I am getting through this very slowly and I dont think somehow it will get finished.
There is one man who deserves great praise for work between in October & that is General Birdwood. He got a very bad name indeed especially with the infantry because he allowed the Australians to be pushed in time after time while on single English unit made the slightest attempt to do their bit. When Birdwood brough in the 1st Anzac Corps and took over the chief most important portion of the front, everything was at a standstill. After the Capture of Pologon Wood the heavies were too far back & being English cowards werent keen on moving forward. The light railway people when wanted to push their lines forward just sat back and said impossible. Birdwood connected up his office with the head light railway officer by phone & wouldnt let him rest for a moment. Before a year that officer had never been seen outside Poperinghe – except when it was shelled – Birdwood so worried him that he went up forward daily. He worried everyone until they had to move their old stove pipes forward & it was his energy that enable us to hang on.
Our drivers were wonderful. Every day along those roads. Our men worked without any supervision. They were told so many trips to the battery and every man did his whole trips. We used to allow them to choose their own time & work together in pairs. Each driver filled up the first time at the dump and then as long as he delivered his loads no questions were asked as to where he got it. There was so much lying about that sufficient could be salved. In this way we saved many casualties. Now the Tommy or Royal Artillery discovered something in some Antideluvian drill book. They used to form up in parties of 40 or 50 and proceed to cart ammunition. They always used to have an officer in rear to see they all did their work properly but as soon as a shell would come near the officer would vanish & very soon all those Royal drivers would be all over the country, mostly on foot with ammunition going everywhere. Our diggers used to follow these parties & as soon as that happened as it did every time we got the ammunition. Drivers to my knowledge the driver of this battery being pushed for time got wedged in the traffic behind some Tommy ammunition waggons. They had emptied pack & just opened the back of the Tommies waggons & filled up their packs. The Tommies would have arrived through the barrage with empty waggons, hurray. Once a Tommy battery had evacuated their position as they were being shelled – the cowards – about 50 of our drivers passed on their way back for more ammo, saw the opportunity & took it & when that battery returned – they should never have gone away, most of their ammunition was gone. Good oh.
I have seen a body of diggers arrive at full gallop & pinch ammunition from a battery in action. The greatest recorse was shown but our drivers and we were certain that all we had to say was so many round wanted before such a time and every round was there before that time. We had great difficulty in getting stores, sandbags camouflage etc. The Tommies used to be able to get so much that they did not know what to do with it all. We used to relieve their minds of the strain – We always got what we wanted although the Tommy authorities wouldnt give it to us. But up to date we have never pinched a Tommy battieries guns or men – unlawfully. That is an honour to come.
I was only down at the waggon line a few hours when we heard of the decision of the heads that the 1st DA was to weak physically & numerically to remain in action. And it was decided to keep only one brigade in the line. Our brigade was to be pulled out to Dickiebusch for a fortnights spell, and then was to go back and releive the 2nd brigade. The next day the battery pulled out. It was a wonderful relief to everyone to know that there was no one up there but Dickiebusch was not place for a rest, it was nearly as bad as forward although we were lucky in having several nights of very bad weather. But everyone was done. In the three months fighting the battery lost two majors two captains 17 lieutenants and 319 others. When we pulled out there were for NCO the OMS two corporals just back from hospital and three bombardiers. Not an officer or NCO could speak a word or walk half a mile owing to gas. We were up to strength in horses & had about two horses to every man including NCO & gunners & had to mount gunners in the teams to move. After a few days at Dickiebusch we got the glorious news that the Corps was being pulled out. That meant we would go back for another spell. As we were half out we had to move first and got orders to at daylight next morning. That was the 14th November. The two brigades went into Dickiebusch in the 27th July virtually as they left Australia in 1914. They came out in November as completely changed as if they had gone back to Australia been discharged and re recruited.
Only one battery Commander – Major Selmes DSO and two lieutenants of all the officers who went in with the Division marched out again. The infantry had a rough time too, but they as They had heavier casualties at Posieres & Bullecourt but they disliked the Ypres Stunts more, chiefly because they scarcely saw a Hun the whole time and because we knew so well that the German casualties were so small as to be almost neglig nil. We were beaten out and out, the biggest set back the British troops have had in their war. Far worse than the failure to gain any decision on the Somme.
One of the greatest factors towards knocking the spirit out of our troops was the failure of the Air Saviour – also Fritz used gas day & night killing hundreds of thousands while we were scarcely allowed to fire a round back. A few heavies would fire 50 rounds in reply to a million rounds of all calibres rained down on us. You heard them and you still hear of our men saying, we will go through anything stick the very worst of the Germans can do it only they would let us use gas shells but even to this day our knock kneed authorities wont let us have gas shells. This has more to do with knocking out our troops than anything else. The English Governments policy is sacrifice on our own men, if we can save the lives of a few Germans. We wouldnt have had so many men going to hospital if we had had gas shell as they would have stuck anything to get some of our own back.
All that is probably news to you.
Another thing that had rather a depressing effect was the constant feeling that we were Australians, therefore people to live in the front line but not to be allowed into the back areas, not to be allowed to mix with the earths best. Socially inferior to all other peoples – outcasts. This is exactly how we were treated. The numerical superiority of the English enabled them to do this with ease. When you went back even only to Poperinghe – there you found the English officers but non up rear the line. They used to get special leave often & anything they should happen to want. Indeed this has been an east war for the English.
The direct result of this struggle was the English rout on the Somme in March ’18. The official casualty lists have never been published for the scrap but I have heard on good authority that they were about 300,000 killed, and 2,000,000 wounded and more or less gassed. That may be too big a figure but I think it somewhere approaches the truth. The Germans may have lost 100,000 in total casualties. Why? Because the German command’s greatest idea is to save men. When we had one standbag to protect us from everything the Germans had all of them concrete ‘pill-box’ that would withstand any fire. When our bombardment would open they withdrew all the men they could and the rest were peacefully safe in the pill boxes. The numbe The total result was very little for us for the expeditions. You can hardly unimagine the Germans doing such a silly thing. The whole British strategy is advance within range of your guns, give the enemy time to withdraw & get ready for you then have another go. 1000 yards gain is worth to (two) million lives. No Englishman can thing (think) big.
This is the end of the letters we have in the family’s possession.
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