Chapter 12: A REAL GUNNER AT LAST

From time to time I had been able to visit the Wagon lines of some of our batteries. The 25TH Divisional Artillery had a Headquarters, commanded by a Brigadier, with a Brigade Major, a Staff Captain and one or more Staff Lieutenants, all wearing impressive red bands around their caps. Then there were two Field Brigades, the 110TH and 112TH.

Each Brigade, commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel, with his Adjutant and Quarter Master, had four Batteries, known as "A", "B", "C" and "C" Batteries, the first three with 18 Pounder Guns and "D" Battery with 4.5" Howitzers.

When the supply of ammunition from British and overseas factories began to reach impressive quantities late in 1916, after a period of serious shortages, mobile Divisional Ammunition columns were formed, to ensure a steady flow of cartridges and shells to the rifles and guns.

The original wagons used, were the standard ammunition wagons used by the batteries in the field. Each wagon, consisting of a limber holding twenty-four rounds of fixed ammunition for the eighteen pounder guns, with another wagon box, with two wheels hitched on behind, which carried another fifty-eight rounds, would be drawn by four or six horses or miles. These animals would be harnessed in pairs, strung out ahead, with a driver riding on each near side (left) animal. Later a new type of wagon came into use, known as a Limber GS Wagon. This consisted of two large boxes, about five feet by four, two feet deep, the front one having a shaft or pole for the rear or wheel pair of horses and the second box hitched on behind. These wagons were much more versatile for carrying a variety of supplies. Each had a tarpaulin cover - One often managed to sleep on a load of ammunition, covered by the tarp. Our philosophy was that if we received a direct his we would be assured of an immediate and spectacular send-off to the next world!

Whenever I got an order for eighteen pounder ammunition for the batteries, I would try to make a point of delivering it myself. Through this form of personal service I met several Battery Captains. One Battery Captain, in particular, Captain A.E. Hansen, MC of "C" Battery, 112TH Brigade, was one to whom I could talk about modern trends in gunnery. Now that the supplies of artillery ammunition were really plentiful, the creeping barrage was used more and more to enable our advancing infantry to reach their objectives with the minimum of casualties to themselves. It consisted of an intense curtain of shells planned to fall just ahead of our won troops, calculated to keep the enemy, who weren't already hit, down under cover until their attackers closed in on them.

This required careful plans on the part of the gunners. In general, after the initial bombardment to cut and destroy as much barbed wire as possible, we would schedule "lifts" of one hundred yards every three minutes. The infantry would follow each lift closely. It followed that every gun must be aimed in unison with the others, as short rounds would otherwise cause casualties among our own men. To ensure this, before any attack, every gun had to be tested and "Calibrated".

I had done quite a bit of this calibrating when an Officer Cadet at Larkhill in 1917. Captain Hansen was very interested in the procedure I described to him, offered to speak to his Battery Commander, Major Mackay, who then would apply for me through 25TH Divisional Artillery headquarters. At last I could look forward to action for which I had undergone training.