THE NEW HOWITZER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2922, 7 November 1916, Page 6

THE NEW HOWITZER

TRYING TO SEE THE SHELLS

(By Will Lawson.)

The battery of four eighteen-pound-ers had finished their sharp-tongued, vehement scolding of the enemy in. the hills across the Ruaniahanga Paver, and the pretty puffs of'< white smoke which told of shrapnel bursting along the peaceful-looking ridges had ceased. "Good shooting" was tho verdict of the experts. Had the scene been laid in a theatre, tho crowd'gathered, on the three knolls behind the guns would have stamped and applauded. As it was they discussed the matter quietly among themselves, for they felt rather like boys who had been permitted as a favour, to stand by and watch men who were doing mterestThe weather was ideal for an outing,

and since there had been _,no "big shoot" for two mouths, residents of tho Wairarapa, and even from Wellington, had arrived at the gun position '

by motor-cars in numbers. The green slope was brightly dotted with tho colours of ladies' summer gowns and parasols. "Like the crowd at a race meeting," an artilleryman remarked. And it was, especially the race meetings of recent months, where the khaki has been so much in evidence. Above the hills where tho targets wpro the skies wero blue and cloudless, arid in the paddocks between tho hills, and the guns, the sheep that tho 18-poundcrs had disturbed, were settling down again. The New Cun. "What next?" a girl asked a bom-' bardier. "Tho howitzer. That's her they're lunlimbering now." A gun on mountings somewhat sirai!nr to those of the 18-pounders, was being placed in position. Its barrelwas thicker and looked shorter, while there was a difference in-the gear for elevating or depressing tho gun. "She's a 4.5, fires a 351b. shell," was tho information offered by one who knew.

"And can you see the shells "in the air?" a girl asked. "If you're right behind the gun, and keep your eye. along tho barrel, you might."

The muzzle of the new gun rose slowly, in response to the gun-layer's hand, till it pointed at the bluo skies above tho lino of tho distant hill-tops. Never beforo had the howitzer raised its-voice among uthe fraternity of guns at Featkerston Camp. And if the 18-pounders had been animate things it might havo been said that they looked slyly along their noses, as thoueh they said fo themselves. "What sort of shooting will thi3 high-falutin' fellow bring off?" The Chief Artillery instructor was to fire the howitzer himself, and the target was a / line of trenches behind a spur which the more direct shooting 18-pounders could hardly get a lino on to with any chance of success. But the howitzer hurls its projectile high, into the blue, so that it falls at a steep angle upon the enemy's position, and drives him to cover elsewhere.

■There were signallers posted in the hills who had a good view ofthe target. In fact, the countryside between Featherston Camp, Papawai, Morison's Bush, and the targets was alive with the activities of the Engineers and .Artillery signallers. The whole of the results of the shooting of the 18pounders were already on record at camp headquarters, and every important move on the green slope, where tha guns wore, was flashed into camp. So that it was known there, and at every, station and drop station orer a radius of several miles that the howitzer was ready, and that the crowd was breathless with suspense as the artillery officer in charge glanced towards the gunners and spoke. ■ , . "Firel" ' : BANGII As the blue wisp of smoke the gun moved slowly back to position' from the recoil. Everyone was ready for the loud report, yet many flinched a little. It was a new note to most ears. Like the 18-pounders' 6colding din, it was sharp. But it lacked the whip-like conciseness of that sound. 16 was deeper, and there was a hoarse roaß as an aftermath of sound. Now was the chance keeneyed'ones who wished to see the shell that was mounting swiftly, and invisibly to the average eye, into lie heavens.' • . ■ ■

"I see it, Dad," a youngster said. "What is it like?" the parent asked indulgently. . . "Like a bird's egg—now it's burst, was the surprising reply. Some of the spectators had binoculars, one girl was trying to steady an officer's telescope sufficiently to watch for smoke above the target, but the majority were straining' their eyes_ in the intensity of watching. Bluishwhite, like the smoke from shrapnel bursting in the air, the smoke rose behind the spur, and the flags of the signallers on the hillside began to flutter. These were the Artillery Signallers. The Engineers' Signallers ; were sending the news through by telegraph to a central station on a wagon along the Papawai Road, and that station was repeating: it to the station beside the guns. With the information concerning the Tesult of his first shot as a guide, the artillery officer at the howitzer set to /work again, and soon the howitzer was punching shells, into the high heavens with .regular precision, while the smoke of the explosions rose from behind the hill-spur; and the silent 18-pounders looked alonjj their shining barrels and seemed to size the strangpr up. \ . '