marina Posted 3 August , 2005 Share Posted 3 August , 2005 Marina, The part about the foliage after all the gas always got me, maybe the author in him made him look at things that others totally missed. Certainly, I can never recall such being relayed before. The gas effects struck me too. Writers do stand a little aside and look on- I think a part of them is always non-participant and busy recording things which other people may not notice. What a shock (pleasnat) it must havebeen to go to lovely Oxford after the front line! He can have as many books as he likes. Marina <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2005 29th December, 1916. Robert left Waterloo at 11.55 a.m. for Southampton, crossed that night and reached Havre next day. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2005 31st December, 1916. Infantry Base Depot, Havre. As you will see from above I am posted to another Batt., which means only that is the one I go to when I go into the line. In the mean-while I am here in quite a pretty place among a pack of lads whom I don't know from Adam for the most part. We had the usual quaintness in crossing; arrived in Southampton, where the M.L.O. took about fourty times as long over his job as was necessary. We were then despatched in the rain to a dirty boat (good enough to breed rabbits in) and then told we had just an hour to go into town and get a meal. When we got back within the hour, we found that the boat was not starting, so all the valises had to be carted to another boat, about half a mile away, and we got off at about 9 o'clock. Crowds of people, some of whom slept in the gangway. I luckily secured a cabin (without berths or door - both had been taken down for some unknown reason) and offered half to a pleasant doctor-captain. An under steward offered to rent me his own cabin for the small sum of 25s., which I refused, and should like to have the authority to shoot him. Am quite a believer in Mothersill, as I took two doses and never felt a qualm, though it was rough and many people ill. Breakfast on the boat half-a-crown. Profit about 200 per cent - why? Went off at Havre with the two lads - who insisted on breakfasting at the officer's club that one of them had visited before when taking out a draft - in preference to a French Hotel! After which we came here by train. Brilliant criticisms of the French nation on the way by one lad who has spent one day in France. Am in a hut with a man named Barrett - brother of Roper Barrett and up at St. John's with Howard. Didn't we meet in Dorsetshire once? Have a quite excellent temporary servant. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2005 1st January, 1917. My kit arrived and I slept in the Jigger (Jaeger) blanket and it was very pleasant. Marched up in the rain this morning and then down again at the terrible hour of 8am (breakfast at 7.30) which does not suit me. But the idea of making things uncomfortable for the inferior people seems very dear to the heart of those who do not take part in the discomforts. However, it doesn't make much odds for a few days - after which, of course, discomforts become necessities, and for that reason much more tolerable. I don't expect to be for very long. Am by months the senior subaltern. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2005 2nd January, 1917. It has been drizzling steadily for most of two days. Yesterday I went a walk with Barrett and a pleasant Rugby boy. Had cafe at a dirty little estaminet with some French soldiers in it. I am going to be inoculated to-day or tomorrowand shall take a day or two off doing nothing, though I don't suppose it will affect me any more than last time. Food desperately bad on the whole but nobody to worry about it. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2005 3rd January, 1917. Have just been inoculated. The doctor, a Canadian, told me that he found men between 35 and 40 couldn't stick the trenches ! Am just beginning to get a little stiff from the bougs, but have fourty-eight hours off. Met a pleasant man; he has been in Canada a good deal, and says that when he was very ill he read Mr Faviel and it made him delirious for three nights. I don't know if this is a compliment or not. So far I might just as well have been on leave in England, as I have not done one single thing. It continues to drizzle. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2005 4th January, 1917. This is so far the second day of inoculation and I've had no sensations but a slight stiffness of the chest, so I don't think I'm likely to be any the worse for it. As it has been raining steadily for three days I am rather glad to be off all parades and setting in a hut ante-room which, while the bulk of the youths is away, is quite peaceful. The only annoyance is that I might just as well have had another week with you. One doesn't feel much nearer the trenches than before, and it's mostly as unreal as at Minster. I pass the time reading novelettes abandoned by the other officers and chatting and occasionally playing bridge for money! Have lost 70 centimes, si far - there's extravagance! 2pm - Just before lunch Howard Elliott and two other gunners walked into our mess by mistake, having just arrived from England. I gave them drinks and gathered you were well. Their mess is almost next door, so I may see him again if we are both here for a few days. