BIG GUN PRACTICE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3022, 8 March 1917, Page 7

BIG GUN PRACTICE

TWENTY-THIRD'S ARTILLERY

INTERESTING HOWITZER WORK

The Twenty-third Artillery EeiuSorcements, under Lieut, Mortenscn, engaged in field practice with, livo shell at Morrison's Biisli yesterdav, the guns used being 11. battery of ib'-pouuuers ■And a 1.0 howitzer. The- Chief Artil- '(. lery thstructor. Captain Bradloy, was : in charge of tho shooting, which ivus earned out under the direction ' of Lieut.-Colonel Koberts, Inspector .ot Artillery, and was witnessed by tho Chief of Staff, Col. C. M. Gibbon, ami ihe Camp Commandant, Lieut.-Coldnet i$- F. Adams, and other officers. The weather was tine and culm, and a largo ttuinber of civilians motored out to tne w shoot.'" ' . 'Che first shot, fired at 10.55, was ono of a series of fourteen rounds, tho target representing, entrenched infantry, on a slope of Jury's Hills.. Tho range was 3200 yards, and the shooting was' pronounced to bo fairly good. . The target at which tho second ser-. ies was fired represented a four-gun battery in action. 'I'ho range was tbo . same as in tbo first series,, and Xteut. / Chapman-found'tho target Sy.ith a.fd»y ff ranging ehots;. after that tho shooting /' .was good and 18 .rounds were fired. . t For tho third series a novbl scheme. I was. followed. Tho:guns wore moved,to a hollow, and Lieut. Mortensen posted . • iimself and- signallers behind a hayetack, about 1000 yards oh tho loffc front of tbo battery. From there, ho had to work out tho angle and range of the guns, the instructions; being conveyed to tho guris by flags.:.' Tho laying of tho guns was indirect; This took a littlo time', but the flags soon began to wag, and presently, two nuns narked with-the 18-pouhdcr's scoldlug note, and two spouts of earth showed near {he marks, which were- intended ■to represent a line -ov. entrenched m^ farrti-y. Another pauso, and another pair of- shells sang their way across ■ the valley, to land a little nearer the "•■ mark. In this way the target was quickly found, after which tho .battery ralce3 the supposed infantry position with suck effect that after the.. lfcst" rounds of section fire at ten and five seconds' intervals, tho grass hurst into flames and the hill-slops was wreathed in smoke. The fourth series was fired from t7io howitzer. This efficient -weapon < T warfare was placed in a level paddock, ( near some scrub, about 500 yai'ds hohincl tho slope on which tho spectators were-gathered. It was supposed that the Mounted, Infantry, a detachment of whien actually took part (in tVe . manoeuvres, had located a sniper and •some maobino guns in a redoubt in the • hills. Tho howitzer's' work was to find them. Tho area over which tho shells would pass at a high elevation was cleared of sightseers, and all those on tho high knoll waited breathlessly for the howitzer to. speak.. • -The sound of the first shot from the howitzer , had scarcely reached . them , when a whistling, humming sound passed overhead, and eyes were strained upward to try and see the shell. The sound .passed towards the hills and the shell found a mark beside tho circlo of burning grass. About a dozen shells whistled and hummed overhead ere the. snipor and the machine guris were, silenced, and tho practice endedi Tho morning's work was .unusually interesting, and. reflected all credit upon the Twenty-thirds and their instructors. Tho work of the Divisional Signallers was somewhat nioro elaborate than usual. In addition to the telephonoand telegraph lino from the targets to the guns and into camp, the same, service was rendored by visual signalling with flags and helios. From tlio gun position a signaller flashed his lialio message to Bidwell's Hidge, four miles to tho southward. Prom this elovation clear reading of, messages is possible by the station in tho camp. Yesterday's, messages were quickly and accurately dispatched by. this means, while the instruments also did their ' good work.