Dear Jess, Many thanks for your letters which we received last night as we came out of the trenches. We also received a big parcel from George St and Catherine St so have just written to the aunts thanking them for it. It is jolly decent of them to send us these things and we duly appreciate their generosity. We also had Thompson's parcel which was quite a surprise, so you might thank him for same and one of us will write to him in a day or two.
We had a very exciting time in the trenches again. One of our aircraft came flying over the German lines about 50ft in the air and they opened fire at him with a terrible volley of rifle fire. However we do not know whether he was hit or not, but he got away all right. Well the next day one of their chaps came over on the same only he kept at a pretty safe height. However we opened fire at him and then one of our aviators came up and soon put him to flight.
I think we told you about them trying to put a flag beside our second barbed wires when we caught one of them. Well this time one of our Captains planted a flag on their wires thanking them for pins &c which we captured off the prisoner and said we would call the game a draw - one each, but would be pleased to continue the game. Well the next night they took the flag down and put one up in its place but they dared not bring it past their barbed wire. Well last night while it was still light, to be exact at 6 p.m. our other captain set off and crawled up the hedges &c and collared their flag. It took some time to do it but he did it fine. We watched him the whole way through periscopes and we expected them to spot him at any minute, but evidently they did not see him, although he was only 50 yards from the parapet of their trench. When he got in with it we cheered and gave them a combined "Where is your flag Fritz?" I bet they were jolly wild as they don't half swank about their snipers. Written on the flag was "God strafe England".
They were a different regiment in front of us this spell and from their ways &c they must have been the Prussians. Our Artillery blew some of their trenches up and I can tell you I would not have liked to have been on their side. The shooting was fine and the explosion was terrible. They replied at us, but did no damage only set some houses &c on fire with their bombs.
We are billeted just behind the firing line again in huts painted to represent roads &c. Just to our left is a village and the Germans are busy shelling it now and have succeeded in setting fire to the church. This village we passed through some days ago and is one mass of ruins.
Tell Sarah we have received all her parcels and letters up to the present and are jolly pleased with them. John is writing to her tomorrow. These parcels you all send us are jolly fine I can tell you.
It is a lovely day here today, the sun is scorching hot so we had a bathe in a pool this morning and we needed it seeing we had not had a wash for 4 days.
Pleased to hear that Pater's cold is a bit better and hope that he is quite well by now. Hope Mother, Sarah, Janey, Joe, Thompson and yourself are quite well. John wrote to Joe while we were in the trenches this time so he will have got it by now. Pleased to hear Jack Huggins is out here, we must keep a look out for him. Oh when sending a parcel you might put in a tin of Nestles milk and a packet of cocoa. These come in jolly handy when we are in the trenches. You might add the right amount of sugar to the cocoa.
Well I think this is all for the present. Cheer up and don't let them get downhearted.
Your loving brother
Billie.
Sorry to hear about Miller Irven - it is hard luck. You might send me another writing pad.
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