Letter to Ruth Mallory written from France during the Battle of the Somme
Full Transcript
My dearest Ruth, My ‘note’ of this morning turned out almost a letter nevertheless it seems that I owe you a great deal of information and this is a chance of supplying it. I am taking Quinn’s place at the guns for a very slow job, as, owing to certain rearrangements he is superintending some more digging work. It is now 3.15pm and we have to fire off 60 rounds or so by 9pm so you may imagine how slow I feel this job to be. I am sitting beside the one gun which is to fire.
How much have I told you already about the recent fighting? I have an idea that much remains to be said but I hardly know what. The conditions just here are very different from those when the scrap began. That day was one of suspense and excitement; a continuous flow of tales collected from wounded men walking from the road kept us informed of what was going on and one made out a story, partly true. But now the intense fighting is south of us and though we may still support the infantry as we did yesterday it is not apparently those on our immediate front and they don’t evacuate their wounded along this road – so we feel a trifle ‘out of it’. Possibly that state of affairs won’t last forever. And for us the salient fact is that we are no longer working out a prearranged plan matured perhaps months ago // but rather on plans formed in a day to fit the occasion consequently we have little warning and often have to open fire at a moment’s notice.
This is what you would expect but none the less a condition of action that makes severe demands on everyone; so many things have to be considered that for perfect accuracy there must always be a short delay before the figures worked out in the office from the map can be telephoned through to the guns; and then the ‘Nos. 1’ or ‘Gun Captains’ as they are called in coast defence have to be made to understand the figures and its wonderful how difficult that process seems to be in some cases and how often they make mistakes. And then before a gun can be fired it has often to be turned about in a confined space and on muddy ground – so that altogether you may imagine that when we are ordered to open fire at once on XYZ it requires a cool head to avoid agitation and that’s just what Lithgow hasn’t got – he has a clear head and can work quickly and accurately, but when he comes along in a tremendous fluster to inquire why the guns aren’t ready it requires some presence of mind to keep cool oneself. It must be added that Lithgow has been better in this respect during these last two days – and we have been quicker on the guns too. My impression is that our Nos. 1 are not a very adaptable lot and don’t easily send themselves to new conditions; also some of them haven’t had sufficient training and two are capable of any folly. We never let them fire the 1st round of a series without making certain that they have the right angles on the sights, so no serious mistakes can be made that way.
These remarks from the mark // are written on Saturday morning. I’m glad to say that during the incessant firing of yesterday all went well. I only had two guns to look after during the most exacting periods instead of four as often happens when I am on duty; it is a much better arrangement to have an Officer for each section when we have to fire all guns rapidly at an exacting target, and I find no difficulty in taking charge of them properly: but four in a space of 120 yards along that slippery bank and in the din of traffic and field gun fire are a handful.
Well my dearest one I had a pretty hard time before I turned in last night. My day off duty turned out more laborious than usual in the end from the time I stopped writing this letter, because the work on the guns suddenly ‘bucked up’. I hadn’t a moment’s rest till 4am when I lay down for an hour and a half. And then began a day beside which the 1st day of the offensive appears as a mere whiff of smoke – I refer only to our own experiences but so far as artillery is concerned the whole attack must have been far more vigorous. It certainly seemed to be so judging from what we heard here – that was partly because we heard so very much more than we liked of certain field guns which fired over our heads but there was far more big gun fire too in this sector. The infantry were to attack at 8.0; the bombardment began soon after 7.0 and this battery had to open fire at 7.20. Before that the guns had to be calibrated – i.e. to fire on a known point with the particular lot of cordite which each separate gun was to use – so as to get any correction for elevation or line which might be required and as there was a difficulty about communication from the observer’s position involving the use of signals – flag waving (known as the flapper) with morse code – we had to start that operation at 6am.
It's no use attempting a detailed description of yesterday. We were firing all day but the strenuous parts of the day were up till 11.0am and from about 3.30pm to 9.0pm I was on the guns all the time except when I was relieved for meals. The operations appear to have been successful and again we see groups of German prisoners passing periodically as a gunner remarked to me ‘a mixed lot like our own; some fine soldiers and some that look as if they could hardly hold a rifle – and they all look as though they were straight from prison!
I think I might have been very tired yesterday. I had such variable moods. Mostly I was very happy and in the slack time after lunch sitting on a pile of empty cartridge boxes rained on at intervals I had a notable idea for a book – really quite the most pleasing idea I have ever had – a form which would give me scope to say all that I wish to say about life, ethics and education quite pleasantly and humorously. I will tell you more about it if it occupies my thoughts any more. On the other hand I was very nervy.
I read your letter in bed last night and that was a great joy four of them and half of one of my own! I’m very glad you get your friends and mine down to Westbrook – it is very agreeable for them and good for your family too. Mildred seems to be delighted by Mary Ann and Ursula – our discovery has been embosomed. I should love to have to have seen your father write ‘The Professor’ - an appropriate nickname. It’s a great matter of luck and first impressions whether such meetings ‘come off’ but I’m not in the least surprised and I think its creditable to you father – there’s a good deal for an elderly man to put up with in Owen.
I am interested in your account of the meeting you attended. Please tell me exactly what you said in your brave speech. I’m delighted to hear that you spoke. But I’m altogether ‘assommé’ as the French say – knocked down by your calm assumption that I am not a Christian – this after how many months of married life? I‘m blowed if I’ve the energy to write you another philippic proving how good and Xian I am. I always thought your own standard a high one and couldn’t expect to live up to that but if it’s not high enough to let a poor humble gunner like me into the fold but must be damnably low and at all events I can say I’ve more respect than that for Christian teaching so there!
And I won’t write any more – not in this spasm perhaps later in the day. But will this letter ever reach you?
I suppose we shall meet again one of these days perhaps for a period things will be more quiet and then!! But is does seem distant.
Ever so much love – your loving George.
