WITH THE GUNS.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15502, 1 February 1916, Page 10

WITH THE GUNS.

THE N.Z: FIELD ARTTLLERY. TRAINING AT TRENTHAM. The work that was done at G-alli-pnli by the New Zealand Field Artillery has not been ' told of at groat length, hut the artillery has done good work. A member of the N.Z.F.A., writing to a friend in Wellington, recently said: — "From Imbros, we made a dash for Anzac one night. The trooper steamed into the bay while an attack was on, and a destroyer on our starboard side kept on continuously shelling the hills. That night two guns and teams were landed, and got into action, at No. 2 outpost next day. Soon after we opened fire, a six-inch shell from the forte on the Asiatic 6ido skimmed over No. 1 gun and burst a few feet away. Next day three of these handy bite of bard-, ware camp along. Two did not burst, but one hit a tiro of a waggon, under which, two Australians were sleeping, and killed one and badly wounded the other. On this day wo got a real good shelling from the Turkish 75 centimetre guns. For three weeks I formed, part of the crew of N0..2 gun. Then I was ordered to return to Mall Gully, where our horses were, and take over horses belonging to drivers who had gone away sick. One afternoon I was in my quarters when a shell from a gun, nicknamed Beachy Bill, pitched into the lines and killed three horses." Briefly the writer' puts it, yet the pen picture is clear and gives a good Jdca of the work for-which the artillerymen, now in. camp, are training (says the "Dominion."). ARTILLERY IN TRAINING. Since the artillery of all reinforcements in training has been concentrate ed at Trent-ham Camp, every day is a busy one in the artillery park, where men and horses arc learning their several parts. In one corner of the' grounds, men arc marching around under the eyes of a N.C.O. in a wide circle. These are the latest recruits. Further on, single gun horses are being ridden in a wider circle, while yet another lot of men are learning to handle the horses in pairs as they must do when they are attached to the guns. The voice of an instructor rings out from where a battery of guns are being worked, their trails resting some yards to the rear, while the black muzzles of the guns seek their mark on the hills on the western side of the valley. "Now, then, Number One, put some beef into it," the instructor is saying, "Same target a s before." There is a movement of mechanism. ''Number.Three! I never gave you anv action. Prepare to fire." Number One gun was very quiet, with her crew crouching behind her. "Fire!" j The clank rattle of metal and the quick handling oi dummy shells and cases to and from the breech were symbols of swift work. "Number One gun, cease fire." The instructor passed caustic com- • ment, personal and general, on the ■ crew's work, and another crew came up to have their spell at the work, and shew their smartness. ON THE MARCH. A sound, which had become louder during the past few minutes, made j one look towards the rifle ranges. It • was like the steady "clocking" roar j which comes from them on days when I the infantry are putting in tneir advanced musketry course. But there was a rumble mingled with it that was not of the rifle butts. Then a cloud of dust along the main camp road told of horses and wheels. There were four guns coming in from a morning march and manoeuvres-on the roads and pad- | docks of Upper Hint. Six horses to j each gun, with a driver on each neari side horse, and a sergeant-major riding on the right of each team, they I clattered and crashed along. The : gunners on the limber and trails seemed to shake and quiver as the springes axles bumped along. The black barrels of the guns lay level on their carriages. So the battery swung with prancing horses through the wide gateway, into the training grounds, and past the men who were, figuratively speaking, blowing the Belmoi.t hills to pieces. At the far side of the grounds they were halted. Every man sprang to earth at the order, "'Dismount!" Then the order was "Unhook!"' and men ran nimbly to the teams and unhooked the horses from the chains — each horse can be separately unhooked, so that if one is shot or wounded in action its cutting-out is only a matter of moments,'the long trace-chains running from the leader to the limbers, and each horse having short chains from its collar to the trace-chains. The teams wore trotted off to water, and then away to their stables for their midday feed, while the men were paraded and dismissed. THE RIDING LESSON. It is a remarkable fact that many

expert civilian riders fail to rise to the demands made by the military in the matter of riding. A s the ceaseless circle of men and horses goes on, eir-cus-fa&hion, under the eye of the instructor, some of the recruits feel a rising rage simmering in their hearts at the cutting criticisms of their horsemanship which he makes. Men who have ridden over fences, an<l spent ther lives among horses suddenly feel absolute fools, and that feeling is followed, by anger. In a way, that ' s what the instructor wants them to feel, for it puts them on their mettle, and fills them with a glowing determination to show that they can accomplish the things the hard-hearted instructor demands of them. "That man there. Sit up! You're not a butcher-boy now. You're in tho Artillery; and don't stick your toes out like shafts. You'll get 'cm blown off in action. Keep your hands down, and don't flop your elbows. Same to you, next man. This ain't tho Flying Corps." •J'g-jog! Jig-jog! Round and round tbev go. Sundenly the order comes, "Halt!" Tho.horses know it better than their new riders. They've been jig-jogging round for months. Instantaneous is the word which describes their stopping, and instantaneous stops aro disconcerting to recruits. One man comes gracefully down, slowly, as though he might have stayed in his saddle, but he couldn't bo bothered. It seems to the others that tho instructor's vials of satire will be emptied upon the fallen man's head. But all the tyrant says is: "[ knew you would do that." Tho suggestion is. of cpurse, that all through tbe morning's work the instructor had been observing the rider's loose and careless seat, and had called a halt on purpose to see the man fall. The recruit remounts quickly, and m his heart is a fierce resolve to* so acquit himself that no withering blasts of scorn will come his way. That is the spirit that is wanted in the Artillery, in handling the guns and working them in action.