In Great Spirits

by Archie Barwick

  28th January. Lovely morning & the sun is shining brilliantly. This is a marvellous winter & take it all round so far it is very little worse than the average Tasmanian winter, with only half the quantity of rain.

  30th January. While Len was down on the Court Martial case this morning an order came round saying that he had to report at Batt Hqrs “full marching order” at 2 o’clock for the purpose of proceeding to England to go on the Instructional Staff. You may guess how glad I was, for he will be practically safe for the duration — surely the war will be over by the time his 6 months are up, so one of us will be sure to return. Besides he has earned his spell. He is taking a German rifle & a lot of souvenirs of mine with him, & I gave him a few of my surplus francs to carry on with (we have always shared our money since being in the Army). Len & I are the best of pals & I shall miss him greatly.

  For a while Mr Traill did not like Len going in one way for he is a jolly good N.C.O., a thing not so easily procured these days, & besides he is as good a soldier as we have as anyone can tell you.

  How pleased they will all be at home. There should be no need to worry any more for it matters so little about myself; I have been so long away from home now that it must seem as if they never knew me, & besides Len is the younger. What luck he has had — been fighting practically ever since war broke out & has never had a scratch; there’s very few as can say that, worse luck. There’s only one thing I hope & that is that he never returns to France while this war is on, & I don’t think anyone could wish better than that.

  5th February. Got a bit of a pleasant surprise last night about 9.30. Jock & I were in bed when Jimmy Lord came up & wanted to know if I was in bed or not — if I was not, Mr Parkinson wanted to see me at once. The bed was too warm so I said, “Oh I’ll be down in the morning,” & away Jim went. In a few minutes he was back & said Mr Parkinson told him to tell me that I had been awarded the Belgian “Croix de Guerre” & that it had come out in tonight’s orders. Capt Edgley also got one. I think we are the first 2 in the Battalion to receive this decoration & needless to say I am proud of it.

  In the afternoon the Coy were drawn up & the awards were read out on parade, & many were the congratulations I received from all our officers & lads. I don’t care such a wonderful lot as far as I’m concerned but those at home will no doubt be pleased to hear of it & it is for their sakes that I am more pleased than anything else.

  6th February. Had a full marching order parade this morning. After falling in we marched out on to our parade ground, took our packs off & done a little platoon drill & rifle exercises till 11 o’clock then we marched down to the Batt parade ground for an inspection by the Colonel. Here he presented A Coy with the silver bugle which they won at the last inter Company sports. It is a fine bugle & it is for competition among the Coys of the Battalion. It is a good thing for it creates a feeling of rivalry.

  After this was over the Colonel asked for all those who landed with the Battalion on the Peninsula to “slope arms”, & of the 1200-odd men who jumped out of those boats, but 17 were here today. It is then that one realises how lucky he has been & thanks his lucky stars he is still going strong. After this we marched off home & all were heartily glad to get rid of our heavy packs.

  12th February. There has been some heavy firing up round the line; we could hear it quite plainly down here.

  Old Fritz has been frightening the people round here by dropping pamphlets telling them he would be in Bailleul in 2 weeks time.

  Received a letter from the Secretary of the Enquiry Bureau asking for any particulars I could supply them of Bob Creasy, who was killed on the 4/10/17. We often get these & nearly always are able to tell them all they want to know.

  According to orders read out on parade this morning all mail reaching London for Australia & New Zealand between the 22nd & 25th of January has been lost at sea. I have 4 letters on this, gone down for a moral, & 3 of them were long ones I had taken time over — enough to make a man jump up & never come down.

  27th February. We have only 1 blanket each tonight so I can see Howard & I doing a bit of a freeze, though we have come at the old “Domain” stunt: collected all the spare paper we could find & put it under our bed to lie on. It makes a good bed & is very warm. That’s one of the little points soldiering has taught us. You can’t beat practical experience & the Army is the place to get it, what?

  28th February. After reporting to Mr Forrest at 8 o’clock this morning I had to dump my pack & go off with the transport to where they were going to dump the rations. We came across the first lot of guns, a battery of 9.2s, & they nearly blew our heads off in passing. Didn’t we bless them.

  About a mile on from here we struck Spoil Bank, which is on the edge of the Ypres Canal. We were now in country with which I was familiar for we were holding the line in 1916 round here. One would scarcely know the place again, but the big Canadian cemetery is still here. These men were nearly all killed with the German gas attack in 1915, & later on the terrible fighting round Sanctuary Wood, which is quite close. This is the place where the Canadians made their great name & justified the faith placed in them, although they were only volunteers. All round here & along Middlesex Road the 4th Division are putting in field guns, getting ready if ever the Huns do succeed in breaking through. I should not like to be among them if ever they get this far back; what a time they will have crossing the ridge.

