Dini’s job sounds as if it might be rather interesting if, as you say, she gets some sort of secretarial appointment. I hope she works for someone interesting, & then perhaps she will be able to give us a week’s warning before the War Office ship us off to some distant spot as the Fiji Islands or elsewhere. It would be so nice to know beforehand that one was going to some particular place: as it is when there is a move on, one is just shunted about until one finds oneself first on some sort of vessel, next in mid ocean & lastly at some port that one has probably never heard of. I am afraid however that there will be nothing interesting to learn about us, as we are probably a fixture. Once they have got us here, they are not likely to send us away. Besides this is such a lovely spot. I am seriously thinking of advising the W.O. to have a poster printed as follows:-
WHY SPEND MONEY ON A SEASIDE HOLIDAY
WHEN WE WILL PAY YOU TO
BATHE AT
BRACING LA
BASSEE ?
(Transcriber’s note; this was drawn in the letter with one large B covering the last 3 lines)
It almost amounts to bathing at times when one misses one’s footing & takes an unexpected plunge into unknown depths. By the way I have put La Bassee not because we are there but because it was the only word I could think of beginning with a B. The frost has now apparently come to an end & its place has been taken by rain. The latter of course means mud & galore, & ditches filled to overflowing. This morning was fairly fine & while the General was holding conference with the various Commanding Officers, I sallied forth & made a tour of some of our snipers. They are very elated at having bagged a German or two. This is an excellent thing as it bucks the men up & gives them something to think about & get keen over. Williams is doing the job for my battalion, & periodically he sallies forth & examines the enemy by night. This afternoon I called on one or two of the batteries & ran into Lyttelton. He has red-hair but his name is not Geoffrey – the latter is his cousin – in some infantry regiment not very far from here I believe. Then it came on to rain & by the time I got back to headquarters again I was very nearly disguised as a lump of mud. I ploughed my way home straight across country in the dark, relying merely on a very hazy recollection of the map I had looked at in the afternoon. I hit the bridge alright over the only really uncrossable river & fetched up very much sooner that I would have done it I had gone round by the road. My chief occupation really is maps. There are no very good maps of this area & we are working pretty hard to draw one up that will be some good. Photographs from aeroplanes are the chief guide to what is going on behind German lines; but unfortunately these are very scarce round here, & the weather has so far prevented the making of new ones. Tomorrow morning the General goes on leave. His wife has been very ill for some time, & last night a wire came telling him to come at once. I am afraid he will not be going back to a holiday, he is very upset over it all, poor fellow. While he is away his place will be taken by Col. Jones who is now Senior Colonel in the Brigade. Curiously enough he is also the only territorial Colonel. The other three have been either killed or wounded & their places were taken in each case by regular officers. Of these two are D.S.O.s with a good deal of African west Coast service & the third is a rather young Major who has done well in this war.
Captain JD Hills 