2110-2-13-21

G.H.Q

May: 15: 15

My dearest little Susie

I had an extraordinary interesting day yesterday. It began by being very wet & cold but cheered up in the afternoon & was bright & jolly. We went to St Omer & then to Hazebrouck, where I had a good talk with General French. He went over the recent fighting on the map with me & talked very frankly, & was very friendly. Then we motored to Bailleul where Pulteney's headquarters are & I had a talk to Pulteney, who is delightful. The Cavalry had a very heavy fight at Ypres on Monday, & as the 9th Lancers were in it I was afraid for Francis Grenfell. I went to the clearing station where the wounded were brought in - 180 officers & over 2000 men - & old Sir A. Bowlby took me round. Francis was not on the list. Michael Wemyss, & Dick Sutton & Carrington's boy, Wendover, were all wounded. The wounds were chiefly shrapnel - no gas. One poor fellow died as I was looking at him. Then I went into the gas business with the doctors & examined sections of lungs & various horrors which would have made you sick. Then I motored on to the front & Lord Pembroke took me up a little hill from which we commanded the whole front from the Belgians in the north to away down to Lille. The British & German trenches were just below us - 100 yards apart; and all the country was green & lovely, & cows were lying in the fields & there was heaps of hyacinths & may & I found a nest in an adjacent hedge. Shells burst at various points along the front - at Messines & up along the canals & at Wytschaete & Hill 60. But the sight was Ypres. Its ruined spires were gleaming in the sun & it was

being terribly cannonaded & a large part was burning. It looked such a beautiful little place all tattered to pieces. I viewed it through a telescope - it was only 1 mile off - & I could see the trenches on the Klein Zillebeke ridge & the spire of Gheluvelt & the place where we [fought the poisoned?] gas. We motored home to General French's headquarters at Cassel - a fairytale little town set on a hill. This country in Spring is perfectly lovely &, except for the roads & the actual front, unchanged by war. I found in a little village the 6th Black Watch with Pat Haldane.

On the whole things are going well. Sir John French is very optimistic, & our only lack is shells & heavy guns. We may have to relinquish Ypres, but our line is perfectly firm & the French are doing wonders in the direction of Lens.

I am exceedingly well & tremendously interested. I must try to write my first dispatch to-morrow. I do hope you are keeping well. Much love to the blessings & to Gerald & Marnie & to yourself

Your ever affectionate

John

Just had your two letters. So glad you are well. Don't send on any Messines stuff.