Letter from Major-General Sir George Spafford Richardson to C.E. [Charles Ernest] Archibald, 16 October 1915

Letter to 'Archibald' [Charles Ernest Archibald] from 'G S Richardson' [George Spafford Richardson] dated 16 October 1915 from the Dardanelles [Turkey], reflecting upon the realities of war and the progress so far. (4 leaves)

The text reads as follows:

"My dear Archibald,

Many thanks for the newspapers which I found very interesting & reminding of old days. I hope you are well also Mrs Archibald & family. This reminds me of my wife & family whom I have scarcely seen for over a year & are now tasting the horrors of the Zipp visits to London - I often wonder if I shall ever see them again altho [although] I feel confident of doing so but one never knows when one is going to get 'biffed' with a bit of metal as there is plenty of it flying about. I have had hundreds of narrow squeaks but every other fellow has - Life here is full of interest - sometimes you get a H.E shell falling near you - 6” Lyddite or TNT - I don’t know what they use but they serve to remind me of Ngahauranga - I was talking to an officer the other day & he was killed alongside me - Both my horses have been shot - A bullet came through my canvas bath the other morning just as I was going to get into it - shrapnel shells are constantly bursting over one & the bullets fall around you - I could give many instances of marvellous

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escapes - Any information I give you is for your own use only - Don’t allow it to be published as I see a lot of letters are -

Life here is not going to be pleasant this winter - We already have a lot of sickness & the men are not able to resist disease - We are not comfortable in villages as in France when we come out of the Trenches but have to live in holes in the ground with no covering & never knowing when a shell is going to drop in your 'dug out' as everyone is under fire from the Beach to the firing line - We can’t get on because the Enemy trenches & troops are too numerous & we have insufficient men & munitions to do the job - Sir Ian Hamilton is leaving us today - He is being superseded by General Monroe - Sir Ian was a champion of Voluntary Service but he has been the victim of this pernicious system - He is a clever General but has not had the men to do the task allotted to him because the Voluntary system does not produce sufficient men sufficiently trained

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in time to be of use -

We are muddling through as no one but England knows how to muddle through - however I must not say too much in a letter - We are alright but Bulgaria has made our task very difficult and we will not be able to complete it until our resources here are quadrupled - The N.Zdrs & Australians have done splendidly & so has everyone else except the last push at Surta when new troops were used. You know how hard it is to train men & officers & new troops hurriedly trained are not worth the same number of well trained troops but our system of voluntary service caused that failure & nothing else -

You do not hear much of anyone else but the Colonial troops in your N.Z. papers but this of course is natural - but rest assured there are other good troops doing their bit -

I hear we have captured 62 submarines & in this respect we are doing well, but on land we have a bigger task than is generally realised - I hope & trust I shall come through this alright & see you again soon

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I have been at it now since the beginning of the show & I would like a change, but I want also to see it through - Honours, rewards & medals have no charm for me - I want England to wake up & put every man in & to put the thing through quickly - to beat the enemy & let us get back to normal life again -

Give my kindest regards to all friends & don’t allow anything I have said to be published -

Yours very sincerely,

[Signed] J.G. Richardson.

I was very upset over poor old Price - He lost his number rather early. He died gallantly & was a good chap. His turn would have come later as every fellow’s turn does if only he lasts long enough -

I hope you won’t come here - This is no place for married men - but professional soldiers must take their chance as it is their job - "