1 In the Field 29.12.15 My Dear Father & Mother I have
Fathers' letter dated on last
page with stamp 21st inst. There seems to be a fate
about wires of a vital
nature addressed to the
office. I was very annoyed
that Jack McConnell's wire
got thro' first. As the wire to
you, the wire to Lizzie Hanna
and the wire Crozier sent
were all handed by me to
an Officerat the one time
who handed them to a
special Brigade Office
Despatch rider to take at
top speed to an authorised
Post Office for civilian 2 wires. A great deal of
very necessary formality
has to be gone thro' in order
to get a wire away at all.
This is because behind our
front lines living in our
midst are many I fear
very many clever brave
spies who undoubtedly
manage in marvellous
ways to communicate
very quickly & very fully
accurate information of
almost everything that
goes on. I was taken
after dark last night to
the — Army Headquarters
in a motor bus to hear a
lecture on the Battle of Soos. At that lecture which was 3 3.
given in the presence of several hundred
officers all of ranks up of Lieutenant or
upwards ( nearly all Captains at least.) &
included a very famous Army Commander,
the statement was definitely made that
altho' everything was kept absolutely
secret right up to the last moment even from
many of the high Commanders when the attack
was actually launched the Huns knew
the frontage, time, dispositions, and even
the names of the Regiments allotted to
different sectors & their particular position
in the assault. They of course were
all ready in the place which we 4 fondly believed were we
would take with "benefit" of
surprise. I could if I dare
tell you other things about
the Battle of Loos which I
don't think you have heard. I send you the enclosed
note from my C.O. I was
just about to destroy it when
it occurred to me that you
might like to have it. You
always possessed a strong family sentiment which I
often, I fear ridiculed but really
admired. It is a simple
note, put very nicely but it is
nevertheless an order to carry on
for another 48 hours with
practically no sleep after I had
just had a spell of what old
W.J Jefferson would call
responsible work for a young
fellow which lasted 65 hours,
6 of which I slept & then it was
5 5
on no down bed. 3/9 X 1 1/2
planks propped up on
biscuit tins of various
heights under a leaky dug
out roof. My pillow Maynard
Sinclairs wet British Warm
& my covering wet shin
coat & a much wetter Burberry.
So much for my bed & I did
enjoy it too. After I woke
from my second spell
Maynard Sinclair ( poor wee
devil) just sat & "turned over"
to me & put his head down
among the debris of our
mess table & in 10 seconds
was sound asleep. He wakened,
I remember with the brand
of a much advertised
brand of cigarettes on his
brow, caused by making
a pillow of a tin of cigarettes. 6 6
He did look funny. He is
just 19 Father but the
purest of pure pure gold. The business man who
tells me a young fellow
mustn't be trusted with
responsibility in the future
will be surprised at what
I tell him. I have trusted
theone to turn on Artillery
against an enemy whose
nearest trenches are 24
yards from ours and sleptthrough it. My servant &
I are thoroughly enjoying
ourselves with the Autostrop
razor you were so thoughtful
as to send me. I am getting
quite good with it. I am
very satisfied with it &
don't want to change it. 7 7.
I have had I think all
Mothers lovely parcels for
which I am very grateful
some which have bee advised
from other people as sent
14 days ago haven't turned
up yet. I just loveto hear some
of the Firms business "shop."
It is such a relief from
ours. Please let me have
letters abut it just like
your last. I thank you
for your good wishes in the
New Year which I heartily
reciprocate. I shall be
in the trenches on New Year's
eve & New Year's Day. I was
also in on Xmas Day. In fact to make it worse
we were relieved that 8 8.
day. This pen is the
greatest possible luxury. I had a very nice letter
from Horace from hospital
in Rouen dated 26/12/15.
