Geoffrey Watkins Smith - 13th Rifle Brigade, kia 10/7/16

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Hi Steven,

Thanks, I always find these original memorial books fascinating, and, when you compare this with Evelyn Southwell's (Two Men a Memoir) of the same battalion, which I have already placed here on the forum, it gives a damn good insight into the life of the battalion. The same can be said for Buxton's and Vernede's memorial books, both of the 3rd RB's, it gives life to the battalion, the life they led, before and during the war, and some very useful little snippets of research.

Andy

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** Rifle Brigade,

Camp.

May 16, 1915.

Dear Mother,

We are starting off on our brigade training to-morrow. We march to Hungerford, about 15 miles, and are billeted there. The next day we do an attack and a night march through Severnake Forest. The next days we are billeted in villages near Marlborough, and one night we bivouac in the open. We are taking all our transport, food and clothes; so we shall be on an absolutely active-service footing. As the adjutant is away to-day I have been acting for him, and have had to see that all the arrangements are all right, so I have learnt a good bit about transport, &c. It will be a very instructive affair altogether. Officers have to carry packs ans equipment just like the men, and in addition we are allowed 35lbs. of kit in a Wolsey valise, which goes on the transport. It just allows for one's bedding and an extra change of clothes. I have got some very neat kit, too, in the shape of a mess tin which carries a saucepan and kettle and frying pan in it. We shall be away till next Saturday. After that I amy be able to get my four days' leave, but I cannot count on it yet........

With love from

Geoffrey.

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** Rifle Brigade,

Camp.

July 25, 1915.

Dear Mother,

We are getting ready for going off some day next week, though we are not yet certain which day it will be. I have just sent most of my belongings back to New College, except the things I shall actually want with me........Of course we have no idea where in France we are going, but we know it is France, as our advance officer has already gone over to make arrangements for our arrival.

General Gleichen said the other day that he thought we were the best equipped division that had gone out hitherto, which is satisfactory. We had a great divisional field day the other day at which all the Generals, Artillery and Cavalry, took part, and the discussion afterwards was rather interesting, as nobody but Generals were asked to say anything, so one learnt what these things seem like to the higher command. There is no doubt that a very small mistake there has very far-reaching effects. Although there is a great bustle going on here, there is nothing of interest to relate, but I expect I shall have more to tell you when I next write.

Love to all from

Geoff.

[marina]

Such an atmosphere of camping out. All the men whose memorials you have posted had he same at the start.

Marina

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** Rifle Brigade,

British Expeditionary Force.

29-7-15.

Leaving Southampton this afternnon. All going very strong.

G.W.S.

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Somwhere in Farnce,** Rifle Brigade,

1.8.15.

Dear Mother,

After spending a day in our rest camp at Havre we trained on for a day and a half, and arrived early in the morning at a beautiful little French village where we bivouacked in a field and had breakfast and a wash in a canal. The country here is perfectly beautiful, and though we are only about 18 miles from the firing line and can hear the heavy guns, there are no signs of war, the people being quite tranquil, and the crops and farms most flourishing. It is rather like Sussex but on a grander scale. We marched through great heat about 9 miles to our present billets in a beautiful little village where we shall stay probably for a few days. I have got a bed in which I write, with a guard of six men in the room next to me sleeping in straw, except for the sentries who are patrolling the street. I am in command of A Company temporarily, as Captain Scott had an accident with his horse on Salisbury Plain and dislocated his shoulder so the he could not come out with us, and I was put in command at the last moment. It is rather an anxiety being in command of a strange company but very interesting and a good experience. Cunliffe's company, i.e. my old company, is in the village here with us, and the rest of the battalion in a village close by. Besides the sounds of the heavy guns the only other evidence of the enemy was a Taube aeroplane which came in our neighbourhood in the morning. It has been a great surprise to me to spend our first days here in such lovely country, apparently so peaceful, and yet so close to the scene of operations. The French people we have come across are most friendly and pleased to see us, and it is all rubish to suppose that they are sick of us or unfriendly. It is most amusing to see the men making friends with the children and trying to learn French from them. We have had a most enthusiatic welcome from the French all along the route, and the men are all agreed that France is worth fighting for as well as England. Our battalion head-quarters is in a deserted French chateau, and I rode over there this evening for orders, through most fertile corn land. The difficulty at present is good water, as the men get very thirsty, and our water-carts take a long time to fill up, and the water here is, I believe, bad. I will write again soon.

