NINETEEN
I HAVE SEEN TOO MUCH OF
BROTHERS BEING TOGETHER
IN THESE BATTLES
BELGIUM, MARCH
Charlie was still at a training facility near Poperinghe and took the opportunity to visit George’s grave. He wrote to his family to describe his brother’s final resting place:
3rd March 1918
My Dear Mother, Father & Jim
This morning I went to the Lyssenthoek Military Cemetery and found poor Geordie’s grave, the cemetery is about ¾ of a hours walk from here, it is a tremendous size of a cemetery there are all battalions and regiments of the British Empire buried there and rank from a private to a major general. There is a party of men who do nothing else but look after the graves, it is on a nice piece of high ground and is a great number of miles behind the line, it could never be disturbed by shell fire. There are Australians of the same Brigade as Geordie buried in the same row. There is a place in England who takes photos of the graves, this I did not know before, but the Corporal in charge told me, so I have written and am getting a photo taken of Geordie’s grave and also of Albert’s. I also made arrangements to have a cross erected similar to Alberts, it will also have a plate on it, the words are - In loving memory of our dear Brother No 2748 Cpl. G. T. Marlow 2 A.L.T.M.B. AIF Died of Wounds 21-9-1917 Erected by his loving Brothers/ The cross is costing me 40 francs (a franc is worth 10d). The cemetery is at the 2nd Canadian C.C.S., the place where Geordie died was the 3rd Canadian C.C.S. which is about 200 yds further up the road I could not find out anything regarding his death only that all his personal things will be sent home to you, the Chaplain who buried him was Major Ambrose C of E who is at present away. Well I do not know if there is anything else I can tell you about it if there is anything you want to know write and ask me and I will answer it. It opened my eye to see such a large cemetery and to know the number buried there. I am still at the school I do not have much to do, I have not heard from Percy yet but there is no need to be anxious about him …
A few days later he wrote again:
March 7th 1918
In the Field
My Dear Mother, Father and Jim,
I am writing a few lines to Pearl so I will send a line or two to you at the same time I have not got too many green envelopes so have to make the most use of them they issue us with them about once a month. I am still at the school having an easy time. I told you before I would be here for about five weeks, I heard this morning that our battalion is moving back for a rest so that is not too bad. Since I have been here I have not had any mail, but I hope to get some next week from Percy and from them in England. I also hope to get some Australian mail in I believe there is another mail in. I wrote to our Quarter Master to send on my mail. I told you that I went and saw Geordie’s grave last Sunday and that I am getting a cross erected over the grave, it will be similar to the one I put over Albert it is costing 40 francs (10d) is the value of a franc, it will also have a plate with the name etc. When I landed here we were having rotten weather but this last two days the weather has been lovely, we are camped on a hill and when the winds blow it blows. There were some parcels come up for Percy but I think they have sent then on to him there is a new arrangement about parcels now, we have to sign for them and they will not give them to anyone else …
10th March 1918
In the Field
My Dear Mother, Father & Jim,
… Percy is getting on alright he will get his mail about a week after the rest of us as his mail will come to the battalion and then readdressed on to him, he gets a lot of mail from the relations in England. I am still at the school our battalion has gone back for a rest, so that is not too bad. I told you in my last letter that I made arrangements to have a cross erected over Geordie’s grave it is to be finished next Tuesday I am going down one day this week to see it, I have also written about having a photo taken of both Albert and Geordie Grave which I will send on to you when I get it, it will take some time to get the photos done as I think there is a party comes out to France twice a year, to do this work. Pearl said in her letter that Tom Alford was missing well I think he has since turned up there are some of his battalion here I will try and find out from them. We are having lovely weather over here, this last few days, I think the winter has gone it was nothing like as severe as it was last year we did not have near as much snow and rain this year as we did last year. I suppose by the time this reaches you you will have finished cropping again, there must be a terrible amount of wheat in Australia now, it would be a great thing if they could send half of it to England where it is needed so badly, the food question is going to be a big thing with England we are not cut down at all we get splendid food and plenty of it of course we pay for a few extras when we are out of the line, and at this school we pay two francs a week for extras. The daylight Savings Bill is in force over here the clock was put on one hour last night. I reckon it is a silly idea they have it in all these countries the Huns time is one hour ahead of us, some of our chaps have got watches from prisoners which are one hour in advance of ours …
