7th October. Yesterday evening Captain McKenzie, Jack Price & I reconnoitred a piece of open ground at the rear of our firing line, over which we were going to cut a communication trench to reach the International by a quick cut in case of attack. We were quite exposed to old Fritz, especially in one place & here he had 3 shots at us, but he must have been a poor marksman for he never hit any of us & we were not more than 300 yards away from his trenches. After having a look at what had to be done this evening back we went, & reached our lines safely. The ground is just a mass of great shell holes so we are going to join them together & when completed it makes a good trench. There is grass out there up to your knees, for no animals except rats have grazed on it for the last 2 years I’ll bet.
Received my pay book back from England this morning (it was being audited).
Some letters arrived for me last night. Some of them make reference to my photos — they reckon I look pretty crook & show traces of the hardships I have undergone. Hanged if I know, they seemed alright to me when I sent them, however they have caused Len & I a good bit of amusement.
The 3rd Battalion are taking over from us & we are shifting into reserves this evening as soon as it gets dark enough, having completed our 10 days in the trenches.
I am writing this sitting in my dugout, having just come off duty & I have a few minutes to myself before tea. Len & Dave Murray are playing draughts on a cloth handkerchief sent me by Mrs Mitchell. It was a very handy little thing & not a few get a bit of amusement out of it, & while away some slow hours. I don’t get much time for it myself, though I can’t say that I am fond of the game — Bridge is the game I like to play. Len & I as partners take some beating at it too.
The guns on the Somme can be heard very distinctly today, so I expect we are making another big attack down there on that once beautiful but now shell-torn & ravaged part of lovely France. One can never forget it, La Belle France.
8th October. I had a lovely experience last night. I had charge of the last party that moved off from our old positions at 8.30, something like 60 men — not a bad swag for a Corporal to look after. Well on the way down we had to follow a tramline a part of the way, & down both sides of the line there are great holes 3 parts full of water made by old Fritzie’s shells. This little line is our means of bringing nearly everything to the firing line & all night long it is crowded with trucks going both ways.
Well as luck would have it just as I was passing one of these big waterholes a truck, or something, hit me & knocked me head first in. I fairly dived into it with everything I possessed, full marching order, rifle & all. I went under right out of sight & I had some difficulty in rising for I was heavily weighted, & when I came to the surface I found that my rifle was at the bottom so down I had to go after that & scoop it out of the soft mud. What a nice weapon it looked — the Germans need not have been afraid of me if they had attacked me with a rifle like that. To my surprise the water was not the least bit cold (I thought it would have been freezing). I was in a beautiful state, green slimy weeds hanging all over me & water running off like a wet rag. I thought my watch & fountain pen were spoilt but neither of them were hurt, though nearly all my papers & letters were spoilt.
I felt that disgusted & wild with myself that I never uttered a single word, never swore once, not that I don’t swear, oh no, but I felt that full up, too full in fact for words; however the night was fine & by the time we reached our dugouts nearly 4 miles away I was beginning to get dry, & as soon as I got the men sorted out & fixed up I turned in & changed my clothes. Dave Murray lent me a clean flannel & I had underpants & socks so I was pretty right for the night.
Pay-day this evening & the boys are all buzzing around.
About 200 yards to the rear of us there is a Belgian battery & this morning I heard the battery commander giving the ranges. They kick up a nice row.
9th October. I have been busy writing letters all day today, for one of my mates is going to England on leave in a day or so & I am getting some ready for him.
Where we are camped now is right among the guns & tonight they had a bombardment & they were roaring all round us, 75s, 18 pounders, 6 inchers & all the rest of them. One of our aeroplanes was directing the fire, & Fritz was firing at him like mad with his machine guns, but the plane took no notice & kept on flying close in & signalling the effects of the hits & etc.
Tonight we tapped a German wire & got a message to the effect that they were going to blow a mine up at 6.15 but they did not state the date, so all the men this evening have been withdrawn so if he sends it up it won’t do much damage.
I hear tonight that General Birdwood has gone to Salonika. Does it mean that we are going there or has he left us? I hope not the latter, & besides none of us has any desire to leave France to fight — she will do us.
10th October. Early rising again this morning & we were away by 5 o’clock, on our way to Chester Farm & from there to the crater that we hold. A mine was the cause of it & you should see the gaping hole it made in the ground & the earth is thrown up all around like a small mountain. The whole concern is shaped like a basin & is easily 70 feet deep, & from one place on it we have a bonzer observation post. Yesterday they could see hundreds of Germans at work behind the lines — of course they never got shelled.
As we were coming across some open ground this morning, taking a short cut for it was not light enough for the Germans to see us, we saw hundreds of partridges & some beautiful pheasants, fine big birds. This war is giving the wildlife around the war-affected area a good chance to breed, for the place is rapidly growing wild & young trees are springing up all over the place & scrub & long grass are taking possession of the paddocks.
Just down close to our Hqrs there is a peculiar sight: a big German shell sticking in a tree & a good half of it is hanging out. It must have been nearly spent otherwise it would have gone right through the wood.
