Eighty years ago 1 November to 3 December

 

Saturday 1 November. Forgot we had drill and did not get up until 7:20 a.m. and what a rush to get on parade by 7:30 a.m., and boots and puttees won’t be hurried. Read and wrote home in the afternoon and went to Mess. New batch arrived from Bangalore and I met a chap who I knew there.

Sunday 2 November. Up at 7:30 a.m. After breakfast did a spot of work and finished off a letter. Read a book in the afternoon, ‘My Son, My Son’ [by Howard Spring]. Went to church at Abbottabad; they started running a special bus. Enjoyed the service.

Monday 3 November. The usual lectures on Ammunition and Supply, and a Cloth Model Exercise. Finished at 4:00 p.m. Stopped us eating fresh fruit owing to cholera outbreak.

Nothing else of interest.

Spent quite a time on an ammunition exercise and did not go to Mess.

Tuesday 4 November. Started a Cloth Model Exercise of ammunition supply taken by the Commandant; interesting but have to watch step.

Lecture tonight by some Colonel Johnny on ‘The Situation in Iran’ which was most interesting and illuminating.

Wednesday 5 November. Drill. Rather cold early in the morning. Received Mess bill for INR148/-/-. Lectures on Cloth Model.

Received letter from Mam dated 19 August, a break somewhere. News was good.

Played soccer and enjoyed it as usual.

Thursday 6 November. Haversack rations and a day on Tactical Exercises. Quite interesting. Arrived back about 4:00 p.m. rather tired. Very cold going out by lorry in the morning.

Nothing to report.

Friday 7 November. Out until 2:00 p.m. on an exercise. Cold to begin with, but warmed up later. Need battledress for the mornings and shorts for the afternoon. Had a few miles of drawing.

Received balance from Imperial Bank INR739/-/-.

Saturday 8 November. Drill. It was extremely cold, although later I heard it was only 50°F; wore vest and pullover. Lectures on Combined Operations, etc. Have caught a rotten cold through early morning trips, so did a spot of work for Monday and then went to the Mess. Had a whisky and three aspirins and went to bed at 9:00 p.m.

Sunday 9 November. Still have a cold, but it is better. Stayed in bed until 8:40 a.m. and did not go to breakfast. Had a photograph taken with the class at 9:45 a.m. Went to Armistice Service at Abbottabad Church at 10:45 p.m. Played soccer in the evening. Wrote home and to Mrs Panting.

Monday 10 November. Up early as we had to set off in lorries on a scheme at 7:45 a.m. We travelled many miles up into the hills. Several, a little above us, were snow-capped. Passed through Mansehra and on almost into tribal territory.

Sent letter to Mam and Mrs Panting.

Tuesday 11 November. Started off at 7:30 a.m. in the lorries. Very cold and draughty as usual and I felt rotten when we arrived at the area. Strange, the swaying and jolting rarely affects me. Saw a demonstration of the working of an Armoured Division Transport Company. Finished at 2:00 p.m. so had an easy afternoon. Two minutes silence at 11:00 a.m.

Went off to Weir’s room to look over a scheme for Thursday. They had a fire, so we sat chatting for some time. It seemed so cheerful a glow and so unlike India.

Wednesday 12 November. Drill. A day of lectures, Mortars, Grenades, Explosives, etc., also a preview of Friday’s exercise. Very little to report. Rather noticed lately the poor time the British private soldier has out here. He is completely forgotten by those at home. No comforts for him who has to contend with a rotten climate, no friends, no home leave, he has to pay double for letters, big delay in getting them, no canteens, no chance to eke out his ration with chocolate, no girl-friend; not much of a life for him.

Thursday 13 November. Not a good day. Left our AEWT [Advanced Exercise Without Troops?] to be written up by a member of the syndicate with a literary bent. He did so, giving his artistic temperament full play and produced something rather farcical. Moral: do a thing yourself and don’t leave it to someone else.

Guest night in the Mess, quite a posh affair.

Friday 14 November. On parade at 6:30 a.m. and started scheme. I was a driver and had a 15 cwt truck. Drove some 100 odd miles at pretty good speeds; lucky I had bought goggles. Parade at 6:30 p.m. to explain scheme for tomorrow. Told that postings would probably have arrived by tomorrow.

