October 2nd 1915.
My dearest Mother,
At last I have the opportunity to drop you a few lines. No doubt you have received various post cards from me, saying that I am well, I can't tell you very much news even now as all out going mail has to be censored by our officers and just at present the censor is very strict.... Almost hourly in the day time we would see either one of our aeroplanes or one of the German's shelled by the anti aircraft gun, the shells would burst all around the aeroplane but I have never seen one hit yet. When the shell bursts one can see from the ground the fire and the smoke hangs like a cloud for ten or fifteen minutes. The aeroplanes fly at a great height and as a rule are out of range.
It is the custom here for troops to take turn about in the front lines of trenches, one regiment taking a number of sections of the front trench for three days then moving back to the second line for another three days and then back to the third line, then back again to the front line. About once in six weeks they come back to the reserve lines for a rest. I have been up into the front line and just came back yesterday, conditions are not exactly pleasant there, but one feels they are doing their bit and finds out what our troops had to put up with during the past seven or eight months. How some of them have stood it I don't know. All the time that we were in the front line we were submitted to fire from the hostile guns and rifle men.
The trench was very narrow, just room for two men to push by each other. In front of each trench is a parapet made of sandbags, these are more or less bullet proof, but afford little protection from shell fire. The height from the top of this parapet to the bottom of the trench is between six and seven feet and the trench at the bottom is not more than four feet wide. There is a small ledge along the front on which one stands in order to fire over the sandbag and cut into the rear of the trench are the dugouts, these are small caves with room enough for two men to lie down in, there is space enough to sit up in one of these but not enough to stand up in. The men's duty in
the trenches are [sic] to keep up a more or less continuous fire on the German lines, which are about 150 yds. away, and to pick off any of their men that show up, also to be ready to resist any attack that may be made. All night and every night, every man has to stand by, none is allowed to sleep or to be in the dug outs, during the day one man in every three has to be on duty, taking their turn in shifts of two hours, this gives each man four hours of so called rest, but during this four hours one has to cook and feed yourself, clean out
the trench and do any other fatigue, from this you will see that there is very little time for sleep, indeed, when one comes out of the front line they are just about all in. The mud and wet are awful, there was just about a foot of water in the bottom of our trench and
it rained all one day and night. Anyway all the boys we met were fit, none hurt. Maddocks wishes to be remembered. Will write again first chance. Love to Hilda and the others I know, good luck to you at Mt. Tolmie.
Yours most affectionately,
George
(ACC 74-1 Box 10.4)