  We pulled up at last after a walk of 4 hours just outside the famous Hill 60, which was blown up during the battle of Messines. Here we dumped the loads & set off back again. I got a ride as far as Veerstraat, & had to walk from there to our camp about 3 miles. Arrived there just as the Batt were moving off.

  2nd March. This morning I went into Bailleul in our mess cart (took one of my trench boots in to get repaired). What a time we had on the way home, for just as we were clearing Bailleul a frightful snowstorm broke & it beat in our faces the whole way home. We were nearly frozen to death & covered with snow from head to foot; it was easily the coldest drive I ever remember & I don’t want many more like it. Took a good hour to get properly thawed & warm again.

  3rd March. Still very cold & miserable, snow lying all over the ground & no sign of the sun. This cold snap will give the vegetation a bit of a check, for encouraged by the mild winter, everything is shooting & budding like wildfire, giving promise of a very early spring in places. The hedges were beginning to show a faint tinge of green & the buds on the trees were swelling fast; now I suppose they will have to call a halt for a while.

  4th March. Got up fairly early this morning for Fatty Gill & I had to go down to Bailleul so off we set. Jimmy & I had a bonzer hot bath in a private place. After this the next item on the programme was to have some dinner so to a little tea room we rushed & had some of the inevitable steak, chips & eggs. There’s one thing that the French can’t do & that’s make tea. Of all the wishy-washy stuff as ever you tasted well they make it; tastes something like slops & is invariably cold & weak.

  While in there today I saw a most interesting sight, & that was the “calling up” or beating the young French lads of the 1918 class, 19 years old. A great crowd were parading the streets, all wearing the national colours & carrying red, white & blue flags. If ever you saw patriotic & enthusiastic lads well these were, all singing & laughing as if they were going to a picnic but this is the spirit of this wonderful & magnificent people. I don’t think anything will ever break their hearts & I’m certain the Huns never will.

  I laughed when I saw a great crowd of young boys & girls coming down the street hand in hand & singing at the top of their voices a little ditty which we often sing, a mixture of French & English, called “Parley Voo”. You would have thought they never had a care in the world. I felt sorry for these youngsters; little they know what they are so gladly coming to take part in.

  6th March. Things have cleared up & it is a glorious & sunny morning, like a spring morning in Tasmania, not a cloud in the sky & birds singing everywhere. You would s
carce know that a war was on save for the incessant & never-ending growl & rumble of the guns in the distance, & the stream of traffic on the roads & the steady hum of the planes overhead. Everything else seems so peaceful, calm & quiet.

  I got the full strength of the raid the Germans made on the 10th Batt a few nights back. It appears that the 13th Batt knew it was coming off but they did not know when, & they had just been relieved when over Fritz came, 9 officers & 200 strong. He broke into the outposts & hand-to-hand fighting took place. Before they threw him out they had 27 casualties including a Major who was killed, & 5 men missing. They took 7 German prisoners, killed 30 more in & around the outposts, & they reckoned a good few more got wiped out by our fire crossing no man’s land, so they paid very dearly for this turnout.

  7th March. My birthday once again & the fourth in the Army: 2 in Egypt & 2 in France. Surely this will be my last in the military; at any rate I am hoping so.

  9th March. Another glorious morning. The sun is quite hot & everything looks beautiful, but the gun fire spoils the picture, for it is very heavy. Our big guns are all in action & the air is all a quiver & everything shaking like a leaf from the concussion, & we are easily 7 or 8 miles from the firing line. Things can’t go on much longer as they are; one side or the other will have to plunge.

  The sector the Australians are holding at present is a most important part of the Western Front, & we are holding it strongly, a Brigade on a 2 Coy front, so you can see there’s some men behind the firing line. If ever Fritz wants to try his luck & his Prussians, the shell holes & craters stink of machine guns & we have field guns covering all our heavies — it would be a perfect massacre if ever he were to attack. Unlike last year we have all our ammunition dumps buried, so there’s little chance of blowing them up.

  As I was going along the road this morning who should I meet but Bill Graham of the Pioneers. Old Bill was smiling all over his face when he shook hands & slapped his hand across my ribbon, & said, “That’s the stuff to give ’em, Snow.” He always calls me by that name does Bill. Had a bit of a yarn & then we both went about our business.

  24th March. So the great Hun offensive has been launched at last. They surprised me; I honestly thought they had better sense than come at that game, for come what may they have not the slightest chance of winning. I’ll bet they will get cut to pieces.

  The first news came through yesterday & from that it appears they had broken through at Bullecourt & Lagnicourt & one or two more places, but that signifies nothing for there is never any trouble for either side to make the first advance, for they have all their guns registered on the trenches & the front line is always lightly held. Wait till they get up against the line of resistance & have to haul their guns over shell-torn ground & get them into position for the next push — then the fun starts. We know all about that from personal experience & as for man to man goes, every Australian knows who is the superior fighter — that has been tested too often & the Fritzies know it in their own hearts too well.

