WITH THE GUNS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2681, 29 January 1916, Page 6

WITH THE GUNS

THE N.Z. FIELD ARTILLERY TRAINING AT TRENTHAM T&e' work that was done at Gallipoli by tho. New Zealand Field Artillery lias not been told of at great length, but the artillery lias done good work. A-member of tho N.Z.F.A., writing to a friend in Wellington, recently said: ' "From Imbros, wesmado a! dash for Anzao one night. Tho trooper steamed into tho ,bay while an attack was on, and' a destroyer on our starboard side kept on continuously shelling tho hills.

That night two guns and-teams were landed and got into action at No. 2 outpost next day.,' Soon 'after wo opened fire, a six-inch shell from the forts on the Asiatic side skimmed over No. 1 gun .and burst a few, feet away. Next day three of theso handy bits of hardware came- along. Two did not burst, but one hit a tire of a .wagon,, under which two Australians, were sleejjing, and killed one.arid badly wounded the other. On this ;day we got a real good shelling from the..Turkish 75 centim'etre guns. For three weeks I formed part or thecrew of No. 2 gun. Then I was ordered to .return to Mall Gully where our horses were, and take' over ■horses belonging to drivers who had gone away sick, i One afternoon I was in my quarters when a shell from a gun, nicknamed Beachy Bill, pitched into the lines' arid killed three, horses."

Briefly as the writer puts it, yet the pen picture is clear and raves a good idea-of the work for which the artillerymen, now- in camp, are training. . :

/ ; Artillery In Training. Since .the artillery of. all reinforcements in training has been concentra-t; ed at Trentham Camp, ev.ery day is a busy one in -the artillery park, where men and horses aro learning their several parts. >In one corner of tho .grounds; men are marching around under the eye of a n.c.o. in a wide circle. .These are the latest recruits. Further on, single gun horses are being ridden in a wider circle, while '.vet another lot of men are learning to handlo the - horses in pairs as they must do when they are attached to the guns. The voice of an instructor- rings out from

ivhere a .battery of guns are being worked, their trails resting some yards to the rear, while the black muzzles of the guns , seek , their mark on the hills on the western side of the valley. "Now,, then, Number' One, put some ,beef into, it,": the instructor is saying. "Same target as before." There is a movement of mechanism. "Number Three! I never gave you any actiori.- Prepare to fire." Number One gun was very quiet, with her brew crouching behind her.' "Fire!" The clank and' rattle of metal and the quick handling of dummy shells and cases to and from the breech were Symbols'of" swift work. "Number One gun, cease fire." The' instructor passed caustic comment, personal and general, on tho crew's '.work, and another' crew came ,up to have their spell'at the work, and show their smartness. ; On the March. A sound, wlsiclr had' become louder during the past few minutes, made one look towards the rifle ranges.' It was like the steady "clocking" roar which ;comes from tliem on days when. the. infantry are. putting in their advanced' musketry course. v ßut there was a rumble mingled with it that was not of the :riflo butts. Then a cloud of dust along the, main camp road told of horses and: "wheels. There were four guns coming in from a morning march '.and manoeuvres on the roads and padlocks of .Upper Hutt. .Six.'horses to 'each gun, with a driver on each nearside horse, and a sergeant-major riding ■on the right of■ each -team, they clattered and crashed along. The gunners on the-limber and trails seemed to shake and quiver as the springless axles bumped along. The black barrels of 'the:.'gunS; lay', level on their carriages. So the battery swung, with prancing horses through the wide gateway, into the training grounds, and past the men who were, figuratively speaking, blowing, the Belmont hills to pieces. At tho far side of the grounds they were halted. Every man sprang to earth at the order, "Dismountf" Then the order was "Unhook!" and men ran nimbly to the teams and unhooked the horsos from the chains —each horse can be separately unhooked, so that if one is shot.or' wounded in action\its cuttingout;, is only; a matter of moments, the long trace-chains running from tho leader to the limbers,, and each horse '■having short chains from its collar to -t'he The teams were trot- ' ted oil -to water, and. then away to their-, stables- -for ■ their midday feed, while the men were paraded and dismissed. i The Riding Lesson.

It'is a remarkable fact that many expert civilian riders fail to rise to the demands made by the military in the matter: of riding. As •• the ceaseless : circle: of wrnen and horses'goes on, cir"cijs'fashion, under the eye of the' instructor j. some of the recruits feel a rising' rage simmering in their hearts '•at .the cutting criticisms of their horsemanship which he makes. Men who h'avo - ridden over fences, and spent their lives among horses suddenly feel absolute fools, and that feeling is followed by. anger. .In ft way, that is what tho instructor wants them to feel, for its puts them on their mettle, and fills them-with a glowing determination'to" shoi^'that they can accomplish the things the hard-hearted instructor demands of them.

' "That nianrthere. Sit up 1 You're no;t a butfchorrboy now. You'ro in tho Artillery; and don't stick your toes out like shafts. You'll get 'em blown off in action. Keep.-your hands down, and don't-flop your elbows. Same to you, next man. This ain't the Flying Corps." Jig-jog 1. Jig-jog I Round and round they go. Suddenly the orcler comes, ."Haiti"' Tho horses know it better than their new riders. They've been jig-jogging round for months. Instantaneous is ■the word > which describes their stopping,'arid instantaneous stops are disconcerting to recruits. One man comes LgraccfuUy down, slowly, as though he mi'gtt have, stayed in his saddle, but lie couldn't be bothered. It seems to the others: that' the instructor's vials of satire, will be emptied upon the fallen man's head. But all the tyrant says is: "I knew you would do that." Tin* suggestion is, of course, that all through the morning's work the instruc-tor-had-been observing tho rider's loose and careless scat, and had called a halt on purpose to see the man fall. _ Tho recruit remounts quickly, and in his iieart is a fierce resolvo to so acquit himself" that no withering Blasts of scorn will, come his way. . That is tho spirit that is wanted in the Artillery, -in'liaudling tho guns and working them in action.