Love to all from

Geoff.

P.S.- Can you send some packets of plain chocolate ?

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13.8.15

Dear D.,

I have received all sorts of jolly things from home the last few days, long letters from you and mother and mouse, and a tin of biscuits which are just the thing. We are still in the same town living in the deserted chateau on mattresses lent by Madame Dufaure, with large holes in the ceilings. The Germans shell the town pretty well every evening, not very heavily, but just a few to remind us they are not far off. I was having my hair cut yesterday evening at about six o'clock when two shells came quite close past the window and landed in the street yards away. The nice old man who was cutting my hair did not seem to be particularly disturbed; indeed, nobody pays much attention to it.

We are still working at strengthening the field works behind the firing line, and for the last three days I have taken half a company out into work in the middle of a cornfield about 1,200 yards from the German lines, and as a matter of fact, in full view of some chimneys which are used by them as observation posts, so we have to be rather careful. Yesterday when we were starting we were a good deal bothered by a sniper who put some bullets rather close to us at intervals of about five minutes. Luckily he had not got the range, and they all went a bit too high. Whilst it was going on the R.E. General happened to come along with a staff officer, and stood out in the open, talking to me. I mentioned to him that I thought a sniper was having a go at us, and at first he seemed at bit incredulous, but while we were talking a bullet whizzed over our heads, and he thought better of it. After that I took precautions not to allow anybody to expose themselves and we were not worried anymore. I notice that one's first instinct when a few bullets are going about is to expose oneself out of curiosity and just to see what it's like, but after my little experience I can see that is exactly what encourages the wily sniper, while if one takes cover his patience is soon worn out. To-day we were not worried at all, but our own artillery was very active, and we could see a big fire they had started in a village in the German lines. The R.E. officers who are directing our labours are very jolly, intelligent fellows, and we are learning a lot about field works. We were visited to-day by two Generals, one a great swell, but I do not know his name. He asked me a lot of questions about our work, and I persuaded him not to walk about in the open, which is just what these resplendant creatures in red hats and beautiful gaiters love to do - in full view of the Germans.

This evening, after getting back from our trenches. I went to a service in the Cathedral, were there was very good singing, one man with a beautiful baritone.......

Every day we see our own and German aeroplanes flying about reconnoitring, and they are always shelled with shrapnel but never hit. One can see the shells bursting all round them, and I must say that our gunners make much better shooting than the Germans.

Good-bye for the present.

Love from

Geoff.

I am well off for everything now in the way of food. If Dad will send me a few cigars they would be very welcome, and another tin of biscuits of the same kind after an interval. Sorry to be greedy.

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18.8.15.

Dear Father,

I got a splendid budget of letters this evening, one from you, and from Nowell, and two from Mother. Also a gorgeous loaf of bread and two tins of butter. The latter I am having made into sandwiches to take up to the trenches to-morrow, where we are going to be for 24 hours. We haved moved on from the large town where we were to a small village near it, where we are billeted. It is a mere wreck of a village, as it has been and is till pretty severely bombarded, but our company has some pretty good farm buildings to live in. The farmer and his brother and his sisters are very jolly people, and gave us some excellent coffee when we arrived. They have suffered much from the war, and one of their farms is now between the German and English lines and is, of course, utterly ruined. I had rather an exciting experience the day before yesterday; I had just got my two platoons into the redoubt we are making, when the Germans started shelling us. The first three fell very short, but I saw them getting closer, so I shouted to the men to lie down in the trenches, and one section, which was on a road, to crawl through a hedge into a deep drain. The Germans sent twenty-eight shells on to out redoubt, and they were bursting all round us, some in the air just above our heads and others in the ground. One cut through the parapet of our trench, but as the whole result, not a single man was touched, owing to the excellent cover we had. I did not feel in half the funk as I expected to, in fact I was rather exhilarated than otherwise, though when the beastly things are whistling towards you, you feel a great affection for mother earth....

