WITH THE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2389, 19 February 1915, Page 6

WITH THE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY

FIGHTING AT ARMENTIERES

"GERMAN DEVILS"

The following extract ia from a letter written bv Captain V. J. Heather, 53rd Battery., Royal, Field Artillery, formerly of Auckland, from Armentieres, on January 1:— . , ~ "We are in action just outside a suburb of Armentieres. Everything at the moment is fairly quiet in our front. Owing to the country being fiat, it is impossible to observe the firo of one's guns close to the battery, so we have ah observing station just behind our infantry trendies. It is a curious sight one sees from tie tower. First there are our own trenches—huge earthworks—and further on . come the Germans'. The interval'between the two is not more than 300 yards, and in aoiiiG cases 50 yards and'6o yards. Botween the trenches arc wire entanglements; in some eases they, look like wire fences, and arc wonderfully, made. They are, of course, to prevent attacks. We 'have them as well as the Germans. And 'midst all this not a sign of life to be seen, but incessant shooting—sniping we call it. Our work is to locate the enemy's guns. To-day; for instance, I saw a party of Germans working at some trenches 2800 yards behind their line, and no doubt they thought they wer© safe. Fortunately, I had a gun k'd oil that place. I knew the range, and put a shell among them. This sort of thing goes oil \ll day. Our .battery, was shelled by the Germans fourteen days ago. They. got ten rounds absolutely in the. battery, but not a soul was touched. They could not see us,' but knew from aeroplane reports about where we were; but it shows the give-and-take we - have with the Germans. The,' town of Armentieres is 'very, much knocked about. They'put over iOOO rounds in. They commenced one night at 9 o'clock,, and kept-it up till 7 a.m. A gcod'many rounds went over our heads.

An Interrupted Meal. "The 9th was very wet and gloomy, [u the aftermion a fog came. up. It was quite dark at 5 p m., and at 5.30 you could only see about a yard In t'ront. We started our dinner at 7 p.m. There 6eemed to be more sniping than usual, so much so tliat. we spoke about it. Soup over, in came, a joint. I had just finished carving when a terrific roar of infantry fire greeted our ears. We were all up in a moment,. subaltern to the guns, all to our own stations. There was no doubt of it: the Germans were attacking, and the bullets falling round very thick. In live minutes we opened fire. We were thoroughly prepared. I made For the wagon line,, about three-quar-ters of a mile away. The attack was severe, and right in, front of us, and the bullets came over iis very thick. As I ran'up the town you could hear them whizzing, past and hitting tlie buildings. The horses were all harnessed up, so 1 got out three wagons with ammunition and took 'them as near to tho guns as I deemed safe. I then went to the guns to find what they wanted. They had fired off quite a lot, so J ran the three wagons right up to tho guns through mud up to the neclc. The Germans were now firing their guns on our Hashes, but their shells' fell just short, say fifty yards away, very, fortunate for us. The attack lasted about three-quarters of an hour, • and we got back to our dinner at 9 p.m., hut I had to fill up my wagons from the ammunition columns to be in readiness, so it was midnight bofore I finished. —

'Very Effective Fire." "The rest of the night passed vcrr peacefully. 1 hear to-day. our casual-' ties in the.infantry were not heavy, also heard our lire was very effective, our shells falling in the German trendies. They must have done a lot of damage. The guns cleared the enemy away. "We'got praise from the General for the quickness with which wo opened tire, and* its effectiveness. The Genoral sent an A.D.O. over, ordering us to shoot, but we had been firing fully five minutes before ho came up. There is a building about three miles away in Germans' hands. We can see the Red Cross iiag> so w© have not shelled it. I have heard they have been sniping from it, trilling; three men and wonndmg ten others this week. .They are perfett devils. ' " ' ' , , , •j. January 12.—We have had two .quiet nights. ' The country is very flat and' flooded, so it is the poor infantry that suffer. All leave has been stopped, so I think there;is something on. ."Destrustlve Germans." . January ,15. —-The weather is awfully unpleasant, but we have bad no more night attacks. We shelled the Geiman trenches yesterday afternoon, the whole division were at it, and in the afternoon two or three firman batteries opened on our town again at 9 p.m., until 3 a.m., then recommenced at 6 a.m. until 8 a.m. During that time they put 700 huge shells over our house, and olio could hear the whiz of them, some very f close, • but others far oyer. Ono never knows the moment one might strike. Two doors below our wagon lino, the .Colonel lives.- Four shells wont into the small garden attached to the house in which he was. A bullet went to the room where we had fifty men. and missed our driver by inches. He is going to wear it is a souvenir. Colonel Broch left his observing station for ten minutes, and whilst bo was awav a shell camc in the back door and passed through the house, fortunately doing no damage. The Fethard (?) Battery is about 400 yards on our left, and twenty shells fell in between us.. 'As I passed down this morning their battery was playing football almost over the holes made bv tb<? shells less than six hours previously. The British Tommy is a curious fellow. Tho damage done to the town is enormous, the Germans are simply devils ; they do all the damage thov can do property. Our battery was shelled again 'this morning, but no damage was done."