THE ALLIES' GUNNERY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15340, 1 October 1917, Page 5

THE ALLIES' GUNNERY.

TOO GOOD FOR THE ENEMY. (From Malcolm Ross, correspondent with the N-Z. Forces in the Fetid.) July, 1917. The shooting of our artillery, both in regard to volume and accuracy, continues to excite the admiration of our infantry, while fox; many a long day now it has been the envy of the German armies in the field. In the titanic contest up here in the north the enemy has improved upon what lie did on the Somme and at Arras and Messinee, but the weight of metal and the palm in shooting still rest with the British and the French. On the particular sector of the battlefield ir. which the New Zealand Force is operating, however, the German gunners have not been idle. Throughout July he has continuously shelled our front line and supports, while at the same time he has devoted more than, usual attention to our back area, attempting to stop the traffic on our reads and to knock out our guns. Mixed with his ordinary high explosives and shrapnel, he has used thousands of gas shells, but we know now pretty well now to deal with these.' In the shelling of towns, both near the lines and far behind, he occasionally claims a> considerable number of civilian victims. At Poperinghe, a nun in the hospital there had both legs blown off and died. In a little village near where I now am the priest and several of his congregation were killed. But the most pitiable exploit was the gas-shelling of Amentiere, during which cuilians—omen, women, and little children —were killed. Many of them died in our military hospitals, to which they had to be taken for treatment. From a military point of view the enemy may be justified in such ghelling. He has taken the war into other countries, where the innocent must suffer. His own villages are free from such diabolical experiences. The sight of women and little boys and girls, some of them almost babies, suffering from shell wounds, is pitiable in the extreme. Of the results of our own shelling we hear a good deal from German prisoners, and we ourselves see a great deal of its effect. On the 26th. July, in the course"of one afternoon's shelling three of the enemy's ammunition dumps behind the Warneton line were blown up. From day to day others went up in the same manner. On that line our shelling drove him out of his comfortable billets in the Belgian farmhouses, and he has since tlien had to live unemfortably in shell-holes. Over these holes he- has made rough shelter with corrugated iron from the roofs of some of ' his own hutments destroyed by our shelling. On top of the iron he has put earth and grass and thistles, and green boughs, so that the eyes of our army might not note his habitation. The only entrance i 6 an aperture at the back just "tig enough for a man to crawl through. Existence in these shell-holes day and night is said to be very trying, and the inhabitants always run the risk of being buriod in their own homes. In his hack areas the enemy has to endura a much more galling fire than he treats us to. In one Tillage in three days a single German company had eight men killed and 16 wounded. Prisoners still «peak of the terrific effect of our shelling in the Battle of Messines. So many oi' v their batteries were knocked out that the Bavarians blamed the Saxons for betraying their positions. At the same lime the German infantry complain bitterly of their own artillery shooting short. Tyhis has caused many casualties in* their ranks. We canndt claim entire immunity from this feature of modern warfare, but generally one hears from our own men only unbounded praise of our pwn artillery, however much' they may curse that of the enemy In the Battle of Messinee the German infantry declared that their own artillery was inadequate, owing to the destructive nature of our counter-battery work, and certainly the enemy's reply on the morn, ing of, the battle, and for a day or two' afterwards, left much to be desired. Either he was somewhat short of gtm\ or of ammunition. In the present battle he has made a much better showing with his artillery, though it is still not nearly the equal of that of the Allies. Finally, a word must be said in praise of our trench-mortar batteries. The personnel and the morale of the New Zealand trenoh-mortar batteries'from their inception has been splendid, and. officers and men have done magnificent work.