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Description: Letter from Pat Armstrong to Mrs Armstrong from Ypres
Date: 6 March 1915
Source: Armstrong Collection
Identifier: P6/1210 (49)
March 6.
My dear wee Mus.
I have just written you a few lines on a letter card as I hadn’t time to write you a proper letter. We got back yesterday in time for lunch & I found three letters from you waiting here. One of the 1st the other of the 28th & the other one with all my bills etc. I’ll look them through & get them all paid off. The cake is awfully good but a little bit drier than Cecil’s. It doesn’t seem to have risen quite right. His is always a much deeper looking cake. But this one is awfully good eating. Will you thank Miss Heppie for making it for me. It was very nice of her. It’s an awful good recipe that. I think it makes the best plain cake that I know. I have got another set of picture post cards of Ypres for you & also some photos which I bought in a shop there. I am going to send the Duchess a set of those photos. She’d like them don’t you think. I’ll get them tied up to-night & they can go off to-morrow morning with this.
Later. The rain cleared off this morning & I rode into St Omer. I have got tons of envelopes & paper now as I bought some in there this morning. I have got a grand big block the sort I like. So you needn’t bother about sending me any till I wrote. News from Russia seems good doesn’t it. I saw Maurice to day & he told me that Winston Churchill expects to get through the Dardanelles by the end of this month. That will be good won’t it. I do hope they do. It means such a lot. That Russian wheat can come out & arms go in. Italy & Roumania would probably come in then. That would hurry up things a lot. I hear that the 29th Div has gone to Constantinople. It has left England & hasn’t come here so I expect it is pretty true. I believe 2 French Divisions have gone there too. It would be a great thing if they got that. Would about do in the old Turks.
Yes! I think things look good generally but don’t yet see on what grounds people say that the war will be over by June. Except that everybody would like it to be over by then. Do you? I don’t see what’s to prevent it going on for months. It’s a case of stale mate all along the line & I don’t see how we are going to advance. One couldn’t in front of Ypres any way. But I’m sure there are all sorts of side lights which one doesn’t understand & that it may all end sooner than we expect. I hope it does is all I can say. I sent you 7 rolls of films this morning. I do hope they are a success. I’ve taken a lot of trouble getting them & most of them were taken in good light nice & sunny so they ought to be good with any luck. It is a nuisance that they don’t settle definitely when Harry is to go as it makes it so much worse for them both. But it’s a great thing that old T is out of the way. If only he could meet a stray bullet but he’s the sort that don’t get shot. Pic Annesley, Bob Drake & those sort of people are always the ones to go. I think it is extraordinary his getting a job as G.S.O 2 to the 6th Div. That is what Fitz is doing with us. I’ll make enquiries & find out for certain. I can’t at the moment remember who commands it. I’ll find out any way & let you know. I hope you got the oak table alright for the hall. Awfully fascinating it must be settling all the things. I do hope he gives that other £100. It would just make all the difference. He could so easily do it.
I think I told you my doings on Wednesday when I went & lunched with G. Great fun that was. Thursday was a nice warm morning a regular spring feel about it. Some of the buds & things were starting to burst. The General & I left our day head qrs about 9 o’c & rode down the Menin road & then turned off right handed towards the trenches. They were shelling Zillebeke pretty hard. Also Hooge & the ground between Hooge & Zillebeke. There is some high ground there a sort of ridge that they shell pretty heavily. We managed to worm across without having any shells particularly near to us. Just near enough to be unpleasant. We then left our horses in a wood & went on up to Bde Hd Qrs. There wasn’t much news. They had shelled the 4th D.G trenches a bit & killed 4 men. Howard & Sgt Mara in the 18th Hussars had done a very good reconnaissance that night. They had gone out in front of our trenches & crawled about & brought back a lot of very useful information. The Germans threw up flares & fired at them at about 10 yds off. So they had a pretty exciting time. But both got away untouched. He’ll get a D.S.O for it I should think. One shell burst fairly close to us while we were there but did no damage. A shot bit plopped in the mud close to Geoff & I. But it wasn’t going fast enough to have done much damage if it had hit us. We then came back again & found that they were pitching a lot of marias quite close to the town. They put about 50 shells just short of the ramparts. We then went & saw the men working. They had some excellent balls for them in a school.
