France.
26/9/16
Dear Everybody.
Well I have had another shift since I wrote you last, & this time I have joined up with the squdn. We are pretty close up here only 5 miles behind the line. We can easily hear the rattle of the rifles & machine guns, & at times the noise of the guns is beyond description. Just before lunch today there was a great straff going on, it was just like one big long unending roll of thunder. Poor old Fritz was getting
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it pretty hot. Everyday we can hear a straff going on on some part of the line. Of aeroplanes we see heaps, & today there was rather an uninteresting air fight, the enemy plane being able to get back to its own lines unhurt. We have many fine sights at night, at times the sky is fairly lit up with the flash from guns & bursting shells, to say nothing of the Varey Lights. This morning I was wakened by a tremendous explosion that rattled the house, what it was I don’t know
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but a very heavy bombardment followed for about a couple of hours. When I say house, I suppose I must explain that we are in billets, & only fair ones at that. However I suppose we must be content & think we are pretty lucky in having a roof over our heads at all. Through it all we manage to run a pretty fair mess, & so long as we get 3 meals a day we need not grumble. Two Officers & 88 men went up to the trenches today, just left at 2:15 PM but to what part of the
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line we are not very sure. Out of the regt, that is the 2nd Anzac Corps Troops to which we belong, they have sent up 200 men & 6 officers, our Maj Jenkins being in command of them. This is the 2nd time they have had to do it now, & it is what we expect to do all winter. There are 3 of us left here with some 50 men & 150 horses to look after. Over & above the horses we have a bit of fatigue duty to do, & are trying to put up some buildings
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for the horses for the winter. Just a couple of days before I got here they had a couple of days good rain & really what a place for mud, talk about Geordie Hamilton’s in mid winter, well it was on a par, if it wasn’t worse. Needless to say we are going to make an attempt to have the place fixed up before the winter sets in properly. The country round here is very flat, & drainage is very bad, so that after
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a lot of heavy rain it takes some time to dry up. At the beginning of the war the Germans were right over this part of the country, & were billeted in the billets we are billeted in now. The other day Lieut Herbert & I went for a ride to a little town, which is only a mile behind the line, & well within range of enemy guns, & as we rode out we passed over some old enemy trenches, perhaps some of the first that were
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built at the beginning of the war. It was great to ride into the town, there were these wonderful French people working away the same as if there wasn’t a war on. As a matter of fact they are farming away just the same right up to within a quarter of a mile of the support trenches, & nothing seems to put them out. Taking the squadron as a whole there are not many of the old main-body men left in it, & it is not to be compared to the
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squadns. of the old O.M.R. we had in Egypt. However they are not a bad lot, & seeing that they have been on this same old game so long it is a wonder they are as keen as they are. It is a keen disappointment to those here now, that they were not allowed to go up to the trenches. However we are doing all we can to to allow every man to get an opportunity of having a shot at a German. Jack McIlwrick is here & looking very fit too, he is one of those just gone up to the trenches today.
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Of what our N.Z. division is doing on the Somme we hear very little. Today we hear that a big advance was made again yesterday, an advance of a mile in depth over a front of 6 miles. Then later tonight we have a signal message from H.Q. to the effect that the British troops are in Combles. This is a position we have been wanting for some time & one that will have far reaching effects in that particular sector. We are now looking & longing for the word that Thepival
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is in our hands also. When these two points are in British hands we can expect rapid developments on the Somme, until they are, they are a great menace to the safety of our forces operating in that salient. I have had some mail from Kate & from the Hoopers since coming over here, but none from N.Z. However I have not expected it to catch me up yet. My address now will be
Otago Mtd Rfls.
2nd Anzac Corps. Troops
N.Z.E.F
B.E.F
France.
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Well now I do not think there is much more I can say, I seem to have covered a good deal of paper & said nothing. I seem to have written dozens of letters since I came over here. I trust you will let Diack know of my whereabouts & what doing. I wonder where Charl is now, I am afraid he will not get past Egypt if he is still in the Mtd. However he will be much better off there for the winter than he would be over here. How is George Wilson
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getting on, he will have been in camp some time now. As I write the old house shakes with the explosion of some German heavies that are being landed somewhere on our lines near here. I trust the children will consider these letters are for them, & that they will keep on dropping me some letters. I do like to get theirs so much. Well, well! Au Rêvoir for the present.
Your
Affect. Brother
E.S. McI
