HEROES OF THE GUNS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 107, 12 November 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

HEROES OF THE GUNS.

THE GLORIOUS DEEDS OF THE ARTILLERY.

No branch of the British Army has more gloriously upheld its splendid traditions in the present war than ou; " unconquerable artillery." Right at the begiumng of the campaign, at tho battle of Mous, the exploit of the famous L Battery against fearful oaas showed of what stulf our gunners are made, and in a war packed with heroic deeds it will undoubtedly stand out a< one of the most dauntless. No lees than three Y.C.'s were awarded or the thrilling feat, and, as if to further emphasize the gallantry of the gunners, it may be pointed out that in the first two V.C. lists ol the war the nanus o» seven artillerymen figured. Practically two hundred years ago the Royal Artillery came into existence as a regimental organisation, prior to which the artillery required for a campaign was improvised on the outbreak of war, and had no separate existence in peace. The actual introduction of artillery into Britain may be said to date from 1314, the year of Bannockburn, when a number of primitive cannon were imported from Ghent. "Mons Meg, ' av Edinburgh Castle, and "Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol," at Dover, are the best-known rjiics of the primitive weapons used by our forefathers. But to attempt a history of artillery progress involves a history of the Army, and amounts to a history of scientific progress. Curiously enough, the first record of tho Royal Horse Artillery (which was formed in 1793) being employed in action a pea re to be at Yaux, in Flanders, in 1794, when a horse battery, or "troop of galloper guns," as they were then called, behaved in so gallant c manner that it was ordered to march past the vhole of the Allied Armies, which were paraded in its honour.

A CHARACTERISTIC FEAT. Of the many famous batteries composing this section of the British Army, mention must be made of the celebrated "Chestnut Troop" - (now "A" Battery), who covered themselves witn glory in Holland in 1799; also of Norman Ramsay's troop of "Lightning Artillery" in the Peninsular War (now "I" Battery), who, at the Battle of Fluentcs Ouoro, when surrounded by the French cavalry, limbered up ana charged the'.r way out through the masses of their enemies.

Indeed, no feat of arms is more renowned or more characteristic of the dash and daring of the Royal Horse Artillery »than the one mentioned, when, to quote Napier s vivid words, " Suddenly the crowd became violently a git ii ted, an English 6hout pealed higii and clear, the mass was rent asunder, and Norman Ramsay, burst forth, sword in hand, at the head of his bat tery; his horses, breathing tire, stretched like greyhounds along the plain, the guns oounded behind tiiem like things of no weight, and the mounted gunners followed close, with heads bent low and pointed weapon* in desperate career." . At Waterloo the well-known catteries of Webber, Smith, Gardiner, Hva. Norman Ramsay, Mercer, and \Mnn yates, with Ross's and Beanes in leserve, wero attached to the ea.-ily, and lost over 170 of all ranks and .W horses killed and wounded.

THRILLING EPISODE OF WATERLOO. One of the most thrilling moment* during the great battle was when Captain Mercer and his battery of horse artillery turned cool, defiant faces to the onrushing sea of French horsemen, nouring into them round after round of case''shot until the mass broke and ebbed, a flood of shattered squadrons, down the slopes. "I actually *aw them," Mercer says, ' using the pommels of their swords to fight their way out of the melee." Meanwhile the French tirailleurs had crept up within forty yards of "hu battery and were busy shooting slowly to and fro in front of the muzzles of Ins guns, shaking his glove, in playful derision, at the men whose r'nes were levelled at "shattered and terribly shaken up, the cavalry, nevertheless, quickly reformed, and came again to the attack in solid, far-reaching squadrons, the very ground shaking under the multutudinous tramp of th»T horses- Mercer allowed the leading squadron to come within sixty yards; then, raising his glove as a signal, every gun crashed out, and the deluge of round shot ploughed wide furrows in the advancing mass of the enemy. Not once or twice, but again and again, the cannon thundered their volLvs of destruction, until the ground wi'\s a welter of fallen men and horses, and the Frenchmen, unable ato advance before such a blast of death, broke and fled. Again and again they canii? on-with the same result \So dreadful" .was the carnage, Mercer tells us that ovn the nest day , looking back from the riifce, he could identity the position held by battery by the Inure mound of slaughtered men and horses lying in f at of it. And the combat raged until, out of 200 -horses in Mercer's troop, 110 lay dead or J.ying, an dtwo men out of every three* v'ere disabled.

DESPERATE WORK AT INKERMAN. ? On the field ot Inkerman, then described as "the bloodiest struggle evx>r witnessed since war cursed the earthy tho British gunner played a part po l«*s noble and inspiring than that Oi the men with the bayonet. W hen the "mm ing acres of flat-capped Russians," 15,000 strong rolled in res**; t.-ss flood on a mere handful of ton-, naught Rangers with IWnsend s bat*, terv of six guns, the gunners had but time to deliver <ne hasty shot'before they were submergedround waa fired Lieuteuunt Miller, m ■ nwrnand of the battery, bade his men "Drav swords and charge! H,e rode wit nndsr the hail of bullets straight into the m'my's midst, the gunners foloweft t" b Oian; some armed with swords, other ramrods, and one ot. l.hom —a famous l«>W —relying only on i b fists, with which «♦" was seen to I'ay -WW a Russian low'. »Ja" greycoats possession of the guns, *at» •>U'H'cratelv the Hi't'llerynien iougflt, v I lev could not "'ay the enemy a *4'TunVc. luit it is sun itjai'tory to know tlli.it tin- batter v was not long ■lifter, and fought again uu'Kv" »il}?r his gallant men. "Jei .another hard li»lit at the gur:' look J>la<-e al a battery Where Seiuear' 5 Major Henry was in charge. Wlii'v? the Russians were upon them, lie nii> ,i private; named la\lor drew their swords, and made a desperate defence;, Taylor was soon flla'il, however, together with nearly all the other gij"tiers, and Henry badly wounded. bayonet pierced liitn Ins che.-l. another pinned hini in the bark .ind he sank to the ground. As not infrequent'", happened, the Russian-; continue' 1 to str'ke at the helpless man as b lay at their merry, the result being that when, some time j later. Henrv v. as reM Ueil and found 10 j alive It" 'u'ld 11" fewer than twefrj'i terrible wound.-! He lived, now ever. <