He added a note to his mother the following day:
… I suppose you will be anxious about Percy but there is nothing seriously wrong with him, I think he will be there for some time yet as trench fever is likely to come on again, at any rate he is safer there … There was a parcel sent to Allan from the Trench Mortars it was one that had been sent to Geordie I think it was from Stones, there were two parcels for Percy, they would not give them to me but I think they will be sent on to him. Our battalion is out for a rest at present, will be here another three weeks …
In the field
Sunday 17th March 1918
My Dear Mother, Father & Jim
… I got a letter from Ida today she said that Allan had had leave and he was down to Brighton to see Percy I got a letter from Percy during the early part of last week he was getting on alright. Flo said in a letter to me that he was likely to be shifted to another hospital but I have not heard anything more about it. Today I went to Geordie’s grave the cross that I ordered was finished and put up it looks very nice I have also ordered a metal plate which is going to be finished this week. There are some of our battalion men buried in the same cemetery Major Tubb V.C. is buried a few yards from Geordie’s grave, he was killed the same day as Geordie was wounded, there is a lot I could tell you about the place but I fear it would be stopped by censor. We are having lovely weather over here now the trees and hedges are beginning to show signs of Spring. I am still at the school and will be here for another fortnight. I am hoping to get a letter from Allan this week to hear about his trip to England he was lucky to get leave so soon after his other leave, when I go back I think I can get leave to Paris it would be for about 8 days. I have not got any more mail from you since I wrote last which was about the middle of last week. Did you get Albert’s and Geordie’s deferred pay and let me know if you got Geordie’s things, in one lot there should have been a safety razor, wallet, and photos, they would be sent from the base. I do not know what became of his watch I think he always wore it and I suppose he would have it on him when he got to the hospital, when I last saw him it would not go, let me know if you got [it]. I got some photos of Geordie taken off one he gave to Paynes, they are finished and Ida said she would send them across this week, so when I get them I will send them home to you. I think I told you before that Hughie Martin is likely to be sent back home, he was badly wounded and one of his legs is an inch shorter than the other, I think Spuddie Kerr is on his way home. Well I have no more news this time so will draw to a close, again hoping you are all well as this leaves me.
I will say goodbye with best wishes to all
I remain
Your Loving
Charlie
FRANCE, MARCH
Allan had now returned to France, rejoining his unit on 16 March. The battalion had moved from the Warneton line to the Lumbres area near St Omer and the men were now billeted throughout the district. Allan returned to the battalion via Le Touquet, a popular holiday destination on the coast of France.
20.3.1918
My Dear Mum & dad
At present we are out resting in a very nice place. We are having glorious weather. I received your lovely parcels. I also got a lovely billy of butter from Mrs J McKay. It was beautiful. I don’t think I ever tasted any nicer. I am writing a letter so Cheerio with best love … Please keep these views I send you till I get home & I will tell you all about them …
Le Touquet
20.3.18
Dear Mum
This is one of the prettiest little places I have seen. I spent a couple of days here when I was coming back from school. We have had a glorious winter. It has been sunny every day. Hope you had a glorious harvest …
Lumbre
20.3.18
Dear Mum,
Just a few lines to let you know I am O.C. 38th Batt football team and we are playing a big match today …
Allan may not have had the opportunity to write his promised letter as there is a gap in his letters until 4 April, a fortnight later. His period of rest and comparative tranquillity was about to come to an abrupt end.
