The South African
Military History Society

Die Suid-Afrikaanse Krygshistoriese Vereniging

Published on the Website of the South African Military History Society in the interest of research into military history


52 days at the Western Front

Dr Lewis S Robertson

These few letters were written by Lewis S Robertson during his service in WWI. He became President of the Red Cross Society in 1950.
His granddaughter Penelope A Marsh found the letters while clearing her late father's house.


C/165 Bgde R.F.A

B.E.F.
FRANCE
19.lV.1917

Dear Marjorie,

Robbie told me when I saw him at Creave, that you were very cross with me. I deserve no forgiveness for I am most negligent. Everybody tells me I am a very poor correspondent.

Perhaps Robbie told you all about my arrival here and further doings. We had a rough passage across on a crowded troop ship and landed at Havre on Tuesday the 3rd April. Here we remained at the base camp until the 7th - when we were sent up as reinforcements. We had a twenty four hour journey by train and were fortunate in having fairly good weather. When the train stopped at a large station we used to get boiling water from engines and make some tea.

At the detraining point we were singularly fortunate in getting decent billets and consequently had beds for the night.

The next day we came on by motor lorrie to our divisional Ammunition column. Here we spent a night and proceded next to join our brigade.

There were three of us who were at Luton together who got posted to various batteries in the 165 Brigade.

I am at present in the wagon line of "C"'Battery. Our work is to take up Ammunition, rations and water to the guns.

One of the two who joined with me was wounded the second night, he was up with the guns. By now he will be back in England. He thus has had barely a fortnight's service in France and this was his first go too. Fortunately it is nothing serious

We have had shocking weather and are a foot deep in mud.

A Captain Smith and myself have a tarpaulin bivouac in a field and have our beds on the ground which is rather damp.

There is plenty doing just now so we are kept fairly busy.

How are all the people at Sandiway. I met a friend of yours on the ship - one Tessington - or something similar - by name. He proceeded to Rouen so we parted at Havre.

The men are all in the best of spirits despite their hardships. How is the School getting on?

I am afraid this letter is rather disjointed and uninteresting also very badly written Perhaps you will not have had patience to decifer the scrawl.

Excuse the paper but I have nothing else at present.

My kindest regards to the family. Let me know how Robbie is getting on. He was not looking over brilliant when last I saw him.

Keep well,

Yours sincerely

Lewis S Robertson.


B/165 Brigade
R.F.A.
4 May 1917

Dear Marjorie,

Thanks for your long and interesting letter and conatined (sic) mascot.

When I was at "C" battery wagon line I wrote you a letter and wonder whether you ever received it. Our mails here are most irregular. They are such minor considerations just now. Incoming mails on he other hand have been most regular considering. I was posted to "B" battery for duty at the guns on the 22nd April, and since my arrival here we have been having a most severe time. On the 23rd we were in action all day and things only began to quiet down on the 25th. We moved to a new position and came into action on the 28th in a valley which at the time was in full view of the enemy. Our battery suffered rather heavily and you can picture for yourself what an awful time was ours. That afternoon we were subjected to enemy fire for two hours. It seemed years to me. At the time I was the only officer at the battery so had to he in charge.

Things quieted down on the 29th and that night for the first time for many a day did I get some of my clothes off and have a decent sleep.

At present we live absolutely in the open and I have my bed in an old German trench. My things just lie about.

The trench is used night and day by the troops so you see we have but little privacy.

We are so frequently subjected to hostile fire that you hardly ever go without your steel helmet. I have to sleep with mine on having no head cover save a tarpaulin sheet.

Lately I have been able to get a wash and shave every alternate day. Water is scarce where we are and has to be brought up at night by water cart.

We dare hardly move by day lest we are spotted so when we are called for action in day light one feels rather uncomfortable.

We had rather a bad time yesterday and were in action for sixteen and a half hours. Of course most of the time we had a slow rate of fire yet were standing by the whole time. Having had hardly any sleep the previous night we were pretty exhausted when night arrived. I got off duty at 1 a.m. this morning and slept or tried to sleep on some steps leading into a gap. It was none too comfortable but I did get some sleep. I was rather rudely awakened by a good deal of earth falling on me. A shell had exploded five yards away just at the entrance of the gap. I shifted to another place and got a lie down on a fellow officer's bed who had gone to the ohservation post.

After a wash and shave this morning I feel a new man again.

The weather has indeed been beautiful. We have had magnificent sunshine, and all around the country is dry. There is an uncommon amount of dust about and we are just covered with same.

I am afraid my letter will not be very interesting but I have only mentioned those things which stand out in my mind. Some of the gruesome things are best not mentioned.

I doubt whether you will be able to follow this bad writing but hope nevertheless you will make some sense out of it.

Robbie has been very good and been posting me on all the home letters he bas received.

I suppose he is liking the summer weather better and by now completely recovered.

My fellow officers are very nice indeed. We are four all told at the guns.