Saturday 15 November. Off on a scheme about 8:15 a.m. Drove some miles and finished about 2:00 p.m. Gave in books about 3:00 p.m. and then hung around. Adjutant’s office to get posting. Next stop is Divisional Transport, Transport Company, Quetta. Seems OK, but don’t relish the cold. Anyway, a change and a new stage on my journey. Can have 10 days leave, but don’t like expense and shall not know what to do.

Sunday 16 November. Up at 7:45 a.m. for breakfast. Spent whole morning looking up trains, etc. Wrote home in the afternoon and was pleased and surprised when letter was given me from Mother dated 18 September. Not bad, but a big gap since the last. Played soccer against Frontier Warfare School; won 4-0. Went to church and bed early.

Monday 17 November. Up at 5:00 a.m. and on parade by 5:45 a.m. Went off in lorries to the Supply Department. It was pretty cold; I wore two pullovers and top of battledress – still cold. Later in the day it was really hot in shirt sleeves. Long exercise. Had breakfast, lunch and tea out and returned about 5:45 p.m. – 12 hours. Received a letter from HJG date 30 May c/o box 530. It had been to Royal Artillery Records, etc. Went to bed fairly early as quite tired.

Tuesday 18 November. Not so early start – 6:45 a.m. Breakfast and then lectures etc. and discussion on schemes. Commandant seemed quite pleased. Drew TA for journey – INR101/- – at 3:00 p.m. Cold today. I wore pullover all day. Ordered great coat last night. I will need it soon. Heard on wireless news that supplies to Russia via Baluchistan had started.

Wednesday 19 November. Out on Mountain Warfare Exercise. Very cold. Snow had fallen on surrounding mountains. We soon warmed up climbing one of the larger hills. Went to bank and drew INR300/- for the journey. Final interview by Commandant and signing of Confidential Reports; not too bad again – Average, High average, High average. Started off ‘A pleasant soldierly type, must be more forceful in command’ and ended ‘a hard worker’. Started packing first trunk.

Thursday 20 November. Last day’s work. At 12:00 noon the instructors said farewell. They seemed pleased and said we were the best course that they had had. The Commandant also gave his parting advice. Spent the afternoon in packing and clearing up my affairs. Received four letters -three by sea, one each from Mam, Ruth and Auntie Mabel dated 12 August, and one by air from Renée dated 10 September. Received new cheque book No, 13Z/22 80426. Decided not to take my Bearer as he would not be happy in cold Quetta.

After Mess, had a chat with a few of the lads and went to bed soon after 10:00 p.m.

Friday 21 November. Up early at 5:30 a.m. and had breakfast. Collected greatcoat from Durzi INR75/- and finished last bit of packing. Left Kakul at 7:00 a.m. by taxi, all luggage on the bus, a grand morning. Spent a couple of hours at Havelian station getting luggage weighed and tickets issued – terrible confusion. Arrived at Lahore at 8:00 p.m. after an uneventful journey. Got to the hotel – a very quiet one – and after dinner retired to bed. Sharing room with Campbell Steward.

Saturday 22 November. Went to look around the city. Plenty of shops, but very little otherwise. Went to Loretti’s where the other chaps were staying, had a chat and returned for lunch. Went to the cinema in the evening and saw ‘Meet John Doe’; quite good. Bed at 1:30 a.m. so did not get up so early.

Sunday 23 November. A quiet day. Went to Faletti’s Hotel in the morning and listened to the band on the lawn. Wrote letters and read in the afternoon and went to bed early. Sent letters home and to Renée.

Monday 24 November. Shopping expedition in the morning. Bought a pair of shoes at Bata’s INR16/15; hope they are good. Called at Faletti’s for Weir and company and then went to see the Northern Indian Tennis Championships – some good tennis. Very beautiful park, just like England, and the gaily coloured saris of the Indian ladies were very attractive. Went to see ‘This England’, John Clements, Constance Cummings and Emlyn Williams, quite good.

