In Great Spirits

by Archie Barwick

  17th December. Travelled all night long in freezing carriages & crowded. I slept on the rack as one could get a stretch there. It was still snowing when we reached Boulogne & we hopped off here & went across. Tom Flattley & I had some breakfast & then we walked down to another station & caught the northbound train for soldiers. She was a cold ride in cattle trucks to Hazebrouck, where we got off again & caught a train going to Bailleul, where they reckoned we would find our units. Tom & I pooled our cash & had some tea before setting out on our hunt. Oh it’s nice coming home from your leave. You don’t give a cuss how things go & you are fed up with everything.

  18th December. After a long hunt I found the Batt last night, they having moved from down below, & I can tell you I was pleased to catch them up. Soon I was sitting beside a roaring fire, having a good feed & relating some of my Paris experiences to the boys. It was quite late when we went to bed.

  21st December. The old frost still holds with iron hands on the land. Ice is 12 inches thick & the whole countryside has the appearance of being under a heavy fall of snow. A thick haze hangs over all & the cold is intense, chills right to the marrow bones.

  Food is not too plentiful but we just about get enough for breakfast: we have a bowl of tea, porridge, 2 small slices of bread & a little slice of bacon or ham. For dinner we have a bowl of tea, a plate of stew or currie, & a couple of slices of bread. Tea consists of the usual bowl of tea, 2 slices of bread, sometimes meat, & a little jam & cheese, & for supper we have biscuits & cocoa. Rice is served every other night for tea, so you can see we don’t live like fighting cocks, but the food is plain & well cooked.

  I am trying to do a little writing but the cold is not favourable for much of this sort of thing. My feet are my main trouble, trying to keep them warm.

  24th December. Big guns have been going through pretty constantly last night drawn by monstrous “caterpillars”, & they were travelling very fast. We are preparing all along the line for possible German attacks which are bound to come, for they will do their utmost to crush either Britain or France before America is ready, which won’t be before the spring for a cert. As far as we are concerned, let them come & we will welcome them & they will have a little of what we have been going through for the last year or so.

  Great rumours have been flying round about the Conscription voting. The latest is that the No’s are 200,000 in the lead in Australia. If this is true it is not much encouragement to us who are soldiering over here, for it practically means that the people of Australia are not behind us & this is not very nice to know. Heavens how miserable & rotten & ashamed I feel of my country & I was always so proud of Australia & all she has done in this war. Now our name is mud, & we all feel as how we can scarce look any one of the other Colonies in the face. Australia can’t be much of a place to live in at the present time; it’s pretty evident that all the best have gone from our one-time beautiful land. Seems like a bad dream to me for we can’t accept the facts of the Australian people turning us down so badly. It is as much as to say, “Serve you right for going away & good enough for you if you get killed.” You have no idea how it hurts us, hits in a tender place. At least, we used to think, if nothing else Australia will appreciate our services, but no, just the opposite it seems. Unless things alter considerably, Australia will be no place for me after this war, if I am spared to live through it all. I can see myself hitting out for some other land, for I would never live among such mongrels as there seems to be at the present time in Australia.

  Thank God I am single & have no encumbrances & there is only one person outside my own family that draws me like a magnet. It is for her sake, & strange to say whom I have never seen, that I still continue to box on, hoping against hope that one day I will have the good fortune to meet her, & thank her for the splendid letters so cheery & bright that she has written to me. Many & many a time when I have felt lonely & miserable I have pulled her letters out & read & reread them, & I have always felt better for it. We have been corresponding regularly for over 2 years & we seem to know one another so well. I daresay we are both wondering what will be the end of it all, but not a word has passed between either of us that you could take a line from, but underlying it all there is a certain strain & I fancy we can both read between the lines. At any rate if it wasn’t for her & my people, Australia wouldn’t trouble me any more under the present conditions prevailing there. Her name I won’t mention, as I don’t want people to know of it.

  25th December. Xmas Day & true to its traditions it has been snowing, but only slightly. We expected to be called out last night (had orders to be ready to move off at half an hour’s notice) as they were expecting the Germans to attack but happily nothing came of it. C Coy had to find 2 working parties to move off early this morning — bit stiff but the war can’t stop just for Xmas.

