War Diary of AA Laporte Payne

Extracted from

Brigade Diary, Personal Diary, Operation Orders, Note Books, Memoranda &

Correspondence

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December1914

December 9 1914

R.P.

“We have guns, but only old 15 pounders, very ancient. At last the men in our battery  have got khaki, and they look much smarter.  The convict blue was really terrible.

I see that Vyvyan is gazetted today in the “Times” to the R.F.A.   He will not come to this division.

December 20, 1914.

Everything is alright. Leave for various and very secret reasons has been cancelled.  I suppose I had better not be more explicit now.  Leave is supposed to reopen with luck on Wednesday next.  Then I hope to get home again.  Our train was full of angry officers called back from their homes.  I was so sorry to give you such a fright, but I suppose one must expect such things to happen now, especially with such windy old dug-outs in charge.  I hope the congregation did not think that the Germans had landed.