Tuesday 25 November. A lazy day. Went up to the city in the morning, wrote letters and read in the afternoon. Had haircut. In the evening we decided to see Weir off and so spent an hour at the station. We are slowly breaking up. Early to bed.

Wednesday 26 November. Shopping in the morning and called at the station to see about the booking of trains. Went to tennis – very good. Went to the cinema and saw Charles Boyer and Marg Sullivan in ‘Back Street’; good. Spent the evening packing again and then bed.

Thursday 27 November. Up at 6:30 a.m., finished packing, had breakfast, paid hotel bill, then got to the station. Went through the process of weighing, etc. Journey uneventful. The country was very barren and grew sandy approaching the Sind Desert. Meal on train good. Read a book most of the time although the carriage became choked with sand and dust. Had to have carriage cleaned every few stations. Did not go to bed as we had to change at Rohri [Sind Province] at midnight. Grew quite cold.

Friday 28 November. 12:15 a.m. arrived at Rohri. Changed over, but no accommodation booked for us on Quetta train in spite of our telegrams. Porter insisted that there were two berths vacant in one compartment. But after much knocking an irate Brigadier almost blew him off the platform. Eventually got into second class carriage and continued the journey. Went to bed about 1:00 a.m. and got up at 8:30 a.m. Terrific climb to Quetta, three engines and 5 mph, all rocks and stones, no soil or green. Met by Second Lieutenant Holland, very nice. He had a lorry waiting for the luggage. Went to the Mess, given room and had lunch. Did nothing else but unpack and look around. Mess in a tent, Wana Huts [hut built by lashing poles together with the floor elevated above ground level and with a roof made from the fronds of plants] chiefly due to earthquake.

Saturday 29 November. Up at 6:45 a.m. Very cold, white frost, dressed shivering. Breakfast and then went along to report. Saw Adjutant who asked me a few questions and then told me to look around and he would send for me when the Major came back. The Major, the officer-in-charge of my unit, had taken 350 men to fetch lorries from Delhi. Only 80 men and three NCOs left, and Holland was in-charge temporarily. Went with Holland to look round and found Supply and Transport Major carrying out inspection. He decided I should go round with him on the inspection. It took 3 hours. Everything was wrong, including the books. I was given the job of checking up and putting things right by Tuesday. Went and had a look round at 5:00 p.m.

Sunday 30 November. Up at 8:00 a.m., breakfast. Trying to settle my Pay Bill and other matters. Had a spot of bother with Division Quartermaster (QM) re 22 personnel attached for a course. Went in the only vehicle to the station and met Austin. He felt ill and so wanted to see the MO. I took him to the hospital, missed lunch and got back at 3:00 p.m. Went to Methodist and Church of Scotland combined service. Mess and then bed by 10:00 p.m.

Monday 1 December. Another month begins. Went to unit 8:55 a.m. and tried to do a spot of work in the office. Answered a few queries re sepoy who had died. Sent in my Pay Bill. Went with Holland to see Austin. Reported to CRIASC (Commandant Royal Indian Army Staff College?) at 2:30p.m., but he did not arrive. Spot of bother over escaped prisoner from hospital. Checked up on QM’s stores, etc., investigated rifle book. Rest of Company now at Rohri. Finished at 6:00 p.m. Mess and bed after reading up some notes.

Tuesday 2 December. Up at 7:45 a.m. Arrived at lines before 9:00 a.m. Started writing out Crime Report on man who failed to return from leave. SSupO. (Senior Supply Officer) arrived and turned the place out, set me on to checking the whole of the QM’s stores, which are in a horrible mess. Difficult to work unit when half of the men are away or on courses. Lunch 1-2 p.m. Finished at 6:30 p.m. Writing home again this evening. Not much spare time.

Wednesday 3 December. Up at 7:45 a.m. and started work before 9:00 a.m. on QM’s stores check up again. Major Willis arrived and started enquiry into HC’s(?) lantern. At 12:00 noon, the Adjutant rang up making me Officially OC (Officer in Command) of the Company - too much responsibility, shall be glad to see the CO back. Finished at 7:00 p.m. and took some letters to Austin who is in hospital. Told to report to CRIASC tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Too tired to finish letter, so to bed. Orders say that I am Regimental Orderly Officer next week.