98 Field Regiment Royal Artillery War Diary
22 Jan 44 – 1050
Enemy counterattack down road – occupied Cemetery – some armour with them – situation fluid.
22 Jan 44 – 1053
471 Battery – enemy still counterattacking strongly – some infiltration – situation still fluid
Mark Howard, historian
researching the 98 Field Regiment Royal Artillery” NEW INFORMATION:
Private Papers
Bdr. J. Stevenson 959500
471/98th Field
Regt. RA
22nd Jan.
Dear Mum & Dad
I received several of your
Airmail letters recently, the latest dated the 9th. Glad you both enjoyed Xmas – you seem to
have found many friends on the “Ridge” that I’ve not heard of before – shall
enjoy meeting them all on my return whenever that may be.
I expect you gathered from my last letter that we were
going into action again. We’ve been
fighting now for nearly a week & are being kept busy both night &
day. Each days firing exceeds all
previous records so you can see we’ve not much spare time and don’t worry if my
mail is not as frequent as possible. I
shall send telegrams if unable to write.
Of this side of the world – nearly 20 years ago I
remember one of the photo albums containing many pictures of one certain
place. The weather here is still the
same, bright & clear during the day, but extremely cold at night, in fact
“bloody cold” as there is no shelter so when we get a chance to sleep it’s in
the open & there’s always a hard frost.
It’s a case of putting on all the clothes ones got to go to bed, not
taking them off. However the glorious
sunshine at mid-day makes up for all the discomforts & also the thought of
spring soon arriving.
The news has been good the last two days. Just heard of the landing near Rome which is
very encouraging to us. Jerry is
putting up a strong show where we are but the fighting will soon go in our
favour despite mines and natural obstacles.
Geoffrey’s friends have been
helping us again. I often wonder if I
will ever come across him.
Had a letter card from Dear ma today saying she had a
very good time with Mrs H at Christmas.
Also received an airgraph from Mrs H herself. Next time we come out of action I hope we
have longer rest & not so much travelling about then I might catch up with
my correspondence. I owe Hames a letter
of thanks. Hope she’s OK & back
with you again.
Will watch out for your second parcel which should be
here soon 6 weeks I believe. I have not
given up hope yet of getting the tobacco.
At the moment I’m still smoking the stuff issued and bought at Xmas so
am not really short.
Will have to use airgraphs if I get a chance to write
before next weekly issue of letter cards.
They take longer so don’t worry.
Cheers for now. Love Jimmy
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