7th July 1916

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7th July 1916

“Dear little Anxiety, your letter of Tuesday came to-day. …by God’s Mercy I am fit & well & safely through our bit of the show. The casualties were pretty heavy: the Division lost about 50% or more of its fighting strength … No more news yet from the south. There was something doing to-day for the guns have been hard at work down there & this morning we co-operated with a false smoke show”.

Arthur to Dollie

Friday even. 9.30

… Dear little Anxiety, your letter of Tuesday came to-day. …by God’s Mercy I am fit & well & safely through our bit of the show. The casualties were pretty heavy: the Division lost about 50% or more of its fighting strength.

Still by now, DV you’ll have had my news, dear, & I hope you’re mind is at rest & will have left London. (Incidentally, I’ve addressed my letters as you asked, darling. It is no trouble … God bless you).

I’m afraid I’ve not much news for you to-day, dear. Its been pouring nearly all day & we are under canvas. These two or three days see me free from all responsibility: I am as it were no longer with the Battalion & not yet at the School; so I’ve slacked disgracefully all day – read & slept & lounged in our tent. Our life is very simple. (Like our cooking arrangements – all the kitchen we have being a little hole behind the tent plus a pair of bellows). The “primus” has been invaluable – for the rain & the fire don’t agree a bit.

No more news yet from the south. There was something doing to-day for the guns have been hard at work down there & this morning we co-operated with a false smoke show.

Darkness is just fallen. My thoughts are with you, God bless you dear…