truth I rather enjoy wading through the water — it puts me in mind of when we were kids & used to splash & play about in the water & thoroughly enjoy ourselves. But it is only autumn as yet & the weather, with the exception of the nights now & again, is fairly warm & mild.

  I have been on the go all day long & tonight I am fairly tired for walking about makes one leg weary, for today I have been doing practically the Sgt Major’s work & my own besides. I have not had a minute scarcely to myself except at tea time tonight. 16 hours solid going, but tonight I am stopping in.

  You should have seen our tea tonight. There were 4 of us at it: Jack Price (our present Sgt Major), Dave Murray (Company Clerk & a very nice & decent fellow), Len & myself. This is what we had: tinned rabbit (I suppose you will laugh when you read of us eating rabbit but I can tell you it is fine & very popular among the boys — a large tin costs 2½ francs), tinned butter, strawberry jam, cheese, tomato sauce, about 4 lbs of good cake & as much bread as we needed. This is one of the great differences between here & Gallipoli, for here we can get anything within reason at a reasonable price, while at Gallipoli you could get scarcely anything & if you were one of the lucky ones to snap anything you had to pay outrageous prices.

  I forgot to mention we also had canned peaches & as much tea as we liked, so you can see we are not living too bad & we very often have the same amount. Everyone lives fairly well over here, for unlike the poor Tommies we are paid pretty well & most of the money goes into food.

  You wouldn’t believe what a difficulty we have in keeping anything here for the rats. The place simply swarms with them, & they are so bold that they will scarcely get out of your way. They tear great holes in your blankets & eat your clothes & equipment, even while you are lying down in them of a night, & when you are sleeping they simply run all over you.

  6 of my platoon had a pretty narrow shave this morning. They were camped in a little trench just behind the firing line (the Bean) & right close to them on the parapet was a big unexploded bomb so the officers thought they would try, if they could, to explode it with a rifle. The very first shot struck the detonator & off she went. The concussion from her knocked the 6 men flat on their backs & some of them had their clothing all torn by it, but the funny part was to come. Our artillery, hearing the bomb go off & not knowing the strength of it, thought it was one of Fritzie’s, so they at once turned their guns loose & gave him a bad 5 minutes & all the while Fritz was innocent & hadn’t even fired a “pip squeak”.

  I fancy the weather will be finer tomorrow for the sun came out just before sunset tonight & I could see the blue sky. There is also a fair bit of a moon showing tonight, & the night working parties can easily do with it for it is rotten working in the pitch dark.

  4th October. Weather still showery but shows signs of clearing up. Usual fatigue & working parties out on the various jobs that we have in hand, & I can tell you I have my work cut out of a morning getting them together for they are so scattered & the new hands are not used to the game yet. It takes them a terrible long time to get ready, & as for water they are always wanting it, they have not learnt to control their thirst yet. All the old hands never touch water unless they absolutely need it & a man is much better for it, for you never know when the time may come when water is unprocurable & you have to go without for 2 or 3 days (I have done it before today). That’s when it hurts the heavy drinkers.

  This afternoon the Germans gave us a lively 20 minutes. It being a dull day they took advantage of it & run an armoured train along & gave us some of her 5.9 “bucksheesh”. They knocked about 20 yards of our trench right in & filled it to the top. Otherwise no damage was done.

  5th October. Last night I had a party of 20 men repairing the blown-in portion of trench, & we had just nicely started when old Fritz opens a pretty heavy bombardment with every class of gun & explosive he has. I can tell you things were pretty willing for the next couple of hours; you could hardly hear yourself speak for the roaring, crashing shells & bombs. Most of the fire seemed to be on A & B Coys but we got the backwash of it. Pieces of red-hot steel & iron were constantly digging in all around us & the steel helmets saved many a man from a nasty crack, for these small pieces hit with some force. Our guns, especially the Belgian battery of 75s, retaliated hot & strong & we had the last say, blazing away a good 15 mins after he had ceased fire. I don’t know what his object could have been but I think it was on account of our mortars — they have been punishing him pretty severely of late.

  It was the newer reinforcements’ first baptism of fire & it frightened the life out of some of them while others seemed to enjoy it like a huge joke; however we got it finished about 11 o’clock & just as we were knocking off the Major & Capt came around to have a look at how things were getting on. They reckoned I had made a good job of it & were well pleased. The Capt said we need not “stand to” this morning so we had an extra hour in bed.

  This morning I hear that the reason of the heavy German bombardment last night was that they were withdrawing a Division & were sending them to the Somme. I pity them, but if they thought this ruse would succeed they evidently were greatly mistaken for our guns were shelling away beyond the lines & on to their lines of communication, & in spite of the violence of Fritz’s shelling he only succeeded in wounding 2 men in our Batt. But it is no good saying one thing & meaning another. The Germans are not as good marksmen as the British. They may have been better perhaps at the beginning of the war, but no, not now.

  This afternoon the Germans fired a mine under a portion of the 15th Battalion’s trenches & wiped about 20 of them out. We distinctly felt the concussion down here where we are, but we heard no report, only felt the ground tremble like an earthquake & rock for an instant or so.

  They also raided the 16th & broke in & captured about 7 but they paid very dearly for it, for the ground was littered with their dead as they were return
ing so they got nothing out of it.

  6th October. Last night I noticed a big circle round the moon, a pretty sure sign of coming rain & miserable weather. I hope it holds fine for a few more days so as to allow us time to get out. So far the weather is nice & mild bar for the rain, but we have struck no cold as yet & I don’t think we will before November. After that I’ll bet she’s a freezer.

  Since we have been in here we have received a fair lot of reinforcements, so that now the Coy is fairly strong again which is much better, for it lightens the work all round.

  At present there is a lot of talk among the boys of the coming Referendum & Conscription in Australia, & from what I can make out, it seems to me that Conscription won’t have such an easy win in the Army as a lot of people think, for there is a mighty big opposition to it over here. Most of us seem to think that Australia has contributed quite enough men for a young & growing country; it does not do to take all the men away. Of course we would all like to see the shirkers & etc roped in & made to face the music — no one has any time for them — but half of them would be useless & would be a nuisance to everyone.

  Just behind my dugout we have 4 × 240 lb mortars built in ready for action, but they don’t care about firing them — they reckon they made too big a crater, when we attacked at Pozières. They put 7 over all at equal distances between our trenches & the Germans’ (they were for the men to take cover in between the rushes on the way across). The men got in them alright but they had great difficulty in climbing out for the next rush, & no wonder for the average crater from these monsters measures something like 30 ft across & is easily 12 or 15 ft in depth.