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2005 Howard Elliott was an officer in the R.F.A. and Roberts cousin. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2005 5th January, 1917. I am afraid that after this there will be a small gap in the letters, as I start for the Line to-night. I have made two voyages to Havre - one yesterday afternoon with B. to see the sea front, which is really rather fine, and one this morning with Barrett and Scoville to have a very good hot bath and dejuener. I believe it takes at least fourty eight hours to get up. Luckily it has turned dry, if colder, and the roads have become roads again instead of mud soup. Howard Elliott has just been in to announce that he is going by the same train - so we may travel as far as Rouen together. I think our selection of goods for the front was excellent, and I can't think of anything I want beyond. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2005 7th January, 1917. Having started on Friday have arrived at our back lines without a cold, which is rather good. The Batt. is in the trenches, but comes out shortly: as a result we have not met any of the important officers yet. I am very near where I was last time and glad of it, as here the spring should come earliest. I might even come across your Telephoniste Francais. Shan't be in the trenches for some days. The scene of writing is an enormous and cold hut containing about thirty officers - outside, a sea of mud. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 3 August , 2005 Share Posted 3 August , 2005 Vivid as ever. Why on earth did they have to pay anything on the boat! he should have shot the steward - just winged him! About the doord beig off cabins - I remember my father telloing me thta in the lsdst war, on the trains thye used ot take the doors off to sleep on because the carriuages were so corwded. Same thing maybe? marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 4 August , 2005 9th January, 1917. There isn't much news. Have spent two days almost entirely in a large hut about four times the size the size of our long barn - without windows - and one brazier to warm it. We really are too stupid at making ourselves comfortable as circumstances permit. This is an out-of-the-trenches camp and should be really comfortable, but no. Outside a sea of mud as far as the eye can see - not so deep, perhaps, as the Flanders mud, but less diversified by buildings or hop poles. A Service Batt. has much less grand notions of comfort even than a Regular one; and personally I should have sacked the staff a long time ago. The food - wug! The officers have just turned up - some quite pleasant, I think, the remainder very young and temporary, but all very friendly. The Adjutant is a trifle junior to me, I think, in the Army, and probably about 20. Haven't seen the C.O. yet or a servant. The weather is not very chic - bitly wind and rain. I almost think it would be well to send out my old tunic - the one I was hit in. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 4 August , 2005 11th January, 1917. The Jaeger blanket is very nice and I don't know what I should do without it, as it is bitly cold. Had a bayonet practice yesterday and a ride on a most charming small horse, who kept bolting for about twelve miles. It is unfortunately the A horse, not B. I can't quite see the Service Batt. in comparison with the Regular. They haven't nearly as good an idea of making themselves comfortable, feed and live like pigs, and don't get any work out of the servants. Same with the N.C.O.'s I should fancy, but that remains to be seen. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 4 August , 2005 Share Posted 4 August , 2005 I wou;dn't go near the old tunic he got hit in - superstition! Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 4 August , 2005 12th January, 1917. Am renewing my acquaintance with dug-outs, and such just as bad as ever - and the mud as deep as I've seen it. I like the Coy. officers, what I've seen of them, and think I am probably lucky in that respect. I doubt if any of them have been out as long as I have; but that's the way it goes. The Coys. are occupied now: a couple of months ago nobody to command them, so I get left again. I don't really mind. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 4 August , 2005 15th January, 1917. Just a line to say very fit. Post just going. Will write more to-night - probably. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 4 August , 2005 16th January, 1917. Can't write very much now. Have a rather bestje sore throat, but otherwise very fit, and the throat is not to be wondered at, for conditions of damp, dirt, and absence of fuel are a good deal worse than I have seen. Like the people of the Coy. very well, and the front seems very fairly cushy - and if only the warm weather would come things would be much improved. