IF THE GUNS SHOULD SPEAK

NZ Truth, Issue 1081, 19 August 1926, Page 6

IF THE GUNS SHOULD SPEAK

A BRIGADE of artillery moving into action presents a pituresque and imposing military spectacle. Apart, howevei*, from that fact, every , "digger"- in the front line knew the moral effect of good artillery Tjehind him, r'eady_at a signal to protect, him and back up his efforts. If the guns of New Zealand were at this moment again calied upon to speak m earnest, the cool, capable brain behind them would be that of Colonel Frank Symons, C.M.G., D.5.0., director of artillery for, .the Dominion. Colonel Symons is a born artilleryman, but. he perfected Vhis; v knowledge of gunnery m the real school of active service. He had not long returned from service m India when the big war hap^ pened. Nothing more natural, then, than that he should leave with the Main Body m charge of the. Ist Battery. "Batts" Symons — to use the friendly : nickname >• of his admiring gunners— -was never one of the swaggering type , of officer. He knows an 18-inch gun, inside and outside, from the trail to the nozzle, and — what is perhaps more important — he understands men and how to get the best from them. . Throughout the war he commanded the Ist Artillery Brigade. His sixth military; sense was that of -knowing where to place guns and save the lives ■ of his men. On one occasion on Gallipoli a tired gun crew had just com-, pleted sandbagging an emplacement when along strolled "Batts!" "You'd better shift that gun over there," he drawled, indicating a spot nearby. "Blankety-blankety-blank!" flung the furious "diggers" at his retreating back. The gun had hardly been moved when Johnnie Turk blew smithereens out of the old emplacement. "Batts" never called to receive' the gun crew's thanks. He had a blind eye for any pranks behind the lines, and he never became violently angry if a. "digger" forgot to salute him; but Woe to the slacker m the line ,or the man who let his fellows down m any way. Therein he earned the 'respect and confidence of his men. Nowadays itsis his real diversion to* attend a reunion of his old "diggers" and hear again the piquant ditties of damsels from Armentieres and other fronts. ■■" . ■