The N. Z. F. A.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 November 1915, Page 3

The N. Z. F. A.

iiiUUAIM UN ALIItLN. AOOUIUTF ATE SHOOTINtt. v (From Malcolm itoss, Official OorrespolHtent with tho N.&. Forces.; UALLII'OLi PFAIiNSULA. 3rd Sop torn bur. • Now that the campaign in (Jtaiiipoli has been in operation lor some nine- ■ teen weeks, and our positions have Materially changed, it becames possible to give .New Zealand readers somo general idea of the extent and oii'octivcu'ss , of the work done by the .New Zvabnd Field Artillery. Tlio brigadio received extra training in Egypt, and tlley~Uid ■"•well in practice there with the New Zealand Infantry. ,antl -Now Zealand Mounted ItfSes.' The 01 •men had. been selected, audi) officers, non-commissioned oiiicers, guninns and drivers could not have ueen greatly improved upon for the work they had to do. The drivers were mostly men from the country used. to handling horses. Ihe battery woiii has been excellent. One instance oi the accuracy ol tho lire and the cuiiiidence oi the gunners in their work may u-j . given. It occurred only a few i.Uy<, ago, when a -major 01 an an try telephoned calling attention to the -ol that our howitzers- were dropping shell into a i'urkish trench only ine yards in front oi tne position occupied by his men. Ho thoroiore asked tiie 'battery to cease tiring ul that particular trench. 'llho reply was that th'» was being done purposely, as the battery commander fully trusfed his nw i and his guns even with a -margin ol only five yards. One certainly could not wish for more accurate fire than that. It was done because the men in our forward trench had apparently run out of bombs and 'were oeing sover.dv dealt with by the enemy. t THE FIELD UUlSfcj. I '1 he hist luki uaLte.y oi j.a-pjun>.. .- lauded on \\ ounesuay, ibiu -*pi'ii, miu at once sent two guns to tne cure ;.e icit Hank, uu.hgto tiie ootinguiauon o; tne country tne neid oi action was, nowever, very circumscribed. in addition to this the proximity of '.tuikisu snipers made the position bO.newn.it unteuajie One man uas killed and seiviai wouaued, 60 eventually the section w..s withdrawn, and' the whole oattery placed in a more commanding position. This was a leat in which the engineers, tho infantry, and tho artillery participate!, and it "was accomplished with conspicuous succeos. A road was made ami the' whole battery shitted up m one night up a gully ana on to the top of ,a steep hill that was practically a cliff. Tnere were no horses available, and 100 men with ropes silently dragged each gun up, under cover ol the darkness, to its uigu emplacement, oou feet above the level oi tire sea. ihe ■weight of a gun is> over two tons. it was the .N. Z. mounted rilies, their own horses also iu Egypt, who helped' the gunners to manhandle their beloved guns up the Oft track tne engineers had made. The secondi battery oi iS-poundeis lauded on 2 l Jth. 1 have in a previous article written oi the wonderful worK clone by the battery on the night or I'Jth May, when the Turks host swept torwaru in a desperate counter-attack. On tiiiis' occasion, between midnight and uaylight, it fired Oil rounds oi shrapnel at enemy tieuchcg only zO yards d's taut from our own. The shell shrieked continuously over the heads of our men crouching in their trenches, auu throughout the nigut there was oniy one premature burst. as it was i dark night and the range only llHJOyds, giving necessarily a very hat trajectory, this, it will be seen, was at once a xevy diaring and a very brilliant accomplishment. The feat involved ueate and careful "laying' on the part oi the gunners. The slightest error, such as the short setting of a fuse, would have been serious under such ciroumstances. Infantry, who on occasions are Wont to complain that they do not get enough support lroni artiibry and at other times to growl because the guns are shooting too close, must lor ever leiiioinbo" lam hue perlormance to the credit oi tne iS.Zi.t'. a. This oattery continued doing very &ooa work in the same position uil aoout che iniddie oi August, wiien, owing tu tne extension oi our iines, it was sniitedi :■) a position that snail be nameless, and by "which time tne major had become a .colonel. ' Suffice it to say that in its Dew position it did excellent work n tho recent boiuoardinents ol Hill •oU and the Kabak iuiyu position. It also did good shooting when recently tne JN'.Z. artillery caino to the assistance oi the 9th Army Oorps in one oi i + s attacks. Having concluded its part in the preliminary bombardment on that-occasion, it switched on to Dili 60 and. the valley beyond preparaloiy to the atkujji. by, the Australians ami. New ZeaJaudors and a section of K.'s Army At was afterwards split .'mo ' settiona and helped in the second attack of Hill 00. Our third held gun battery landed at Holies in the beginning of May. Its woxk' may be judged from a letter .that reaohed Divisional Headquarte :s from the 0.0. infantry brigade, of the famous 29th Division. ''The officers in the firing line on sth July,'"' ho wrote, "when tho enemy made their last attack on the Royal Fusiliers' Bluff and trenches near it, all report the excellent shooting of the N.Z. field battery. They describe the shrapnel fire as most accurate from this battery, bursting just .beyond our trenches and sweeping ground and slopes over which the enemy "advanced." This battery returned/ to Anzae about 20th August, landed in the night] and hurried out into the field ot action. Notwithstanding the distance, the clifTiodtiei"6f transhipment, and the rough- ] ness of the country over which the guns had to bo taken, by daybreak +he TRY IT. An ordinary attack ot diarrhoea may ne relieved by a angle dose of Chamberlain's "Colic and Diarrhoea RemedyOnly in more severe cases is a eecoad or third dece required. Try it. ft has a reputation of 35 years behind ir, and is everywhere recognised as tho mart reliable v cmcdy in*use for <iiarr- -' hOM« -. Advt.

