18 August 1917

 

Peirs_Le_1917-08-18_01 Peirs_Le_1917-08-18_02 Peirs_Le_1917-08-18_03

Transcription

18. 8. 17.
My dear Odd,

I fear I have not written lately but I daresay you have heard something from letters I have written to the others. I fear I shall not be home in time to see your spouse before he sails & then you will be doing the reluctant grass widow for a bit. I am sorry for you, but the papers say that the war is just about finished, so you will be going out before long. Personally I hadn’t noticed any great difference in the war & I happen to be in a fairly eligible situation to watch it. They let us know less about it than people at home & the only news we get except about things which directly concern us is from the London papers. There was the dickens of a strafe a few days ago which seemed to go for miles, but I have only heard what happened just alongside of us & don’t know now whether there was anything more We get most extraordinary rumours of what has happened, but they are usually absolute fiction.

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We are living underground in a big system of tunnels, which are now some little way behind the line. They are really a number of narrow passages about 3 ft wide & never more than 5 ft 9 high & usually much less. They are a really large system as there must be at least 250 men here including several brigade staffs dressing stations etc. We are fairly comfortable as we have what was a Brigade Hqrs, though the bloke in charge of the tunnels tried to turn me out, as he wanted it for his office. However he didn’t get it, though we let him live with us as a compromise. We have also got electric light & an electric fan which are very excellent, though for the last 2 days the engine has broken down & we have been distinctly stuffy. We come to the surface occasionally to see if the war is going on, but otherwise do nothing in particular & it is no place to take a country walk. The beauty of the place is that you feel so safe in it, though

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the ground above has been so knocked about that any decent Bosch shell would come right through without making any bones about it. However he hasn’t worried us yet, & as he has lots to think about let’s hope he continues to leave us alone. We shall get out of this to-morrow & go right back for a few days. Please thank Father Mother & Glad. for their letters. I am sending this home, as I am not sure where you are & they can see it there before sending it on.

Yrs
Jack.

 

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