Read Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War Online
Authors: Bill Lamin
Tags: #World War I, #Autobiography, #Personal Memoirs
Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War (21 page)
On the plains, along the Piave front, the enemy met with a similar lack of success. There was, initially, some progress at the eastern, seaward, end of the river and to the north, but the rain
in the mountains earlier in the month made the river a formidable obstacle for men and supplies and an effective block to any retreat. Consequently, the Austro-Hungarian losses were severe. In
addition, the attackers found that the Italian Army was no longer the demoralized and poorly led force of nine months earlier. To compound their problems, the defensive lines were stiffened with
tough, experienced British and French divisions, drawn from the Western Front. By the middle of June, after failure on both Italian fronts, it was quite clear that the Austro-Hungarian Army was
disintegrating.
The battalion’s part in throwing back the enemy offensive on the Asiago Plateau was recognized later in the month, as the war diary records:
Routine orders dated 25-6-1918 and 28-6-1918 contained the following awards for gallantry and distinguished conduct in the field during the operations of the
15-6-1918:-
M
ILITARY
C
ROSS
Captain J.P. Shaw R.A.M.C.
[Royal Army Medical Corps]
attached York & Lancaster Regiment
Captain L. Lester; 2/Lieut. A. Hirst; 2/Lieut. J Ferguson
D
ISTINGUISHED
C
ONDUCT
M
EDAL
12/1246 C.S.M. J.A. Willoughby
241359 L/Cpl. E. Naylor M.M.
B
AR TO
M
ILITARY
M
EDAL
240660 L/Cpl E. Brock M.M.
M
ILITARY
M
EDAL
17068 L/Cpl West J.; 34879 L/Cpl Stead H.
34582 Pte Dalenay; 235466 Pte. (A/Cpl) Boon J.R.
Sickness During the month of June, admissions to hospital were normal, the general health of the Battalion being good. Prevailing diseases were IMPETAGO
[
sic
]
and BOILS.
The beginning of July found the battalion out of the line, and Harry was able to write home again, this time to Kate as well as Jack.
July 2th
[
sic
]
/1918
32507/ 9th Batt Y & L.,
C Coy 12 Platoon, L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Kate
I have received your letter and the papers with the writing pad. I was very pleased with it. I have had a letter from Ethel and she says they are getting on alright at
home. The weather here is very unsettled and we get plenty of rain. You were right when you say we have been busy out here just lately but I am pleased to say I am going on alright and in good
health and I hope to keep so. I am pleased to here that Jack is getting on alright I had a letter from him last week. I hope Annie does not leave home and go to work, well I think she would be
better at home. I think she might be able to find a bit of work to suit her in time. Write as often as you can and let me know how they are all getting on.
With best Love
Harry
July 2th/1918
32507/ 9th Batt Y & L.
C Coy 12 Platoon, L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
Just a line to let you know that I am alright and in good health. The weather here is very unsettled and we got plenty of rain. I hope you received my last letter in the
green envelope
[i.e. one that avoided the battalion censor].
Let me know if you have. I am pleased to hear they are going on alright at home and keeping in good health. I think Annie is
worrying herself about getting work but I don’t think she as any need to both
[bother?].
You will be glad to hear that Willie is getting a fine lad. I had a letter from Mr Leverton
telling me about him. I will write a soon and let you know a bit more news. Hoping that you are both keeping in good health.
With Best Love to you both
Harry
(P.S.) Send a paper or two
This letter gives another clue that Harry is quite optimistic about the war’s progress. He is asking for newspapers, almost certainly expecting to get more good news
about the possibility of the war ending. By now, on the Western Front, the tide had turned in the Allies’ favour, and the Germans in turn were beginning to be pressed hard as
Ludendorff’s offensive, itself a last-ditch strategy to win the war before American forces and resources could take full effect, began to peter out.
The war diary of the 9th York and Lancasters has nothing to say about a possible end to the war, but records that there was still a fair bit of activity on the Asiago front.
5th to 11th
[July]
– Battalion in the line. By day, work on the defensive system was continued, and by night our outpost positions were improved, a
considerable amount of wire being erected in front thereof. Patrols were sent out by night. Hostile shelling was intermittent during our tour in the line.
I have placed Harry’s next letter from Italy after the war diary entry for 5–11 July, as I am sure it is misdated.
July 8th 1918 [16 July?]
32507/9th Batt Y & L., C Coy 12 Platoon
L G S., I.E.F.
Dear Kate
I was glad to receive your letter dated 7th. Sorry I not wrote this last week but you see we have been up the mountains for about 7 or 8 weeks and all the envelopes were
stuck. I hope we get down now for two or three weeks. We have had some trying times up in the front line on what we call sacrifice post up in front of our own wire but I am glad to say we got
off alright we only went out after dark till morning. Glad to hear they are going on alright at home, I think it would be best for Annie to stay at home and wait for a bit of work. I have had a
letter from Mr Leverton. I bet Willie fancies himself with his new clothes. We have got some very thin khaki and those big helmets
[sun helmets, also known as pith helmets or solar topis,
and usually issued for tropical service]
they are alright out here as it is very hot on the plains. I might get home on leave late in September if I have
good luck but I hope the war
will soon finish. I think it as been on long enough. I am glad that you are keeping well as I am in the pink at present. The scenery out here is grand it would be alright in peace time for a
holiday. we are half way up the mountain now and can see for miles along the plains it does look well. The people out here have some funny ways and not so clean as English, but in towns they
are alright they are all Roman Catholics out here. Write as often as you can and let me know how you are getting on send a book or two if you can.