G rolled up about 3 o’c to collect some bombs from us. He brought a waggon & we managed to get him quite a lot of useful stuff. He stayed till about 5 o’c & then went off with a most dangerous cart load of stuff. One of his men put his foot on a bomb & how he didn’t explode it goodness only knows. The man didn’t seem a bit worried & merely said that he only had one life to lose. There was great excitement that night as our mine was to be ready to go off at 7 o’c & the French one was to be ready too. Then it was put off till 7.30 as things weren’t quite ready. The French one was to be exploded first & ours to follow five minutes afterwards. Ours went off about 10 minutes late & the French one didn’t go off till 2 o’c in the morning which quite ruined the show. A good many of the Bosch were blown up from all accounts one wretched fellow was thrown about 100 yards. The A Squadron of the Bays went forward & stuck a few Germans with the Bayonet & occupied the crater. They held on there for 4 hrs & were then bombed out. Their left was rather in the air as the French didn’t come on. Their own mine hadn’t gone off & they were afraid of it blowing them up. So the thing really wasn’t the success it might have been if the French had co-operated properly. Our casualties were light considering about a dozen men wounded none killed. They got off lightly really. The French took over the line about 1 o’c that night. They ought to have taken over at 10 o’c. But all this business with the mine delayed them. The II Bde got back to billets about 3 A.M. Stayed in “Wipers” all day & then came back by motor busses last night. They can’t bring the motor busses into the town in the day time.
On Friday morning the General & I walked round the ramparts of the town. It must have been an awfully nice old town before they messed it up the way they have done. Practically every house is knocked about in some way or other. Then we examined a couple of German prisoners which had been brought in. Miserable little things they were. One of them had been through the whole show. They seemed quite pleased to have been captured. They were caught in the crater after the mine had gone off. We left about 11.30 & just after we had gone they started to shell our street. The mess lorry was standing outside the house & several shells pitched quite close to it. So the servants say. I don’t suppose they were very near really. We got back here about 1 o’c just in time for lunch. Then the Gen & I went out for a ride. After that he went to Corps & I went for a good walk. It was an awfully nice warm evening.
It poured with rain all this morning. So I didn’t go out till about 11 o’c & then rode into St O & bought some paper etc. This afternoon I rode over & saw the Regt. I talked to Maurice for a long time & then went on & saw old Brock. I stayed there for a bit & got back about 7 o’c. When I see Brock it makes me realise how much better I like G. There is something so real about G. One has always to be on one’s guard with Brock. I never quite feel that I can trust him. I’ve heard him say such horrible things about Pokes behind his back & I sort of feel he may say the same about me. I like him awfully in one way but I’ve always got a sort of funny feeling about him. He has got an extraordinary charm about him. But I’m devilish glad I’m not in the same Squadron. He’d be the devil to live with out here. All the attached people hate him like poison. I must say they are a queer lot but I think he goes out of his way to be nasty to them.
I sent Diana off to G this morning. Standen arrived back with his brute to-night. It is more like a cow than a horse & was absolutely done to a wire after going 18 miles. It fell down with poor Standen about 2 miles from this & put his shoulder out gave it a nasty wrench in any case & then just lay on him like a dead thing. He had his bag under it so had a job to get up. It is an awful brute. I must try to post it off somewhere. But I’m glad that G hasn’t got it any longer. It’s no sort of horse for him to be going about on. It’s not fit to pull a butcher’s cart. Diana will probably do him well. She is a good strong sort & whatever else she does she’ll never get tired. His cow of a thing was born tired. It was dreadful to have him riding about on a big thing like that. Besides being dangerous too has he’d never get away on it in a tight place. Diana is awfully fast & would take a deal of catching if necessary. I’d rather see Ames riding a cow of a thing than old G. It broke my heart to see him on a thing like that. I wrote him a note asking him when he was coming here but he had gone to Boulogne with his General. So there is just a chance he may be home. Col Home goes home to-morrow (Monday) & comes back again on Thursday. Leave isn’t started again but his is just a special case. I do wish I could go home again. I hope the General goes but am afraid he won’t. He won’t let Geoff go to ride at Cheltenham & don’t suppose he will go again himself. I hope that Belloc is right & we may all be home in June or July. I got a long letter from you to night when I got in dated Feb 3. I suppose you meant March 3!!! I’ll write more to-morrow. It’s nearly 12 o’c now so I must turn in. Best love dear wee Mus.
Your loving Pat.
P.S. The Times History they have sent you has the wrong binding. Will you send it back & they will send you one the same as Vol I.