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Primary Source World War One Letters Home January 1917
Cold weather, worried about men freezing, utter desolation of the front, New Year's Eve with the rats in a dugout, may have to move again ...
Jan 5th, 1917
My Dear Mother,
Yrs. of Dec 27th & several enclosures to hand 3 days ago. I am glad you sent me poor Mowbrays card, I always think his death particularly sad, as he was on a pleasure round of the trenches & need never have gone at all. I suppose you will not go to Foxcote.
Curious all the frost you have had & snow, here mild for time of year & cloudy, some rain & everlasting wind. I sincerely hope it will not freeze, so hard on the poor men in trenches standing in mud & water up to their waists, it would mean so many frozen feet; there was a lot of it first winter we were out.
I was moved again new years... We have little cubicles in a hut, made by hanging blankets on wires & at least we are on the surface tho’ in a sea of mud! This place is only 4 kil. from where I was. Cellar before used to get damp & water leaked through & down steps after heavy rain. We are all off again very soon I hear, expected to be here 6 weeks. Shan’t regret it, but very glad to have seen it & the utter desolation of everything about the front.
My New Year's Eve night & New Year's morning I spent in a dugout lying on a stretcher on floor with a wounded man on one over me, rats playing about all over, shells bursting all round & shaking the place, so it was not much to boast of; sort of shelling out the old year & in the new. Next morning 2 burst close to entrance & threw mud & stuff into the dugout just where we were sitting round the fire or stove rather.
Following morning at about same hour one burst & knocked in all the entrance & one of our fellows was hit on head by debris, but none the worse much! It only left a little hole for them to get out through. Another morning a shell burst just across the road, hit car in several places & blew Dr., volunteer & 2 or 3 others standing at entrance right into the dugout down the steps. No harm beyond a shock.
Certainly as a section we have been lucky. At various times we sat in our cars waiting instead of going underground, now of course we go to ground till car fills up & we have to go, at least more or less so.
Don’t know where we move to next, latest rumour takes us a long way from these parts, further than where we came from. It is a nuisance being always on the move, so much better when they left us to work a certain front from a base without this continually being on the tramp.
We get lots of day & night work here. Broke spring of my car, awful roads, it was mended again last evg. So am going again, only lost 24 hrs. I gave my shover an Xmas present of ½ doz pair woollen sox I got from ????????, he much appreciated it, very decent fellow. These huts are only single boards so we hang blankets about to keep out draught, especially round our bunks.
We sit down about 18 to meals, about 6 of us & 12 French medical staff, we pay 5f a head a day, it simplifies cooking, as our cook is up at other place. Chauffeurs cook for themselves. We are very short of volunteers & have been for some time, only 12 or so, supposed to be 20. Some who left us coming back end of month I believe. Have to send 2 chauffeurs on a car.
…
Best love
Yr affect son
Arthur
My Dear Mother,
Yrs. of Dec 27th & several enclosures to hand 3 days ago. I am glad you sent me poor Mowbrays card, I always think his death particularly sad, as he was on a pleasure round of the trenches & need never have gone at all. I suppose you will not go to Foxcote.
Curious all the frost you have had & snow, here mild for time of year & cloudy, some rain & everlasting wind. I sincerely hope it will not freeze, so hard on the poor men in trenches standing in mud & water up to their waists, it would mean so many frozen feet; there was a lot of it first winter we were out.
I was moved again new years... We have little cubicles in a hut, made by hanging blankets on wires & at least we are on the surface tho’ in a sea of mud! This place is only 4 kil. from where I was. Cellar before used to get damp & water leaked through & down steps after heavy rain. We are all off again very soon I hear, expected to be here 6 weeks. Shan’t regret it, but very glad to have seen it & the utter desolation of everything about the front.
My New Year's Eve night & New Year's morning I spent in a dugout lying on a stretcher on floor with a wounded man on one over me, rats playing about all over, shells bursting all round & shaking the place, so it was not much to boast of; sort of shelling out the old year & in the new. Next morning 2 burst close to entrance & threw mud & stuff into the dugout just where we were sitting round the fire or stove rather.
