stiletto_33853 Posted 13 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 13 January , 2007 To his Mother. 3 p.m., Saturday, 28-5-17. ".........I am greeted with the news just received by wire from Division that I am to rejoin the 3rd R.B. In some ways I am glad, and should be very glad, but for the fact that I am not likely to be given a Coy. at present, as they have their arrangement of Coy. Commanders. There fore please write to me once more as 3rd R.B., B.E.F., and address me as Esq. ! I shall join them to-morrow. As far as I know I shall be permamently back with them, but I should have liked to be a Coy. Commander. This though I may find myself at once or very soon. I am extremely fit now again, and to-day more so than ever. .....................The General, Brigtade-Major and all here are very nice in regretting my departure. The horse I have been riding belongs to another Regiment. I am sending him back, and asking for a receipt, which is a necessary precaution in this land." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 13 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 13 January , 2007 Diary - May 27. "Left at 11 a.m. on Hill's horse for the R.B. who themselves move this morning to a farm about 2 miles S.W. of Poperinghe. Found Boscy and Kewly-Pigot had motored to Arras to see Tanks perform. They had heard nothing of my coming, and said I had better fix up with C. Coy. for meals !" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 13 January , 2007 Share Posted 13 January , 2007 I'm currently reading 'Twelve days on he Somme.' Sidney Rogerson's tone is not unlike Andrew's - brisk about what's happening around him, an eye always on the practicalities of fixing up trenches and getting food, shelter etc organised for the men. Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 13 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 13 January , 2007 May 28. "Disturbed at 2 a.m. by Sentry saying 'Gas Alarm' had sounded. Got respirators handy, but no gas came. Saw Pigot in the morning; he was very warm and regretted hye could not give me a Company, as Coy. Commanders have been doing new training etc. In afternoon bicycled to Reninghelst to see the clay model of ground we are to attck. About 9 x 12 feet, beautifully made.............A long confab with Pigot before lunch with maps, etc. We are to take the furthest objective. The thousands of details of arrangements of every department are beyond belief. To be back with the Battalion with this kind of thing on recalls the Somme days.........Officers and men all very jovial as there.............. I think Daly, Alfred Dunnage, Archie Jock Henderson, Brown, Vernede, Chamberlain, Venner, Edwards.............What will the Company and Battalion be like after this show ?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liverpool annie Posted 14 January , 2007 Share Posted 14 January , 2007 Oh no ! are we getting close to the end ?? ........ I wait with bated breath ....... I am determined NOT to check CWGC ................ !! I wish Andrew didn't have to go ...... he's impressed me with his knowledge of life ..... now he has to leave it !! I'm sitting on my hands here Andy !! Annie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 14 January , 2007 Share Posted 14 January , 2007 Oh, Annie - it's not far off. Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 14 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2007 Hi Annie, Yes we are getting there, been quite a journey though. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 14 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2007 To his Mother. 11 a.m., 28-5-17. ".......................It is really good to get back to the Battalion, and I expect to enjoy it mightily when I have got to know all the Officers well. More than half are new since I was here. I think what it would be if we could once more be exactly the party we were a year ago, before the Somme took away three-quarters of us. I have not really seen the men, but what I have all very genial, and salut accompanied by welcome smiles. I write sitting under two rows of elm trees, with delicious cool breeze. Yesterday I lunched in A. Coy.'s tent, and recognized the man who waited, but could not think why his name was not familiar to me. The reason for this was that he used to wait on me at lunch in the small restaurant in the block of flats above 95 Victoria Street !.................. Do you remember the trout you caught in the river near where it ran out of the loch ! What joy it was catching the trout in that loch and especially in the caves under the hillsides. Those were good days and we must have other such before long. There hardly looks the chance of it though this summer !" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 14 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2007 To his Mother. 