BRITISH GUNNERS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 February 1902, Page 1

BRITISH GUNNERS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

i Go with the gunners if you want stirring jscenes of modern* war (writes George Lynch, author of "The War of the Civilisations.") ■ You will not, as so often happens when one goes with an infantry regiment; spend a day lying on your belly in the scorching sun .while the air is vocal above you with the "singing of bullets from an invisible foe, whose position is vaguely located1 on some' quiet and deserted-look-ing kopje in front. Go with the gunners; fend every time you- go you will cbme.back with an increasing admiration for them. tt is impossible to tell the result of rifle or even Maxim fire unless, as at Omdiirman, ihe enemy-stand up to be massacred; but With the guns you can at least see where the shells fall or the shrapnel burst.: For |his reason the Vickers-Maxim automatic— or pom pom, as it was christened at Ladysmith—must be a, most delightfully interesting weapon to the gunner who operates

it. r"' '' ' ' V." ' : I Let us take a typical day with the. gunners. Photographs. or cinematographs are., entirely ■unsatisfactory' in giving an/, idea of the ""movement" of a battery going into action. There is the rattle of the gun-ca,r-! riages/ like the running accompaniment of Hfle fire; the jingle of harness; the splen : flid. willing pull, of . the, horses ; . straining against their collars. They know all,about it, these .bright-eyed beasts quivering with life "and work, and want no. whip or spur until the work of tugging over the broken tround under a: sweltering sun ■. .■ f STAGGERS THEM UNDER THE ! I STRAIN. '. There could-not have been, a more'beautiful 'dayI'than that of ■ Elandslaagte for watching ; the gunners in action. Before1 flic main part, of the action was entered on, two batteries'were' ordered to reply to some fire comnig'from the left of our line of advance." They went forward at the gallop, bounding,,jolting, swaying over the hneven veldt, and, on a slight rise of ground, showing out against the deep-blue background of some hills, unlimbered and opened fire. A few horsemen were seen galloping over the ridge of a hill 5n front, and that, was all. Then they limbered up, md were ordered across on our right; a jW but steep, little embankment of the nar-row-gauge railway was in front of them. it was a pretty sight to see them negotiating this obstacle—the jolting- of the springless wheels up and ..down the stony slides and cross the rails on top ought to Save been enough to shake the teeth out ■df the men sitting on the limbers and gripping, hard to keep their .seats, s■. : ] No sooner' had they got clear of this I jump than the Boer guns opened and be- ! Lan to make excellent practice. How every gunner felb longing to reply and silence ffiiem ! Bang, burst or spinning with whiz2ine hops, the shells came dropping in ijapid succession! The Boers had been carelul to get the exact range t^e previous day, 4nd were not now wasting time or ammuniffion.' Our gunshad to go up a sloping degression at right angles to< the Brier fire iiefore getting into position' for opening. livery instant was of value,' as the Boer shells were jiow dropping among the Imterial Light Horse and. the Infantry, who were just beginning to' deploy. Under whip and spur'they galloped tip the slope, (jxad! it was a sight to see how those arlallerv horses pulled; there was no taxpayers' money wasted there. One drops down, and the sharpness with which he is replaced by one of the spare horses.would Have drawn ringing rounds of applause at an Islington Tournament; " ' | The 'gunners jump from their seats as sharp as i sailors, unhook: the limbers, leav-iW-the guns towards the enemy. Tpien the drivers trot off about fifteen yards, .wheel round, and sit motionless on their Horses, facing the fire. One CANNOT BUT ADMIRE THE COURAGE required to sit coolly iike that, with notihing to do but watch the enemy firing deliberately at thein-^-see the discharge, aknd then wait the arrival of the shell as they come whirring and., hurtling through the air. With what critical interest they must watch improvement in the enemy's sjiell-bowling!' One was forcibly reminded of cricket at Elandslaagte. Many of the sheila did not burst, and those that .were njot full-pitched came in the manner of swift bowling along the rounded, almost flat-topped surf ace of the rising ground; and these gunners gat as steady as if they •\v.ere tin: wickets jr.st stuck in the ground, •with'never a duck of the head or a blink o| the eye. The men working the guns are kept busy all the time, and have no time t? think of or watch the enemy's shelis; but the drivers have nothing to do but wpt, and watch. The horses, with still heaving, foam-streaked sides, stand panting ahd tossing their heads. The Boers had got the range of our m bo.tteries, accurately, af it must have, been ..pretty. obvious that i«was the onefwejwxiuld;ijaKfe?jipy;; Three of tip gunners *■'had already been badly hit; immediately after, with a terrific crash, a sl|ell hit an ammunition waggon fair'; those around held their breath for a still greater, explosion; but, wonderful to say.*'the ammunition was hot exploded. When the diist had cleared, however, the'wheel of the waggon was found smatched to matchwood, and the vehicle lay helpless and uselefes on its, side. But' still' steady as rocks' sip those drivers J '.:."■- I FACING THE MUSIC. (This is courage—-the real article—and the mhrket price of this kind of British pluck isjone and twopence a day! Three days la,p-er I was photographing those1 boys be-hipd-their guns on the.hill at Reitfontein, standing just as quietly under a hot fire at* twelve hundred yards' range, which the enemy kept up persistently, although we had silenced their guns • and actually set fire to a long line of grass on the hill from which they were firing. An innocent, harmless-looking hill it seemed, with not a Boer visible on it; yet the bright summer air simply rang with the notes of i Mauser bullets—clear and musical notes I when they pass high overhead, but with a sharp and bitter ping when they pass close. But the best sign of all is to see our gunners going out of action. They go in at-a gallop and retire at a walk. There is something so ■ delightfully contemptuous of ]the enemy's marksmanship in this. One day outside of Ladysmith was typical. A couple of batteries went out with some cavalry for a small reconnaissance in force, located a Boer gun, and quickly drove the gunners to cover. The vultures had gath- • ere'd as usual, at the sound of their dinntrgong, but there was no fight, and soon the guns limbered up and turned back across the plain. Immediately the Boer gunners were back at their guns and, SERVING IT. WITH WONDERFUL RAPIDITY, sent shell after shell at our retiring bat-i teries. The first was just short, then the next two went over; but on they went quietly, never breaking out of the walk. I The great vultures wheeled and circled1 lower, waving their shadows below them on the parched plain; but there was no dinner, for them that day—not even a horse . was hit. And so always, when these field- ■ guns stop barking and limber up, it re-

minds one of pulling a dog out of a fight by the toil, as they are dragged slowly, as if reluctantly, away; -while the drivers don't bother to look round, and don't look a bit like heroes, full of courage, at the inagnificant price of one shilling and twopence a day. • • ■ .■ Rattle of iron on stoness —.clear, sharp words of command—clink of breach action —coldness of..iron, will warming the steel throat that voices its.thoughts—hard, scientific, inhumanly mechanical; yet there is a subtle,, attractive feeling; that draws together- the living elements that serve the gun. I barelyiescaped being knocked down one day by an artillery horse galloping furiously over the .veldt. He had got badly torn by a shell; wild with .the pain, he raced around imtil exhausted, and then, managing to stagger up to a gun* fell dead, with his head against the trail.