battery was entrenched in its now posit- | 1011 and registering 011 the Turkish ! trenches. UllO section firing at a I dOOyds range during tho attack 011 Hill | (30. this was a, tlaring and successlui bit ol work, though tire Turks, ol J couiso, ipiickly spotted a battery firing so close to their 'own lines. The fifth oattory recently arrived from Cairo, landed, entrenched, and came into action in a night. , Since its arrival id has been engaged in firing principally at enemy guns, ami has done usel.il work. Ui.li September. •Since tiie brilhuit capture of lvnoil til) the 1 c has been little lighting 011 tJ.'O grand scale in the Anzae zone. The contending forcees have been ongagadi mainly in a desultory siieiling of oa (, n •itirer s guns and positions, in bombing and sniping from the trenches, and in strengthening the positions taken on the one hand and still held on t h o other. On some days there is practically nothing doing, and the war seems to have taken on fjuile a gentlemanly aspect".' l liut all the lime wo luiow that the rival forces are carefully watching each oilier, and are making all possible preparations for eventualities. THti .SOUTHLAND INCIDENT. 1 lie only ulner Jiiciucin spccial 1 1*— LCieat to .Australia audi .\civ Zealanu LnaL i.as 1 efeiitlj uccaii'ch ieuues i.u llio Lui ol ine v;.outhiaxid, lot'lueiiy a .buicn steainer, uy an enemy s.ibiiianne, about twenty mik\s iron -Lehilios. it lU'eii two toipcuueS, tuo liisi, taking ciivct and tue second j:i.->i. missing the oteui oi tne vessel by a lew feet. Tne troopship nad 011 boa.'u a new Australian i)i\ isiou ami some 00 .sew Zealanueis, tiie latter being artillery 1 einiOiceiironis. .the troops we r e ijiiickly got into tue buaL, anil, thougii a number oi them were m the water Ui ar hour or inure, tiieoe was little lo'is 01 hie. \\'iivn.c» nit-ssages were sent out lor assistance and. se.erai vessels responded. 'Only three Is aw Zealaui-er.-j iost their lnva, one ueing- killeu i'.stantaiieously by tne bursting torpedo. \ and ilie other two drowned. iiio cre'v lat once toun 10 tue boats, but (some f 2') of the colonial troops galielitiy went below and stoked the snip into port, where she was beached in a sinking condition. The splendid, behaviour os the troop.> generaiij waa worthv oi the ucst traditions 01 the race, and, the circumstances becoming known • t Anzae, was made the (subject ol the following special order ironi Army Lorps Headquarters Army coips .iieadquai ieis, i tii oepieiiiuei, iL'io. "in welcoming mo -ua Aus wall.»u Uiiision 10 join tiie A.ustraiiaii and .\cw &euianu -irmy vorpa, tne uciierai Limc.r Louiiiiaiioing, on uehaii oi all liieir cumrai.i.es now seniiig oil tne i'euuibuhi, wishes to to tnein our general looting oi admiration 10r tne gallant benaviour oi ail ranks on boa'd ine transport aouailauu, wiieu 'thai. Vessel was torpedovu on uie -nd 111 st. "All troops of the Empire nuw serving with die Oorps nave noa'/.i wan pride ol the courage anu pjiliu iiiuuii at a iuoinelit viJiell Lae nerves 01 tue bi'a\eal w'eio iiaule to I e si 1 nighty tried. Aot omy waij there iio-t the slightest couiusion on tne pa it ol the troops, who quietly iell m prepared to meet wnaiwer i;i'e there nngnfc be in sLi-re tor theiii, 0-! 1 . later 011, wuen voiuiucer stokeis were called. 10r, men at once camo forward iOl Xiiis- duty, and successiully helped II getting the .Soiunlaiid into Al 1 1dros. " 1 lie 2nd Australian Division know:well the nigh reputation it has to live up to to carry on the eravo deeds done by thoco wiio have been earlier in the campaign, but with men like thooo on the Southland we are fuliv assured thaL our new coinrados are going to prove themselves equal in all ways to the oki hands who have 1 ought so well. '