1 In the Field 18.11.15. My dear Father & Mother / / I am in the very
best of health & form. Since I wrote
you last, I have had the honour
of commanding my own Company
in occupation of a portion of the
British Front Line for a week. My men did splendidly and
I am very proud of them. Father
you people at home, even if you
are gifted with vivid imagination
can have no idea of what a poor
line of trenches entail in the
way of suffering on the men.
And again you have no idea of what
the human animal can with
training & discipline be taught
to endure. I had probably the lowest
type of men in the battalion as
far as ordinary standards go
(not for quotation at the Rotary club)
I always said that they would
never be regimental soldiers but that
I didn't care where I took them &
that they would never fail me in the field.
They have justified that contention &
A Coy, which was formerly the 2 black sheep, is today the flower of the
flock in the C.O.s opinion with
Horaces' Coy a very good next.
Horace's was always considered the
best Coy. & he is easily the best
Coy. Cmdr. But my knowledge of
engineering & tool handling is getting
scope now. Trenches are all
engineering. some of it not at all
elementary. Conditions in the line
we took over were so bad that some
of my men never got lying down
at all for a week. No dugout, not
even mine, was waterproof & it
rained 5 days & 4 nights. There
were 6 " of mud on the floors of
all the mens trenches dugouts &
some of the Sapheads had two
feet of water & a foot of mud
in them. 3 of my listening posts
(2 men in each 2 hours each) had
to stand in the mud & water
mixture & listen for our lives
all week. With no change of clothes
no place to sleep except sitting
or standing & very little fuel
& practically no light. These
listening posts are very close to 3 the German lines & run out about
100 yards in front of our own line
usually in front of the wire.
They are lonely places & occasionally
men are lost in them as the
result of successful bombing
parties of Germans getting who work
close up & blow the whole post to
Hades or heaven with a couple of
bombs. I always say to myself every
time I visit a listening post that
I must take my revolver or a couple
of bombs next time. Maynard Sinclair (about 19 years old)
is my second in command at present
but I fear he is going to be taken
from me my Brigade H.Q. This would
be a good big lift for him & he
would be in the place where
D.S.Os go. He is a grand boy
& the makings of a fine soldier On my week in the trenches
I only had 3 men went sick
someall the others had over 20 &
one had over 50. Pretty good but
wants a lot of nursing with a
rough tongue & the very judicious
dosing with raw spirit. I have 4 seen men marching asleep. A
most astonishing sight. They
have all the symptoms of ordinary
sleep walkers. When I think of what
my fellows have stood & will have to
stand again & I think of some of the
people at home who do nothing I
go mad. And the cheeriness of the
fellows is marvellous. Beautiful
and I have heard them described
as the scum of the Shankill road,
by people not fit to clean their
very dirty boots. We have had very
heavy snow & frost, but are in very
comfortable billets at present & have
some fuel. so everything is rosy. Company cmdg. on the line is
a job carrying with it great
responsibility & great power. For instance
I would say more or less casually to
Downing at afternoon tea time —
William I want you to go out on
Patrol tonight to ascertain the
strength of the German wire in
front. Make all arrangements & choose
your men please. You will go out
by No 1 listening post = will work
left. No 1 machine gun will
afford you support by traversing from 5 the post to the right. Advise the gun
as to time of going out & report return
to me. I am not allowed to go out
on patrol mother will be glad to
hear. Being too valuable as a Coy
Cmdr. funny isn't it? My Aunt Olivia would say I
am spoiled in the trenches. It is a
pretty imposing show I must admit.
I have a dug out well behind the
line to which I must retire in
case we are attacked or heavily
shelled except for purpose of
steadying the men. I have a servant
there, 3 signallers one always with
instrument on his head. 2 orderlies
and an observer & behind the
line my horse and groom. Our
officers mess of six also possesses
two cooks who with the six servants
do nothing else but look after us. I am in direct communication with
a battery of artillery which I can
turn out at my own sweet will.
It is a most beautiful sight to
see our shells landing clear
into the enemy/s trenches or
bursting over them, or landing into
a village they occupy & the
houses collapsing. It is most 6 exciting & the men at work always
want to down tools & go & look at
it much the same as they go to
a football match. We don't of course
have it all our own way. And the
Bosches have the range of our trenches
just as accurately as we have
theirs. Sleep in the trenches for
a CoyComdr at night is one of the
many things he does without
unless he has great luck &
things are very quiet. He never
takes off his clothes or boots to
lie down. And should only change
his boots & socks during the
day time. I generally get about
3 hours sleep at a time & that
comes mostly about every 18 hours.
I have heard men say the
strain of command tells on them
very severely. Now that I know
that seeing casualties & fire
do not upset me I have got
confidence in myself & up to now
have kept cool. It is very
extraordinary to note the effect
of fire on different people. Almost all my previous real
bad eggs, specially drunks, have 7 turned out well. I met one of them
the other day in a communicating
trench & asked He was wet to the
waist & mud to the eyes & hadn't
had food for 14 hours & it was
pouring rain & asked him how
he liked the life — He replied
shortly & with his eyes shining _ I
just love it Sir & then he
laughed & said I never could
stand that bloody Barrack
sodgering. He couldnt either, he
spent 6 months of it in jail.
I have another awful bad
character whom I have had to see
undergo Field Punishment No1
who bears no malice & is in fact
thirsting for a melodramatic
opportunity to save my life
simply because months ago
when everyone kicked him
I spoke seriously & with kindness
to him & gave him a shilling
when he hadnt had pay for
months. The little blighter never forgot
it. His curse is drink. But he cant
get that now except under very
strict supervision. You should see
me at the ungodly hour of 5 AM 8 every morning when in the trenches
doling out tots of rum. It is one of
my duties to sit on the rum supply.
It is never handled in my Coy
unless an officer is present. I
am terrified of the stuff as it
means 10 years penal servitude
for any man who gets too much. The men are very funny about
it. One said to me the other
day when I was dishing it out
"Sir just turn your back & let your
orderly lay down that for &
in half an hour we will be
in the German trenches". It is
gorgeous stuff. I have used it
hot to revive even the almost
dead. I found a fellow collapsed
on his post one night during
my rounds still clinging to
his rifle watching his front
but unable to stand, burning
with fever, & cold as ice. I
had him relieved & well beaten
took him to my dug out. Fed
him rum hot & bread in
front of my stove & drove
him out to work again with a
shovel. He was quite all right 9 next morning except that his feet
and legs were swollen a bit. I had another strong man who had
awful feet coming along the road
following trench reliefcrying as
he fell out because he was
disgracing his company. I was
commanding my coy from the rear
at this time just on the look out
for such as he. I flailed him
with my tongue, fed him
neat whiskey from my flask
& ordered him back into the
ranks. He went & completed the
march in the ranks. His feet
were bleeding. But I got him home.
That was what I was there for. Before
I came out the men hated me
now they don't because I am so hard
with them that they trust me. I
feed them kindness in small rare
doses. And I never tell them I am
pleased with them. They generally
know when I am displeased with
them. Coy. Commanding is necessarily
in war a brutal occupation. This
side of the business would suit
Bodel but the exposure wouldnt. I think it is time I drew to a close 10 I would just love a packet or two of
Macfarlane & Lang's oatcakes & some
more of that good honey. Please show this to Emmie, but
please please don't make speeches about
it. With love WAMontgomery