I have been so rushed for time that I have not been able to continue this letter for some time. Since starting it, I have been up with the company in the front line of trenches. We were attached to the ** Buffs (E. Kent) for instruction, and I went about with one of their Company Commanders, Major Furley, in order to learn about the routine. The officers I came across were most excellent fellows and treated me most hospitably in their dug-out, which was very comfortable. The German trenches are about 200 yards away at the furthest point, but at a place called the Fort, which was in the charge of a very young subaltern, they were only 35 yards away. The day was fairly uneventful, only the usual sniping taking place, but after dark there was continuous rifle and machine gun fire from both sides, and a few of our men were hit. At night there is nearly always fighting, as working-parties are out in front repairing wire or getting on the parapet, and of course the sentries have their heads over the parapet and there is the chance of hitting one. At intervals rockets are shot up, out of pistols, from the lines in order to illuminate the ground in between and try to see if the enemy are coming out, or manning their parapets. I shot of a few rockets and had a good look over once or twice, and of course during the day one examined the German lines continuousl with periscopes.

We have come back again into billets to-day, and will be going up again the day after to-morrow. Everybody seemed pretty happy and contented up there, but of course it is a comparatively quiet part of the line. The great idea out here is retaliation, i.e. if the Germans shell our lines we throw bombs into theirs; if they throw grenades at a aprt of our trench, we bombard a section of their trench opposite. The great word is 'straf': if the Germans do anything, our fellows say they must get up a strf of some sort, but if the Germans keep quiet, we do the same and go on making our defences stronger. The general routine here is that you spend a week in the trenches, during which time you cnnot change your clothes or take boots off. Then you go into rserve for a week ni billets behind the lines, but even then you have pretty hard work, taking working parties to make new trenches.

Our defences now are very strong and stretch back a long way. The difficulty, I expect, is how to take the offensive wihout losing more than you gain.......

Love to all from

Geoff.

[stiletto_33853]

France.

22-8-15.

Dear D.,

....I went last night up into the firing trenches, i.e. in the front line, to see the system of relief, when one battalion relieves another for a week in the front line. It was quite interesting seeing the new men come in, carrying great sacks of materials of all sorts and passing others in the communication trenches going out and carrying all their belongings, while all the times bullets were beating up against the sand-bags at the sides of the trenches or whistling overhead. It is extraordinary what a lot of haphazard shooting goes on with practically no effect, though an occasional stray bullet finds its mark, more by chance than anything else. I walked back late at night with three officers of the Buffs along a road with occasional bullets near us, but after a time no one pays any attention to them. To-day I am up in the trenches for another 24 hours with the rest of the company, attached to the ** West Kents who have relieved the Buffs. As a matter of fact I am having a very easy time, being with two officers of the West Kents in a fort made of sandbags and earth, about 600 yards behind the fire trenches. There is not much doing, as it is Sunday, and as our main duty is to defend the fort to the last man, if our front line is driven back, and as, humanly speaking, there is not the remotest chance of this happening, we feel pretty safe, unless the Germans amuse themselves by shelling us, which is also unlikely, and would do us very little harm in any case.

I walked this morning first over an open field and then along communication trenches up to the fire trenches to see what the rest of the company was doing, and up there I met Mr. Heath, who is in the West Kents and is a fellow of New College. He is in charge of a platoon up there, and he showed me round and I had a look through a periscope at the German lines which are only about 60 yards away. I also went over a bit of trench I shall take over for 24 hours in a day or so. It is rather an interesting little piece, with a sap running out in front to a hedge where one goes out at night to listen to what the Germans are doing. I have now returned, and after an excellent lunch provided by the West Kents, to which I contributed some peaches brought in the town, which is two miles south of us, I am lying in the officer's dug-out very comfortably - in fact I shall shortly go to sleep, as I got up this morning at 3.30 am, and shall have to be up most of the to-night. We shall probably be moving from here in a few days, but where we are going we do not know.

Good-bye for the present.

With love to all from

Geoff.

P.S. - Any socks you can send me for the men will be very useful now, as they are so rapidly worn out. I am afraid I ask for many too many things, but they are only suggestions, and I don't imagine that I am going to get them all.

But at present you have all been too acquiescent and sent me everything I want.

[stiletto_33853]

B.E.F.

4-9-15.