As Allan wrote home on 20 March, German forces, bolstered by troops redeployed from the Eastern Front, were ready to launch General Ludendorff’s Die Kaiserschlatt, the Kaiser’s Battle, comprising four attacks along the front. The first and largest of these, ‘Operation Michael’, was to be launched on the old Somme battlefields. Ludendorff knew that American soldiers would soon arrive in force and his numerical advantage would be lost. The following day, 21 March, a concentration of German forces, some half a million men, launched an attack along a 90-kilometre front from Arras in the north to La Fere in the south. The British Third and Fifth armies, some 160,000 soldiers, were thinly spread along what was a weak point in the Somme front line, an area just north of Cambrai and to the south of St Quentin where they protected the vital rail junction of Amiens. A German breakthrough here would sever the British and French lines, push the British north toward the ports and, ultimately, perhaps even force their withdrawal across the English Channel.1
Ludendorff’s Operation Michael commenced at 4.40 am on the foggy morning of 21 March. The Allied front line was shattered as the full force of German artillery opened up in a massive barrage. For five hours the German guns pounded the Allied line and its support areas. The bombardment concentrated on supply and communication lines, artillery formations and machine-gun posts. Gas overcame many troops as they raced to defend their lines. The bombardment lifted and the storm troopers — elite soldiers trained to assault defences and destroy communication lines — charged what remained of the British troops. The outposts were soon overwhelmed and German forces rushed forward in pursuit of the retreating British. The nature of the war had now changed from stagnation to momentum as the German infantry raced across fields the Allies had held since 1916. The heavy artillery followed and rapidly overran those troops who had gallantly remained at their posts. Losses on both sides were heavy. Close to 80,000 men were killed or wounded with 21,000 British soldiers taken prisoner. Two hundred and fifty square kilometres of ground was captured by German forces.2
Much of the land that Allied forces had claimed and defended for two years with staggering loss of life had been recaptured in just five days by the rapidly advancing Germans. The English and French lines had been breached. The road to Paris was all but open and the channel ports vulnerable to the rapid enemy advance.
As the disaster began to unfold, the majority of Australian forces were positioned 170 kilometres north of Amiens in the Flanders region. By 26 March they were moving, on their way to reinforce the 60 kilometres of broken line south of Amiens. Along the congested roads they met fleeing civilians and panicked troops withdrawing in the face of the German onslaught. With dogged determination, the men marched forward despite the chaos that now enveloped an area so familiar to many of the Australian troops. They were marching to defend the land they had helped protect since 1916. As Charles Bean wrote:
Again and again the Diggers were told by the passers-by, “You can’t hold them!” and some of the leaders were a little anxious as to how all this advice and the depressing sights would affect their men. They need have had no worry; it was immediately evident – as was constantly found in the coming months – that the confidence of these troops was overflowing. Each man knew that every blow now counted; this, they felt was what they had come from Australia for – and the sight of their cheerful, grim faces and confident gait put new heart into French and British alike. “They were the first cheerful stubborn people we had met in retreat,” said a British major of artillery. In the French villages whenever during those weeks these hearty, stalwart battalions marched in they were met by striking demonstrations of affection and trust – and this, too, reacted strongly on them. 3
The 3rd Division was to fight on the Somme battlefield for the first time. Allan was to assist in defending the countryside for which, just under two years before, his brother George had courageously fought. To the north in Belgium, Charlie was writing home as Allan was moving forward to meet the advancing foe. Charlie appears unaware of events unfolding to the south.
In the Field
24th March 1918
My Dear Mother Father & Jim,
… I am still at the school but will be going back to the battalion one day this week … I got a nice cake and some cigarettes today from Auntie Charlotte Wilson it was very good of her to send it, she often sends me a cake I have just written to her thanking her for it. I also got a letter from Devon they were all well … I went down to poor Geordie’s grave this morning to see if the plate I ordered was put up, but the corporal told me they were unable to finish it as they had been so busy at the hospital, he said he would see that it was fixed up alright. I did not hear anything from the people in England who were to take the photos, so I spoke to the Chaplain of the school he said he would see to it for me as he did a lot of that work I gave him my address also yours, one photo will come to me and one will go to you, so you will get one alright I think it will take some time as they have a lot to take, but it will be done in time. We are having lovely weather over here now today was a perfect day, I have had a splendid time here and feel the benefit of the rest. I do not think Percy will be over here for some months, he is better where he is …
On 23 March, as the Germans began shelling Paris, the 38th Battalion was resting to the north at Lumbres near St Omer. The battalion was now ordered to the Ypres sector; over the next 24 hours the men received various orders for movement, marching and bussing north towards the Belgian border, then returning to St Omer where trains waited to take them to the Somme battlefields.4 Orders were frequently changed as confused reports of enemy movement arrived. The rail system was chaotic and some main roads were clogged and impassable; the German advance had wreaked havoc.