3 p.m., 29-5-17. "I have just been censoring letters, in one of which a fellow says : 'I don't think I shall bring home a French bride as I have not seen one I like yet; the Blighty birds are best.' All the men in the Battalion have had trousers cut down, and made into shorts. I have shorts also, and very comfortable it is to have them again. I think I never saw men so fit as they are, but this is natural from the life they have had lately. We are all in tents........... I have asked to be attached to C. Coy., my old Coy., and I am glad to say Pigot has agreed. A very nice lot of Officers, Bridgeman (O.C. Coy.), Northcroft, Goodson, Layton, Reade (at present away), and Fenner. Fenner was a Sergeant in command of the Battalion Stretcher-Bearers, and has latley been given a Commission. He is a real good fellow. The organization of the Companies, and mode of training, etc., has been considerably altered since I was here. I am greatly joyed to be back with the Regiment. Regimental life is the obvious game out here, though I am glad to have had a break from trench life, as I wanted a change after 17 months of it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 14 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2007 To his Sister Rosamond. May 31, 17. "It is a very great relief to me to have returned here, as I was living in terrors of being given a Staff job, which would have been misery to me. Think of wearing 'red,' forsooth. Company life is the life here, but I wanted a change, and was fortunate to get it, and now return, and with the summer." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 14 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2007 Diary - May 30, 1917. "Left at 8 a.m. with about 30 N.C.O.'s and 8 Officers in a motor lorry to Dickebush where we got out and walked across the south end of the lake up to Moated Grange Farm, looking at the 'land of promise' from different points. Each platoon has its own direction up to our Front Line marked out by lines of little flags. At Moated Grange went up the chimney (which remains there) and had a good look. In the afternoon went (from there) to tea with the Borderers, who will be on our right.........At 8 p.m. a Boxing Tournament in the field, Officers sitting round the roped enclosure and the Battalion behind them. What a sight - but a month hence how many of them will be casualties ?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 14 January , 2007 Share Posted 14 January , 2007 but a month hence how many of them will be casualties ? he keeps saying thiungs like htis. A natural reaction to circumstances, or perhaps a natural foreboding? Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 15 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 15 January , 2007 May 30, 1917. "Left at 8 a.m. after packing up tents, etc., and marched via Abeele to a farm north of Bois be Beauvoorde.............. A good mess in the farm. We aleep in tents." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 15 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 15 January , 2007 To his Mother. Noon, May 31, 1917. "We have just arrived at a good farm, having packed up from where we were early this morning, and done a rather dusty march here of about six miles. Fortunately not very hot, but marching order is none the less a heavy load, but being as fit as I am I much enjoyed again having a march, having not had one now for long............... Yesterday I left at eight in the morning on a motor lorry with about thirty others on a mission which I may not reveal, and from there to tea with another Regiment, and from there walked back, taking one and a half hours.................. The whole Battalion were going to have tea with the Regiment I mentioned above, but had to be put off at the last minute, as a working party of five or six hundred were required at once. A great pity, after they had made all arrangements to give us a welcome. We (about eight Officers) has tea on the grass with a piper playing to us, and when we went, had their band playing us about a mile down the road....... We had great Boxing matches in the meadow of our farm last night. Officers sitting round the ring, and the Battalion in a line, looking over a wire fence about five deep. Such a sight of brown faces and R.B. badges." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 15 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 15 January , 2007 The next few days were spent, in the neighbourhood described in his Diary of May 31, in constant and detailed practice for the forthcoming attack. On June 4 they moved off up the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 15 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 15 January , 2007 2 p.m., Sunday, 3-6-17. "We are leading healthy lives, billeted still in farms and out a good deal of the time doing training, which is interesting. Knees, as always when we first wear shorts, getting a bit sore from the sun. Shorts are a great comfort, as you can imagine. A ripping letter from Rachel at Noseley yesterday, all about chickens and animals. So refreshing, and a change from the thought of warfare ! We have lots of caterpillars of amazing colours and beauty about the hedges." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 17 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 January , 2007 To a Niece (Rachel Hazlerigg). Sunday, June 3, 1917. "My dear old Rachel, You can't think how I loved getting your letter telling me of your animals and the carrier pigeon. It is such a different world that you are in to what I am with the war going on, but some day I shall come back and see all your things, and keep some perhaps myself like I used to do. I am writing this in the middle of cultibated fields where we are practising. In the hedges here are lots of caterpillars; some in bunches in thick webs which they have made, and some lovely coloured ones with yellow lines, and red and black lines down their sides. I am wearing 'shorts,' so my knees are getting sunburnt and quite sore. At present I am in a farm with lots of white pigs about which the farm people try to sort up and put in different sties, etc., calling out all sorts of funny noises to make them come. The same way they shut up ducks at night and calves. They had a great hunt after two calves yesterday, which they got out into the corn. My men helped them get them in. The War is going very well and the Germans must be feeling very uncomfortable, I think." