Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War (19 page)
Read Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War Online
Authors: Bill Lamin
Tags: #World War I, #Autobiography, #Personal Memoirs
16th to 19th at GRENAZZA. In spite of very inclement weather, training was carried on continuously.
19th Battn moved to FARA area using the mountain mule tracks. Battn in billets by 3 p.m. having moved off at 8.45 a.m.
20th Battn moved off at 9.30 a.m marching to camp at VILLA VERLA. Battn in camp at 1 p.m.
21st Battn moved off at 9.45 a.m. and marched to billets at GRUMO taking the route over the mountains from ISOLA VICENTINA – Very heavy rainstorm during the whole
of the march but the Commanding Officer arranged for fires to be lighted in all billets on arrival & special drying rooms were allocated in addition so that all men and their clothes were
thoroughly dried and no ill effects were experienced. Arrived in billets at 5.30 p.m.
This would not have been an easy trek. The battalion set out in the mountains, its destination on the plains below Mount Grappa. The weather would have made the march very
challenging, although the fires and ‘drying rooms’ at journey’s end would have been welcome. The ‘mountains’ on the route from Isola Vicente to Grumo are modest in
comparison to the terrain the men had left. In his next letter, Harry describes some of the discomforts the battalion had undergone. He had also had news, which I think he had expected for some
time, about his father.
April 22nd 1918
32507/9th Batt Y & L Regt., C. Company,
12 Platoon L.G.S.
Dear Jack
I am sorry I have not been able to write to you lately but we have been on a fresh front on the Asiago Plateau it was different altogether from the Piave. We went up the
mountain first time in motor cars
[lorries]
as far as we could get. When we was on the plains it was very hot but when we got to the trenches it was knee deep in snow and freezing. After we had
been up a bit it started to rain, we got wet through time after time. There was nothing doing only patrols we had a rough time now and again, we had to do outpost duty, we should be about two
hundred yards in front of our own wire, you can bet what it was like out there in the rain and snow but we are down on the plains now and I am in the best of health. By the time you get this
letter I shall have been out here
[i.e. on active service abroad, not out in Italy]
12 months altogether. I was rather upset to hear that father is dead. I had a letter from Ilkeston
[presumably from Ethel]
telling me that he had died April 7th. I have not been able to send any letters for about three weeks so they will wonder where I have got too. I am pleased you keep
writing to me, I hope you are both keeping in the best of health. We don’t seem to be getting on very well with the war in France
[by now, the Ludendorff Offensive, which had been
launched on 21 March, had made huge inroads against the British and French armies in Belgium and France]
it would not surprise me if some of our chaps dont have to go back. Write back as
soon as you can and let me know all the news you can. I suppose you have had the Zepps
[bombing raids by German airships, generally known as ‘Zeppelins’]
around your way
again. I hope they are all keeping well at Ilkeston. I have met one or two fellows from Ilkeston and one from Kimberly
[Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, not far from Ilkeston]
in our
battalion. I will write again soon I don’t think we shall go up the mountains when we go in the trenches again, it does seem strange to be up above the clouds, I can tell you we see some
fine sights, you would like to be here in peace time for a holiday. I am going to write to Kate now.
With best Love to you both.
Harry
The letter to Jack of 22 April 1918.
The battalion war diary does make some occasional mention of the rain and snow, but on the whole the troops took such things in their stride. A ‘rough time’ is
Harry’s gentle way of saying that there has been some significant military action.
The paper Harry used this time is rather different. On the front is printed ‘FOR SCRIBBLING OR NOTES ONLY’, on the reverse, ‘Question . . . . . . Write only on this side of the
paper, and not on either margin.’ Presumably, Jack, the former schoolmaster, had sent him some old examination answer sheets.
At about this time, one of the four other divisions that had travelled with 23rd Division from Flanders in the autumn returned there to strengthen the Allied defence against the devastating
German offensive that had already won significant gains. Harry may have heard about that and been a little concerned that the 23rd might be ordered to follow – not a welcome prospect.
April 26th/4/1918
32507/9th Batt York & Lancs Regt., C Company,
12 Platoon L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Kate
Just a line to let you know that I am going on alright and that I am in good health. I had a letter from Ilkeston telling me about dad, I was very sorry to hear it but it
as been wonderful how he as kept up. The weather here as been very changeable just lately plenty of rain but we have had it hot now and again. We can get plenty to eat were we are just now,
such as fruit and eggs. The scenery is also very pretty. did you get over to Ilkeston, if you did, how long did you stop. I have had a letter from Jack and he told me that Mr Thomas’s
eldest son had been killed in Palestine that is the second son he has lost it is very hard lines and I was sorry to hear it. They were both officers. one was in the West Riding’s Batt
[a Territorial battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment].
There is only one son left but he is only about 17½ years
[in most cases, the minimum age for
the armed services was eighteen].
I have put a letter for you in Ethels envelope I hope you get it alright, let me know if you get it. Write every week if you can, it does not matter if it is only just a
line or two.
With Best Love
Harry
April 30th 1918
32507/ 9th Batt Y & L., C. Company,
12 Platoon L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
I am writing a few lines to you hoping that you are both in good health. It is a long time since I wrote to you till this week so I expect you will get two letters at
about the same time
[in fact, his last letter to Jack had been sent eight days earlier].
I should be pleased if you will send me a small book on the Lewis Gun and one which I think is
called the soldier it gives you all information about guards, salutes and all army regulations etc. if you cant get one, send the best you can. I expect we shall have to do guards out here. I
think they are getting on a bit better at llkeston now
[after Harry’s father’s death].
