Transcription

8th Queens
B. E. F.
21. 4. 1916.

My dear Mother,

I have several things to acknowledge. A Tatler Autocar & other papers, gaiters socks & seeds, if I haven’t acknowledged them already.

We are now out of the trenches & living in farms & houses further back, though still quite close up as our present Headquarters are not more than 400 yards from our last.

We are supposed to take care not to show ourselves as though we are hidden from the Hun. he puts a balloon up behind his lines  is supposed to be able to see all round here from it. I doubt if he can see this place anyhow as he has left it severely alone up to now. He was doing some very good shooting at a farm about ½ mile behind us this morning & I saw several shells go right in clouds of red dust from the bricks. The place is quite uninhabited so no one minds how much he strafes it. I went this morning to look at the farm we were in when I came home on leave. The people who succeeded us used to do physical exercises outside in the open in the morning & of course they got spotted & the whole place has been pretty badly knocked about since. Of course it is empty now, but it was a great pity as there are very few of these farms left intact now & if they go on at this rate, we shall have nowhere to go. The natives describe this division as mad, because they strafe the Hun with their guns so much, & of course he strafes us, & incidentally the natives back. I fear the days we are back will be horribly boring, as one can do nothing except wander about in the fields The men all go out at night on working parties which assemblies I do not attend, so they want a rest in the day. We live alongside a very important main road but unfortunately there is no traffic along it these times & there is so much wind that there are not even aeroplanes to amuse.

I am glad that the question of repairs to the pram is settled. I wonder if the insurers are coming down on the people in the cart.

Love to all

Jack.