With the Big Guns.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 6389, 30 August 1916, Page 3

With the Big Guns.

A Breezy, Cheerful Letter.

Private E. Winmill, who is with the Oth Howitzer Battery, writing to Mr H. Darton from " Somewhere in France," on 12/7/10, says : "All still goeifwell. Am now in the Field Artillery and for some time now havo been in the firing line. Night and day the big guns, land mines, and French mortars vomit forth hell. Shells screech overhead, ours and the onemica' passing each other on their mission of hate. Shrapnel bursts round us, while high explosives break down parapots, and gun pits, and crumble buildings to I dust—nothing scorns to withstand a high explosive. Machine guns arc zip-zipping through it all, deadly seek-1 ing and clearing cvory shelter and corner, sowing death everywhere. A machine gun's motto may well be stated thus : " Vengeance is mine; I'll get viiu." Every morning and evening we give tliem England's hate while they reply with German straife and gas. Tlien it's a case of don your helmet and stand to your guns and lire high explosives to disperse the deadly cloud. To art outsider looking on it would appear as though hell and all its furies were let loose,..but to lis at the guns it is grand; the excitement carries us through. The Germans are foeman worthy of our steel. They keep us constantly on the alert, and we keep them equally busy—giving them no chances. But we are winning. Well overhead aeroplanes scout and light day by. day, and it is truly a great and magnilicent war even though a deadly one, as our little New Zealand cemetery, which is growing in extent -day by day and hour by hour, testifies. Those who fall arc buried in their blanket, each in a grave by himself, officers and men side by side, and whatever their faults the hell of war has purified them. Apart from war all goes well. Saw Guy Sinclair yesterday. He is looking well and fit and, like the rest of us, is looking forward to the chance of securing a few days' to visit England, but 1 am afraid that now tho offensive has started we will have little chance of getting there as leave is stopped. Those who have had leave seem glad enough to get back to the firing line again with their mates. We all enjoy this life though 1 must confess we get fairly home-sick sometimes. '' In the midst of life we are in death " is forcibly impressed on us here but we are getting used to it, and get a lot of fun and enjoyment despite the hardships, chief of which is want of sleep and too much bully beef and biscuits (dog ones). Sammy Miller, i hear, is a sniper. Good for him ; he is a game kid. Met Tom Webb, from Waipori, who was in the oth standard with me, and Vin Byrne who wished to be remembered to you. He is in the -ith Battery. 1 also met Dave Christie, " Snowy " Bryant, Frank Gibson, James Hay, and Bertie Moylo, who are all well. Am writing this in my dugout so you will seo there is some excuse for my writing being bad, and as for my spelling, well, a chap forgets a deuce of a lot here. Old Frilz (the Hun) is sendiug over 5.9 shells at present. The view from our "dug-out " is none too cheery as the window looks on to a " Tommy " graveyard. Had the top of our gun-pit blown off this week but luckily no damage was done. Kind regard to you and yours.

Another Description. in a letter received on Monday, one of our Lawrenco boys at the front, writing to his parents, says : " We have been having an awful time, since X last ...wrote, with bombardments. Kvery night wo ' strafe ' the wily Hun, and pandemonium doesn't describe the rasket. Wo have been complimented on our gunnery, '' veryaccurate,' so all our labour is not in vain. Wo have learned from notices put up in the German trenches that wo aro ' too hot,' meaning, we aro not afraid to let fly. When the ' Tommy ' batteries used to iire, the Germans retaliated, and the ' Tommies ' stopped. Now, we make a duel of it, and so far have had all the wins. That is not so bad when you consider the field guns we aro using. Ammunition is a mere nothing ; we are allowed (500 shells per gun per day for independent work and more for special ' shoots.' The skipper, Captain Tommy Farr, has been promoted to Major; he is reckoned a smert artillery officer. We are over live weeks in the thick of it now, and not a single casualty yet- in our Battery ; it is marvellous. The weather is not summer-like at all, fairly wet and often cold, and we are past the longest day. I suppose you will have read about the new aerial bomb the British have invented ; it is great. The Germans have a nasty habit of sending up observation balloons every evening to watch our activities. They arc well out of range of our anti-aircraft guns and are a source of annoyance. The way they are shifted now is for an aeroplane to sail over them and drop one of those bombs. As soon as the bomb starts to fall it bursts into flame and the balloon is a cinder in a few minutes. It is surprising how quickly they burn ; they are often completely burnt out before they come down. Last night we saw three balloons wrecked and you should have heard the boys eheor. Fritz is getting a lively time on the front. Every day somo new dovico is tried on him to harrass his soul and make life a bad dream for him. Wc'have had to-day what we have boon expecting for some time —a ' sholling out.' At noon the Germans got to it and gave us a dose of 'hate.' Our orders arc, in tho event of a bombardment, stand to and turn out. Within Ave minutes of tho alarm being given we were out on tho road—that is good. iWc used to wonder and grnmblo at the turn out drill but we knew its valuo today. No bustle, only "a few orders, then tho Sergt.-Major went through tho formal." Gun team, all correct," and the N.C.O. answers ' All correct, Sir,' then '' First line team all corroct,'' then the answer '.Firing Battery team, etc,' then what-ho for a good old artillery gallop and, mind you, all in five minutes. The horses were standing naked In the stable and had to be harnessed, teamod, yoked and mounted. Our neighbors, the llths, had two men slightly wounded and one horse wounded. Wo hadn't a scratch in tho whole lot. The Germans were shooting wild and did very little damage. ' '