to wear his Cross for Valour with Ire tellow-artuleryuian, Miller, and to rise to the rank ot captain. During the operations before Sebastopol two other heroes of the guns worthily won the coveted Cross. Their deeds are written large in the annals of the Order.

BEFORE SEBASTOPOL. Gunner and Driver Arthur, of the Royal Artillery, was in an advanced battery at an engagement near the Quarries, when the 7tn Fusiliers, fighting near by him, ran out of ammunition. Arthur promptly volunteered to suply them, and although ho had to cross repeatedly an open space on which a hot fire was concentrated, he carried the ammunition stores to the waiting men. But for his plucky assistance the Fusiliers must have had to abandon tho position they had captured. Equ '.'y dashing was Captain Dixon* defence of his battery. The latter was wrecked by a shell, which, bursting in the magazine, blew it up and destroyed live guns, besides killing nearly all tne gunners. It was a great event for the Russians, who cheered and danced with joy at the result of the shot. But they counted without Dixon. The sixth gun of the battery, although half buried in i rth, was still workable. With some help he got the gun into position again, loaded and sent an answering shot hurtlh.g into the enemy's battery, much to their surprise and iscomfort—to put it mildly. And it is to Dixon's lasting glory that he worked that single piece until darkness ended the duel. The chagrined enemy peppered him without cessation throughout the rest of that day, but he bore a charmed life. The artillery captain rose to be a Major-General in after years, with C.B. after Rip name, besides the leters V.C., while i ranee honoured him by creating him a Knight of the Legion of Honour.

MEMORIES OF THE MUTINY. The memorable part which the guns played in the Relief of Lucknow once again revealed all the famous fighting qualities which have made British gunners a force to l>e reckoned with in action. When Havelock'e weary warworn army set out from Alumbagh ou the final "march which was to relieve "Lucknow, it was to encounter some of the fiercest fighting of the Mutiny. They had to run the gauntlet of a terrific fire of musketry and cannon-shot from the enemy's batteries on either flank, from tfie cornfields, the garden wal-s, and every house-roof. The Britr ;sh guns courageously and skillfully directed by Colonel Maude—the V.C. hero of Futtehpore —opened fiercely in answer to this lire; but it was impossible to live in such a scourge of flame and destruction. Outrarn himself was one of the first to be struck by a muswhich pierced his arm; whtw many of the very best artillerymen wero laid low. "Sergeant Major Lamont, the best artilleryman 1 have ever known,' says Maude, " had the whole of his stomach carried away by a round shot. _ He looked up at me for a moment with a piteous expression, l>ut had only strength to utter two words, 'Oh, Godl' when he sank dead on the road. Just then another round shot took off the leg of the next senior sergeant, John Kiorman. A few momenta later a round shot took ofi the head of a young gunner; for a second the body stood straight up, and then fell flat on the road. But fast as the men of the leading gun detachments were swept away !>y the enemy's fire I replaced Uiem by volunteore from other guns." It was desperate and costly work, but Maudo's brave lads stuck unflinchingly to it. Again and again Maude had to call for volunteers from the Madras Fusijiere, lying down under cover near him. The last gunner had almost been shot down be!ore the men got the order to charge, when the Madras Fusiliers drove the enemy :n panic fight before them. HEROES OF COLENSO.

In the South African War the artillery won laurels that can never fade. At Colenso especially the magnificent heroism of the gunners simply oeggared description. The thrilling story tan only be briefly outlined here. When two field batteries, under Colonel Long, dashed far ahead of the infantry and unlimbered a thousand yards from the Boer trenches, they were assailed by such a deluge of leuu aa has seldom been known on the battlefield. Subjected to a ueadly tiro from the trenchee in iront, and from the village of Colensd on the left, and also by the automat e quick-firere on their right, guns and gunners, officers and men, were very quickly rendered 'hore do combat. Soon every gun was out of action except one. This was still 6erved by four perspiring, desperate gunners. For a time this quartette ot heroes seemed to bear a charmed life. Ono after the ot..er, however, eventually bit the dust, clinging to their beloved 15-pounder to the bitter end. For two hours the guns, each surrounded by its fallen heroes, remained on the bullet-swept plain, until at last a desperato attempt was made to save them. How Lieutenant Roberts (Lord Roberts's only son) perished in the gaL hint effort is known to all. It was an heroic and pathetic ending to a career full of promise, and fittingly crowned an episode which will live n the h'fltorv of the artillery as long aa the language itself.

AND NOW. Their deeds in the present conflict have repeatedly elicited the highest praise from Sir John French, and glowing tributes to the courage and resourcefulness of British gunners have been paid by other branches of the Army. Many a critical battle ha 6 been turned into a success by the artillery, and we may safely predict tljat in the ultimate subjection of the enemy tho heroes of the guns will have a tremendously big say, for wherever glory and hononr are to bo found there you will assuredly find Britaij)'? "incomparable artiljery."—.fames A- i'oung, in the " Scotsman."