  Our little bunch (Sgts) have started the penalty list for swearing again. Costs a penny for each word, & we all have quite a number up already. Seeing as how we are all broke or badly bent, we have suspended the penalty for today & of all days too, so we can give vent to our feelings & carry on as we like for once in a while.

  26th December. What a Xmas we have had. I enjoyed it the best of any ever since I can remember. We had fowls, roast potatoes & green peas, & for sweets stewed figs & custard & plenty of canned fruit & a few other little trifles; altogether a very nice little dinner. Most of the lads had sobered down by dinner time for most of the day had been spent in paying visits to old cobbers & etc, & of course this meant the production of the whisky or rum bottle to drink one another’s health. It took most of the afternoon to sleep it off, so by the time 7 o’clock came round most of them had suffered a recovery & for the rest of the night we sat round a brazier with a nice fire burning, quite a merry little crowd. The officers left us about 11 o’clock, having spent more time with us than in their own mess. To finish the evening up we turned out & had a good old snow fight at midnight, & so ended our Xmas fun & a bonzer time we had.

  Plenty of snow on the ground this morning & nothing but snow fights wherever you went. Some of our lads pelted the life out of a Tommy officer & he came over & made a complaint about it — reckoned even if they were Australians they should show more respect to an officer & not pelt him. How we all laughed over it; they don’t understand our lads. You should see our officers — they bog in with any of the boys & have a bit of fun.

  This afternoon 4 officers & 4 N.C.O.s had to go to the firing line to have a look at what we will be taking over. It was a long walk up & everything is frozen hard & white as snow. A few shells fell unpleasantly close on the way up but we reached Rose Wood safely about sundown. We then had a drink of tea & afterwards inspected our dugouts & strong points. Just before we left the Germans started to sling gas shells over in dozens & we had to put our helmets on & walk in them for a full mile, during which time I managed to get a nasty whiff of gas & fell in a new shell hole which they had dropped on the train line.

  27th December. Have been feeling very restless & miserable lately & don’t seem to care a hang what happens. The war is getting on our nerves I suppose. I can’t settle down to read or even write like I used to be able at one time. Just at present I have a severe attack of homesickness, but what’s the use of that in the military; all the longing you might have in the world is of no avail, so you just have to grin & bear it. If I were only free I should pack up & get for my life back once again to the Sunny South if only for a few days. I’m certain that would be a rapid cure for our restlessness, & all the boys are feeling the same way. We almost have to force ourselves to write now, & everything military is getting hateful to us all. People in Australia or England don’t long for this war to finish any more than we do I’ll bet, & as the days go past we hate it more & more.

  30th December. Had to go to the Medical room this morning to get my arms dressed, for they are very sore & breaking out all over — a sure sign I am getting run down in health & want a change.

  31st December. Moved out from
Rossignol Camp this afternoon for the firing line, & wandered about for nearly 4 hours, during which time I in common with many others “looped the loop” times out of number. What language was used, you should have heard it.

  We are now camped in Rose Wood. My platoon are in a strong little “strong point” quite close to Hqrs.

  1918

  The Western Front, France and Belgium

  England

  Returning home

  1st January. New Year’s Day came in very quiet, scarce a shot being exchanged on either side. This front seems to be very quiet at present, hope it remains so.

  New Year’s night I spent with a party of men digging & building a strongpost. We are putting a lot of these up in case the old Hun makes an attack. He will get a warm reception I’ll bet.

  Fatty Gill & I were nearly grabbing a Tommy officer while on this job. I noticed this chap strolling about asking questions & etc, & my curiosity & suspicions were aroused, so I followed him about. He had a funny accent & on his shoulder he had only one star. I asked one of the 21st Machine Gun Coy if he knew anything about him & he said he had been around for the last 2 or 3 days & he thought he was an O.P. officer, so I thought this good enough, but afterwards I felt sorry I had not grabbed him for now I feel sure he was a German. It is a very easy thing to get through the outpost & picquet line as they are at present.

  2nd January. Started to thaw a little today & a shower of rain fell, making things very unpleasant. Fritzie has been putting a lot of gas shells & 5.9s over this morning but he has hurt nothing so far.