I don’t know when I shall get a leave, all leave is stopped out here for a bit. I
hope you got that letter telling you I was amongst the snow and rain on the Asiago Plateau front, it did seem strange to be amongst the mountains for a month. I was very sorry to hear that Mr
Thomas’s son as got killed it is very sad. Write as often as you can as I cant get letters off very well when I am in the line.
With Best Love to you both
Harry
It seems a little strange, if commendable, that Harry should be asking for books about military procedure. I can understand his interest in a booklet about the Lewis gun, but I
am quite certain that, like most infantrymen, he wasn’t a fan of saluting and drills.
The war diary entry for the end of April closes the month with a wonderfully down-to-earth entry:
30th Sickness, Admissions to hospital were the LOWEST on record for the past SIX months. Sick parades have been above the average. The prevailing diseases being IMPETIGO
and BOILS.
At the end of April 1918 the battalion moved to new barracks at Arzignano, at the foot of the mountains about ten miles (16km) west of Vicenza, where it carried out intensive
training.
1–12
[May]
Battalion in billets at ARZIGNANO from 1st to the 12th. During this period training in hill fighting was carried on assiduously. A large field
opposite the H.Q. mess of the 9th York & Lancaster Regt. was leased. Col D S Rumbolt
[Rumbold]
of the 9th and Col Watford of the 8th York & Lancaster Regt defraying the expense.
The companies were able to drill and exercise, and during their stay, a highly successful inter Battalion Sports Meeting was held. All the men were bathed and supplied with complete
‘changes’
[of uniform and clothing]
at the Brigade Baths on two occasions. rifle ranges were constructed and all men practised in MUSKETRY. A special programme of work for
scouts was drawn up including five nights for weak
[
sic
]
night operations. A Recreation Room was established, games, concerts provided.
Still on the plains, the battalion was evidently short of space for training and so, amazingly, the CO and his opposite number from the 8th Battalion paid for the rent of a
field. I find this strange. I had assumed that the Army would, with British good manners, have simply apologized to the local inhabitants for the inconvenience, and taken what was needed to fight
the war.
May 8th 1918
32507/ 9th Batt Y & Lancs Reg., C Company,
12 Platoon L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
I have just received two letters and small packett I was very pleased with them. I hope you got my letters asking for a book or two, if so will you send them on as soon
as possible. I have had a letter from Ilkeston they are all getting on as well as can be expected, which I was very pleased to hear. I think Connie and Willie will miss grandad but they will
soon forget. We have had a lot of rain here lately, but when the sun does shine it is very hot, things in the gardens and fields are looking very well, you can see small bunches of grapes
forming on some of the vines already and I have seen one or two lemons on the trees, it must be fine to have a summer out here and see all the fruit ripen. I was very pleased that Mr Leverton
was at dad’s funeral it was very good of him. I think I will write a few lines to him.
With best love to you both
Harry
Near the end of the first fortnight of May, the battalion made its way on foot back up the mountains to the Asiago Plateau, where once again it took its turn in the line.
12th to 25th
[May]
Battalion in the line. New positions selected and constructed. Patrols – offensive and defensive – were sent out nightly; also
reconnaissance patrols. and much valuable information was gained with regard to the enemy’s work and disposition. In spite of this continuous activity, the Battalion was fortunate enough
to have NO casualties of any kind. About the middle of the month, a fever which had already attacked the 8th Battn, broke out and spread rapidly from Bn H.Q. to ‘B’ and
‘C’ Coys. then to ‘A’ Coy and finally to ‘D’ Coy. At no time dangerous, the illness was marked by sudden very high temperatures lasting from two to four days
followed by a period of lassitude from six to ten days. Isolative camps were established and every hut and bivouac thoroughly disinfected and fumigated. By the end of the month the sick list
was becoming normal. On the 15th of the month, the well which had been supplying washing and cooking water was reported to have run dry but the Commanding Officer immediately instituted extra
sections of water-carrying mules and practically no inconvenience was felt.
The war diary is clearly referring to an outbreak of influenza, for the ‘Spanish Flu’ epidemic was to be a horrible feature of the summer, and on through that year
and the next. The strain that was afflicting Harry’s battalion sounds quite mild – most unpleasant, however, in a trench environment. In the end, the pandemic was to kill some twenty
million people worldwide between 1918 and 1920. It was probably because the men of the battalion were by now extremely fit, and were not serving in the much harsher conditions of the Western Front,
that they escaped relatively lightly, for flu was to kill tens of thousands of soldiers in all the combatant armies in the dying months of the war. Harry’s next letter, however, makes no
mention of it.
May 21th
[
sic
]
1918
32507/ 9th Batt York & Lancs., C Company,
12 Platoon L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
I have received your letter and books alright. The small book is very handy as it does not take up much room. I thank you very much for sending them. I have just had a
letter from Kate and she is getting on alright. We are still in the same place only it is a bit warmer this time up, and not so quiet, but I am going on alright. You will see that we have a
Y.M. up here but it is only a very small one. If you dont get a letter from me every week, keep writing as it is very hard at times to get letters away. I did not see any processions at Easter
as we were in an out of the way place but there would be plenty no doubt. They go to church at all times here. I have seen them going at five in the morning and bells ringing at three. Every
body here seems to go to church regular. we see some strange sights out here, but the scenery is very pretty. I guess Willie would fancy himself when writing to you. I will write again as soon
as possible. I am please that you are both getting on alright and keeping well.
With best love
Harry
