The dates put at the top of each letter are the dates on which the
letter is commenced, and, as each letter is written bit by bit, it is
usually several days before it is sent off; as a rule I forget to put
the date at the end on which the letter is despatched. Father said
that one of my letters was heavily censored lately, but the censor was
myself. I think I explained that I write my letters in a book now, and
fill everything in the form of a diary and send the duplicate on to
you censored by myself.
I received the parcel of socks all right, and thanked you for them in
a letter written in March. Socks are always welcome to the men. I keep
about 15 pairs for myself, and the men like as many as they can get.
At last we have got away from the Bomb School. We moved back to our
Brigade a few days ago (May 3rd) to the billet we were in before at
Eperlecques, only to move off again the next day in the afternoon.
Kitty and I went into St. Omer for tea and to get our hair cut, to get
mess things, fruit, &c. We started to walk about seven or eight miles
on a scorchingly hot day, but fortunately managed to go almost all the
way in two ambulances we commandeered.
We had a very pleasant time, and then went to the canteen and bought
stuff, which our servants took away in a handcart. Then we went and
had our hair cut, and I bought a new auto-strop safety razor as a
birthday present to myself. After we had done everything we wanted we
went down to the station to meet our batteries, who had marched in
with Brigade Headquarters, and for three hours we messed about,
shoving great lorries on to trucks by hand, and then while we had
dinner (an omelette) in quite an English buffet, our men brewed tea in
a large loading shed. And, finally, at 11-15 our men bundled into the
usual trucks, labelled Hommes 32-40 Chevaux (en long) 8 (1 horse--4
men), while Kitty and I had a French second class carriage, in which
we slept fitfully, and ate chocolate biscuits and oranges
intermittently throughout the night.
The next morning we arrived at a station near Amiens and proceeded to
unload g.s. waggons, &c., again. When that was finished we marched a
mile down the road and halted for breakfast. We had ours in an
estaminet--coffee, omelette, &c. After breakfast I went to the river
and had a topping bathe; no weeds or anything to trouble you, only two
garrulous old French soldiers, who stood on the bank and watched and
gave me encouragement. At about 11-0 we set off. A blazing hot, dusty
day, pushing handcarts about 12 miles, without any lunch, and arrived
at St. Gratien at about 5-0. Arrived there we found Wren, the Brigade
Signal Officer, absolutely at sea as to where our billets were, so we
foraged round for ourselves. After being kicked out once or twice we
finally settled our men and bagged a Battalion Headquarters for
ourselves. The Brigade lent us blankets as our valises had been left
behind with guns, ammunition, &c., for the Division to bring along.
We moved off again the next afternoon about three miles to Rehencourt,
and there found a terrible muddle. A.S.C., two brigades R.F.A., our
Brigade Headquarters, all trying to billet in one small village. We
found a large billet marked up for our two batteries, and the machine
gun company, and, while we were trying to fit in, an A.S.C. Colonel,
who was town major, came bustling round looking into every barn and
calculating how many they would hold. He would go into each little
hencoop and chalk up about 100 men on the door, and, finally finished
up by looking round for a loft for 14 officers to sleep in, in which
he proposed to jumble up ten machine gun officers and four of
ourselves. When he had gone we put our men in (not according to his
scale). We bagged the house for ourselves and the machine gun officers
went out and discovered billets for themselves.
We have a priceless little mess-room papered in yellow and white, old
oak-carved chairs, oak table, shaded lamp, &c., and a bedroom with one
bed in it.
Madame was in tears at having so many soldiers all over the place, but
we soon pacified her, and did all she wanted, and now she cannot do
enough for us, especially as I send Fuller, my servant, who is a
gardener, to work in her garden every day. I will give you a rough
plan of the house, as it is typical of the farms we are in:
[Illustration]
We get a lot of food from Madame--Fowls, eggs, milk, lettuce,
asparagus, &c. We have very good meals. We seem to have the best
billet in the place. Brigade Headquarters, of course, spotted the best
billet, a chateau, and went there; unfortunately it is owned by a mad
French Countess, who ran about locking all the doors in front of them.
They could not get into the house at all at first and had to eat and
do everything in the garden. Finally, they got assistance from a
French General and got bedrooms, but they have their meals in the
passage, and their office in a stable. Madame came at 8-0 the first
night and ordered the general and all of them to bed. But they were
not obedient.
Greig came in the other night and was very jealous of our billets,
seeing he had missed his chance and had judged by externals and had
caught a whited sepulchre.