THE INFANTILLERY

War Wit, Volume 1, Issue 9, 1 October 1941, Page 3

THE INFANTILLERY

A Libyan Idyll Can you beat ’em? An Australian Sanitary Corporal becomes, pro tern, an artillery commander, his crew Composed of two cooks, a batman, and a transport sergeant. With a captured “Itie” heavy gun they belt Hell out of’ an “Itie” to . the - complete discomforture of transport column at long range, the trained artillerists. Story is told by Sergeant “Pat” Crisp in a letter from Libya to his parents at Burnie, Tas. “When we first arrived here,” he wrote, “there were- many old field guns lying about the place left by . the ‘lties’ when they hurriedly vacated. These guns have found homes among the ‘lnfanteers,’ who have formed ‘scratch’ crews which are having the time of their lives. K '

“They have established their O.P.’s in . the Infantry lines, and conduct some good shoots, and the real gunners, technical ' as their science may be, had to bow down to the superior shooting of one of our ‘bush’ artillery crews one day last week. •

“Crew consisted of the Commander (a Sanitary Corporal), No. 2 is a Cook, and the remainder comprise a Transport Sergeant, a Batman, and a second Cook.

“When the'meal for the day is cold bully beef the cooks often gather the gallant crew and move to their favourite weapon for an afternoon shoot. One recent afternoon they found their pitch already occupied x by real gunners en-

deavouring to engage an enemy target of several vehicles and troops way out on the skyline. The crew with resignation walked across to the , O.P.* to watch the methods of the F.0.0.f “This gentleman was directing the fire of his guns and finding it very difficult to reach the target. Ultimately he - was heard to say, ‘Oh! Let ’em go, we can’t reach it.’ ,

“Then up spake the Sanitary Corporal. ‘Mind if we have a go, Mate?’ The F. 0.0. looked down from his O.P. and from his nose and said ‘Delighted, old boy,. Go ahead!’ ” “The gunlayer (Cook No. 1) got down on his knees behind their old gun and squinted through the barrel. ‘Give ’er a couple of turns, Joe,’.he said to the Batman. Batman gave the required elevation by laboriously rotating the rusty elevation wheel. “ ‘O.K., that ought to do her. “Plonk” one in!’

“A 961 b. shell was ‘plonked’ in by the Transport Sergeant, and second < Cook, the breach-block closed. ■ ■ - / <. • \ “Sanitary Corporal called ‘Look Out!’ and all stood well aside. _* ■ “He than jerked the cord of the firing pin. . A tremendous explosion, a cloud of dust, and the gun - jumped one foot upwards anc/six backwards, proving the wisdom ; of the warning issued by the ‘Commander.’

“All eyes peered towards . the horizon, watching for the burst. Then the F.0.0/called out, ‘lncrease range 500 yards, less fourone degrees? This, when translated into bush artillery language, became: ‘Cock her up a bit and two telephone poles to the left.’ “It was easy enough to swing it to the left, but there was some difficulty in ‘cocking her up a bit.’ This, however, was achieved by the Batman, who levered up the front wheels and packed, them with stones. “All —and a second shot was fired. - You may be thinking I am pulling your leg. Not so. It is absolute truth. The F. 0.0. called out: ‘Bai Jove! Marvellous shooting! You’ve hit a vehicle’; and they certainly had. for the shellred flash- and a dense column of burst was accompanied by a huge black smoke. “Encouraged by this early success‘the. crew gave an exhibition of rapid gunfire and pumped the 96-pounders into the target until soon the F.O.O.,announced that the target had dispersed and were ‘going like Hell’ behind the ridge. “Crew then reluctantly packed up and returned — the Cooks to their stew, the Transport Sgt. to his vehicles, the Batman to his sleep and the Sanitary Corporal to his—er—tent. . ‘ . z “Actually, to me there is no- • thing unusual about this story, I have seen various odds and ends doing wonders with improvised and derelict stuff, ‘just to fill in time,’ and I have been meaning to describe some of them for some time.” *O.P.—Observation Post. f F. 0.0. — Forward Observation Officer.