With best Love
Harry
Everything points to Harry dating this letter wrongly. The war diary tells us the summer kit wasn’t issued until 14 July and that the battalion was in the front line on the 8th –
letter writing would not have been easy. I would guess that it was written at about the same time as Harry’s 16 July letter to Jack, not least because its content is very similar. It also
tells us that letters were taking about a week from being written in England to being delivered in Italy – not too bad for a wartime postal service, under which the General Post Office had to
transfer letters for soldiers to the Army’s postal service, for onward transmission to any one of thousands of serving units.
Still close to the mountains, but away from the front line on the edge of the plains, the weather is obviously warm enough to justify the issue of tropical kit and the ‘big helmets’.
It seems likely that there were plans to move the 9th York and Lancasters back to the plains; certainly Harry thinks that is a possibility. This is the war diary’s record of the issue of
tropical clothing to the men:
14th Church services were held in the morning. Khaki-drill clothing was issued. The Commanding Officer, accompanied by O.C. Companies, reconnoitred the 7th Divisional
front.
There was a small problem with the khaki-drill clothing, which was lighter in colour than the standard-issue uniform. While it was fine in a desert environment, at night it
showed much paler than the background and the soldiers were easily seen. Harry mentions the thinness of the material in his letter to Jack:
July 16th /18
32507/ 9th Bn Y & L., C Coy 12 platoon,
L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
I have received your letters dated 8th July. I was very pleased to get one. We have been up the mountains for about 7 or 8 weeks and I could not get any envelopes they
were all stuck so I have not been able to write many letters. We have started to come down so I hope we shall be down for two or three weeks rest. It is very hot on the plains. We have been
rigged out with drill khaki it is very thin alright for summer, we have also got those big helmets. I am glad to hear that you are all getting on well.
Some of or chaps were very bad last month with a complaint we called mountain fever. I had a slight attack but I did not go sick
[i.e. report in sick].
all the use goes out of your
legs, sore throat and cough but you soon get well, we were isolated for a fortnight but we are alright now. I should not be surprised if we don’t get on another front again, perhaps the
Piave. I am in good health at present. We have had some trying jobs lately in front line on advance posts what they call sacrifice posts out all night about a thousand yards in front of our own
wire and we have to stick it and only retire in case of a big bombardment, any minor raids we have to stick at all costs. This last month it has been something like France only the Austrians
front line is at least two kilos away. I have had a letter from Ilkeston and they are getting on well they are making Willie a suit or two so I expect he will fancy himself. I have also had a
letter from Mr Leverton. Hope you will keep writing every week as I am always glad to get a letter.
With best Love to you both
Harry
We can see that the tactical situation is quite different from that in Flanders, where the enemy lines were less than 200 yards ahead – and sometimes less than 100 yards.
The advance listening posts – ‘sacrifice posts’ – were not at all popular in Flanders either, where they were even more dangerous because of the proximity of the
Germans.
August, marking the start of the fifth year of the war, finds Harry still in a cheerfully relaxed frame of mind, as this letter to Jack shows (he may not be quite clear about
the detail of
Romeo and Juliet
...):
Aug 4th
32507/ 9th Batt Y & Lancs, C Coy 12 Platoon,
L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
I hope you are getting on alright as I am in good health at present. The weather out here is very hot at present and the grapes and the figs are looking well but they are
not ripe yet. I expect we shall be up the mountain when they are ready for picking. last time we were up we were there for eight or nine weeks it is a long time to be up and see nothing only
plenty of fir trees so I think we have earned four or five weeks rest which I hope we shall get well we have had just over a fortnight now. The scenery is alright here we are at a place were
Shakespeare wrote his poem about Romeo and Juliet. There is two castles just above our billets on a big hill and it is said that it was in one of these that he wrote this peace. it would just
suit you to have a roam about here, but it is very quiet. I see from the papers that the Americans have arrived in Italy and have been to Rome. I wish they would take us to a place like that
were we could see things. I have had a letter from Kate and she said that she was thinking of going home for August and she was going to send Connie to a school at Liverpool. I hope she
[Connie]
gets on alright it will be hard for her to leave home but I hope she gets treated alright if not she would be better at home. Well it is Sunday today, and the fourth anniversary of
the war, we have just been to church service. I think it looks like going on another year although some people think it will be over this year. I hope so at any rate. I expect I shall be
getting a leave late on in September or early October, well I hope so. What do you think about the war. Do you think it will be long. We are up at 3.30 A.M. and finish at 9 A.m. Then we have an
hour at night, that is while the weather is so hot, and while we are out for a rest. I am sending you a photo or two if you get them will you send one
or two to Kate and Annie when you
write they are photos
[postcards]
of the castle. I have been up to them.
With best Love to you both
Harry
The war diary prosaically records that Harry’s hopes of four or five weeks away from the line were vain; nor did the issue of tropical kit last long:
14th
[August]
Khaki-drill clothing was withdrawn and service
dress clothing issued. The Battalion marched from BERGANA to
CAMISINO.
16th The Battalion relieved the 1st Battalion, South Staffordshire Regt.
in the CESUNA SWITCH (left Brigade, left Divisional sector): relief
was complete at
midnight. Battalion HQrs and ‘A’ Company were in
the CESUNA TUNNEL, the remaining three Companies occupying
the SWITCH.
17th & 18th Reciprocal artillery fire during the day. At night a working
party from ‘A’ Company improved PERGHELE TRENCH, and
repaired
camouflage on CESUNA ROAD.
18th C. of E. Service was held at 3 pm in the CESUNA TUNNEL.
About a month after issue, the hot-weather gear is handed back. The plans must be to send the 9th York and Lancasters and the rest of 23rd Division back into the mountains.
Sure enough, Harry’s next letter confirms that they have moved back – Cesuna is on the Asiago Plateau, a few miles west of the positions they had held for the battle of 15–16
June. The letter is written on YMCA notepaper, which accounts for the different address layout.