Dear Mother,

I am writing this in my dug-out in the firing-line; time about 11.50 pm. I am on duty till 1 o'clock, and have to go round and visit the sentries and occasionally fire up a rocket to light up our front. We took over two days ago from the French; the Captain of the company we relieved entertained us in his dug-out, where we drunk his health in a morsel of champagne, and then the officers took us over the line and explained everything to us. I found myself talking execrable French to a little French Captain whose bit I have taken over and in whose dug-out I now am. We are holding a very long front rather thinly, as the trenches here are not very close together; opposite to me the Germans are700 yards away, and not very active, except there are a certain amount of shells flying about during the day. At night patrols go out a good bit, and we are on the alert for them; I went out last night at dusk and crawled through our wire and had a look round for a bit. to-night we are very quiet, but there is a heavy bombardment going on about eight miles to our left. Last night it rained incessantly, and the trenches got very muddy, and as I had to walk about a good deal I got plastered with it. I suppose I must have got a chill, as I was very sick during the night, but I have now quite recovered.

We have great difficulty just at this point of getting our supplies up, so your parcel of food which arrived to-day came in the very nick of time, especially as I have been a little upset and do not relish endless bully beef and cheese. I am so far away from the other officers that we hardly ever see one another, and I coomunicate with Cuncliffe almost entirely by telehone. Last night I had a platoon of French Dragoons in support; magnificent fellows with large helmets covered with straw; to-night they have been replaced by the Fusiliers.

....At present life in the trenches, although it has its obvious discomforts, the chief of which is lack of sleep, interests me a great deal, but I shoud imagine it might become very trying after a time. At present I have been so busy looking after the men and trying to think of ways of improving the trenches that I have not had time for anything else....

Love to all from

Geoff.

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B.E.F.

Sept. 10, 1915.

Dear Mother,

We have been in the trenches now for a spell of eight days, and we are being relieved this evening, and going back into rest billets some way behind. Not that there will be much rest about it, as I expect we shall have a lot of digging to do. I have not had my clothes off for eight days, and I shall enjoy my india-rubber bath a good deal.

I have had quite a good time and some little excitement, and as one has got to live this sort of life one may as well get what enjoyment there is out of it, though it is rather like retrurning to one's Henty and Wide World Magazine days. I have got a delightful Corporal who enjoys adventures, and I have been taking him out in the evenings and early mornings into the wire in front of the trenches, and making a path out, so that we can get out and prowl about in front at night. We have completed our path now. Yesterday morning, favoured by mist, we went on hammering in stakes until it was quite light; the mist lifted suddenly and we were spotted and had to clear out, tothe tune of many bullets. Last night I took a patrol out from 11.30 to 2.30 at night, again with my Corporal, a man carrying bombs, and two riflemen. We went out to examine the ground out in front, and to listen to a German working party which is doing something behind a bed of osiers about 800 yards from us. We sallied forth, as Henty would say, and finally got into a clover field in front of the osier bed where we lay down and listened. We could hear the Germans talking and digging very clealy; most of them had colds in the head and coughed and blew their noses. An officer said 'Nicht so viel Lam', and a man said the 'Kalk' was 'Hardt'.

After a bit we heard something creeping towards us in the clover, which I thought was a hare, but my Corporal swore he saw somebody coming, so we cleared out. I believe it was a hare really. On the way back we rather lost our direction and bumped into the 13th Fusiliers wire, and were challenged in rather an excited way. I did not quite know what to do, but said 13th; the sentry said R.F., and I said R.B., so we parted the best of friends, and now I expect the Germans know all about us. It is rather interesting trying to improve the trenches, though at present we have been almost entirely occupied in solving the problem how to kep them clean and sanitary, which was rather neglected by the French. Favoured by lovely sunny weather we have done a good deal.

I have just got a letter from Hugh from home; I wonder which Battalion of the Queen's he will got to; and if I shall ever come across him. Our line is getting so beastly long now that one does not see other regiments much. We are a long way from any decent sized town like the last one we were in, which, on looking back was really rather a dingy manufacturing town....

I am rather busy just now, getting ready to hand over to the next battalion coming in, so will stop now.

Love to all from

Geoff

[marina]

Another one who ismaster of understatement: he imagines the trenches might become very trying...love it!

