COU-23

British Expeditionary Force
France
8^th Oct. 1915

Dear Mr Elliott,

After four days & nights of weary travelling we have got well forward to the firing line. I did not think we should have come as far forward at the first, but no one is complaining about that. My beds were most varied while on the march. We left Bordon at 10 pm. I got to port about 12. After seeing the men get supper two of us went for a stroll round the docks & by good luck came upon a hay shed. As soon as we had finished our smoke the pair of us crept into the hay & slept. On awakening we found that nearly all the other fellows had found out our nest & had followed our example. At any rate it was soft. We loafed about the dock sheds all that next day & embarked at 6.30 pm. My bed was a narrow seat on the boat which I shared with another man. Arrived in France we were sent to a rest camp near Le Havre. Why it is called a "rest" camp I can't conceive because we got no rest in it. I slept an hour or two that night on the ground but the battalion fell in at 2.30 am so there wasn't much rest. Our train did not leave the station until 8.30 & we were travelling for just over 12 hours. The officers had a second class carriage where we were too closely packed to be comfortable. The men travelled in large trucks like our cattle trucks but bigger, 40 men to the truck, so that there was little enough room for exercise. Arrived at our railway station we had then to march 17 kilometres in full marching order in the dark. Naturally the men were falling out on all sides & we had the very greatest trouble to keep them in hand. We had no guide, no maps & were in a fairly deserted part of the country once we had passed the city where we disentrained⁸⁸ . The march took a little over 3 hours, but since we arrived other Battalions have been coming in to another station only 20 minutes march away.

We are fairly well settled down now to our work. Of course it is strange working in a strange country for the men but I was surprised to find that not only do I understand the people but they also understand me. There is no doubt that we shall very soon get quite well settled down. So far the only fighting I have seen was a duel between one of our aeroplanes & a Taube in which the latter was brought down within 100 yards of where I stood.

I must close now. I hope everyone both at home & in the Library is quite well, kindly remember me to them all.

With kind regards & all good wishes.

Yours sincerely

T. Coulson