By 26 March the 38th had reached the Somme, arriving at Mondicourt station to be greeted by the news that enemy forces were just over four kilometres away. The battalion began a march of some eight kilometres to the village of Authie along roads crowded with terrified refugees and disorganised Allied troops retreating in disarray. They reached Authie at 7.00 pm and rested briefly. The battalion diary entry the following day carried a note of urgency:
2am Orders received that Bn. to proceed at once by route march to MARIEUM where Bn. embussed at 5 a.m. for FRANVILLERS. Arrived FRANVILLERS 1.30pm. Immediately proceeded by route march to HEILLY – Germans reported to have reached vicinity – Moved forward in open order to village MERICOURT and a previously selected position was taken over from 43rd. Battn. A.I.F. just beyond Village - No enemy yet encountered. A. & B. Coys holding line from MERICOURT Le-ABBE Station to about cross-roads at D.11.b. [Map reference difficult to read] C. Coy in support – D. Coy in reserve.5
By 8.00 am the following morning — 28 March — the 38th’s encounter with the enemy had begun. German soldiers were sighted on a ridgeline less than one kilometre from the battalion’s line in Marrett Wood, close to the tiny village of Treux on the Ancre River between Amiens and Albert. The German troops fired into the wood and advanced. The men of the 38th resisted stoically and the Germans retreated taking heavy casualties. Enemy artillery fire intensified. For the next 24 hours the battalion watched and waited. If German forces broke through, they would have a clear run to Amiens, the vital rail junction central to the movement of troops and artillery to the Somme battlefields. From Amiens, enemy forces could readily reach the coast, open up the supply lines to Germany and advance on Paris.
On 26 March the 4th Division had arrived at Doullens where a hastily convened meeting of Allied commanders was underway. The New Zealanders were moved to Amiens and both divisions moved to form a line north of the 3rd Division in an area with which they were very familiar — the hard-fought battlegrounds of 1916. Pozieres, Mouquet Farm and Albert had now fallen in the face of the German advance. In Doullens the Allies agreed that a coordinated defence was the only way to halt the German advance. French commander General Foch was appointed Supreme Commander on the Western Front, uniting all Allied forces under one commander for the first time.6 General Gough, whose command of the past two years had included the devastating battles of Pozieres, Bullecourt and Passchendaele, was relieved of his duties and returned to England on 28 March.
During the final days of March, the 3rd Division artillery moved in to support the infantry as they beat back German attacks on their position. On 30 March the Germans advanced south of the Somme. To the north the 3rd Division held the line above Hamel as the enemy pushed forward. 7
The 3rd Division Memorial crowns the ridge at Sailly-le-Sec (author photo 27 April 2011).
The events that unfolded that day are described on the memorial to the men who fought courageously to stem the advance. High on a ridge just south of the Ancre River at Sailly-le-Sec sits the memorial to the 3rd Division. The inscription reads:
Sailly-le-Sec
March 1918
At dusk in front of the [Australian positions] the Germans were seen retiring from whatever shelter their broken waves had reached. The cries of their wounded for stretcher bearers could be heard all night.
(Charles Bean, Australia’s official historian)
The soldiers of the Third Division arrived on these heights overlooking the Somme on 27 March 1918. The next day the Australians pushed further eastwards only to be met by stiff German opposition as the enemy’s forces also tried to advance. Approaching the village of Sailly-Laurette on the Somme River east of Sailly-le-Sec an Australian unit was ambushed by massed German machine gunners. However, the Third Division consolidated its positions and held firm. On 30 March 1918 the Germans began a general advance mainly to the south of the Somme but one division attacked above Sailly-le-Sec. Three times during that day waves of German infantry tried to come up the valleys and slopes east of the Third Division Memorial. Each time they were beaten back with heavy losses caused by intense rifle, machine gun and artillery fire. No further attempt to break the Australian line here was ever made. To the Third Division this was the place for the memorial – ‘the fighting … called a halt to the German offensive … [and] it was natural in choosing a site for a memorial it [the 3rd Division] would select a position on the line which it first occupied under such historic circumstances…
According to Charles Bean, by the end of March, Ludendorff knew that ‘the offensive had failed; in crossing the desolation of the old Somme battlefields the Germans had outrun their communications. Guns and shells could not be brought up in the quantities necessary for breaking down the new Allied line, drawn around the wide salient made by this thrust.’8 The storm troopers could go no further; vital support had failed to arrive. Ludendorff would not abandon the offensive, but the assault paused as communications were restored and artillery hauled to the front. He was determined to strike again.
