----- Original Message ----- From: Daryl Crabtree To: Michael Wayne Crabtree Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2001 1:05 AM Subject: Letters from the front C. H. L. Crabtree WEST WIMMERA MAIL Friday January 18,1918 LETTERS FROM THE FRONT The following is a copy of a letter received from Pte. C. H. L. Crabtree, of Booroopki, by his Mother----- You will see by these lines that I am still getting along well. Things are quiet at this place and I haven't had much to do yet. I was marked active a few days ago and am shifting to another camp today so I suppose I will get furlough from there. My arm is almost better now but it aches a little at times. It was cut about a bit and some pieces of shrapnel are in it yet. I was hit a bit early to miss the winter in France, but that can't be helped-------a man is lucky to be alive. I don't think I told you anything about the "stunt" so I may as well tell you in this letter. I had only been back with my battalion 6 weeks when we went in. We left some of the old trenches about 1.30 am. It had been lovely weather, but just before we started to move up the rain commenced, which made the ground as slippery as glass. I had a box of bombs besides my ammunition, 72 hours rations and other gear. It was pretty crook travelling and when we got up you may guess we were all very tired as it took us 4 hours to get there. We lay out in shell holes for about half an hour, then the order came to get ready and over we went. The Corporal in my section said "come on No 5" but it was impossible to see him as it was dark, so I streaked off on my own and found myself mixed up with the other letter company. The Corporal and Scotty Heap (you may remember him) went on into our own barrage and were killed, so I was lucky that I did miss them. We met very little opposition in the first and second objectives. We had a few Fritz by then, poor old Huns were scared terribly, and no wonder, the barrage was good although a lot of our boys were killed with our own fire.------through going too far ahead. After about 4 hours---- we had to wait for the barrage to lift-----I took things as coolly as possible, smoking all the time and taking advantage of all the shell holes I could. All the boys seemed to enjoy it and were confident of success. I had a doze for a couple of minutes while we were waiting, then the barrage lifted and away we went again. There were a couple of "pill boxes" which held us up for a while, they are great concrete structures and take some blowing up. Fritz kept the M. Gs. popping till some of the boys got roused on the flank and routed them out. The gunners got very little mercy from our boys till after we had settled the pill boxes and captured all the Fritz that were alive ( we had a good few altogether. ) Things got pretty quiet so we started to dig in and had pretty near finished when someone brought word over that the Huns were advancing so they told a few of us who were good shots to go and have a crack at them. I went over, got on top of a pill box which had some stuff that hid me from view and blazed away for a good while. The old rifle was pretty dirty after the mud and stuff we had come through and lying in the shell holes. I got pretty sick of it so I went back to where my mates were and reported to my officer. I forgot to tell you what the Fritz's were doing. As far as I could see they were a reconnoitring party and were hopping from one shell hole to another, which gave us some pretty good targets to shoot at. I don't know how many I got but I suppose I bagged a few and I'm glad it wasn't me who was being shot at. Well I cleaned the old shooter up "tres bon" and had a little snack. Then the officer sent me on a few messages and that was when the shell got me. I was about sixty yards from my mates, and I did it in good time, bleeding like a pig. One of the pieces cut a vein in my arm. They bound me up, rather roughly I must say, but the best they could under the circumstances. I think it was what is called a "whiz bang" that got me. They burst up in very small pieces. Bert Phillips was wounded in the head. Herb McKay also got hit. I have just seen Ted Millar and he told me poor old Ray had been killed. I feel very sorry for his people, but this is war and those at home must always be prepared to bear good or bad news about us, and if some of us are killed they must not fret, but be comforted when they remember that their boys have been men, not cowards, and have fallen doing their duty towards their King and the country they love. I have been marked fit for active service again, so I suppose I will be going back after I get my furlough.----C.H.L Crabtree Friday January 25, 1918 In last weeks issue it should have been stated that the letter (published) from Pte. Charlie Crabtree of Booroopki, was received by his brother Mr D. J. Crabtree Jnr; and another error was that "Bert Phillips was wounded in the head". it should have read that he was wounded in the hand. Regards, Daryl Crabtree Gladstone C. Qld Australia PS The person by the name of Ray who was killed was Ray Gardner