Diary Entry and Letter Home - 18 November

Diary Entry

There was a hard frost in the night, which found its way into my bed during the "wee sma' hours" and when we opened the door of our wee house we found a very cold fog awaiting us. The thermometer could not register - it was frozen I think. After breakfast, the 20 new men paraded at the colonel's office and met the gentleman, who seemed, along with his adjutant, to be a very nice man. From the office we collected a staff subaltern, who took us up onto a plateau at the back of the Mess and showed us guns and instructional trenches. This was what our morning's work consisted of. Oh! I forgot to add that there was an hour's lecture before we went up the hill. In the afternoon, we obtained leave from the adjutant to go down and collect some goods from the ordnance stores. Bee, having a slight cold, stopped in the Mess. We had a very pleasant evening at Havre, as we found a nice little restaurant for dinner, and we returned to camp by taxi at 9.30.

Letter

Dear Father,
I hope you will be able to decipher this letter, as it is written under very adverse conditions. I will just give you an idea where we are to begin with. We are at Havre No. 2 Base Headquarters, which is a camp about seven miles out of the town, and consists of artillery men. As it is the first base I have seen, it has opened my eyes to what a tremendous business it is to supply an army - and only an arm of it at that.

I think in my last letter I said that we might be sent off at a moment's notice. Well, we came out of lunch at 1.30 on the 15th and saw a notice on the board saying we were to move on the 16th. Very few of us had a full kit so we went to the colonel in a body, and asked him if we could go straightaway and complete our kit. He was very good about it and let us go, so we shot up to town about 4.15 that afternoon, having no idea where we would be sent to when we proceeded to Southampton the next day.

We spent a very rapid morning on the 15th, as we had a lot of stuff to collect in a very short time, but we managed it all right. The train left Waterloo at 1.15, with nine of our brigade on board. I forgot to mention that we were all together, but for old uncle, who by some bad luck was left out on arrival at Southampton.

We reported to the embarkation officer who told us we had to embark not later than 12 pm, so we had five to six hours to kick our heels in. We considered ourselves lucky in having berths going across. There were four of us in the cabin, but we slept very well for all that. The boat sailed about 7.00, and we had an uneventful run to Havre, arriving in the harbour about 1.30 pm. As soon as we landed, we proceeded to general headquarters, who sent us out here to await further orders. So here we are, praying to be sent up to the firing line.

Another lot of 10 RFA men came across in the same boat as we did. They are in exactly the same game as we are. None of us knows if we are out for keeps, as they say, or on a cock's tour. We are probably on the latter, but one never knows. This spot gives one a vague idea of what the poor devils in the trenches must suffer during the winter.

Bee and I are in a hut together. It is made of canvas with a wooden frame, and it is about 12' x 4'. It would suit you, dad, because if you stand in the middle of it you can practically reach anything in the room. I know you like small houses. The first night was a snorting frost, but we kept fairly warm and did not have to get up until 7.30, which is a very comfortable hour.