BELGIUM, MARCH
As the situation to the south rapidly developed, Charlie wrote to his family from close to Neuve Eglise. He had initially been ordered to travel south to return to his battalion but fortune had smiled on him and the order had suddenly been cancelled. The race to stem the German offensive saw units move with such rapidity that Charlie had no idea where the main body of the 38th Battalion was now positioned.
In the field
28th March 1918
My Dear Mother, Father & Jim
… I have left the school, we were all recalled a few days before the school was to finish and ordered to join our battalions, but we were stopped before we got back and put on another job behind the line, so I am not with Allan I wrote to him about my mail, I have no idea where they are. I saw Albert’s grave today and got the Caretaker to look after it and level it up and plant some flowers I will be getting a photo of it for you. I do not know how long I will be here, you will see by the papers that there is a big fight on, there are more of my battalion here, I got another letter from the Commonwealth Bank re another remittance which I think is from Pearl I wrote to the Bank asking them to forward it on to Ida for the present. I wrote to you the day before I left the school. I got a letter from Devon and a nice cake from Auntie Wilson also a letter from Percy he was getting on alright. We have been having grand weather over here lately the trees and hedges are starting to look green. I have a platoon on putting up barbed wire entanglements behind the line, it is not a bad job. I am hoping to hear from Allan next week and hope to get some of your mail which is there, we can buy anything we want here and there is a fine YMCA not far away so we don’t do too bad. Well I have no news so will close for this time with love and best wishes to all.
I remain
Your loving
Charlie
Charlie wrote to his mother on Easter Sunday — just a day after the 3rd Division had courageously held the ridges of Sailly-le-Sec. He had paid another visit to Albert’s grave. He appears relieved as he writes, believing that it is unlikely he will be recalled to the 38th.
In the field
Easter Sunday
31st March 1918
My Dear Mother,
Just a few lines to say I am getting on alright I am not with Allan but I am in charge of a platoon putting up barbed wire entanglements we are working near where Albert is buried, I saw his grave today also two days ago when I asked the caretaker to fix it up for me and put some flowers on it and when I saw it today I was so pleased to see that he had done it. I wrote to England, as I told you before, to get a photo of it, which will take time but you will get it. We were recalled from the school a few days before it finished and ordered to join our units as you will know long before this reaches you that there is a big battle on but I do not think I will see any of it as we are ordered to stay here for some time yet …
ENGLAND, MARCH
In England the news of the German offensive spread rapidly and the familiar village names of two years ago began to reappear in the newspapers. The situation was clearly desperate. Holding Amiens was critical, but the villages to the east of the rail junction were now falling with alarming speed. Percy wrote home; he was improving and was now at the convalescent camp at Hurdcott on Salisbury Plain. The news of the German advance soon reached the soldiers recovering from illness or wounds.
March 26th 1918
Hurdcott
Dear Jim
Well Jim, just a few lines to let you know I am still alive and well I am in a new home again, a convalescent camp at Hurdcott, don’t think I will be here long, they will be sending them across to France quick now this big push is on. I have not seen anything in the paper about the Australians, so I don’t think they can be in it yet if all goes well I ought to be a month in England, yet there is some rumours about cutting out the sick leave, that will be a terrible [indecipherable]. I am waiting on a mail anytime now, there is one in, but I have not got any yet. I was at Harefield when I wrote to you last, they soon shift you out of there if there is not to much wrong. There is a concert on here tonight, they have some pretty good turnouts. I saw Charlie & Albert Cockcroft Uwin Johnson had just gone on leave the day I got here, he went to Scotland struck oil there I believe. I am thinking of going to Leicester and Scotland. Its hard to get meat in England, you have to have a pocket full of ticket, sugar, meat tickets & so on. Well Jim I will close hoping it finds you all well I am your loving Brother.
