15.9.1917
Dear Mother
As we have a few hours off today I had better drop you a few lines as it is some time since I wrote. There is not much I can tell you in the way of news except that I am still going strong. It is just a year today since the Rifle Bgde kicked off down the Somme, & we have had a few exciting times during
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that time. If I can strike as good luck for the next 12 months I should be pretty right. You would be surprised at the number of men I have seen come & go since I joined the Battn in Egypt. I believe there is a chance of Charlie Collins going back to N.Z. with his knee. I think I told you he had run something into it & the old trouble came on again. I met Joe Smith out of Hargest’s a few days ago, he
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is in a Canterbury Coy. Ernie Blackwood has joined up with Auckland but I have not had a chance of meeting him yet but will write him tonight. We are having a pretty easy time just now but don’t know how long it will last. Your last parcel hasn’t come yet but there is still plenty of time. I told Maisie I was sending her a ring made out of pieces of shells, well I posted it some little time ago so it should arrive before this.
Love to All
Len
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P.S. A N.Z. mail has just come in & I have landed a good batch of letters including yours of July 6th No 33, & one from May dated Jly 18th but not numbered. Am glad the cable got through in good time. You will have got my letters by now & will know that I was in England when the actual advance was made, although I was with the Coy. during months of preparation right up to within a few days of the stunt, & was back in time to help consolidate our new position. I was not sorry to miss the advance as my recollection of our last push were not too pleasant, but this time it was a walk over & our casualties
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were very light for the day. You asked about our Coy. well it was right in it, other Coys took the 1st two lines & ours pushed through them & swept on to the 3rd line on top of the ridge & dug in just beyond it. Later in the day others went through us & right down the off slope, settling down about 1000 yds past Messines. Our Coy. front was part of the ruins of Messines & from there along the ridge to the left. Of course you will think of it as street fighting but it is nothing of the sort as the whole town is blown to pieces with our shells. You can’t tell where the streets were & the whole village looks more like so many acres of dredge tailings than anything else. Closer inspection reveals all sorts of smashed up furniture & household goods. Messines now is only a name the few bricks that are left will soon be used up for roadmaking etc. & the place will be forgotten by all except those whose especial interest
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has been centred here. I am glad you are saving what you can of the war pictures. I see nearly all of the English illustrated papers in the Y.M. & often wish I could cut out some of the pictures & send them home. I sent home a good few of the official p.c’s when I was in London & hope you got them alright. I thought they had gone down with the Mongolia but I believe now that she sailed about the day I got to London so that my mail would go with a later boat. I am glad the badges got home alright & am waiting anxiously to hear that Mrs Bagrie has received her parcel. I think I posted both parcels together.
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May seems to be doing alright at photography. She will find the gaslight paper very much quicker than the P.O.P & now that she has had a little experience she should be able to manage it alright but it takes considerable practice to get the best results with it. She will find M.Q (Methyl Quinol) developer the best for alround work. It is also good for plates but doesn’t give them as much contrast as Pyro-Soda so that they often give poor prints on P.O.P. Have never used Rytol but it is not a popular dev. & is rather expensive. There are dozs of devs, each good for special kinds of work but M.Q is the best alround. Hope to get more samples soon. Enclosing a couple of snaps I have just got from Elsie, don’t you think she is like Averil.
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P.S. That brass buckle that May mentioned is suppose to be off a French chakasur’s (can’t spell it) equipment, the other two buckles are Bavarian.