It is written in ink in
his own handwriting. It
has been passed round his
coy & the officers so that they
can see for themselves that
Horace can see too. I
almost stood myself a
drink when I got it. I
go very shy of drink. I
never drink water of course
without a little whisky or
chloride of lime or petrie
or all three in it. But beyond
that no spirits not even a
tot of rum. Then if I do
happen to get really badly
9 chilled and foundered I will
get the benefit of it. But
I really believe hot cocoa
or tea is better & I drink
oceans of both. I sent to
the A & N Stores & got a
pocket primus stove from
them, which will help in
the culinary department
very considerably. The fuel
question with us is very
acute now. There is some
hitch about the supply &
in consequence our men
are suffering damnably. We are now forbidden to
buy locally as it upsets
supplies available to
civilians but — a lot of
things happen in the Army 10 You might tell Charlie
McGann & Miss McDermott
I haven't had their long
looked for letters yet. One meets all sorts of
people here continually
For instance Bass Copper
called in my mess today
to see me but I was out &
he didn't wait & he didn't
even take the trouble to
tell any of my officers
where he was stationed. I also entertained Charlie
McGanns pal Lindsay
from Lough Neagh & we
were talking about Charlie
& yacht boating in my
dug out just before Lindsay
went out to try some
new Telephone Instrument 11 Coy means of which it is possible to top
messages thro' their earths. He got his
earth pin in within 2 yards of the Bosch
Defence wire but couldn't catch any
messages "on earth". The Hun is too
intelligent to put his earth pins in
within at least a hundred yards of
his front line. All he got was a good
wetting, his trousers practically torn off him
and a real war with snipers all on his
own. He wasn't hit coming back &
when he got in to report return to me
he was perfectly at ease & happy. in to report return to me
he was perfectly at ease & happy. 12 10
The Hun has worked this
earth trick on us more
than once & go all the
messages that passed for
days. I have the greatest
possible respect for them. I Iike them least when
they are quietest. Two of our officers have
been recommended for awards of honour - Stevenson
and Gould - Jack Stevenson
is well worth a D.S.O. &
Gould a military cross.
Both for patrol work.
Stevenson carried in a
wounded man under heavy
fire a distance of 300 yards
after his own revolver had
had knocked out of his
13 hand by a rifle bullet. The wounded man was
hit again when Stevenson
was carrying him & died
a few hours after he got
in. He couldn't have lived
anyway as he had hideous
abdominal injuries caused
by a bomb explosion. There was "some war"
that night tween lines. We don't know & I don't
expect the Borsches know
exactly what did happen
but it started by a strong
patrol of ours colliding
with a strong patrol of
theirs in absolute darkness.
They all opened fire on
each other at once with
bombs revolvers & rifles or 14 14
It was all quite plain
& straight sailing but our
people getting the worst of
it were ordered to retire
as we saw reinforcements
arrive for the Bosch who
were even then easily
twice our strength. We
retired but a new war
started immediately & the
last we saw of the performance
was the two Bosch parties
busy killing each other.
They actually got hand
to hand at the finish.
They are reported to have
done the thing thoroughly. I was listening to the
performance comfortably
on my front line fire step 15 15
and they certainly took their time at it. I of course thought it was us & them
otherwise I should have helped them
to a speedy understanding by turning
one of the two machine guns now at
my own disposal on to them. A sudden burst of machine gun
fire traversing along your fire
parapet at night when your working
parties are usually up on top is enough
to make even the dead roots of my
top hair tingle. It is a hideous
sound. The Hun Gun is slower than 16 16
our gun but 450 rounds
per minute form nowhere
arriving everywhere is
quite fast enough to make
me duck. Although what
good ducking is when
one hears the crack of the
bullet I don't know. A man never hears the
one that hits him. I
heard the one that got
Horace. I hear it yet. A damned horrible thing
happened to the Batt of Regulars
we relieved last time on the
day we relieved. Their C.O.
was going along the line.
He met a soldier in a
narrow place. The soldier
got up on the fire step to
make way. He forgot the
17 17
was damaged at
that point. He lost the
side of his head and of
course his life. The C.O.
was upset about it. Organisation
of German snipers is marvellous.
And the patience of the
blighters is horrible. They
wont fire for days just to
encourage you & then
when you have got lulled
into a feeling of very
false security they play
some most ingenious trick
and get someone or perhaps
more. It is known they
have a sliding scale of
Head money. It is said to
be £2-10-0 (50 Marks)
for an officer. I wish I 18 18
could make a prisoner of
the one that got Horace. I
should have him escorted
to safety by men from D
Coy. These of course sound
awful things by a warm
fire in a comfortable
room, but Father, men
who have seen a loved officer
shot before their eyes are
never quite the same
again. They are human
beings & war - this war - does
not elevate. It is too scientific. Discipline among our
own troops is only maintained
by awfully severe physical
punishment and the
infliction of pain. Thinking it over I don't
believe I would hand him
to D Coy to escort. It is 19 19
whispered that prisoners get shot after
capture sometimes "when endeavouring
to escape." I couldn't really permit
coldblooded murder to be done knowingly.
Some of it is horrible. I must close now with love to
all. No press or public please. Your loving son. W.A Montgomery