We were caught nicely this afternoon in the trenches for the Germans started to shell heavily the very exact place we were working in & things were far from pleasant for some considerable time. A couple of men were killed & a few wounded & some big dugouts were blown right in. Our guns replied to their fire & things were what you would call mixed for a while.
There were some Staff officers through here at the time having a look round & our Colonel (now Acting Brigadier) was among them. My word he is a fearless man. How he has not been killed long & long ago beats me, for he would not dream of sending a man where he would not go himself. We have never had a Colonel like him before & he has made the Battalion what it is today: one of the finest in the whole of the Australian Forces, if not the best, for believe me the 1st Battalion has a fine name & record & we are taught to live up to it, first in name & first in everything else.
In many ways it does not pay to have a good name, for so many hard & difficult jobs are given to you simply because of your record, & we are then honour bound to make a success of it or perish in the attempt. This sort of spirit is beginning to make its appearance in the Battalions of the 1st Division & they are struggling one against the other to show the finest performances. This is what all Armies should be like & have plenty of the regimental spirit which makes one think his own particular regiment is the very best & he for one would never disgrace its name.
All the English, Irish & Scotch troops have these sort of things to look up to but Australia, being a new country, had none previous to this war. Now she, or rather the 1st Division, can look up to such battles & fights as the Landing at Gallipoli, the Cape Helles Charge, the 19th of May, the terrible Lone Pine battle & the struggles on Sari Bair. Then we come to France & the greatest battle of all, the charge on Pozières, which belongs to the 1st Division entirely, & our Battalion was one of the Batts to lead the charge & my humble self was one of the first over the parapet & into no man’s land. After us came the other Divisions & they all done very fine work but the honour of the charge belongs to the good old 1st Division, & they have never failed yet in anythi
ng they had to do, nor lost an inch of ground once gained.
What made the capture of Pozières all the more creditable to the Australians was the fact that the English had 3 times before assaulted this stronghold & the longest they held it was 2 hours & they were then driven out. When we went over there were any amount of English dead lying everywhere, showing the slaughter there was for the place, but in spite of their thousand guns & their attack they never shifted the Australians.
I’ll never forget how pleased the English & French were when they knew for certain that we were holding Pozières firmly & were actually advancing. English officers bought beer & cake & etc for the boys — in fact they would do almost anything for us — & the French, although we could not understand them, showed their delight at the Anzacs’ success. They used to say, “Anzac bon, plenty Anzac finish Allemand,” which meant that if we only had enough Australians we would wipe the Germans out, & it is a fact that when we captured Pozières the whole French line cheered right from the Somme to Switzerland. Australia’s name was made that day with both French & English soldiers, for they had proved themselves even better than their Gallipoli reputation led them to believe.
11th October. Had all the men cleaning up around the dugouts this morning for there is to be an inspection this afternoon by the Colonel, & he is very particular. Also took all shortages this morning for the very latest is that we are going down to the Somme but before we go we are to have some training in street fighting & etc. I thought we would not be along without something like this turning up for we are nearly full strength again.
We are living pretty well just at present, plum puddings, cake & etc being the order of the day, for we have a bonzer canteen & they supply us with plenty of money.
This evening we had a nice game of football, officers & all had a go. Funny you know, football about 3 miles behind the lines. It was in a nice little grass paddock all among the guns & howitzers.
The Belgians are bombarding heavily tonight, & the air is all quivering with the vibration from their guns.
12th October. Up again at 4 A.M. It is surprising how warm the mornings are just at present — why I never have my tunic on until it is time to fall the men in. I thought by this time it would have been freezing & to all of us it has been a most agreeable shock.
At the present time “two up” is very popular among the boys — they play it every opportunity they get. Some of them win large sums of money & many others go broke, but it is no use trying to put gambling down in the Army for they will always find some way or other to gamble & two up is I think about the fairest.
We were relieved tonight & just as we moved off all the guns around us opened fire on the Huns’ trenches for we were sending over raiding parties. The noise from the hundred or so guns nearly deafened us for it was one continual roar, & the ground shook & trembled from the continual concussion. Vivid red stabs of flame were darting out from the most innocent-looking places you could imagine — it’s perfectly wonderful how they can hide a gun, why I have almost walked on top of them without knowing one was there. We walked right through the middle of them & in some places we were that close that you could feel the hot air of the gun on your cheek & the report would almost seem to lift you off your feet. We could hear the shell quite plainly as it whistled over our heads, on its way to the German trenches. It was a fine sight, to look up there, where the shells were bursting in one continual blaze, which combined with the many coloured flares made the scene quite a brilliant one — that is of course from our point of view, it must not have been too nice for those in the trenches.
This fierce bombardment lasted exactly 10 minutes, but during that time many & many a German met his death, for the boys had been over, & they reported that the German trenches were half full of dead men, & they accounted for what was not killed by the shells.