The battery Commander, a major is exceedingly nice and most popular with the men. The first lieutenant Mr Iles is a very hard working fellow and does far too much.

The two subalterns are a Mr Combrink and myself.

Every third day one of the juniors does duty at the observation post from dawn till dusk. This is roughly about a fifteen and a half hour job. By evening one is rather tired of looking through ones glasses trying to detect enemy movement.

I hope the potatoes you are planting will bring forth abundantly.

Excuse this most disjointed and untidy letter.

My kindest regards to the family.

Yours sincerely

Lewis S Robertson


C/165 Bgde R.F.A

23 May 1917 9.30 am.

Dear Marjorie,

"Note the hour at which this letter is started. The Major just won't leave his fascinating bed he is enjoying, so I am writing to you until he decides to do so." Quotation.

At present I am the only officer on duty at this battery, one officer being in the line with the infantry, and the other at the observation station. I have been up early taking the first morning parade and having attended to various duties, had breakfast and am now awaiting for further arders. My "Officer Commanding" is not up just yet having turned in during the early hours af the morning.

Yesterday morning I was for the O.P. (Observation Post) and left here in pouring rain. I settled down in an oId German gun pit under cover from the wet until 11 am. when it cleared up, and you could see for miles and miIes. The rest of the day I spent gazing at the enemy lines and back ares. We were fortunate in spotting several of his batteries who were annoying us during the morning but when our heavy guns turned on to them we were left severely alone & I had a most peaceful afternoon.

At an observation post you have to be very careful to conceal yourself well and go in for as little movements as passible lest he see you. Hence one spends the whole day with just the head above the parapet and getting rather stiff for want of exercise.

Since we left our forward position where we were under direct enemy observation we have had a much easier time as regards fighting. But of course the ordinary work goes on just the same.

On the 17th inst. I went on duty a few milu back and had the priviledge(sic) of seeing the king of Belgium and Sir Douglas Haig. I went on horseback and had a most enjoyable time. It is indeed pleasant to get away from tne guns etc. even for ever so little. I passed through an apple orchard in full blossom (interruption here as I ran out to see an air fight). It was magnificent (the orchard).

It is apparent that you will be coming out to France as a dresser of wounds with all your experience.

I hope you are none the worse off as regards your drenching, and got rid of the huskyness of your throat.

Robbie posts me on all the home letters for which I am most thankful but never writes much himself. He adds two or three lines to a letter thats' all.

I am sure it must be delightful in Cheshire just now, if you are having the same weather as we.

My battery commander has just walked in so an abrupt ending.

Kindest regards to all the family.

Yours sincerely,

Lewis


3 General Hospital
La Trsport
FRANCE
27th May 1917

My Dear Mother,

On the 25th inst. I was wounded, a shell hitting our mess where I was sitting writing and buried me.

I found myself en route to a dressing station.

I discovered I was suffering from a fractured right leg.

I passed by motor to the Casualty Clearing Station and from there by van to the base.

I shall probably be down here a little while and if all goes well home to England shortly.

Don't worry about me for I am quite all right.

Love

Your fond son

Lewis




First page of a letter



Last page of a letter


BIOGRAPHY OF DR. LEWIS S. ROBERTSON.

Dr. Lewis S. Robertson, who was born in Robertson in the South Western area of the Cape Province, was the son of the late Mr. A. Faure Robertson, Civil Commissioner and Resident Magistrate, and a grandson of Dr. Wm. Robertson D.D., one of the early Scottish Divines who served as ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Cape Colony.

Dr. Robertson spent his early childhood in Swellendam and on the retirement of his father in 1908 moved to Worcester, where he matriculated in 1910.

He was one of the earliest medical students at the South African College and, on the completion of the first two years of his medical course, proceeded to Aberdeen University where his grandfather had studied.

On the outbreak of the Great War he volunteered for Military Service and was commissioned in the Royal Field Artillery. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Arras in May, 1917.

He completed his Medical studies at Aberdeen University in July, 1919 and obtained the Degrees of M.B. Ch.B. The following year he obtained the Diploma of Public Health at Manchester University. He returned to South Africa in April, 1921, and was appointed a Resident Medical Officer at the Johannesburg Hospital.

In 1922 he commenced private practice in Pretoria and married the following year Agnes Walker, daughter of a former Lord Provost of Aberdeen. He had met Agnes while recuperating at the military hospital in Aberdeen where she was nursing in 1917. The wedding was solemnised in the "Groote Kerk" Cape Town, his grandfather's church for many years.

In 1928 Dr. Robertson was appointed Medical Superintendent of the Pretoria Hospital and during his period of office the new Pretoria Hospital was built and occupied.

In 1936 he was appointed Medical Officer to the Rand Mutual Association of the Chamber of Mines and was largely responsible for the organisation and the equipment of the Chamber of Mines Hospital, which was opened in 1939.

In May 1940 he joined the South African Army and was appointed Commanding Officer of Voortrekker Military Hospital with the rank of Colonel, a post he held for four years.

