Letter - 25 December 1915 - Tel-el-Kebir camp

Athol writes home to Mother on Christmas Day. He has received her Christmas gift parcel and other boxes of supplies for the Christmas feast. In December he was moved from Maadi camp to another camp and then yet another transfer to the Tel-el Kebir camp (see image at bottom of this blog-post). By late December, his transport unit were waiting for the rest of the Anzac Corps to arrive back from Lemnos, Greece. The 5th Battalion would arrive in Tel-el Kebir in early January.

This is the longest letter so far.

Tel-el-Kebir Camp
25-12-15

Dear Mater,

Just a line to hope you have had a good day. I received your Xmas parcel with the leather coat, pipe-pouch, and all the other bonza things quite recently, also two of the regular parcels and also the rug, for all of which many thanks.

The coat is the envy of everyone who has seen it and if we had stayed at Maadi a bit longer I was going to hire a dog-cart to match the rug.

We've had two moves in less than a week. Last Monday we moved from the Southern Camp, Maadi, to the Northern Camp, about half a mile but as it means striking tents packing all gear and taking up horse lines etc and then reversing the process it is a pretty big job. The having worked hard all Tuesday straightening things up, we got orders to leave from here on Wednesday morning about 7pm that night. We cleared out from Maadi about 10:15am, got into Tel-el Kabir siging about 12:45, trucked horses and wagons and left about 4pm arriving here about 7:30pm. We trucked gear and horses, bivouac-ed the night and next morning pitched tents and put down horse lines. I cleared out to Cairo Friday morning to get some things for the mens' Xmas dinner. They had half a chicken, 1/2 lb of potatoes, 1/4 tin pineapple 1/3 tin beans each and as we got a 'billy' each the morning we left Maadi they did pretty well.

I don't know if I thanked you for the two cases of groceries also the ...same. Apart from some chickens everything we had in our mess was out of your boxes. We had tomato soup, whitebait a la pate, sweet corn, boiled chicken with peas, beans and potatoes, then two helpings of p-p, a cigar and a creme-de-menthe jube. We drank your health in tea, it being the strongest drink in camp. We had the other pudding the day before. Altogether I got 6 sixpences, a boomerang and a horseshoe.

When I was in Cairo on Xmas Eve there was a big charity show at Shepheards (see image below), a Xmas tree and various things to buy, there was a very big and bright crowd so I suppose it was a success.

This camp is right alongside the Cairo-Ismailia line, and the site of the battlefield of 1882 is within a short walk. Our fellows have quite a lot of relics already including a George IV sovereign of 1830.

We expect to have the Battalion here any day now. This is an ideal site for a camp and we will have 28 battalions alongside one another in one line. When all the troops are here it will be as big again as Mena was.

I found that I had forgotten to enclose the photo I was talking about so here it is. I'll be sending a good few more soon as the chap that took them has a chance to print them off.

I haven't had any letters for a long time but I suppose they'll come one day. Can't think of anything else.

Love to Pater and Aunt Puff.

Yours lovingly,

Athol

AWM image Ref: C00207

This is Tel el Kebir camp between Cairo and the Suez Canal. Athol arrived here in late December 1915 and awaited the rest of his battalion to which were shipped from Gallipoli/Lemnos

in early January 1916. 

Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo

Kairo , Shepheard's Hotel." by New York Public Library

Athol visited Shepheards a few times in December including Xmas eve 1915 for a charity show.

All ANZAC troops leave Gallipoli - 20 December 1915

All the Anzac troops had left the Gallipoli peninsular by 20 December - without any loss and without the knowledge of the Turks. The arrangements were planned and carried out by Birdwood and his staff. All the artillery was withdrawn with only a few damaged items remaining on Turkish soil.

The last of the British and French troops were withdrawn from Cape Helles on 8 January.

_______________________

Australian casualties were 8,587 killed and 19,367 wounded during the campaign

(25 April 1915 to 20 December 1915)

The total British and colonial forces (but not including Navy) losses were:

Killed  33,532

Wounded 78,518

Missing 7,689

Total casualty list 119,739

In addition, it is estimated that there were about

100,000 evacuated during the campaign due to sickness.

AWM Image ref: P03717.009

General Sir William Birdwood (in a 1920 portrait)

Medals

Please note that a new page has been added to the Blog today.

On the main blog page is a grey-shaded with a series of 'tabs' with red text. The new 'tab' is entitled 'Medals'.