Following morning at about same hour one burst & knocked in all the entrance & one of our fellows was hit on head by debris, but none the worse much! It only left a little hole for them to get out through. Another morning a shell burst just across the road, hit car in several places & blew Dr., volunteer & 2 or 3 others standing at entrance right into the dugout down the steps. No harm beyond a shock.
Certainly as a section we have been lucky. At various times we sat in our cars waiting instead of going underground, now of course we go to ground till car fills up & we have to go, at least more or less so.
Don’t know where we move to next, latest rumour takes us a long way from these parts, further than where we came from. It is a nuisance being always on the move, so much better when they left us to work a certain front from a base without this continually being on the tramp.
We get lots of day & night work here. Broke spring of my car, awful roads, it was mended again last evg. So am going again, only lost 24 hrs. I gave my shover an Xmas present of ½ doz pair woollen sox I got from ????????, he much appreciated it, very decent fellow. These huts are only single boards so we hang blankets about to keep out draught, especially round our bunks.
We sit down about 18 to meals, about 6 of us & 12 French medical staff, we pay 5f a head a day, it simplifies cooking, as our cook is up at other place. Chauffeurs cook for themselves. We are very short of volunteers & have been for some time, only 12 or so, supposed to be 20. Some who left us coming back end of month I believe. Have to send 2 chauffeurs on a car.
…
Best love
Yr affect son
Arthur
Glad to be moving, hardly any locals left, flats in London hard to get, happy in his little wooden hut ...
The Western Front January 1917 - Click to enlarge.
Jan 8th, 1917
I enclose 2 or 3 letters may interest you …
Am glad to say we are leaving this place of mud & misery very shortly, don’t know where to quite, rumour takes us a long way, but one never knows. We never seem still now & one gets very sick of it.
Went to Mass at village church near here this morning. Hardly any civil population left, many houses damaged, but church escaped with only 2 shell holes in spire.
A soldier priest said Mass. You ought if possible to go over with Will, nice to have him to cross with, tho’ I suppose you prefer day. So many trains taken off that travelling is not much fun, of course they want to discourage it. They say London is very full, flats very hard to get. Tablet not yet arrived, but daresay it will turn up all right.
Am quite comfortable in my little wooden hut, luckily a stove or it would be very cold, single boards. One can’t walk here, too much mud & everything that passes you covers you from head to foot with mud.
Best love
Yr affect. Son
Arthur
I enclose 2 or 3 letters may interest you …
Am glad to say we are leaving this place of mud & misery very shortly, don’t know where to quite, rumour takes us a long way, but one never knows. We never seem still now & one gets very sick of it.
Went to Mass at village church near here this morning. Hardly any civil population left, many houses damaged, but church escaped with only 2 shell holes in spire.
A soldier priest said Mass. You ought if possible to go over with Will, nice to have him to cross with, tho’ I suppose you prefer day. So many trains taken off that travelling is not much fun, of course they want to discourage it. They say London is very full, flats very hard to get. Tablet not yet arrived, but daresay it will turn up all right.
Am quite comfortable in my little wooden hut, luckily a stove or it would be very cold, single boards. One can’t walk here, too much mud & everything that passes you covers you from head to foot with mud.
Best love
Yr affect. Son
Arthur
Glad to be away from the front, complains about the price of fuel, tired of everlasting moving, has a hot water bottle in bed, maybe the war will end in October, fed up with the weather ...
S.S.A. 3
France
Jan 14th, 1917
My Dear Mother,
Yrs. of 3rd & 6th to hand & enclosures, also Tablet came yesterday. Many thanks for ordering boots, I thought they would probably be 25/- [£1.25p] also & stockings, tho’ I have good long sox & they really do us well. We are back from the muddy front once more & confess am not very sorry. At present in a small town, cold snow, dreary & very uninteresting, expect a week here then off again somewhere. One gets so tired of this everlasting moving, I fear now it will be moving always, not likely to get a permanent sector as we used to be. Everything is so dear up here & very scarce, coal wood paraffin etc almost if not quite impossible to get. If we do move I hope it will be south, as being up near our people is ??????. I’ve got a nice room luckily, first house I walked into the evg. I arrived, nice old couple & good home who puts hot water bottle in my bed!
