WITH THE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 19 February 1915, Page 8

WITH THE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY

- FIGHTING AT ARMENTTERES. "GERMAN DEVILS." AUCKLAND. February 15. The following extract is from a letter v-ritten bv Captain V 7. J. Heather, 53rd Battery, Royal Field Artillery, formerly of Auckland, from Armentieres_. on January Ist: "We are in action just outside a suburb of Armentieres. Everything at the moment is fairly quiet in our-front. Owing to the country being flat, it is impossible to observe "the fire of one's guns close to- the battery, so we have an observing station just behind our infantry trenches. It is a curious sight one sees from the tower. First there are our own trenches —huge earthworks—and further on' come the Germans'. The interval between the two is not more than 300 yards, and in some cases 50 yards and 60 yards. Between the trenches are wire entanglements; in some cases they look {ike wire fences, and are wonderfully made. Thev are, of course, to prevent attacks. We have them as well as the Germans. And 'midst all this not a sign of life to be seen, but incessant shooting —sniping we call it. Our work is to locate the enemy's guns. To-day, for instance, I saw a party of Germans working m, some trenches* 2800 yards behind their line, and no doubt they thought they weie safe. Fortunately, I had a gun laid on that place. I knew the range, and put a shell among them. This sort of thing goes on all day. Our battery was shelled by the Germans fourteen days ago. They got ten rounds absolutely in the battery, but not a soul was touched. They could not see us, but knew from aeroolane reports just about where we wi*-e, but it shows the give and take we have with the Germans. The town of Armentieres is verv much knocked about. They put over 1000 rounds in. They commenced one night at 9 o'clock, and kept it up till 7 a.m. A good many rounds went over -our heads. - AN INTERRUPTED MEAL.

"The 9th was very wet and gloomy. In the afternoon a fog came up. Jt was quite dark at 5 p.m., and at 5/50 you could see only about a yard m front. We started our dinner at 7 p.m. There seemed to be more sniping than usual, so much so that we spoke about it. Soup ovei, in came a joint. I had just finished carving when a terrific roar of infantry fire greeted our ears. We were all up in i moment, subaltern to the guns, all to our own stations. There was no doubt of it: the Germans were attacking, and the bullets falling round very thick. In "five minutes we opened fire. We were , thoroughly prepared. I made for the waggon line, about three-quarters of a mile away. The attack was severe, and right in front of us, and the bullets came over us-very thick. As-I ran up the town von could hear them whizzing past and hitting the buildings. The horses were all harnessed, so I got out three waggons with ammunition, and took them as near to the guns as I deemed safe. I then went to the guns to find what they » wanted. They had fired off quite a lot, so-I ran the three waggons right up i« the guns through mud up to the neck. The Germans were now firing their guns c-n our flashes, but their shells fell just «hort, say fifty yards away, very fortu nate for us. The attack lasted about three-quarters of an hour, and we got back to orff dinner at 9 p.m., but I had to fill up my waggons from the ammunition columns to be in jeadiness, so it was midnight before I finished. "VERY EFFECTIVE FIRE." ' "The rest of the night passed away peacefully. I hear to-day our casualties in the infantry were not heavy. We also heard our fire was very effective, our shells falling in the German trenches. They must have done a lot of damage. The gnns cleared the enemy away. We got praise from the General for the quickness with which we opened fire, and Ss effectiveness. The General sent an ADC over, ordering us to shoot, but we had been firing fully five minutes before he came up. There is a building about three miles away in Germans hands. We can see the Red Cross flag, so we have not shelled it. I have just heard thev have been sniping from it, killing three men, and wounding ten others this week. They are perfect deJanuary 12th.—We have had two quiet nights. The country is very flat and flooded, so it is the poor infantry that suffer! All leave has been stopped, so ' I think there is something on." "DESTRUCTIVE GERMANS." January 15th.—The weather is awfullv unpleasant, but we have had no morV night attacks. We shelled the German trenches yesterday afternoon, the whole division were, at it, and m the afternoon two or three German batteries opened on bur town again at 9 p.m. Una.mV then, recommenced at. 6 a.m. until 8 a.m- During that time they put 700 huge shells over our house,c,and one could hear the whizz of them, some very close, but others far over. One; iieyer knows the moment one might strike. ■Two deors below our waggon line, the Colonel lives. Four shells went into the small "garden attached to the. house, -in which he was. A bullet wentio the room where we had fifty men, and missed our driver by inches- He ingoing to wear it as a.souvenir. Colonel Broch left his observing station for ten minutes, and -whilst- he was away.-a shell came in the •back ; door and passed-through the house, fortunately doing no damage. The. Fet-hard-.(?i Batterv is about 400 yards on our-left,'"and twenty shells fell in between: us. As I passed down this morning '.their, battery was playing football almost over the holes made by the shells less-than six .hours previously. The British "Tommy is a curious fellow.; The damage done to the town is enormous, the Germans are simply devils; they do all the damage they can to property. Our.oattery was shelled again this morning,'but no damage was done."