Letter from Edward Packe to Beatrice Pelly (his sister) Diary entry
 Edward Packe with two of his sisters, Penelope (Pen) and Beatrice (Beats) |
30.X.14 Friday (30th October 1914)
My Dear Beats
I remember starting another budget letter the other day but cannot remember if I sent it off or whether I have lost it - I know I sent one off about a week ago with a shoulder strap off a German's greatcoat which I took off a German prisoner's Great coat when we took that village at the bayonet point on the 21st. We were just like madmen, in spite of the fact that we were wearing our great coats, as it had been raining, & our equipment. We were running from house to house & jumping ditches as if we were carrying nothing. You see we were getting our own back for the first action just two months ago.
Since then we have been spending five very sporting days in the trenches on the outskirts of another village. We were relieved the day before yesterday & since then have been having a rest in a barn.
Now concerning our stay in those trenches. Our platoon's trench was rather on the left of our line to our right. About 100 yds away were two more of our platoons & another regiment. On our left one more of our platoons was entrenched. To our rear was a road about 35 yds away which ran parallel to the trenches & which connected with another road about 200 yds off which led to a village.
Behind our trench there were three cottages just across the road & shallow ditch ran from our trench to the road. To our front first a ploughed field for 200 yds then a mangold field with 2 haystacks & 2 chicken huts in it with slightly to the left a couple of barns. Beyond the haystacks a dip, then a road about 100 yds, then the main German trenches then the horizon.
The Germans had small trenches in the mangold field connecting the huts & haystacks & barns & from here they used to snipe at us, whenever we gave them the chance. It was also from these trenches that they made their night attacks, two of the three started while I was on sentry-go. Altogether they gave us three nights attacks, but they were fainthearted to the extreme & I don't believe they even moved out of their trenches. The second one lasted the longest for about 2 1/2 hrs., but in spite of that I only fired 15 rounds, because it is such a rotten waste of ammunition shooting at a flash, so I waited at my loop hole till I should see a German's body against the skyline, but they never appeared. Each time they started the attack by sending up a sort of rocket which burst high up, & made the whole place as bright as day & then they started shooting. They shelled the village behind us beforehand so as to set the houses on fire & light our position up, & they did their best to burn the 3 cottages behind our trench, but weren't successful & although they hit it two or 3 times they didn't do much damage - we used to cook our food & wash etc. in these cottages which always provided a sort of triple amusement. First, getting out of the trench & running down the ditch crossing the road & getting into the cottage. Secondly the off chance of a shell or two to help cook the food & thirdly the return journey to the trench. The first day we were rather shy of them, but we found that they were rotten bad shots & we got contemptuous & used to stop to wave our hands & blow kisses & make various rude gestures to them before getting back again into the trench. We only had one man slightly hit the whole time we were there out of our platoon, although a good many shells burst in the road & on the cottage. When it got dusk & in the early morning we used to come out like rabbits, & one morning we were playing football with a child's ball we had found in one of the cottages & they turned a maxim in our direction. The football stopped abruptly, but it was too misty for them to hit us & so we all got safely to the trenches. Another evening we were standing chattering outside our trenches & they put over a volley of 3 shells which burst about 20 to 30 yds to our right without doing any harm except to the Imperial purse.
As to our trenches, when we took them on they were simply square holes about 4 ft across & 4 ft deep with the earth chucked up for head cover & loop holes made with faggots covered with earth. In here two people lived. The first two nights all went well, but on the 3rd night it rained like mad & for my part I spent the rottenest & most miserable night out here - When I woke up I was sitting literally in water. This obviously wouldn't do, so when it was still early, we went across to the cottages & I & my pal secured 2 doors & 2 shutters. We dug out about another 2 ft backwards & covered the hole up with the doors & the shutters & then chucked the earth back on top. Thus having not only a rain proof house, but also a partial shell proof house. We left a space of about 16" for egress, across which at night we spread a waterproof sheet, which every man is supplied with. One door we put on the ground in our hole to lie on & we were very comfortable too. It may strike you as an awful shame to have removed the doors & shutters from the cottages, but when you realise that the whole village by then had been set on fire by the shells & burnt, & that they were shelling these cottages daily obviously with the same intentions, it doesn't seem so bad. The first time we went into the cottage, we found a dog, some goats, rabbits, canaries & a parrot all caged up. Seeing that these were in imminent peril of being burnt alive or starving, we eat the rabbits, & loosed the dog, the goats & the canaries. The parrot which could not fly we took back to the trench with us, & by day it used to sit on a perch outside & by night it slept in an empty ammunition box. When we were relieved we brought it along & gave it to a civilian who returned to her house back here. The goats never went far from the house & we used to get milk from them. The Germans only gave us a decent target twice on both of which occasions the "look out" took the greatest advantage & at any rate two Germans are out of action as a result of our stay there; it didn't fall to my luck to be look out on either occassion, but I had a pot at a motor car going along the far road 1000 yds off, but although we turned it back I don't suppose we did any damage. As to the night attacks I don't suppose our bullets did any more damage than theirs & if there were any Germans died in the morning they must have died of fright. Yesterday I had a wash & a shave & my hair cut all over with No. 1 clippers. Shortly afterwards I met my old pal 'French' & he said you deserve a stripe on the spot. As a matter of fact Jones Mortimer asked me yesterday if I meant to take a Commission after this was over. I told him that I should if the war lasted a long time as I should be so out of it as concerns the medical business - So he said if I took a stripe now, I could be made a corporal in a few months time & a corporal could be recommended for a commission straight away. So with many blushes & coy looks I accepted and if the war does last a long time and I am still fit, I hope to take a commission.
The post is just going so no more.
Many thanks and best loves to you all
Your ever loving brother
Edward A Packe
P.S. Well done Cecil Fox.| Written by | Private E.A.Packe 978.2. |
| A. Company | |
| 1st Somerset L.I. |