[stiletto_33853]

B.E.F.

Oct. 4, 1915.

Dear Mother,

We came out of the trenches yesterday after six days in them. The first two days it rained all the time, and the mud was awful; one slushed about over one's ankles in water, and often fell head over heels in it, the surface of the trenches is very uneven and slippery. The other days were beautiful, cold, moonlight nights and sunny days. I took out another patrol one night of ten men, but we did not seriously run into anything. We got into an old disused gun-pit about half-way between the German and our lines, and there we picked up a German newspaper neatly folded which came from a little town in the Black Forest, and showed that one of the Baden Regiments must have been opposite us recently. It was dated September 16th, and had a flaming account of the Zeppelin raid over London. I suppose it must have been carried out there by a German sniper who was lurking in this pit during the day. I am sorry top say that our patrol the next night, under Mr. Wiggin, had a rather serious fight with a German patrol, and Mr. Wiggin was slightly wounded and two of his men killed.

.....Of course the trench life is very busy, as besides having to be continually on the alert, there is a tremendous lot of work to do, repairing wire, draining and improving the trenches, and strengthening important posts in the line. For the six days I was in this time, I only once got more than three hours continuous sleep, so that I much enjoyed a long nights rest last night........I was very well off for food in the trenches this time owing to the parcels you have sent, and I was able to keep Mr. Rowlatt going, who was sharing my dug-out and who happened to be rather short, and also I was able to give my patrol coffee when we came in at 12 o'clock at night, after crawling and lying about in the rather wet fields for four hours.....

To-day I spent most of the morning making arrangements for the men to get hot baths. We have found a large iron tank, and borrowed two large boilers, and I brought a tree from an old man for fuel, so that by this evening we had given sixty men a hot bath. I quite enjoy arguing in very bad French about the loan of a boiler with a washerwoman, and the price of a fallen tree with a farmer, but it does seem rather extraordinary to me that things are not rather more systematically arranged. However, there is no doubt things are working rather smoother, and the supply of clothes and necessaries is getting better. I got the Dickens, for which many thanks, and I am looking forward to the other books for the men.

Love to all from

Geoff.

[stiletto_33853]

** Rifle Brigade, B.E.F.,

Oct. 20, 1915.

Dear Mother,

.....We have started a lending library for the Company with the books which Humphrey(1) sent, and it is very popular indeed. The selection of novels is just right, and I am glad to say that there are quite a lot I have not read myself. We have some difficulty in getting any fuel for fires, as the trees suitable for fuel have been cut down in the neighbourhood, and the coal mines are unfortunately in the possession of the Germans. However, e get a little from our own stores, and I have found a place in the neighbouring village where coal is to be brought, so it is really only a question of taking trouble. As I am the Company Mess President I have to bother about these things, and also about the purchase of eggs and vegetables which have to be hunted like some rare and exotic butterfly. The fact is, that the peasants have such little food for themselves that they don't like parting with their eggs, &c.

If it does not rain to-night we shall start our spell in the trenches for the first time dry, which will be helpful. I have thrown off my cold and am feeling very fit. No more news at present.

Love from

Geoff

(1) His brother-in-law, Humphrey Milford.

[stiletto_33853]

** Rifle Brigade.

Oct. 28, 1915.

