France
8/10/16.
Dear Everybody,
Since writing you last I have seen a good deal of France, & a little of Belgium. Am again detached from the squadron & now doing Traffic Control Duty in two towns just behind the lines. Under existing conditions in the squadron & regiment, I am not a little sorry to be away from them, & there are a number of officers there who would like to have the same opportunity for getting away as I have got. I have under me here one subaltern & 65 men & am more or less my own boss. We are directly responsible for the carrying out of our various duties, to the Provost Marshal of the 2nd Army. I can not tell you my exact locality, but can give you a few hints which on a good scale map ought to give you a pretty good idea of my whereabouts. I will also send a P.C. in another envelope giving a view of the town which I will refer to in this epistle. This particular town I am not billeted in but am within a mile & a half of it, running parallel to the line of trenches. Where I am billeted is a small village through which the bulk of traffic up to the lines has to pass, hence my job. We are considerably closer to the trenches here than where the squadron is billeted, only at most 2 miles from the front line. To say that we are within the shell swept
[Page 2]
zone is putting it mildly. Now then take the map & observe where the trenches cut the boundry between Belgium & France, near a pretty big town in front of which is a considerable salient in the trenches. I mean we have a considerable salient pushed into German lines. Well then, my job takes me right into that salient & into the town also. From where the trenches cut the Belgian Frontier, to where I am billeted is only about a couple of miles due south. got me. The town mentioned is shelled practically every day, & very often at night, & the country around where I am, is frequently shelled, particularly when Fritz is sending a few over in an endeavour to locate some British guns which are dotted about the fields in & around here, & which have been giving him little time for resting this last week. We have had some rare old straffs lately, & at any old time of the day. It is a great sight t night when they start. Just the night before last, Friday 6th, I was awakened by the sound of a gun being fired, it was a 12in Howtz only about 150 yds from my window, & it shook the house much worse than any earthquake I have ever felt. Well that was the signal for an hours bombardment, & they went at it hammer & tongs which guns of all calibres. This was about 2 o’clock in the morning, & it was after 3 before they quietened down again. My old 12in friend was putting in a shot every 2 minutes.
[Page 3]
I got up to have a look, & there is no mistake it is a great sight, & if one could only get rid of the knowledge of the destruction & death that it causes he could appreciate it from a spectacular point of view. Immediately the guns begin to speak the Germans fire what is called Very Lights, these are flares that shoot into the air like rockets & burst into a huge flame, descending very slowly. This enables them to see clearly all that is going on in the ground between their trenches & ours. When you read in the papers of the night raids that are being carried out every night you will realise that it is against such things as these that the party going out have to face. They very often go over the parapet & will get three parts of the way over the intervening ground when up goes one of these darned things & their whole dispositions are revealed. Then of course there is nothing else for it but to get up & make a dash for it. On the whole it is surprising how few casualties there are in one of these affairs; there seems to be only one way for accounting for it & that is because of the extreme jumpiness of the German soldiers. With the intermittent bombardments they are subjected to now-a-days, they are kept constantly on the watch & never know from which quarter the raid is going to come from. Hence the value of having what is termed the offensive in the trenches, the enemy has to accept battle wherever
[Page 4]
we choose to make it. He on this front has not he man power to enable him to assume it. Just a week ago today I had a stroll round the front line in a sector of the aforementioned salient but never a Bosche did I see. Our division is still on the Somme, & has been responsible for many glorious deeds. Many of our old O.M.R. officers who transferred to the infantry have gone out, & some under. We are expecting them back in this quarter soon, they have been down there for about a month now, & have done some very hard fighting. I am looking forward to seeing Lt Hargest when they come up, he, so far as we know at present, has managed to pull through all right. My letters are all reaching me all right over here, are coming through the squadron. The parcel sent & supposed to reach me for 19th September has not arrived yet, however I am not giving up hopes, they are always a great deal longer in coming to hand than letters. Last letters received and dated 31/7/16 – 7/8/16. Strange to say the one dated 7/8/16 reached me a week before the one dated 31/7/16. They certainly must have come by different routes. In your letter Mary, you spoke of Lottie having just left that day for Timaru, so I guess she must have been down for a holiday before taking over her new duties. I do hope she will like it as well as the Private nursing.
