Letter from Geoff Field to Frances Hodgkins
Date
07 Nov 1917
See full details
See transcription
Object Detail
Date
07 Nov 1917
Transcript
On Active Service With the British Expeditionary Force YMCA
Still in France 7th Nov. 1917
My Dearest Aunt,
No doubt by this time you will have completely given me up for lost, as it is now pretty near a month since I have put pen to paper. I wrote a couple of letters to Mother and Dad, the day before yesterday, the first for a month. They will be wondering whatever has happened to me, and no doubt dear Auntie you are doing the same. Therefore I shall waste no time in letting you know that I am still very much alive, although it is a wonder to me that I am alive at all.
When I last wrote to you it was some considerable time ago and I was existing in comparative peace and security well behind the lines. Since then a great many things have happened and I have been leading anything but a quiet and peaceful life. But before I go on to tell you of my woes, I want to know how things are going with you. I have received all your letters, papers and parcels safely and am indeed truly grateful to you for them. In your last letter you said that you were turning out of your studio in a day or two and were moving to warmer and drying quarters on the Harbour. I suppose by this time you have carried out your trek and are comfortably settled down again. I hope to find you snug in your new home when I get across to ‘Blighty’ on leave in the near future.
Well, Auntie, I will try and give you a brief idea of what has been happening to me during the past month and you will understand how it is that I have not been doing very much writing lately. You will most likely have read in the papers that the New Zealanders have been having a pretty lively time of it during the fighting in Flanders recently and I can tell you we have been right in the thick of it.
I am afraid I am not enough of a military expert to give an accurate and detailed account of the battle. You can read all about that in the newspapers. I can only give you the view I took of things and my own personal experiences. To me the worst part of the stunt was on the night before we carried out the attack when we had to lie about in shell holes waiting for the dawn. When morning came and we started to advance it took me some time to realise that we were actually crossing No Man’s Land, and on our way to Fritz’s lines. To me the air was full of the screaming shells that formed our barrage and there was also a plentiful supply of Fritz’s which I am jolly certain were not ordered. The advance formed a great picture in the early morning for in the dim light given by innumerable flares of all colours could be seen the dim forms of our chaps as wave after wave of infantry went forward. I suddenly woke up to the fact that there was a battle on when there was a sudden blast of machine gun fire poured into us from a couple of ‘pill boxes’ just ahead. We managed to surround the two concrete possies and after we had slung in a few bombs out walked all the Huns with their hands up and greeted us with a volley of “ ? “ . We searched them and sent them back as prisoners and went on struggling through the mud to our objective, a few heaps of bricks which were the remains of a farm. There we found a few more Fritzs and we set them to work carrying out our wounded. We dug ourselves in and waited for the counterattack which when it came was so cut to pieces by our artillery that it turned out a complete failure. Since then we have had to hold the ground we had gained and a trying and weary time we have had of it. For three weeks we have been living in holes in the ground covered in mud without a dry stitch of clothing and existing on biscuits, bully beef and cigarettes. Yet I am thankful to say Auntie that I have come safely through the whole business and am now well back behind the lines with the brigade for a bit of a rest.
This letter is just to let you know that I am still alive and well and to give you some brief idea of what has been happening to me during the past month. I will write again soon and give you all the news. When I came out of the line I was delighted to receive two of your welcome parcels of pasties and sweets and you may depend Auntie, dear, I made short work of them. Never was there a more pleasant surprise for me. Well I trust that this will find you well and comfortable and I hope to hear from you soon.
Your devoted nephew Geoff
Still in France 7th Nov. 1917
My Dearest Aunt,
No doubt by this time you will have completely given me up for lost, as it is now pretty near a month since I have put pen to paper. I wrote a couple of letters to Mother and Dad, the day before yesterday, the first for a month. They will be wondering whatever has happened to me, and no doubt dear Auntie you are doing the same. Therefore I shall waste no time in letting you know that I am still very much alive, although it is a wonder to me that I am alive at all.
When I last wrote to you it was some considerable time ago and I was existing in comparative peace and security well behind the lines. Since then a great many things have happened and I have been leading anything but a quiet and peaceful life. But before I go on to tell you of my woes, I want to know how things are going with you. I have received all your letters, papers and parcels safely and am indeed truly grateful to you for them. In your last letter you said that you were turning out of your studio in a day or two and were moving to warmer and drying quarters on the Harbour. I suppose by this time you have carried out your trek and are comfortably settled down again. I hope to find you snug in your new home when I get across to ‘Blighty’ on leave in the near future.
Well, Auntie, I will try and give you a brief idea of what has been happening to me during the past month and you will understand how it is that I have not been doing very much writing lately. You will most likely have read in the papers that the New Zealanders have been having a pretty lively time of it during the fighting in Flanders recently and I can tell you we have been right in the thick of it.
I am afraid I am not enough of a military expert to give an accurate and detailed account of the battle. You can read all about that in the newspapers. I can only give you the view I took of things and my own personal experiences. To me the worst part of the stunt was on the night before we carried out the attack when we had to lie about in shell holes waiting for the dawn. When morning came and we started to advance it took me some time to realise that we were actually crossing No Man’s Land, and on our way to Fritz’s lines. To me the air was full of the screaming shells that formed our barrage and there was also a plentiful supply of Fritz’s which I am jolly certain were not ordered. The advance formed a great picture in the early morning for in the dim light given by innumerable flares of all colours could be seen the dim forms of our chaps as wave after wave of infantry went forward. I suddenly woke up to the fact that there was a battle on when there was a sudden blast of machine gun fire poured into us from a couple of ‘pill boxes’ just ahead. We managed to surround the two concrete possies and after we had slung in a few bombs out walked all the Huns with their hands up and greeted us with a volley of “ ? “ . We searched them and sent them back as prisoners and went on struggling through the mud to our objective, a few heaps of bricks which were the remains of a farm. There we found a few more Fritzs and we set them to work carrying out our wounded. We dug ourselves in and waited for the counterattack which when it came was so cut to pieces by our artillery that it turned out a complete failure. Since then we have had to hold the ground we had gained and a trying and weary time we have had of it. For three weeks we have been living in holes in the ground covered in mud without a dry stitch of clothing and existing on biscuits, bully beef and cigarettes. Yet I am thankful to say Auntie that I have come safely through the whole business and am now well back behind the lines with the brigade for a bit of a rest.
This letter is just to let you know that I am still alive and well and to give you some brief idea of what has been happening to me during the past month. I will write again soon and give you all the news. When I came out of the line I was delighted to receive two of your welcome parcels of pasties and sweets and you may depend Auntie, dear, I made short work of them. Never was there a more pleasant surprise for me. Well I trust that this will find you well and comfortable and I hope to hear from you soon.
Your devoted nephew Geoff
Pages
6 pages
Sender's address
On Active Service with the British Expeditionary Force. Still in France
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-33
Credit Line
Letters
from
Frances
Hodgkins.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-33.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22720420
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22720420