  Things must be very bad in Germany for them to attempt this mad act. I expect they are driven to it & have staked all they have got on this final plunge. No doubt they will make things hum & be very nasty for a while but the issue should never be in doubt. Everyone over here has the greatest confidence as to the eventual result of the offensive & it’s just the very thing that we have been wanting him to do — let him do the bag hopping by all means & when he is sick of it we will take a hand in the fun. He is now having a taste of what we had to put up with all last summer & good luck to him & his storm troops. This should be the beginning of the end & France will be a good place to be out of during the next 6 or 8 months for there will be plenty of stoush & etc.

  It is Sunday today & one of the loveliest days imaginable, not a cloud in the sky & a brilliant sun. 3 of the chaps came for a stroll with me as far as our training ground & it was lovely walking along the hedges after the heat of the day. The perfume from the budding flowers & leaves was beautiful, & we quite enjoyed it. A few more hot days & you won’t know the country, so fast is everything coming along. You can fairly see the wheat & oats growing.

  Nothing but rumours flying around. I heard someone saying that Fritz had got as far as Bapaume & had asked for an armistice. Another one that he has been knocked back past Lagnicourt & his old line, & was still going home. It’s funny but you always hear these sort of yarns whenever anything special is doing & I have got that used to them that I take absolutely no notice of what I hear, & not too much of what I see.

  Old Fritzie was over bombing again last night. He seems to come across this part of the country each night on his way to St Omer & the sky was alive with the signals, rockets, shells & etc. They fell the one who came over last night; he was brought down in flames not so very far from here.

  26th March. Bad news still continues to trickle through. The latest is that the Germans are within 2 miles of Albert. Just think of that after all the blood & agony spent in winning that hellish piece of country & now it has all gone for nothing & the Hun is still going strong. The 3rd, 4th & 5th Divs have all gone down there & the 2nd is following. So far we are in the line & they say we are stopping there for a time. I would much rather go down there & sink or swim with the rest of our lads. I’m certain that once the old Colonials get into the line again they will check his run; at any rate he will know he has been fighting by the time he finishes with them. She is some fight alright & the Germans are trying to make a finish of it for once & for all.

  There’s one thing I am very pleased to see & that is in a terrible crisis like this everyone is still confident of the final issue & things are going on in the same old way. Nobody looks downcast or gloomy but all have a smile on their face as if it was a mere nothing. The things most discussed are the long-range gun of the Germans & sports.

  The French people think we are very funny. I was talking to a lady this afternoon & one of the things she said she was most struck with in the Australians was their utter disregard of the war or the terrible disasters that had overtaken the British Armies. She said she thought such a thing would have a depressing effect on us, for we have to go back to the trenches & we never knew when our turn would come & we may have to go through the same ordeal as what the troops on the Somme are. I told her the devil-may-care air was natural to the Australians & nothing ever damped their spirits, nor they never met trouble halfway. We are interesting to the French people round here for we are the first Australians that they have ever seen, & they like our free & easy ways.

  27th March. Great rumours are still flying round about the great battle down south. I was talking to a motor driver who has been running troops for all he was worth between here & Arras. He was telling me that in some sectors during the great fight they had to relieve the machine gunners every half hour owing to the frightful slaughter they were doing in the enemy’s ranks, the strain of killing men was so great on their nerves.

  28th March. Things seem to be in a very tangled state round this part of the front. They have got some of our Light Horse & New Zealand mounted men holding portions of it, & men are being raked up from practically everywhere. They had a lot of gas this time in the line & nearly all the lads are talking a little hoarse & husky. Quite a number are now safely in Blighty.

  1st April. Just before we went to bed last night down came the Captain with the news that we would be moving at 10 o’clock in the morning. What a rush set in then, trying to get as much straightened up over night as possible.

  We were taken as far as Reninghelst in the light railway trains, passing through Dickebusch, Ouderdom & another little village. I was very surprised to notice how close to the fighting area the Belgian farmers have come; they have crops growing & looking real well almost into Dickebusch itself. Taking a line from what happened down south they are taking a risk of losing all.

  On arriving at our destination we marched about a mile & pulled up in a rough little camp. There was a bit of excitement while we were getting the m
en into their quarters: 3 of Fritz’s planes came over quite low. I made sure they would empty a belt or two into us for we must have been a tempting target, however machine gun fire drove him off. Then all of a sudden there was a stir in the Heavens & 3 of our planes came tearing up & by a pretty piece of manoeuvring they cut one of them off & drove him down almost over our heads. There was great excitement as we watched our planes driving him down. Once he looked as if he was going to get away, but one of our small fighting machines got into position above the Fritz & jockeyed him down to the ground, where we saw him fall among a belt of trees to the right of our camp.

  4th April. Today we got orders that we were moving tomorrow for the Somme & that we were hopping in for our cut at the earliest opportunity, so there will be a few of the lads missing in a week or so, worse luck.