Dear Mother,

At last I have some time to write. We came out of the trenches last night, but to-day I had to take a digging party out in the drenching rain, and have just changed my clothes and had some tea. We were fairly lucky this time in the trenches, though we started badly in rain, and my dug-out leaked horribly. I got through a certain amount of trench improvement, especially replacing the French hurdling with sand-bags, which are much more solid and resist the weather better. I also did a good bit of wiring in the early morning and evening in the half light, and was incidentally caught by a German machine gun one morning when I was out with two corporals a littel too late in the morning.We threw ourselves down on our faces and remained flatter on the ground that I have ever been before while the bullets pattered all round us. After the shower was over we wriggled back through the grass, my two corporals immensely amused because I who was behind critisized the way they crawled as being unorthodox. They are such jolly fellows and enjoyed the fun enormously. I also had a very amusing patrol with the same two and ight men. we thought we would take advantage of the early morning mist to go out and examine some old gun-pits and a bushy bank which run out towards the German lines. In the gun-pits previously I had found the German newspaper, and we suspected snipers of lying out there during the day, so we thought if w went at that time we might catch one. We started at 4.30 am and got into the pits. I left eight men as a support party in one of the pits and then I and two others went through all the other pits, jumping into them suddenly with fixed bayonets to take anybody there by surprise. But we came across nothing except an unexploded German hand grenade which must have been dropped there recently. After seeing that the pits were clear, the three of us pushed on along the bank towards the German lines, looking into all the holes and possible places for cover, but found nothing. Meantime the sun was getting up, and as luck would have it, it was an absolute clear morning without any mist at all, in fact the clearest morning we have had out here for a long time. So there I was with my patrol of ten men out in the open, in practically broad daylight and 400 yards away from our trenches. The three of us in front crawled back through the grass and rejoined the rest of the patrol, and then we all went back as fast as we could, taking advantage of any cover there was, but we could not avoid coming in sight of the German trenches. We got in all right without being fired at, and when we got in I found that Major Cunliffe had thought we had been ct off, and was out in front of our wire trying to see us; so I went out again and got him back. s a matter of fact I believe the Germans saw us getting back, but were not prepared to do anything effective; but they watched for us the next morning, and then it was that we had the machine gun turned on us.

There is no doubt that the wily habit of the Boche is to watch what you do one day and let you do it undisturbed, and then try to catch you at it again the next day. The moral of which is never to do the same thing twice running at the same time and place, and that we are beginning to learn. You have no idea what a relief it is to get out of the trenches and have a little excitement out in front; it relieves the tension and stirs up your circulation, and the men love it, and look upon it as a great privilege to be taken out, as indeed it is, as one generally takes the most enterprising and intelligent fellows.

The Battalion is starting its leave on Wednesday, so with luck I ought to be coming home for a week in the course of the next month or so, which will be very jolly, though it is a pity it is for so short a time.

.....At last the sun has come out again. I have been paying the company this morning and am going on this afternoon; rather cold sitting in the farm courtyard, but the men are always very cheerful on pay day.

Love to all from

Geoff.

[marina]

A little excitement...jolly...

That's what I call sangfroid.

Liked the 'unorthodox crawling'!

I love the Rifle Brigade and all who served in her...

Marina

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** Rifle Brigade,

B.E.F., France.

Nov. 6,1915.

Dear Father,

I had two letters recently from you and one from D. and two from Mother, so this must be in answer to them all. Also I have got another consignment of books, which every one is unanimous in praising for the selection, and a parcel of tobacco and cigarettes from the Stores, by whom sent I cannot make out. Perhaps you can enlighten me. We are still in reserve, and do not move upto the trencxhes for another week. Since we have been out we have heard that the rain has done a lot of damage, causing parapets and shelters to fall in, and filling the trenches with water. In fact, on one day the English and Germans were all walking about outside the trenches, armed with pails, trying to make things inhabitable. What will happen when it really rins and snows, I do not know. I have sent to Oxford for my waders which I had out in Tasmania for walking about in lakes, as being the most suitable things I can think of. The men have had sheepskin coats issued to them, and a very good kind of waterproof cape. We have been out digging and repairing trenches to-day from 6 in the morning to 6 in the evening in a bitter NE wind. Mr. Rowlatt and I did some rivetting with hurdles to keep ourselves warm, and it was far too cold to sit down for a moment, we are rather tired.

The billets are rather bad in this village; just leaky barns for the men, and we have one room for four of us to eat, sleep, and cook in; no beds, we just sleep on the floor with some straw stuffed into our valises. However, we have a stove to keep us warm. The men have nowhere to warm themselves or recreate in, and no means of washing or drying their clothes. There are some baths eight miles away, to which I marched a party the toher day, and I had a capital hot bath there myself. After our next o in the trenches we are going to shift our ground and bit and take over from another battalion, and we shall have much better billets, a canteen and drying room for the men, and I hope we shall be able to fit up a recreation room for them, in which case the books will come in finely. I rejoice in reading a chapter of Pickwick or some other novel in bed in the evening, but the men at present in their barns have not the accompaniment of warmth and light which makes reading enjoyable. They are a perfectly splendid lot of fellows, and improve, if possible, every day under the conditions of active service....

