NEW ZEALAND ARTILLERY.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 April 1917, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND ARTILLERY.

ON THE SOMME. ' STRENUOUS WORK !AM> GOO© SHOOTING. HALF A MILLION SHELLS. (From Capt. Malcolm Ross, War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces in the Field.) In battles such as the Somme, the first essential to successful attack is careful and elaborate artillery preparation, and the lire to be effective must be both accurate and intense. There must also be co-operation as nearly perfect as can be arranged with the infantry in the attack itself. In all these matters the British have made great strides since tho. beginning of the war. Our artillery is not perhaps so brilliant as that of tho French, but tho French liar* a 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 be reckoned as the greatest battle in history, they were aWe to obtain a mastery over the Germans. The great majority of our gunners and gunnery officers had to be trained since the beginning of 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 ejperts were imported to train our men and offiecrs, 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 now knows, the Expeditionary Force took its guns with it to Egypt and to Jallipoli, and in the latter campaign brilliant work was done under the most difficult circumstances. Just before we came to Franco the strength <of our artillery was materially augmented, and afterwards it was still further increased. It is inadvisable to give details about either the strength, the. disposition, or the work of the artillery in the. Somme battle, but some general particulars may prove interesting. The 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 Early in September the guns were got into position, and they were not withdrawn till towards the end of October. During nearly all of that period 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 the war. They had to suffer from enemy high-explosive, shrapnel, and gas and tear shells. They had guns and limbered wagons and officers and men knocked out, and they hadto advance to forward positions over soft, unroaded, shell-torn ground, yet they were always ready when and where they were wanted. In the big attack of September 15 I saw them shooting, at comparatively closp range, from the slopes of a valley that ran almost parallel with the lir.fl between Bernafay and Caterpillar Woods and as the waves of our infantry rolled on in the successful attack they got their teams up and rushed the guns to forward positions behind the crest of the ridge between the battered Delville Wood and the equally shattered High Wood, in which for so long the Germans had offered stubborn resistance. Stiil later, at the beginning of October, most of the guns were pushed forward to more exposed positions in the vicinity of the village of Flers, about which for days the New Zealand infantry fought heroically. The artillery was arranged in groups, so that not all our guns were 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 dsaling with the fighting described as far as permissible the nature of the barrages in connection with the infantry attack, and so there is no more to be said in the 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 at--1 testation of its efficiency is required. One interesting point that may be noted is that in the- initial attack for the first time in tho war gaps had to be left in the barrage to enable our new engines of warfare, the "tanks," to proceed. This fact alone will give some idea of the ar- ' rangements that bad to he made, and ' the accuracy of fire that had to be 1 maintained. __, ! THE D.A.C.

The Divisional Ammunition Column did magnificent work. Only one who saw the state of the roads in late September and the nature of the shelling could farm an idea of the difficulties that had to be overcome. But day and night our men toiled at their almost Buprehuman task, and they got through. So long as the guns remained south of Longueval the limbered wagons did their vork. One saw them occasiou.«lly, bogged and broken by the waysid;, but always others got through, and the greedy guns—as the Germans knew to their cost—never had to remain idle for lack of shells. The 18-pounders and the field howitzers rained blicllb in the Gorman terrain, the siege howitzers heaved , their biggor shells in advance of the barrage, while still other big guns were busy with their counter-battery work. When the gmis moved up to Flcrs it was impossible to geE the wheeled transport through the soft clay. Then the shells were scut forward on pack animals. Wo had already done this on fiallipoli. We had ever, man-handled thj shells to the guns along the main saps for the August offensive. 'Now the men took tho baskets from the limbered wagons, and in these, strapped to the packsaddles, the 188-pounder shells were sent forward. For the 4.5's the men made carriers of canvas, slung on each side of the transport animals. BRAVE DEEDS.

I Many ■pluekj'- deeds wore done by officers, non-commissioned officers, and men during the days and nights of the Soimr.u fighting. As 'soon as the Switch Trench was captured by the Second Brigade three artillery officers went forward with the signallers to obtnin observation from this trench. One of the lieutenants got separated from his party and was wounded early in the day. Hia sergeant spent five hours under heavy fire searching for him. Eventually he found him and went for stretcher-bearers. Carrying the wounded officers to the dressing station one of the bearers was killed. The sergeant, though himself slightly 1

wounded, took the place of the dead stretcher-bearer, and the wounded officer was got safely in to the dressing station; but lie subsequently died of Ms wounds, and the New Zealand Artillery lost one of its most promisingg .officers.

Our artillery generally inflicted tcrriblo punishment on the enemy, and for some time his artillery, was bo demoralised that ivvio came to the conclusion that ho was shifting Iback to a shorter line. He had, as a matter of fact, to take some of his guns farther back, but early in October his fire improved, and, natural)', we had some losses. A direct hit on one gun destroyed the gun and killed the whole detachment. On the same day an Sin. shell killed Lieutenant Watson and four men. Some ammunition exploded, blew in one of the gun-pits, and set fire to the charges stored alongside Hie gun. There were six men in the gun-pit at the time, and immediately they proceeded to get out as quickly as they could. When they were only a,"few yards away cries were heard coming from inßide tho pit. A sergeant and a bomferdier who had made good their escape at once returned and tried to enter the pit from the back through the blazing ammunition. Finding it hopeless to do so, they went to the front of the pit and gained an entrance. Inside they now found a gunner pinned down by fallen beams and debris. With the burning ammunition quite close to them, the sergeant and tho ■bombardier worked at the wreckage, and after a few minutes'? strenuous effort, succeeded in reaching the gunner and getting him out in safety. The name of tho bombardier is Syme, and lie! has since hreceived tho D.C.M. for his action. Sergeant Salmon, Who was the leader of this resoue„ was killed in action a day. or two later. ■:. -

THE FALLEN. < ■ - The New Zealand 'Artillery had the misfortune to lose some of their test officers in the Somme fighting. Among these, as will have been noted from tho casualty lists, was Captain Daniell, who left New Zealand with the Main Expeditionary' Force on October 10, 1914, as captain of tho 2nd Battery. In August, 1915, I well remember him in command of a battery of 18-poundcrs that was specially formed to support the attack on Oh-unuk Bair against the strong Turkish positions. For his work on that occasion he was awarded the Military Cross, and was mentioned in dispatches. He served throughout the whole of the Gallipoli campaign, going at one stage to Egypt to take over command of a fun. howitzer battery which he brought to the Gallipoli Peninsula, and commanded till the evacuation. He came with this battery to France, and was killed in action near High Wood on the night of October 3, by an explosion of ammunition in one of the gun-pits. At tho same time 2nd Lieutenant Brooks and four other ranks were killed. Tho gun was blown to liits.

Another battery commander whoso loss was greatly deplored by all who knew him was Captain H. A. Davies. At the beginning of the war he was in England undergoing training with the R.FM'. He served in France with an R.F.A. unit from September, 19U, to January, 1915. He 'then left to join the Now Zealand Expeditionary Forco in Egypt, where he was appointed to command a howitzer battery. He served throughout tho Gallipoli campaign, and camo on to France in command of a battery which took part in all operations with which the New Zealand Force was concerned, including the Somme. He was killed on the night of September 10. The records show that during the time the New Zealand guns were on tho Somme they fired close upon half a million shells.