It is snowy & very slushy & beastly generally. Much colder here than on the Somme. I see in S. of France, or Vosges way rather, they have had lot of snow.
Yes C Barton left us more than a month ago, he is home at his place near Blois, some talk of his going to another section. Sir R Wigan has taken his place; a friend of Hargreaves & he heard from him yesterday, seems much better, but was very bad. I wonder if he will come out again. Everybody has got to get busy at home now, & 2 or 3 that left are are talking of coming out again. I don’t know if I shall come out again in May, of course it will be summer, but after practically 2 years of it one rather feels one would like some other work, but it is not easy to get at home, so I suppose I shall come out again, but I don’t feel up to another winter if there is one.
The idea at home seems that it will end in Oct. or before at least so I am told, personally at present I don’t in the least see why it should, that is if Allies enforce terms they talk of, of course there can be peace tomorrow if they compromise with Germany & have it all over again in 10 or 15 years, many fear that is what will happen.
I wish you had your Turbotston money to put into new war loan, I see it gives 5 ¼ & income tax is not deducted at source, a big difference. I hope you found all well on your return & had not too beastly a journey …
A great many colds & coughs & throats about. This is the dreariest climate, never see the sun by any accident & it rains or snows. We went on a wood hunting expedition this yest. aft.noon, managed to get some, but very wet & green. Coal & wood both awfully dear.
Glad “Mr Poilu” sold well, Ward [Mr Poilu by Herbert Ward, published 1916] wrote today to one of our fellows & said he had already made £1000 for Red X out of it …
Hope you got cheque.
Yr. Affect. Son
Arthur
France
Jan 14th, 1917
My Dear Mother,
Yrs. of 3rd & 6th to hand & enclosures, also Tablet came yesterday. Many thanks for ordering boots, I thought they would probably be 25/- [£1.25p] also & stockings, tho’ I have good long sox & they really do us well. We are back from the muddy front once more & confess am not very sorry. At present in a small town, cold snow, dreary & very uninteresting, expect a week here then off again somewhere. One gets so tired of this everlasting moving, I fear now it will be moving always, not likely to get a permanent sector as we used to be. Everything is so dear up here & very scarce, coal wood paraffin etc almost if not quite impossible to get. If we do move I hope it will be south, as being up near our people is ??????. I’ve got a nice room luckily, first house I walked into the evg. I arrived, nice old couple & good home who puts hot water bottle in my bed!
It is snowy & very slushy & beastly generally. Much colder here than on the Somme. I see in S. of France, or Vosges way rather, they have had lot of snow.
Yes C Barton left us more than a month ago, he is home at his place near Blois, some talk of his going to another section. Sir R Wigan has taken his place; a friend of Hargreaves & he heard from him yesterday, seems much better, but was very bad. I wonder if he will come out again. Everybody has got to get busy at home now, & 2 or 3 that left are are talking of coming out again. I don’t know if I shall come out again in May, of course it will be summer, but after practically 2 years of it one rather feels one would like some other work, but it is not easy to get at home, so I suppose I shall come out again, but I don’t feel up to another winter if there is one.
The idea at home seems that it will end in Oct. or before at least so I am told, personally at present I don’t in the least see why it should, that is if Allies enforce terms they talk of, of course there can be peace tomorrow if they compromise with Germany & have it all over again in 10 or 15 years, many fear that is what will happen.
I wish you had your Turbotston money to put into new war loan, I see it gives 5 ¼ & income tax is not deducted at source, a big difference. I hope you found all well on your return & had not too beastly a journey …
A great many colds & coughs & throats about. This is the dreariest climate, never see the sun by any accident & it rains or snows. We went on a wood hunting expedition this yest. aft.noon, managed to get some, but very wet & green. Coal & wood both awfully dear.