  4th January. The stretcher bearers & I had a narrow escape this afternoon. Old Fritz shelled our possies heavily for half an hour or so & he dropped a 5.9 not more than 3 yards from our dugout. Gave us all a proper headache from the concussion.

  6th January. Last night Howard, Jimmy Lynch & I had to go to the front line to have a look at things before taking over. What we are holding is simply a string of outposts connected by visiting patrols. We have 4 of these outposts on our front, which is roughly 800 yds in length. Our left flank rests on the ruins of Hollebeke & here we join the Tommies (Bedfordshires). The surrounding country is very flat but what high ground there is we hold.

  By the time we got home we had done enough physical jerks to do us for a week or so, especially on the hands down, & I might say it was not done to the count of 3 when old Fritz sends his bullets whistling past your ears, cracking like a horsewhip. One second we would all be walking along as bold as brass. There would be a crack & you wouldn’t see a single soul; every man would be hugging the snow as close as he could with the bullets sizzling over your heads or cutting the ground up in front or all round you. Puts a nasty taste in your mouth but when all is said & done you have to laugh when you think of it.

  We had a good look at our front & got home at 5 in the morning.

  8th January. The whole of the front is wired but only thinly. They are getting a good belt out by degrees — you can see from this how thinly our front is held — & the Hun is something the same.

  I had the nice little job of working the fighting patrol. This consisted of 9 men & myself & we had to patrol no man’s land, looking for stoush. Luckily we found nothing tonight, though if we had followed the plans that Capt Edgley planned out at first there would have been some fun & bullets flying. He had the crazy idea of going out with Hales rifle grenades & a Lewis Gun. He intended to shoot the grenades into their strongposts & then turn the gun on them — the maddest thing I ever heard of. What gutsers we would have come; he would have chopped the legs from under us for the place simply stinks with machine guns.

  He & Kelleway were going out at first. I nearly died laughing to see the look on poor Kelleway’s face when Edgley was planning his scheme. Charlie is no hero, & makes no bones about it either. He regards Edgley as a madman & I fancy the majority of the Coy have the same opinion — he’s what you would call a military maniac therefore he’s a nuisance to the troops. At any rate I pointed out the utter madness of the whole concern & he ended up by calling it off & squibbing it himself.

  We found nothing after being out for a couple of hours & getting nearly frozen to death, for the ground was snow white & frozen hard.

  10th January. We were relieved last night by D Coy & luckily we got out without a casualty & there was plenty of bucksheesh flying about.

  Great rumours of peace are flying about. Wish they would settle it quick & lively, but I can’t see how it will end before Xmas.

  Just close to here the Germans had a steel tree which they used to use for observation before they were driven back. It is cleverly built & you would take it for an ordinary tree, it is copied so true.

  13th January. We put another little barrage into no man’s land with the idea of clearing a few machine guns out of her; there are one or two nasty ones which play over us at times. One of them the lads reckon plays “The Watch on the Rhine”. It’s funny but gunners seem to get a tune out of them. Often you would swear they are signalling in Morse Code.

  14th January. Had to go & take over 5.0.11 after finishing my patrol & I put in a very cold night waiting for the Boches. Just before we were relieved it started to snow & soon the ground was as white as a sheet & all tracks were covered. I had to take my party out & use my judgement for direction. I got out alright but you wouldn’t believe how easy it is to get lost when the snow is on the ground & you are on flat country. Some of our chaps are always getting bushed, & have almost walked into Fritz’s hands.

  The Dr has condemned C & D Coys for working purposes. He reckons the men are too weak & their feet are giving & he is quite right, they are not treating us right. We have to do an extra 8 days now. This will mean 24 days in the line — too much altogether for the winter & we are holding such a big stretch of the line & a most important part at that.

  16th January. Rained heavily all day yesterday & most of the night, & things are in a pretty state — rivers of water wherever you look, & everything as miserable as can possibly be — but still everybody seems to be fairly cheerful.

