Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 8]
rotten time there in the sand. The heat was pretty bad in the day time but at night it was very cold.
We stayed in the desert for about five weeks digging trenches and waiting if the Turks come; but they didn't come and we were relieved by N.Z. Mounted Rifles. We went to Ismalia where we stayed ten days and then we left for France. The trip over wasn't too bad and we are here now waiting for the word to let go. It is hard work waiting but we'll make up for it when the time comes.
This is all I can write now. So I close. Love to all from your loving son.
Roy.
[Transcriber's notes:
RMS Alaunia built in 1913, she was the first Cunard Line ship to transport Canadian troops and was sent in the Gallipoli campaign by the summer of 1915. She struck a mine in October 1916 off Hastings East Sussex where she still lies in 15 metres of water.
Beachy Bill was the name given by the Anzac soldiers to one of the Turkish guns that frequently attacked them.
SS Ceramic was built in Belfast in 1912–13 for the Liverpool-Australia route on which she was the largest ship until 1923. The liner served as a troopship in both World Wars. She was sunk by a German submarine in 1942, leaving only one survivor from the 656 people aboard.
Connaught Rangers – originally raised in 1793, also known as "The Devil's Own", was an Irish regiment of the British Army.
to Enfilade is to fire along the length or the longest axis of a line of soldiers. For example if soldiers are lined up to advance northwards and the enemy fires at them from the east or west, the enemy would be enfilading them.
Heliopolis is now a NE suburb of Cairo, 15kms from central Cairo.
Reserve Gully was N of Anzac Cove in the low ground between Plugge's plateau and the Sphinx. It was well above the beach area.
Sap trenches are those leading to the front line trenches and are used for communication and to bring supplies to the forward trenches.
SS Simla was launched in 1894. It was torpedoed and sank near Malta in April 1916.
Tel-el-Kebir is 110 kms NNE of Cairo and 75kms S of Port Said on the edge of the Egyptian Desert. During the Gallipoli landings and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of WW, Tel el Kebir was a training centre for the AIF, a hospital camp and a large POW camp. Some 40,000 Australians camped in a small tent city at Tel-el-Kebir of six miles in length.
[Transcribed by Miles Harvey for the State Library of New South Wales]