Liverpool Police - Herbert Gold, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards

Liverpool Daily Post 6 Jan 1915

FROM THE BEAT TO THE TRENCHES

OPTIMISM OF POLICEMAN SOLDIERS

GORDONS’ GLORIOUS CHARGE

The Liverpool Police divisions have sent parcels of warm clothing to members of the force who are on service at the front. Cardigan jackets, woollen head helmets, woollen belts and warm gloves are amongst the presents that have been most acceptable to the men, and especially do they appreciate the gloves, which are made to go well up over the arms, of strong leather lined with flannel. Some of the letters of acknowledgement give interesting impressions of the fighting.

HOW THE SCOT GOT THE EGGS

Corporal R Spencer of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders writes:

My brigade has had it fairly quiet where we are now. There has been very little firing. They sent a few shells into the town, but while these did a lot of damage to property they did not burst anywhere near the troops. We have very bad weather, and the trenches are in an awful state, some of the being about two feet deep with water. You can guess the hardships that the men are undergoing, but you never hear one of them complaining, their one ambition being to push forward and put “paid” to the Germans. The French people are very kind to us, and our men get on very well with them.  It is laughable to hear some of the Scotchmen trying to talk French. At one place one of our men went to a farm to buy some eggs. He could not make the people understand what he wanted so he commenced to flap his arms and make a noise like a hen, needless to say, he got the eggs.

UNTOUCHED CRUCIFIX

Herbert Gold, who is with the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, writing on Christmas Eve, says:_

Things are pretty quiet where we are, though the big guns have been busy this afternoon sending the Germans their Christmas “duff.” I cannot tell you much about the operations. We are winning, and that is what we want. The weather has been very wet and the mud is knee deep and as our boots never get dry, we suffer a bit from cold feet. We have no cause to “grouse” in respect to our food. We have got a plum pudding each for tomorrow. I hope mine has been made by an experienced person and not one of the amateurs we have heard about, or it may put me out of action. We are unable to remove our wounded from the trenches during the daylight, for the Germans do not respect the Red Cross or anything else from what I can see of it. We have heard of the bombardment of the East Coast and the murder of women and children. If the Kaiser or his clique think that sort of thing will frighten us he is sadly mistaken. If will only make the price bigger when the day of reckoning comes. The war has caused terrivle havoc in the country. The houses are blown an burnt down and cattle wander about ownerless and yet some of the people stick in their homes quite close to the firing line. There was a house near here which had a crucifix built into the wall. The Germans shelled it, and blew all to smithereens except the bit of wall with the crucifix in. it seems uncanny, doesn’t it?