Nine days to go…

Dear Jess, Just a card in answer to your welcome letter card of the 22nd Aug. Things are going well over here the end of the war looks to be in sight. The Aussys are out having a spell will be unlucky I think if they have to go in again. I haven’t run against Jack yet but hope he is allright. I don’t think it will be long now before we will be on our way home. Well Jess not much news, I will write a letter later so with love remember me to Jack, from your affect bro, Bill.

This postcard has a very positive outlook that for once was not a ‘cover up’. Good news from France usually came in small doses and was often expressed in the little things like ‘a few days leave’ or ‘things are quiet’. Due to censorship and the desire not to alarm family and friends in Australia, men standing in knee-deep mud spotted in the blood of their mates became good at telling ‘white lies’.

Bill was most likely part of the large push the Australians began under General Sir John Monash on August 8th, when they routed the Germans eastward from Villers Bretonneux to the Hindenburg Line. He was reading the situation well. By the end of October the heavily depleted and tired Australian Force were out of the font line and thankfully never needed to return.