Glad “Mr Poilu” sold well, Ward [Mr Poilu by Herbert Ward, published 1916] wrote today to one of our fellows & said he had already made £1000 for Red X out of it …
Hope you got cheque.
Yr. Affect. Son
Arthur
Bitterly cold, Arthur is feeling his age, very basic quarters, thoughts of Alberta, Canada, locals help themselves to Arthur's tobacco, glad he turned down the job of Commandant ...
S.S.A. 3
France
Jan 26th, 1917
My Dear Mother
Yrs. of 16th & enclosures I found yest. morng. on my return after 24 hrs. out with car: first mail we have had for 9 days. I also found a letter from Will from hospital at Boulogne, swollen arms he said, curious, but he seemed to be getting all right & hoped to get home next week some time. I hope Ernest gets a week’s leave too, but wise of Gert & Ta not to go over.
You do not say you got my cheque for £2, sent, I think, in my letter of 8th. It was for gum boots, 25/- [£1.25p] & locker rent at Club, 15/- [£0.75p]. Yes I got Annies parcel on my return out in spring last, it was awaiting one at St Die [?].
Bitter cold continues, hard frosts & clear days, ground like iron & all lightly covered with snow. This country reminds me of Alberta, Canada, very like prairies there & my friend, who leaves in a few days, says it struck him too, he has lived 30 yrs. in Canada. This is the country where Attila & his Huns were defeated. Your winter seems to be bad too, but I fancy the cold over here is worse.
Of course this motoring work is the coldest job possible & most trying, as one may be an hour or two or all night in a warm dug out & then jump on car & go for hours in bitter weather. Next winter I shall certainly look for something else to do, this everlasting moving, night & day work & bitter cold is a bit too much for me now; I hope to get through with it now all right, but I certainly confess I do not feel up to another winter like this.
One of our fellows, a man who has been in India a lot & came out to join us in Nov. has been seedy & feels it so much that he is being sent home today if possible. He looks wretched & on the Somme he & others got knocked over down an ??? by a shell bursting very near & which hit his car, he got a shock on top of the rough conditions. Quite a nice fellow, but he looks so ill & miserable that he really gives one the blues to look at him.
It is all very much rougher & very different to when we first came out, then we had good billets & one got back to a warm & comfortable room, now one gets a mattress on floor or on stretcher of an icy cold room, I’m lucky here, some of them have camped in houses half destroyed windows & doors blown out. I & my Canadian friend have windows and door & roof, no fire but we try & heat up a bit with petrol stove. I expect we shall be moving in two days or so, goodness knows where.
I’ve just sent ??????? a cheque for bill you sent me. Things ARE dear! Six pairs of socks I ordered for my Chauffeur, I gave them to him as an Xmas present, a very decent fellow, had him ever since I came out this time. At last village we were at for 3 days he had a sack full of boots & clothes, his passport etc. stolen off the car, beastly shame; hopeless to trace.
While drawn up in a small town the other day, where we stopped for lunch, a lot of our cars were gone through & tobacco & food taken, middle of the day; I fancy school children did this. They took all the chocolate out of my food basket which was lying handy to get at in car; opened up back, they were closed, pretty good check. I much hope we shall be sent south, I prefer people there …
Our Commandant is Sir R Wigan Bart. a nice fellow about 30, has a place in Northumberland. Charley Barton [?] has not gone to any of the other sections, he is messing about with cars in Paris. Our Prince Lieutenant came back from leave 2 days ago, we seem to get on very well without him, he is harmless tho’ & so far we have all got on peacefully.
I’m very glad I decided not to take on job of Com. [Commandant] or Lieut. of any sort, far prefer being what I am, I should have probably ended like Barton in a row or more so, as various things would have rubbed me up much the wrong way …
This intense cold seems general. One of our sections is more or less snowed up down near Belfort we hear. Snow is nothing compared to this bitter wind in this open country. Great difficulty to get dry fuel.