[Page 5]
You also wrote of mud & snow. Well unless the mud is much worse than my recollections of it, it is not a patch on what we have to put up with here. The roads are simply covered with slush about a couple of inches deep, & when these great lorries pass you you get your full share of it. Of snow we can not yet speak, but I have no doubt that before the winter is over we will have had our share of that too. I would like just to get a glimpse of those rare old Takitimos you speak of, with a good old frosty sunny morning gleaming on them. Of all I have seen I have not see anything to beat the beauty of that yet. England Scotland France & Egypt all have their beauties, but our own little country has many natural beauties that far exceeds them all. (The guns are beginning to speak again). I would someday to have an opportunity of comparing our natural scenery with that of Switzerland, there I daresay we might get something of natural grandeur, to compare with the snow capped peaks of N.Z. Of the bush we need not write for I have not yet seen anything that it would be fair to compare with it. One can not live in a country such as this & not realize fully the many benefits & opportunities we have in our little Island Home. Yet these are a marvellous people, here they are toiling away here seemingly quite happy, right up to within a few hundreds
[Page 6]
yards of our trenches. There is hardly a day goes by but what there is one or two of them killed. One can not help but admire their spirit. The people I am billeted with are really very nice, certainly much cleaner in their habits than the majority. They provide me with a very decent room, a good bed, do all my washing cooking, & mend my clothes if they want it. For the room & the bed the Gov. pay them 1 Franc. per day. for the washing & mending, the latter so far is nil, & the cooking I pay them myself. I give them my rations & supply what extras I want, & they simply do the cooking. To be ale to be billeted like this, is the great advantage of this front over the Peninsula. One feels as if he has room to breath here. Now for your letter Annie, dated 8/10/16. I see you write of having been up to see Aunt Jeannie, & that George Wilson was just going down to Rothie but went back with you. I wonder when he went into camp, & what reif. is he coming with? Do let me know what Aunty is going to do, both Kate & I wondered if she would go down to Rothie, I am sure she would be much happier with you than with any of her own. I would like to have a talk with her for a few minutes. I have sent both she & George P.C.s & letters but have never heard from either; but please don’t tell the poor old soul. You also say that you were expecting Charl down for his final leave in a few days. Such
[Page 7]
being so I suppose he will by this time be on the water. I don’t think he will get past Egypt, that is if he is still in the Mtd. However he will be considerably better off there for the winter, than he would be over here, & there is no saying but what he will get a lot of interesting work there too. I can’t imagine old Calva in anybody’s else’s hands. I suppose it will be like a new pin when we get back again. How are Papa etc enjoying the retired farmers life. You did not say anything more in your letter about young Thompson having left, but I suppose he is off all right. I haven’t any idea how long this Traffic Control job will last, & I don’t mind either so long as the regt. does not show more signs of activity than it has since I landed here. I am doing considerably more here than I would be if I were with them, & so long as they don’t go into action I am more or less pleased to be here. I would still like to be quit of the whole lot of them, but don’t think that is possible in the meantime. Needless to say I am enjoying perfect health & in the best of form. Oh I had a letter from George Menzies the other day, & was pleased to hear he had landed so well. He seems to be settling down again all right. over
[Page 8]
How is old Hector going along, is he still in the little old, or new hut. Tell the old fellow I was asking for him. What about Henry McNeil has he made his fond farewell yet. By jove! he has got some eye openers in front of him. There will have to be considerably less argument about him now. Well well I must be off. Perhaps this time next year, instead of writing of our doings here we may be able to talk them over eh! At anyrate we are now quite convinced of the trend of the war & it is only a matter of time until the thing is finished. However there are still some hard fights in front of us yet, but each one will mark a bigger step toward the goal we are all looking forward to. Au Revoir for the Present.
Your Affect
Brother
E. S. McI.
Address
Otago Mtd Rfls.
2nd Anzac Corp Troops
N.Z.E.F in full
B.E.F.
France
