Dvr Charles Willimott (Lilydale), Mechanical Transport Division – attached to 17th Divisional Supply Column, British Expeditionary Forces: In France. In a letter to Alec Williamson in Lilydale – ‘There is not the fierce excitement in the war game that I expected, in fact, it is might monotonous. I think the same can be said with all ranks out here, but more so with transport work, as we don’t get the excitement of an occasional ‘scrap’. In other ways we are much better off than the boys in the trenches. It’s just hell there this weather. Winter has set in, and we have been issued winter clothing, which includes great coats lined with sheepskins, which are very warm.
Most of our work is done early in the morning. We start out at 4am, it’s generally pitch dark until about 7am. If one is lucky one finishes about 4pm, but very often one is kept going until 9pm, sometimes later, taking up coal and wood, which are extra loads, and are not taken up with the provisions. We’ve had one or two fierce snow storms then sharp frosts, for a few days, which finished up the usual infernal rain, gee, I don’t think it ever stops raining in this blighted country. The mud is terrible, two and three feet everywhere, I’m getting web footed wadding around in it. To look at the roads behind the trenches it seems hardly possible to get heavy traffic over them, as we always get them, and very often without a single mishap.
It is wonderful how the artillery move their big guns about, some of them have as many as 12 and 14 powerful horses to drag them. I saw one gun being taken up in sections, seven machines called ‘caterpillars’, each driven with a 150 horse power petrol engine.
I had rather an exciting experience some time back. I was sent with a number of others to a place which no doubt you have heard quite a lot about, and there had an opportunity of seeing just what high explosive shells could do. What was once a fine town is now a colossal heap of ruins, not a building in the place is left alone. Huge buildings, centenaries old, are smashed to pieces. Everything pointed to a hurried exit of the population, everywhere was smashed furniture and shop fittings, and in some dwelling houses I saw the remains of a meal still on the table. While we were there the Germans started to shell the place. Several shells came over but were not near enough to us to cause us any worry, but we got to an exposed part, and a number came over in a bunch and dropped a few yards from us. Then we beat it for cover in record time, luckily no one was hit.
While we were loading at a rail head one morning a number of German aeroplanes came over and attempted to drop bombs. Our airmen went for them like blazes, and for about twenty minutes the fight was fast and furious, in which our anti-aircraft guns joined in. Two of the German machines were brought down, and the remainder made themselves scarce. These scraps in the air are very common’.