[DESPATCH]  RIDING ON THE WESTERN      

FRONT CONTRASTED    

..... C. D. Page, "C" Squadron, 13th .... L.H. writing to Cr W. Royle           .... France, on 30th April last, gives a .... interesting details of life in the lines. Page, who was ....... a member of   Essendon Club, and assistant secretary of Essendon Association Football .... expresses his appreciation of par [cels] to the members of the Essendon Club to their comrades at the front, .... Cr Royle for his interest in   .... The Club and the district generally had borne .... its responsibility .... and the losses ensuing from it. ...Tpr Page is writing from there   .....thing doing on the ground above [above and] below it most of the day ....., the detachment of horse to       .... belongs being connected with ..... the great fighting divisions on the   ....front. The duties, which are any   .... work required by the Division, [not as] arduous and generally danger[ous as] that of the infantry, but yet con[sidered] intensely exciting and risky jobs. ... in the forward area in front of ....the city of Amiens one hears music [there] a large portion being by that ... composer, Krupp. However, the       .... all feel very confident of the works of our own composer, and, no doubt,. be [fore] very long they will have"Jerry" piping their tune. [The] work required by the Division is .... despatch riding, which is a truly .... job. One is apt to be engaged [on an] extremely pleasant errand one day .... apt to have occasion to handle ... hazardous task the next day. .... is a beautiful spring morn- ...luxuriant verdure eveywhere, and a ... and lively hack at one's dis [posal.] On receipt of the despatch and or[ders] ... leaves the shells behind and rides ... the Somme Valley, which is filled  [with new] growth. Birds are singing everywhere and horses and cattle peacefully .... After the despatch has been delivered a call is made at a French peas [ant's] home where a mug of coffee and fried eggs are enjoyed. The following day may be raining   ....and the horse will be ready sad[dled] for the night's ride. The night is dark, and the way lies through country where shells are continually falling, the darkness being lit by the flashes of the guns. A frequent experience is to cross unknowingly before a battery of Australian guns, about 40 yards away. The result of the sudden roar and blinding flash being most unnerving.

[?] RIDING ON THE WESTERN FRONT CONTRASTED. (1918, July 18). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 3 Edition: Morning. Retrieved August 9, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74606636