MAILS AND MEALS AT THE FRONT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2945, 4 December 1916, Page 10

MAILS AND MEALS AT THE FRONT

INTERESTING EE'LTER FROM MAJOR BEERE. "Tho mail is one of tho wonders of the war," says Major Riuvdon Becre, of Wellington, in a letter to his brother, Mr. Oswald Beere, of this city. "In the middle of battle, when one is wondering whether to dig in or push on, a little further, up comes somebody with a mail for distribution. Nothing can stop tho mail or the rations. All through our scrap on. the Sonimo the men were never without two or three meals in their haversacks. That .is one of the causes of tho New Zealand Division being so good—thoy aro always fed, which does not appear to be always the case in some other directions. I had rather an inglorious job, not being in any of the assaults, ■ but I was frightfully busy, and enjoyed it all immensely. If a colonel of a battalion goes into an attack his 6econd in' command has' to stay out. . . . I've just had iny first bath for I don't know how long, and feel tons lighter. You aro getting' your summer, but for us the days' aro and the weather is far from pleasant, but it's wortdorfiil *,ow soon troubles aro forgotten. "We are laughing _ to-day at conditions wo thought impossible a few days ano. Days of rain and cold, mud knee deep, and horses tired . out trying, to null wagons over shell-swept hills, yet nowsoon a. glimpse, of sunshine will dispel worries—and the ration of rum is a great institution. I rub my ration on my feet, and it lias a most warming and stimulating effect. After that I can put on my wet socks and boots and have warm feet to boot. It is very strange being away from tho noise of the strafe—liko being at Day's Bay away from the uoise of tho Wellington trams. I often think of tho rose'? at Day's Bay. ... I expect wo had as much fighting in that three weeks (on tho Somme) ns wo had in tho whole of the Peninsula campaign. I would not like to estimato the number of Germau dead in front of onr piece, but I can truthfully say that for every Hun wo captured wo killed 100. Our boys had no timo for taking prisoners. 1 cannot recollect anyone you know being killed. Gerald Foil and Tom Seddon were both in hospital; Fleming Ross was killed, and Henderson, from Izard and Weston's, was wounded, as was Clayton, another Wellington law clerk. Billy Organ arrived just in tho ■ middle of things. I put him on to' oug of the hardest tasks going, and ho was just tho fellow."