Dr. Robertson became a member of the British Medical Association in 1919. He transferred to the Witwatersrand Branch of the British Medical Association in 1921 and to the Pretoria Branch in 1922. He was elected Hon. Treasurer of the Pretoria Branch of the British Medical Association in 1924 and Honorary Secretury in 1926, an office he held for five years.

During 1926 he served on a Committee which negotiated the amalgamation of South African Branches of the British Medical Association with the South African Medical Association, an independent Medical Society, on the occasion of the visit to South Africa of the late Dr. Alfred Cox, Medical Secretary, British Medical Association in London. London.

The Pretoria Branch British Medical Association became in 1928 the Northern Transvaal Branch of the Medical Association of South Africa and Dr. Robertson was respcnsible for the initial organisation of this Branch as reconstituted.

In 1932 he was elected Vice-President and in 1933 President of the Northern Transvaal Branch of the Association. He served on the Branch Council for 12 years and on Federal Council for 5 years while resident in Pretoria. He served as Assistant Organising Secretary for the 1926 S.A. Medical Congress and Organising Secretary for the 1934 Medical Congress, both of which were held in Pretoria.

He transferred in 1936 to the Southern Transvaal Branch of the Medical Association of South Africa and served as Honorary Treasurer for six years, and President in 1955.

He was a representative of the Southern Transvaal Branch on Federal Council of the Medical Association for eight years and a member of the Executive Committee of Federal Council for three years.

In 1962 he was elected President-Elect of the Medical Association and took office as President in July, 1963. He is also President of the current 44th S.A. Medical Congress.

Dr. Robertson has taken a keen interest in the S.A. Red Cross Society. He founded a Branch of the Society in Pretoria in 1923. He has served on the Councils of the S. A. Red Cross Society for 35 years and was its President during 1950 and 1951.

Dr. Robertson is a foundation member of the National Cancer Association of South Africa which was founded in 1933, and has served on its Council of Management for approximately 30 years and President for the past 11 years.

Dr. Robertson has been a member of International Rotary for 35 years.


[Article from] November, 1950 issue of THE REEF [Magazine]

NEW RED CROSS PRESIDENT

Dr. L.S. Robertson was born in Robertson, Cape Province, a town named after his grandfather, the Rev. Dr. Wm. Robertson. He received his school education at Swellendam and Worcester· in the Cape, and commenced his medical studies at the South African College, Cape Town. From there he went to Aberdeen University, Scotland (the Alma Mater of his grandfather) in 1913, to complete his medical studies. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he volunteered immediately for service with a British Red Cross Mobile Ambulance Unit in the capacity of a "dresser," and saw service in Belgium in the early days of the campaign. In 1916 when senior medical students on service were instructed to return to their universities to complete their studies, he volunteered for service in the Royal Field Artillery in which regiment he obtained a commission. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Arras in May, 1917, which necessitated a prolonged stay in various military hospitals where considerable numbers of the nursing personnel were V.A.D.'s.

Dr. Robertson resumed his medical studies at Aberdeen University in 1918 and graduated M.B., Ch.B., in July, 1919. In 1920 he obtained the diploma for Public Health at Manchester University. He returned to South Africa in 1921, and was appointed resident medical officer at the Johannesburg Hospital. In 1922 he commenced private practice in Pretoria.



Dr. L.S. Robertson.

Early in 1923 he inaugurated lectures in first aid in Pretoria, and was appointed hon. surgeon to the first V.A. Detachment established in Pretoria. A little later when a local centre committee, the Red Cross Society, was established in Pretoria, he was elected chairman, in which capacity he served until he took up residence in Johannesburg in 1936 on being appointed medical officer to the Rand Mutual Assurance Company.

Dr. Robertson was first elected to the Council of the Transvaal Branch of the S.A. Red Cross Society in 1928 and served as its chairman during the year's 1936-1939. He volunteered for military service on the outbreak of the recent war and served with the rank of colonel as commanding officer of 110 Military Hospital, Voortrekkerhoogte, for four years.

On his release from the army he was re-elected to serve on the Council of the Transvaal Branch of the S.A. Red Cross Society, and became chairman in 1948. He has served· on the National Council of the S.A. Red Cross Society on several occasions, and was recently elected president of the S.A. Red Cross Society in the Union of South Africa.

Dr. Robertson is a former president of the Northern Transvaal Branch of the Medical Association of South Africa, and has served on both the Councils of the Northern and Southern Transvaal Branches of the Medical Association of South Africa. He was formerIy superintendent of the Pretoria Hospital, and is at present a member of the Johannesburg Hospital Board, and the Prevention of Accidents Committee of the Transvaal Chamber of Mines.

We congratulate Dr. Robertson most heartily on the high honour bestowed upon him by the Red Cross Society, which we feel his long and valuable service to that body fully merits.


Copyright South African Military History Society / scribe@samilitaryhistory.org