17 December 2015 - Shell Green cricket match

On 17 December 1915, a cricket match was held on a flat patch of ground called Shell Green just above Anzac Cove.

Australian War Memorial image: H00345

December 1915

This War Memorial image shows a view of Shell Green looking downhill and to the west. Before the Great War, this small plot of flat-ish ground was used by the Turkish farmers to grow cotton. Apart from the narrow strip of sandy beach, it was the only land suitable for cricket around Anzac cove. Unfortunately it was clearly visible from the Turkish lines. The players decided to go ahead anyway.

The idea was to deceive the Turks into thinking that all was normal. In fact, the evacuation of Allied troops had already begun. The 5th Battalion was already back on Lemnos Island and the last troops were to depart three days later on 20 December 1915. The cricket game ceased when shells landed nearby.

CEW Bean's photograph of the cricket match on Shell Green.

Australian War Memorial image: G01289

Batting at the southern end is Major George Macarthur-Onslow of the Australian 7th Light Horse. You might note his wonderful follow-through,  the close-in fielders, and lack of crowd cheering them on. Apparently the Major was the leading figure in this venture, both as organiser and batsman.

Major Macarthur-Onslow was born in Australia, at 'Camden Park', Menangle. He was a descendant of John Macarthur who arrived in Sydney on the HMS Scarborough with the second fleet. Major Macarthur-Onslow was educated at Rugby school in England and was commissioned in the NSW Mounted Rifles in 1895. He remained a career army officer after the war and later pursued other business and political interests. The Australian Dictionary of Biography notes that according to Sir Harry Chauvel, Major Macarthur-Onslow was 'full of dash and initiative, quite fearless and possessing the entire confidence of his men'.

A cousin of mine (Charlie M) recalls meeting, on a number of occasions, an elderly friend of his grandfather's, a Frank Buckle, who may have played in the famous Shell Green cricket match. Frank was a very capable sportsman scoring 270 for North Sydney against Paddington in the 1920-1 season in the 2nd Grade. He went on to become the 1st captain of the Northern Districts cricket team.

Frank also played two games for the NSW Waratahs (Rugby Union) in 1914 before enlisting.

Corporal Frank Buckle (service number 18373) served with the 7th Field Artillery Brigade. He was a Sydney boy, raised in the suburb of Cremorne. After the war he practiced as an architect.

______________

Today Shell Green is the site of a cemetery containing 429 graves of which 408 are Australian war dead.

One of the men buried here is the brother of A. B. Facey, author of 'A Fortunate Life'. Roy Facey of the 11^th Battalion and his mate were killed by the same shell. A.B. Facey (Albert) helped to bury his brother along with the 15 mates all killed on 28 June 1915. A.B. Facey records in his book:

 ‘we put them in a grave side by side on the edge of a clearing we called Shell Green. Roy was in pieces when they found him. We put him together as best we could – I can remember carrying a leg – it was terrible’.

Bodies of 11th Battalion members including AB Facey's brother. They are laid out on Shell Green just as told by AB Facey in his book 'A Fortunate Life'. AWM ref: P02023.002

Shell Green cemetery, Commonwealth War Graves Commission image at:

http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/66901/SHELL%20GREEN%20CEMETERY

Unit Diary update - 11 December 1915 - leaving Gallipoli

On 11 December 1915, 5th and 6th battalions of the 2nd Infantry Brigade withdrew from their trenches. In the late afternoon they silently made their way to North Pier. They embarked on lighters and after being on the water for two hours were embarked on HMT Abbassiah. They were shipped back to Lemnos that evening and arrived at Mudros Harbour at about 9am on 12 December. The men were all ashore by lunchtime and marched to Sarpi Camp.

On 13 December the 8th Battalion arrived from Anzac and later on 20 December the 7th Battalion joined them at Sarpi.

So by 20 December the whole 2nd Brigade were together again and joined by the 4th Light Horse and 1st and 2nd Field Ambulance. They commenced training and refitting.

The Brigade remained at Sarpi Camp over Christmas and until the end of December 1915. As a result they did not take part in the famous evacuation of Gallipoli just prior to Christmas.

In December 1915, Athol was still in Egypt.

.

Ah well! We’re gone! We’re out of it now.

We’ve something else to do.

But we all look back from the transport deck to the

land-line far and blue:

Shore and valley are faded; fading are cliff and hill;

The land-line we called ‘Anzac’ …

and we’ll call it ‘Anzac’ still!

Lieutenant Oliver Hogue, 14th Light Horse Regiment, NSW, of Glebe, Sydney, NSW.