Love to all from

Geoff.

[stiletto_33853]

Glad that you are enjoying it Marina.

Andy

[marina]

Oh, I am. I like his style - very matter of fact, no dramatics, even serving coffee to his patrol and providing reading material . He reminds me of Andrew Buxton and his Mary Poppins bag which held everything he might need for his men.

Marina

[stiletto_33853]

True, I had not thought of him in the same vein as Andrew but I can see what you are saying.

Andy

[stiletto_33853]

** Rifle Brigade.

Nov. 16, 1915.

Dear Mother,

My leave has been altered and I shall not get away till November 21, so that I shall be home by Tuesday or so of next week.

I must send this off at once, as I am so busy that if it does not go now I don't know when it will.

Am going on all right; very wet in the trenches, some snow.

Love to all.

Geoff.

[stiletto_33853]

** Rifle Brigade, B.E.F.

Dec. 1, 1915.

Dear Mother,

I arrived safely to find the battalion in reserve and all going well. We had a very rough crossing, and as the boat was packed, it was rather unpleasant, in fact about the worst passage I have ever had. The train journey was also rather prolonged, as a train got derailed in front of us and held us up. However, I managed to keep very warm and I had plenty to eat, so I am none the worse. They have been getting on with our drying rooms and also a recreation room here, and we are very busy getting up an Xmas dinner for the men.

Love to all from

Geoff.

[stiletto_33853]

** Rifle Brigade.

Dec. 6, 1915.

Dear Mother,

Just a line to say that all goes well, except the weather, which is aboinable and making the trenches worse and worse. I was up there to-day looking round, and the ruin is fearful. We go in in a day or so and I am not looking forward to it with much pleasure.

I sent a little poem to Nowell the other day, which perhaps he will send on to you.

I am very fit again, after a slight attack of chill inside.....

Love to all from

Geoff.

[stiletto_33853]

** Rifle Brigade, B.E.F.

Dec. 17, 1915.

Dear Mother,

We have just come out of the trenches again after five days in. Luckily we had some fine dry weather after starting in a snow-storm, so that we could do a lot of work getting things in order and trying to build up fallen pieces. We left some of our men in bivouac behind the line, as there was not room for them up front to get any rest. The place for the bivouac was not very well chosen, as a lot of bullets dropped into it, and we had a few casualties, so afterwards we had it moved, and I got the place for my men where I had always wanted it, behind a steep bank, close up to the firing line. The Brigadier came to look at it and also went all round my trenches, and seemed pretty well satisfied with things. We shall stay in support for a few days and then go back into reserve, where we shall spend our Christmas.

I got your parcel with the towels and socks and three parcels from the Stores are here, so we shall do pretty well, as all the other officers have some Christmas parcels too.

I got rather tired this time in the trenches as I had only wo other officers with me, and one could get very little sleep, but I had a splendid sleep last night, actually in a bed, and have very little to do to-day.

Enclosed is one of our cards, which is rather pretty I think.

Love to all from

Geoff.

[stiletto_33853]

** Rifle Brigade, B.E.F.

Dec. 23, 1915.

Dear Mother,

I have just got your letter and card; we are back in reserve now and making preparations for Christmas. I got my company a lot of planks, and they made tables and benches in all their barns where they will eat their dinners, for which we are providing roast beef, plum puddings, fruit, sweets, and tobacco, and I hope some beer. In one barn they have fitted up a stage and have made beautiful footlights and chandeliers out of old biscuit tins, and we will have a sing-song. They had one the other night, and I enjoyed it tremendously. The Baptist parson brought a lot of song-books with words of all the old songs, and we sang a lot of choruses, and any one who liked volunteered to sing a solo. A lot of talent was discovered and it was a great success.

Major Cunliffe has come back, but he is acting as second in command, so I keep the company for the present. I am glad you liked my little poem; father said something about sending it to the Spectator; yes, if they will take it, but if they d, I don't want it signed with my full name, only G.W.S., B.E.F.

The rain is still unspeakable, but we have a roof over our heads at present, and I pity the poor chaps who are actually in the trenches. Despite the soaking wet and the mud, everybody keeps very fit and the men are wonderfully cheerful.

Love to all from

Geoff.