Percy
FRANCE, APRIL
Allan wrote: 4/4/18 This is a photo of D Company cooks & Quarter Master Allan
On the final day of March, the 38th moved into forward trenches between Mericourt and Treux, south-west of Albert, to relieve the 39th Battalion. Heavy rain was falling and continued intermittently over the next fortnight as the battalion moved in and out of the line around Buire. German forces continued to rake the area with machine-gun fire and heavy artillery barrages while the Australians secured the trenches and laid more wire. Enemy aircraft and observation balloons ranged in the sky above. Even in the rear areas, in billets at Ribemont, the soldiers were not safe from the German artillery as it set its sights on the village.9
On 4 April German forces thrust forward along a 34-kilometre front taking the village of Hamel, but were repulsed at Villers-Bretonneux by the Australian 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division which suffered 660 casualties in its defence of the strategic position.10 The following day, in a battle Charles Bean described as ‘the strongest attack made against the Australians in the war’, the 12th and 13th brigades of the 4th Division lost 1100 men as they defended the village of Dernancourt just beyond Buire on the railway line between Amiens and the town of Albert with its leaning virgin. Albert was now in enemy hands. Battalion historian Eric Fairey estimates that, on 9 April, 1000 shells fell in the area around the villages of Buire and Treux and along the railway line which the battalion was holding. That night the 38th Battalion was relieved and moved into the support trenches of Mericourt where battalion headquarters had been established in a nearby chateau.11
Allan was promoted lieutenant on 2 April and promptly sent for a two-day ‘rest’ during which he was finally able to write home after two weeks of movement and fighting the ‘fray … and having the time of my life’. Typically laconic, he forgets to mention his promotion in a letter to his mother.
Dear Mum
This is one of my brother officers of my company. He is a little bonza ASMarlow (To another D Coy “Knit” Joe Poole)
Lieutenant Joe Poole.
Joe (Harold Frederick) Poole had sailed on the Runic with Allan and Percy. Like Allan he had been promoted in the field to lieutenant. He suffered a severe gunshot wound to his jaw on 20 August 1918 and returned to Australia in July 1919.12
4-4-18
My Dear Jim,
… I received your letters safely & was delighted over same what a stunner harvest you must have had and it was a good one too. What a pity I was not home for the bag sewing & the lunches. Bill Jones would be great company alright. When is he getting married you might ask him to wait till I get home. I believe Bob Leed is winning MG now that is [indecipherable]. You seem to have had a wet harvest. Ill bet the boyscouts would put the wind up you with their fires. I have told you in previous letters about Bill Street that he died of wounds about a fortnight after he received them. We cant find his grave. I was also disappointed with the conscription. I am in favour of conscription. Men are very short at times very few coming in now. There were never 6 divisions in France. No division has been cut up to reinforce another. Very few Australians have been resting. No we had a most glorious winter this year is the most pleasant year I have ever spent. Fancy Billy Williams breaking it off. Well Jim you may not get a letter for a week so don’t worry because we were travelling and I had a minute to write. Well Jim I am well [in] the fray which is going on at present and having the time of my life. Percy is still in Blighty & doing well. Charlie is still away at the school so I am happy as they are both away. Sometimes when the guns open up one would think hell had open up. I will be sending you some photos in a day or two so I hope you get them …
After days in the field, paper was in short supply and Allan was writing on a series of postcards from England. He appears pleased that Charlie and Percy were not with him as he played his part in the defence of the Somme; his relief was to last just a few days longer. Limited by the censor, he clearly hints to his father of his whereabouts by underlining the word ‘some’.