  The ground between us & Fritz is in a dreadful state, just a mass of water & mud, & it looks to be the same as far as I can see. It’s bad enough on our side & we are on the high land; Heavens only knows what his part is like for he is in a morass & has all the low-lying ground, a bit of a change for him. He is now going through what we have been putting up with ever since the war started, & good luck to him.

  What a prize this diary would be for old Fritz. I am breaking all rules by bringing it near the line; we are supposed to always leave all these sorts of things behind, for fear of them falling into his hands, but like all rules they are only made to be broken. I have always carried mine with me wherever I have gone & most of our officers know of it but they never say anything.

  20th January. We got a clean change of clothes this morning, the first change we have had since the 22nd December. We wanted it, for the chats were eating us alive & how we used to curse them. You never saw such things to keep men awake; we had few opportunities to sleep & when they did come along, well the chats wouldn’t let you, no, they would march up & down your body in Battalions & you had to scratch scratch, & the more you scratched the more you might. Heavens only knows what a relief it will be when we are free of these cursed insects.

  22nd January. Saw a monster Zeppelin tearing through the clouds. He was travelling at a great height & speed. Looked more like a cigar than anything else.

  Our artillery is very active this morning; they are shelling his lines like one thing. Aeroplanes are plentiful also, so you can see things are livening up.

  23rd January. Have been jolly crook all day, & no wonder. We were relieved by the 3rd Batt last night, & I might mention nearly caught in machine gun fire coming out. We marched out to Wytschaete & went into fairly good dugouts. We were tired & thirsty so we decided to boil a dixie of water on a Tommy cooker & make some tea. I went out across the road & dipped into what appeared to be a clean shell hole of water (bei
ng dark I could not be sure but a soldier takes all sorts of risks). We boiled it & made our tea & went to bed. During the night we were seized with rotten pains in our stomach; we could not make out what was the cause of it at all. When we got up I went across to the same hole to get some water to have a wash in, & I nearly had a fit. No wonder we were crook — lucky we were not dead. It was about the dirtiest water imaginable, nearly green & slimy, & it looked to be full of arsenic. I’ll bet if the truth was known there’s a dead man or two in her.

  25th January. A rather peculiar thing happened 2 nights ago to an outpost of the 8th Battalion. They saw an old Fritzie & they waved & beckoned to him to come across, & hanged if he didn’t. When he got over he asked them what they were & they said Australians. He said, “No, you’re not, you’re the same as I am, a Saxon.” They had quite a yarn with him, & just as he was going back an officer spotted him but it was too late, he was gone. He then put the whole post under open arrest for allowing old “Heine” to get away. Of course the proper thing would have been to collar him, but it would be a rotten thing to do for they called him over & if he was game enough to trust coming across no man’s land in daylight, it was up to them to let him go again.

  This is a case where your military duty clashes with one’s code of honour & conscience, & I might say situations similar are constantly cropping up, when an officer has to make decisions in favour of the military machine, no matter how it may go against his nature to do it. I expect the officer who put them under arrest hated doing it, but he had to do it & so the chain goes on. It’s not all beer & skittles being in charge of men.

  If ever a chap felt homesick well I did today. Makes a chap think of Australia when the sun is shining nicely & even the birds were singing as they were here today. Put me in mind of happy days I had spent in Tasmania & New South Wales, when I had not a care in the world, & my ambition was to own land & see the world. In fancy I could see the old Coal River, with its weeping willows trailing over the clear old river & the trout rising in the quiet pools, which were half hidden by tea tree, wattle & clematis, & oh the scent of it all, it sticks in my nostrils yet. Then I was in New South Wales & on my pony out on the “runs”, looking round the fences, stock & etc. The sun was nice & hot, & in the evening as I rode home the old gum trees sent forth a beautiful perfume, which is famous the world over. The sun went down in a ball of fire, heralding the approach of another hot day, & the old “laughing Jacks” packed together & roared & sang & chuckled to their hearts’ content. Then as the twilight deepened the rabbits, hares, wallabies, kangaroos & etc made their appearance, & bush life of the night commenced. When you got home, unsaddled & fed your pony & went up to dinner, with the thought of another day’s work well done, you thought Australia a bonzer place to live in, & wondered what the other side of the world was like. We know now.