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have made a point of being more in touch with them during training, & taking some of this over myself from platoon officers, in order that they may get to know me better, instead of just knowing me as a C.O. who is always barking & biting at them & telling them not to do this & that, & issuing orders which interfere with their freedom. (It is unfortunate that one only gets credit for the unpleasant things - others, which are more obviously for their benefit & good, are just taken for granted.) Last week I managed to borrow a Vickers M.G. & spent a whole day with them, lecturing, explaining & demonstrating; they were interested in & pleased with this (and apparently very much admired my expertness - it was of course, much easier to be expert in front of men who had never seen the gun before. We had some day & night firing, & I allowed a few of the men to fire it.) Then another thing has just begun which has been good for moral, has given me more opportunity to get in touch & an excuse to say a few things. This is a new branch of the Army, called A.B.C.A, or the Army Bureau of Current Affairs. This is run by a civilian named William Emrys Williams, & you may have heard about it. The whole idea is to make the soldier better informed about the war itself & about the political & civil aspects of it. For this purpose, a booklet is issued every week, containing articles & information, & these are intended to provide the ammunition for talks to the men - which are always followed by opportunity for questions & discussion. These articles are, of course, designed
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by the British for the British, & which my men will of course realise, & by which they may be prejudiced. It is a serious pity, this dislike of the British & I don't believe I have mentioned it before. I think about it a great deal & I want to do something about it, but it is not easy. In this case anyway - I told the men what Current Affairs was about, at some length; after that I got myself onto extremely thin ice, & had to choose my words with great care. I told them, in so many words, that I took very seriously the dislike of the British - but that they must realise that they had never met the real British people - they must not take the Regular officer or private soldier as a fair type of Englishman - & still less, the local Government officials. I told them that they must believe that England is changing ^English opinion is evolving^, but that they must not expect a rapid change, because that meant revolution & evolution means bloodshed & loss of life, which does not suit the British temperament (of which there will be quite enough in this war.) I think the men understood me very well, & that I wanted to tell them that, in spite of the fact that I scream at them on parades, etc., & punish them, & stop their leave - I am not a true blue ( ? ? ] Conservative & Imperial stick in the mud - but only behave and do on account of war & discipline. The whole affair was extremely seditious, according to accepted standards. God knows what a Regular Col. would have said had one been serving. But I am glad that I did it, & I know that it has made a tremendous difference in this Corp. And the difference is by no means a shallow one, the men are going about
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their work in a different way. I will punish, scream, & [ ?] etc, but it is all taken in a much more cheerful & philosophical manner. In other words, they have now realised that I am doing my duty in the way I think how, & none of it has anything at all to do with my feelings towards them, collectively or individually. But the fact remains that they are a strange people - & the following story illustrates this - You could not possibly imagine it of British troops. On Feb 6th the Corp is one year old. I decided that we must have a celebration & that the men would want it. I purposely waited 2 weeks after Gergel's death to announce it, in case the men should think I was playing up to them. When the idea & programme was announced, about 1/2 the Corp were immediately enthusiastic. A very few were dead against it because it would show support of me. The remainder promised to have an argument on the following lines - if we have a party on 6th Feb, ask our friends & wives etc. We shall certainly enjoy ourserlves; - if we show that we are enjoying ourselves, we shall then show that we are a happy Corp; but are we a happy & contented Corp., & may we not be giving a wrong impression. After much argument, which apparently lasted several days, they decided that, after all, they were a
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happy Corp, therefore, there would be no harm done in showing it. The [ ?] minority are confounded, & now do not know what to do; they have been so used to grumbling & sowing discontent into ready ears. You must admit, that it is a strange life. I always think that it is a rather weak minded & [puny ?] attitude, to want to be understood. But, I must say that I am deriving much satisfaction from the fact that the men are now beginning to understand me ^ not for my own satisfaction, but because it is good for Anglo Jewish relations ^ in this case goes so much deeper & is so much more important. It seems probable now that we shall never fight - & so I have decided that my aims & solutions (apart from being sent home to you, darling) are to finish this war with 200 Sol, strong, healthy men, & who were ready, & capable of fighting - to have them strongly pro-British - & strong enough not to be influenced quickly away from that idea - but, if necessary, to be propagandists for us, & I think it will be necessary. ^There is never too much complacency out here.^ I have the feeling that I am right, too - that I am the only officer in the whole of the M.E. who realises this. Really the English are too damned complacent & pleased with themselves. Our [reevalution ?] will not have to be too slow or we shall have to pay for this.) I [do underlined] hope all this does not bore you, darling? Your A.G.s of Jan 7th & 12th have been gladly received. I'm afraid I have heard nothing at all about [ ?] & I cannot think how the rumour began. It must have started somewhere among the works or
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10./ customers because I had an [ E.T.M. ?] from Whittle & Turner this week + addressed to Lt Col J H Massey, congratulating me on my promotion. Nos. 9 ? 2 ? 53 I wish to God it were true, because that rank means a much more interesting job + more responsibility + so much more opportunity. But, as I said before, this job seems to be such a hell of a dead end. 42/6 a day would be nice too, because I should not spend a penny more + so we should be able to save so much more for our new beginning. I sent you a parcel on Wednesday, darling, 2 lbs of chery jam, 1 1/2 lbs of honey, which should be good for Maxie, 90 Players - because you told me about hunting high & low in London & only finding 2 small Woodbines - & a funny little guide book about Palestinians, which I have not yet read. I have got some more jam for you, & a book about politics, which Berstein gave me last summer - & I am going to buy some material for you, & for Maxie, for clothes. Ben's wife's father is in the trade. Have you done anything about you & Maxie being photographed? or about you having some "art studies" for me only? You [must ?] please. All my dearest deepest love, sweetest because I love you so much. XXX Harry