Postcards of Manaton, England
In the field
4-4-1918
My Dear Dad
Just a few lines to let you know that I am well & was terribly pleased to get your letter. What a good harvest you had. By jove wouldn’t you miss me at the bag sewing or at the lunch table, mostly at the latter I am afraid. Well dear dad you will see by the papers what has taken place and we are well in it. I never had such an experience in all my life. By jove we were hurried down here. My captain sent me out for two days rest & I am billeted in a lovely French house, a cosy bed & plenty to eat but I return to the line to night. I had a letter from Percy he is getting on well and is still in Blighty. Charlie is still away at the school. So I am as happy as old Dick because the two boys are away. I like to be in the fighting on my own. I have seen too much of brothers being together in these battles. Well dear dad I cant tell you where we are but it is a new sector. I can tell you it is some place. Well cheerio dear dad & all I am happy. Don’t worry it is better than the combined Sunday school picnics.
I remain
Your Loving Son
Allan S
All the lads are well and in great spirits
ENGLAND, APRIL
Still recuperating, Percy wrote to Jim from Hurdcott; he had been granted leave to visit his relatives and was looking forward to heading further north to Scotland:
England
April 7 1918
Dear Jim
Well old boy got a couple of -- pesting me, Albert Cockcroft U Johnson they are talking and I am writing. Uwin got married up in Scotland, I suppose you can hardly believe it. Its been a bad day raining and blowing all day we had church parade in the morning half holiday in the afternoon. Got a letter from Mum the other day, it was the first I have had for a long time. I am going on leave Thursday, going to Leicester and to Scotland. I expect to get four days leave after I am back for a while, then I am going to Devon.
Charlie Cockcroft went away from here yesterday, to Sutton Veny he will soon be over.
Well Jim I will close
Hoping it finds you all well
I remain your
aff brother
Percy
The following letter is written on the back of a photo. Lieutenant Leslie Roberts, MM, was a member of the 38th Battalion, later signing up to serve in World War II. At the time he wrote he was in Cambridge recovering from a fractured ankle. He describes the AIF’s desperation to find men to bolster the defences on the Western Front.
Lieutenant Leslie Roberts wrote to Allan from hospital in England.
12 Ward
1st E.S. Hosp
Cambridge
15-4-18
Dear Allan,
I am not going to dare wangle an excuse for not writing before, therefore must get away from that line of thought. I did send you a card while I was at Morbecque congratulating you on the pip but got no reply. Well old sport I suppose Perc has told you how I got in this place. I am now in the 5th week of bed (Did I hear you saying lucky dog) may be I am after what you are going through. I should sit for the final on the 30th of this month but, can see myself well in this place, it will mean I will be put in another coy. with a short time to go after I get clear of this place. I have heard rumours of the 3rd Div + 12th Bgde of 4th Div being cut to hell and am afraid this time as it came from A.I.F. H.Q. Did you know they cleared about 200 out of A.I.F. H.Qrs & sent them over, some of them have never handled a rifle, left Vic with “Army Post Office Corps” what a gutser, up to coming in here I had a good time in Cambridge. Well old sport trusting this finds self, brothers & fellow officers in the best of health.
Good luck
Your Old Pal
L.A. Roberts
I sent your photo home & it arrived safely L.A. Roberts 13
Now visiting relatives in Leicestershire, Percy wrote to Jim:
C/o Mrs Payne
33 Green Lane Rd
Leicester
17-4-18
Dear Jim
Well old boy how are you going on. You will see by the top I am in Leicester having a good time Jim. Last Saturday Flo and another girl friend of Paynes were here, well it was lively Jim, I wish you were here. Flo, as you know, works in Leicester she is a lively girl, Auntie is a hard case, so when they are all together things are very lively. The weather is terrible just now its raining every day makes things very disagreeable. I will be off to Scotland in a few days, they say Glasgow is a nice place. Ida had a letter from Charlie this morning; he and Allan were well when he wrote. My word Jim, Fritz is exceeding himself isn’t he; but we will stop him if it only takes two years now that we got the “god dam Yanks” I guess. I hope to have a lot of mail when I get back. Well Jim hope this finds you all well.
Your aff brother
Percy
Love from all
Percy remained in England while Charlie was positioned to the north in Belgium where Ludendorff was set to unleash the next stage of his plan: ‘Operation Georgette’.