14th October. Up early this morning for we are moving on again. We marched out punctually to time & skirted Poperinge with its tall towers & spires showing up nicely against the clouds. We walked steadily on, spelling for 10 minutes after each hour of walking. The roads were in fine condition & the weather cool & I think it was one of the best marches we have done, for practically never a man fell out during the 12 miles & that is pretty good considering we were carrying everything we possessed.
We finished up in Steenvoorde. After we were billeted we bought some coffee off the old dame at the farmhouse. Len came up & we went into the town with 2 or 3 more for we were all longing for a good dinner. We went into a butcher’s shop to buy some sausages, & we took a turn for the French girl on the sausage machine, for it was pretty heavy to turn & a soldier always likes to help a girl. We took our sausages to a shop & here we had them cooked. Our dinner when served up consisted of 3 big sausages per man, the other 3 had 4 eggs each for I never touch them, about a pint & a half of tender green peas, potatoes, bread & butter, coffee & custard & fruit (peaches). The bill was very reasonable, 13 francs for the lot.
It was funny down in the town tonight to see all the boys ducking in & out of the butcher shops buying meat for a good feed, for we were all more or less meat hungry & practically the whole Battalion was in, & against orders too.
15th October. Sunday is round once more & when we rose this morning at 5.30 it was raining heavily, but it turned out to be a shower only.
We started off in high spirits, & everything went well for a long time. We went through some of the loveliest country as ever I have seen, it lay between Steenvoorde & Cassel. We gradually climbed a fairly steep hill with very sharp turns, & lined on both sides by beautiful rows of trees, some of them a great height. We looked down on the lovely valley which sloped away to the north-west almost as far as the eye could see & gradually opening out into a vast alluvial plain of whose richness one could have no doubt once he looked & saw the rows & rows of newly harvested stacks & other young crops already beginning to get green. As we got further round there was an even more beautiful sight, for in the distance less than a mile away built on the slopes of a hill was a fine little town (Cassel) & an old square-towered church was plainly seen. We could hear the chimes of the old church bells as we slowly plodded on, for it was church time & the French people were all on their way, dressed in their Sunday best. I’ll bet the old bells recalled many & many an old-time memory, of other days when we didn’t always carry rifles & dress by “the right”.
As we slowly followed the winding road around this pretty hill, we gradually climbed on to a ridge which led up to the town, & you could look down on both sides on some of the most beautiful scenery as ever a man could wish to lay his eyes on — nothing but little clumps of pretty trees & green crops & beautiful grass, & talk about flowers, they were there of every possible hue & variety: chrysanthemums, dahlias, roses, pansies, daisies. I never saw the like of some of them, they were simply beautiful.
All along the roads the hedges were smothered with blackberries & they were hanging dead ripe within reach of us as we marched along. Needless to say we made the most of our opportunities, & the blackberries suffered.
The Germans had been for a short while round this part, for I saw the marks of their shrapnel in several places, notably on the gasometer.
We were bound for Noordpeene & quite naturally lost our way & marched nearly 4 miles out of our track. Didn’t we swear when we had to “about turn”, for we were foot weary & tired for we had already marched 12 miles, however we reached our billets in time. The space they had allotted for the Coy was not half enough so there was more trouble, but this was fixed up eventually. We then had a feet inspection, & after that all the platoon commanders with the exception of mine shouted beer for their men.
16th October. Len & I slept in an old waggon last night for the barn was crowded, & we both prefer when possible the fresh open air. The night was lovely & starry till nearly 3 o’clock when we had a sharp shower, but we never shifted, only drew the blankets over our heads & let her rip.
Had a bonzer game of football before mo
ving off, for everyone was in fine spirits & the morning was absolutely grand with just a tinge of winter feeling in it.
We moved off sharply at 8 & had a little shower of hail, the first I have seen in France. We marched through beautiful country for hours & hours, & 2 places in particular I will never forget. One of them was when we climbed a long ridge & saw through the great gap between the clad hills one of the loveliest panoramic views of the country as ever one could wish to see. As far as ever the eye could follow right away to the horizon, which must have reached nearly to the coast, there stretched endless miles of lovely green country covered with trees & big towns & villages all over it. They showed up splendidly for the sun was shining brightly which set their white stone walls & red tiled roofs off to perfection, but the “masterpiece” was to follow for we were gradually climbing a rise.
At last we reached the top & nearly everyone was startled into an exclamation, for the scene that lay in front of us beggared description. Right at our feet a fine wide river was flowing & houses were built all along the banks, & canals & lakes were to be seen everywhere. The town of Watten is situated here, & the surrounding country could be followed plainly with the naked eye until it lost itself in the distance. Everything looked to have a lovely colouring over it & so green & restful, & cattle, sheep & horses were grazing peacefully all around us. Behind us & on the top of the hill set in a clump of nice trees there was a fine old castle. I could have looked on the beautiful landscape for hours, & I was so wrapped up in France; however I was brought back to earth by a basket of French cake & biscuits being thrust under my nose by a little French girl, & these were very welcome for I was very hungry.
In Great Spirits Page 18