GUN FIGHTING GUN.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 October 1917, Page 4

GUN FIGHTING GUN.

HARD WORK FOR OUR AIRMEN.

War Correspondents’ Head

QUARTERS, July 19

Slowly, but very certainly, our troops tighten their grip on the town of Lens. To-day our infantry captured a small post beyond Avion and yesterday a captive, or two were taken as the result of a gas bombardment. The men did not dare to retreat into.the poisoned area behind them. 1

But if you go to see the fighting you might think that infantry bad little to do with war, for the batteries on both sides were almost wholly engaged in fighting one another. More and nioreAveek byweek we see these counter-battery duels waged to the death; and if anyone lias any- doubts about our air service in France he should see the (laily list of batteries marked down and ranged upon by our observers. The war is becoming more and more a counter-battery war, and this means that the air service takes a bigger and bigger part.

The enemy is hiding bis guns more and building heavier defences for them ; lie surrounds them with smoke screens and roofs them with concrete and walls them with seenepainting and divides them with sham batteries ; but he has not yet dodged the eyes of our airmen with any general success. We have knocked out many guns,, if not whole batteries, in the recent and still continuing duels, especially round Lens, a town important in itself and a .valuable fortress on the road to Lille.

FINDING THE HUN GUNS

The enemy, has been forcibly j driven by the development of the J war to drive his airmen over our j lines airl multiply his balloons. | Ten of liis observing balloons were up at one time in the Lens area alone. Oh occasion the enemy floods what lie suspects to be an j artillery position with gas shells, | but more often with high explosives. The gunners, both ours and the' enemy’s, have never fought harder, for they are largely fighting one another, not against a third party represented by the infantry, on whom during previous attacks the Germans have always concen • trated all their fire, regardless ol the guns. Such counter-battery fighting permits of no 'description and produces in itself no victory or conquest of ground, but it was never so true as* to-day that the seed of subsequent victory 7 lies with the heavy 7 guns. The picture of this lighting, as busy in the north as in the south, is pencilled out with astonishing distinctness irom many points of observation, and from these 011 any 7 fine day—for the finer the day the more the firing —y 7 ou can have satisfactory proof from the evidence ol your eyes that we are firing ten shots to' one, and excellent though the enemy’s artillery and ammunition are, we get better results ; we find his batteries more often than he finds ours. But he too has keen eyes and ears.