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 17 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 January , 2007 Dairy - June 4. "In afternoon marched off into camp at Heksken (S.W. of Reninghelst), just above where the Sussex were. Arrived at 6 p.m. hungry and dry.............Had dinner at 9.15. Officers in tents; men piled arms and slept in rows. By moonlight they looked like rows of dead on a battlefield. Tremendous firing by our heavies. This is 'W' day (being three days before the assauly; 'Z' day is the day of assault)." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 17 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 January , 2007 To his Mother. 2 p.m., Monday, 4-6-17. "I continue awfully fit, living a most healthy life. It may soon sgain be difficult to get letters and also to send any, so keep this in mind if none turn up ! You will know, if this happens, that I am doing something that I would not miss for anything. We continue to have glorious weather, though rather colder at nights............. You would be so amused to hear the men come into the kitchens of these farms and talk: 'You cook two boiled eggs comprez,' and then 'You no comprez,' 'No bon,' etc. I have to-day received a most lovely parcel from you with fresh butter and bacon and tinned things. It is very strange that I have not wanted for six months, but this has just come right, and I expect to be very glad of it. I was going to buy half a pound of butter this evening. You have an instinct for these things ! Don't send again, as I shall want no more for six months. When practising yesterday, two calves got out into the crops to the great joy of my men, who assisted the farm people in getting them back, which was difficult, as they were out to enjoy themselves..... Don't be troubled by my return to the Regiment. It is such a joy to me." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 17 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 January , 2007 Diary - June 5. "A fair night, but ground gets hearder every night ! Tremendous hot sun. Breakfast outside tent. We move at 10.45 p.m. to-night. Later. After dinner a big blaze made by burning boxes, etc. A great sight to have all men round in a circle, all as brown and fit as you ever saw men. Calls for Bodimede who came and amused every one and after him other performers with songs, etc. Marched off at 10.45 via Reninghelst to within a quarter of a mile of La Clytte, where we are in tents on left of road. Interesting thus to come pretty near behind the heavy guns all firing heavily." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 17 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 January , 2007 To his Mother. 12.30 p.m., Tuesday 5. "Just had a shoert Service in shirt sleeves, and Communion Service following. We had no Service on Sunday, and this was a nice arrangement. Plenty of firing in the distance to accompany it........ How rotten the ink running out in your pen. Do have it put right if out of order. How I should love a family lunch party here. It is now being laid on a mackintosh sheet in our tent. You would be interested I think. So glad your little dogs are well. Give old Fritz my love. I have got a special job with men of all companies under me." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 18 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 18 January , 2007 To his Sister Rosamond. June 5, 1917. "Just a line of best love as always. Having most gorgeous weather. Men are just sleeping in coats and blanket on well worn grass. Officers in tents, or likewise outside.......... The old ground seems to get harder and harder to sleep on, but I flourish well none the less !" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liverpool annie Posted 18 January , 2007 Share Posted 18 January , 2007 It may soon sgain be difficult to get letters and also to send any, so keep this in mind if none turn up ! You will know, if this happens, that I am doing something that I would not miss for anything. For him to write this to his Mum ......... well it breaks my heart ......... And how she sent butter in the mail from England ..... that didn't end up liquid .... is beyond me !! Annie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 18 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 18 January , 2007 To his Sister Rosamond. June 6, 1917. "Just a line written from a tent. Life is very big and interesting. Apparently we are getting submarines, and out here the Bosch must be having a real bad time. 'Stick it !' " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 18 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 18 January , 2007 Diary - June 6, 1917. "Continued heavy firing all night." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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