HEW ZEALAND ARTILLERY ON THE SOMME

Evening Star, Issue 16409, 27 April 1917, Page 2

HEW ZEALAND ARTILLERY ON THE SOMME

STRENUOUS WORK AND GOOD SHOOTING, HALE A MILLION SHELLS. [From Captain 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 slaborale artillery’ preparation, and the fire, to be effective, must be both accurate and intense. There must also be co-operation as nearly perfect as can bo arranged with the infantry in the attack itself. In all these matters tho British have made great strides since the beginning of the wav. Our artillery is not, perhaps, so brilliant as that of the French; but the French have a genius tor gunnery, and they have had a long start of us. The Germans have been clas-ed as second only to the French. It says a great deal, therefore, for the British that on the Somme, which may be reckoned the greatest battle in history, they were able 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 experts were imported to train our men and officers, and at the start of the war our country was tho ■ only one of the Overseas Dominions that was armed with the up-to-date modern howitzer. As everyone now knows, the Expeditionary Force took their guns with them 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 the strength of our artillery was materially augmented, and afterwards it was still further increased. It is inadvisable to zive details about either tho strength, the Repositions, or the work of the artillery in :he Somme battle; but some general particulars may prove interesting. The New Zealand Artillery went by train to the Somme, and it trekked back. It got there before the infantry, and it left after them. Early iu September the guns were got into position, and they were not wi;htlrawn till towards the end of October. During nearly all of that period the officers and gunners and tho 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 i? 33 and tear shells. They had guns and limbered waggons and officers and men knocked out, and they had to advance to forward positions' over soft, unroaded, shclllom ground; yet they were always ready when and where they were wanted. In the big attack of 15th 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 uaterpillar Woods, and as tho 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 th» ridge between the battered Delville Wood a! ? ■ J ih , e ec l ua,] y shattered High Wood, in which for so long tho Germans had offered stubborn resistance. Still later, at the bertun’nv 5* 1 October, most of the anus were pushed forward to more exposed positions in the vicinity of the village of Tiers, about nlnch for days tho New Zealand infantry fought heroically. The artillery was arranged m groups, so that not all our guns were in of our own line. We had the assistance of English guns, and an Eno--Lish division had the assistance of some of our grins.

fi ln fo ™ er ar !i lcles dealing with the n n hting, described as far as permissible the of tbe borages in connection with the at -“ c , k - a,ld so there is no more to be sa.id m the meantime. Onr men were nml ihl Glr P ! ' a 'l CS of both thc stationary ?“ d l fie - C ««P}»S barrages, and when infan"tosH P Hni Se J h u 11 ' °£ n . artill . er y no further attestation of its efficiency ls required. One ntererting pomt that may bo noted is that in the initial attack, for tho first time in the war gaps had to be left in tho barrage «tank?® +° Ur new , en = ines of warfare, the' tanks, to proceed. This fact alone will give some idea, of the arrangements that had b® made, and the accuracy of lire that had to be maintained. —Tho D.A.C.— Ammunition Column did magnificent work. Only one who saw state of the roads in late September and the D , at ,ure could form "" idea of the difficulties, fist had to be ?i™ J n, Sut our men toiled at their uSr'hf'T" “■ the “5 bop-o-ed and I , ni occasionally, «t>g o eti and broken by the wayshle W always others got tlwouah mrl iT ’ , Ipiwg fsrix tK 2if siege howitzers heaved their bkset “„ . When the guns moved up to Tiers it was E , forward on pack animals. \y 8 harl n.l ready done tins on Gallipoli. We had eve-man-handled the shells to the a "n« ho mam saps for the August offensive \ow tho men took the baskets from the limbered satlulea, the 18-pounder shells were sent for ward. For tho 4.5’s tho men made' carrier ?ort a anfmab S °“ sid ° of the —Brave Deeds Many plucky deeds were done by officers ihTZ- miß T led , officers ’ alld ffiirhm die daj 3 and mghta of tho Somme .VhtiuT bv tM" tbe Trench was captured by the Second Brigade three artillery officers went, forward with the signallers to obtain observation from this trench. One of the lieutenants got separated from his party and was wounded early in tho day. 1 His “cr i Ca , n l 9pe i l,i lloln ' s ui.de/heavy fire oea chmg for him. Eventually he found him and went for stretcher-bearers. Carryin/tha wounded officer to the dressing station one of klHe<l ' 1 T be scr o e ant, though himself slightly wounded, took the place of the dead stretcher-bearer, and the wounded officer was got safely in to the dressing station, but he subsequently died of his wounds and ohe hew Zealand Artillery lost one of its most promising officers. U Our artillery generally inflicted terrible 0n th ° T my ’ and for soma time I L f J - raii M 0 demoralised that we came to tho conclusion that they were shifting badto a shorter .me, They had, as a matter of fact, to take some of their guns farther back but ear y m October theirf.ro improved, and] naturally, we had some losses. A direct hit wholo e d S l m k deßtr ? yCt l tl * e gUn nnd killecl /n o i.-u et ?T > - me ? t ' 0n ' b,J sam clay an Biu shell killed Lieutenant Watson and four men Borne ammunition exploded, blew in one of the gunpits, and set fire to tho charges stored alongside tno gun. There were sx "IX thc S«npit at the time, and immediately they proceeded to get oat as ouicldv as they could. When they were oulyTfow yards away cries were heard coming from inside tho pit. A sergeant and a bombardier who had made good their escape at once returned, and tried to enter the pit from the back through the blazing ammunition. Fjuding it hopeless to do so, they went to the front of tho pit and gamed an entrance. Insido tney now found a gunner pinned down by fallen beams and debris. With the burning ammunition quite close to them, th» sergeant and the bombardier worked at the wreckage, and after a few minutes’ strenuous Biforfc succeeded in reaching the runner and retting him out in safety. Tho name of tho bombardier is Syme, and ho has since revived the D.C.M. for his action. Sergeant balmon, who was the leader of this rescue was killed m action a day or two later. —Tho Fallen.— The New Zealand Artillery had the misfortune to lose some of their best officers in tho Somme fighting. Among these, as will have been noted from the casualty lists, was Caul tain Daniell, who left New Zealand with the Mam Expeditionary Force cu 16th October 1914, as captain of tho 2nd Battery. In August, 1915, I well remember him in command of a battery of 18-pounde.rs that was specially formed to support the attack on Chunuk Bair against the strong Turkish positions. For his work on that occasion he was awarded the Military Cross, and was mentioned in despatches. He served throughout tho whole of tbe Gallipoli campaign, gointr at one stage to Egypt to take over command of a 6m howitzer battery, which he brought, to tho Gallipoli Peninsula and commanded till the evacuation. He came with this battK.Fra,nce. and was killed in action near High Wood on tho night of 3rd October by in explosion of ammunition in one of the jjunpits. At the same time Second Lieutenant Brooks and four in the ranks wera killed. The gun wa? blown to bits. Another battery commander whose loss was greatly deplored by all who knew him was Captain,H. A. Davies. At the beginniii" of the war he was in England underSoiim training with tho B.F.A- He served"in "France with au R.F.A, unit from September, 1914,

to January, 1915. 'Ho then left to join the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt, whore he \vai appointed to command a howitzer battery.. Ho served throughout the Gallipoli campaign, and camo on to Franco in command of a battery which took part in all operations with which the New Zealand Force was concerned, including the Somniu. He was killed on the night of the 15th September. The records show that during tho time tho New Zealand guns ware on tho Somme they Creel close upon half a million shells.