NEW ZEALAND ARTILLERY ON THE SOMME.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 27 April 1917, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND ARTILLERY ON THE SOMME.

STRENUOUS WORK AND GOOD SHOOTING. H.-imF A MiiAMON SHELLS. (From Captain Malcolm Ross, War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces in the Feld.) In battles such as ihe Somme, the first essential to successful attatK is caieful and elaborate artillery prepaiation, and the fire to be effective must be both accurate and intense. Theie must also be co-operation as nearly peifect as can bo ananged with the infntry in the attack itself. In ail these matters the British have made great strides since the beginning of the war. Our artillery is not perhaps so brilliant as that s of the French, but the French have & genius for gunnery, and they have had a long start of us. The Germans have been classed as second only to the French. It says a great deal, therefore, for the British that on the Somme, which may b e reckoned as the greatest battle in history, they were able 10 obtain a mastery over the Germans. The great majority of our gunners and gunnery officers had to be trained since the beginning cf the war. The guns and the ammunition had to be made in a very limited time. New Zealand, in its own small way, has for some time now realised the importance of good guns and good gunnery. English experts were imported to train our men and officers, and at the start of the war our country was the only one of the overseas Dominions that was armed with the up-to-date modern howitzer. As everyone new knows, the Expeditionary Force took its guns with it to Egypt and to Gallipoli, and in the latter campaign brilliant work was done under the most difficult circumstances. Just before we came to Prance thg strength of our artillery was materially augmented, and afterwards it was still further increased. It is inadvisable to give details about either th e strength, the dispositions.

or the work of the artillery in the Somme "battle, but som e general particulars may prove interesting.

-NThe. New Zealand Artillery went by train,.to, the Somme, and it treked back. It got there before the infantry, and it left after them. Early in September the guns were got into position, and they were hot withdrawn until towards the end of October. During nearly all of that neriod the officers and gunners and the supply columns worked strenuously and heroically. It was the toughest job they had taken on since the beginning of th e war. They had to suffer from enemy high explosive shrapnel, and gas and tear shells. They had gnus and limbered wagon’s and officers and men knocked cut, and they had to advance to forward positions ovez’ soft, unroaded, shell-torn ground, yet they were always ready when, and wher e they were wanted.

In the big attack of 113 th! September I saw them shooting, at comparatively close range, from the slopes of a valley that ran almost.parallel with the line between Bernafay and Caterpillar Woods, and as the waves of our infantry rolled on in the successful attack they got their teams up and lushed the guns to forward positions behind the crest of the ridge between the shattered Delville Wood and the equally shattered High Wood in which for so long the Germans had offered stubborn resistance. tstill later, at tue beginning of October, most cf the guns wer e pushed forward to more exposed positions in the vicinity of the milage of Flers, about which for days the New Zealand infantry fought heroically. The artillery was arranged in groups, so that not all our guns ■ueio in support of our own line. We had the assistance of English guns, and an English division had the assistance of some of our guns. I have in former articles dealing with the fighting described as far as permissible the nature of the barrages m connection with the infantry "attack, and so there is no more to be said in tue meantime. Our men were loud in their praises of both the stationary and the creeping barrages, and when infantry praise their own artillery no further attestation of its efficiency is required. One interesting point that may be noted is that in the initial attack for the first time in the war gaps had to he left in the barrage to enable our new engines of warfare, the “tanks,” to proceed. This fact alone will gi ve some idea of the arrangements that Had to be made, and the accuracy 0 f fi re that had to be maintained.

the D.A.C. The Divisional Ammunition Column did magnificent work. Only one who Sent State ° f t,le r ° ?ds in late September and the nature of the shellmg could form an idea of the difficulties that had to be overcome. But day and night our men toiled at their almost superhuman task, and-thev (Continued on Page 6.) 7