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 4 August , 2005 17th January, 1917. My throat is so sore that I cannot eat or smoke; and you know the complete misery that is bound to ensue and how it prevents long or nice letters being written. I dare say it will be better to-morrow - if not, I shall have to find a M.O. to give me some cough lozenges. I lay all packed in my valise yesterday, but took a short walk this morning for a change, in about a foot of snow. Not very good for the trenches when it melts. A parcel from Frdk. and May - very fine raisins and short-bread and mints: he must be stopped. Its's very nice of Milliken to want me on the staff, but no-one else does. I think the point is that as long as one can, ine can't arrange a cushy job for oneself, though if one offered it's rather different. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 4 August , 2005 The Milliken rferred to in the last letter was Lieut. H.E. Milliken, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, a friend of the Isle of Sheppey days. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 4 August , 2005 18th January, 1917. Back in the large damp hut, still with rather a sore throat, but otherwise going fairly strong. I don't think I should have got this but the O.C. of the Coy. is one of those sort of people who don't seem to mind if they have warmth or not. The consequence is that the first two days and nights we sat in a dripping dug-out without a fire, while four boxes of matches went sodden in my pockets and the servants enjoyed two braziers. Then in an excess of energy he insisted on cutting up wet wood for us, so that asphyxiation came very nigh. But he is quite a nice fellow. There has been heavy snow and I'm afraid a lot of men will be done in by the weather. The fuel allowance should be trebled and it seems instead to be halved. I should say that for discomfort this part of the front takes the cake, from what I've seen, nor does a Service Batt. know how to look after itself as well as a Regular. Many of the things we do and don't do would make the hair of the 3rd Batt. stand on end. Tell Frdk. I will write something, but find it very difficult here. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 4 August , 2005 19th January, 1917. I am sorry that the letter took so long, but I think they are more erratic from here. To-day, for instance, I received three of yours, after getting none. I'm in my valise reading and writing this - still with my throat very sore and my voice practically gone. A valise is the only place, because out of bed it's impossible to keep warm in this barn, with snow on the ground and freezing going on; but valises are no good for writing in and I hope you don't find my letters too dull for words. The fact is, the light and the cold supress me rather more than usual: it is too cold to sharpen a pencil properly. I haven't meant to grouse, but what with being too sore to smoke and so forth, you know that I wouldn't be at my friskiest. I am eating the creme de menthes you sent me, which are very good and soothing. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 4 August , 2005 Share Posted 4 August , 2005 he does sound miserasble, doesn't he? No wonder - January and snow and a throat thing. I found myself wishing he'd take the staff job instead of being brave... Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 5 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 5 August , 2005 21st January, 1917. I put the 19th on my last, but I think it must have been nearer 21st ! Anyway to-day, which is the next day, is Sunday. My throat is getting better. It is freezing away. The Jigger blanket is just invaluable, and I wear Aunt Fanny's scarf round my head, and between them I manage to keep warm. Sorry - won't publish my poem "To F.G.S." Their letter is absurd. A poem is a poem and they don't get one once in six months - still there you are. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 5 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 5 August , 2005 23rd January, 1917. Just a line to say going very well. No letters from you for two days, but the first parcel of tabac. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 5 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 5 August , 2005 24th January, 1917. I am much annoyed because I only wrote you a postcard yesterday and that hasn't been posted. I have been left behind in the damp hut with my sore throat, which the M.O. refers to as laryngitis. It's getting better all the time now, and I get out of the front line with it, which is not so bad in this awful cold weather. Last night was probably the coldest since the war started -20 deg. of frost, I should think, and a bitly wind blowing, and to-night promises to be as cold. Very miserable for the men, but I believe when they come out we have a long rest somewhere. I slip in and out of my valise fro meals ! It's much warmer in it than anywhere else - with my two waistcoats (your Jaeger one and the new deerskin one that Lily gave me) on, and my fur lining and my trench coat and my blanket on top, and Aunt Fanny's scarf and Frdk's Balaclava helmet on my head. One youth here, quite a pleasing cross between an eel and a monkey; very young, but might be 40-50 so blase, and wins contentedly at Poker. What a race we are rearing and killing. I think my servant is a very decent sort of youth, and he certainly has been most attentive. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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