Best love
Yr. Affect. son
Arthur…
Poor Maudie seems to be continually having illness, I suppose Salisbury Plain was a horrible place for her, cold & damp, was that Kathy’s canteen.
I will read book you mention by Chesterton when I get back, no time or opportunity to read these days at this job …
France
Jan 26th, 1917
My Dear Mother
Yrs. of 16th & enclosures I found yest. morng. on my return after 24 hrs. out with car: first mail we have had for 9 days. I also found a letter from Will from hospital at Boulogne, swollen arms he said, curious, but he seemed to be getting all right & hoped to get home next week some time. I hope Ernest gets a week’s leave too, but wise of Gert & Ta not to go over.
You do not say you got my cheque for £2, sent, I think, in my letter of 8th. It was for gum boots, 25/- [£1.25p] & locker rent at Club, 15/- [£0.75p]. Yes I got Annies parcel on my return out in spring last, it was awaiting one at St Die [?].
Bitter cold continues, hard frosts & clear days, ground like iron & all lightly covered with snow. This country reminds me of Alberta, Canada, very like prairies there & my friend, who leaves in a few days, says it struck him too, he has lived 30 yrs. in Canada. This is the country where Attila & his Huns were defeated. Your winter seems to be bad too, but I fancy the cold over here is worse.
Of course this motoring work is the coldest job possible & most trying, as one may be an hour or two or all night in a warm dug out & then jump on car & go for hours in bitter weather. Next winter I shall certainly look for something else to do, this everlasting moving, night & day work & bitter cold is a bit too much for me now; I hope to get through with it now all right, but I certainly confess I do not feel up to another winter like this.
One of our fellows, a man who has been in India a lot & came out to join us in Nov. has been seedy & feels it so much that he is being sent home today if possible. He looks wretched & on the Somme he & others got knocked over down an ??? by a shell bursting very near & which hit his car, he got a shock on top of the rough conditions. Quite a nice fellow, but he looks so ill & miserable that he really gives one the blues to look at him.
It is all very much rougher & very different to when we first came out, then we had good billets & one got back to a warm & comfortable room, now one gets a mattress on floor or on stretcher of an icy cold room, I’m lucky here, some of them have camped in houses half destroyed windows & doors blown out. I & my Canadian friend have windows and door & roof, no fire but we try & heat up a bit with petrol stove. I expect we shall be moving in two days or so, goodness knows where.
I’ve just sent ??????? a cheque for bill you sent me. Things ARE dear! Six pairs of socks I ordered for my Chauffeur, I gave them to him as an Xmas present, a very decent fellow, had him ever since I came out this time. At last village we were at for 3 days he had a sack full of boots & clothes, his passport etc. stolen off the car, beastly shame; hopeless to trace.
While drawn up in a small town the other day, where we stopped for lunch, a lot of our cars were gone through & tobacco & food taken, middle of the day; I fancy school children did this. They took all the chocolate out of my food basket which was lying handy to get at in car; opened up back, they were closed, pretty good check. I much hope we shall be sent south, I prefer people there …
Our Commandant is Sir R Wigan Bart. a nice fellow about 30, has a place in Northumberland. Charley Barton [?] has not gone to any of the other sections, he is messing about with cars in Paris. Our Prince Lieutenant came back from leave 2 days ago, we seem to get on very well without him, he is harmless tho’ & so far we have all got on peacefully.
I’m very glad I decided not to take on job of Com. [Commandant] or Lieut. of any sort, far prefer being what I am, I should have probably ended like Barton in a row or more so, as various things would have rubbed me up much the wrong way …
This intense cold seems general. One of our sections is more or less snowed up down near Belfort we hear. Snow is nothing compared to this bitter wind in this open country. Great difficulty to get dry fuel.
Best love
Yr. Affect. son
Arthur…
Poor Maudie seems to be continually having illness, I suppose Salisbury Plain was a horrible place for her, cold & damp, was that Kathy’s canteen.
I will read book you mention by Chesterton when I get back, no time or opportunity to read these days at this job …
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