Chapter 16: OCCUPYING A NEW GUN POSITION

I got the job as advance billeting officer as we wended our way backup north about one hundred miles to the Somme. This meant that at the crack of dawn, each day I had to strike out accompanied by a small advance party, twenty five miles down the road to look for a suitable farm house and outbuildings. I would ride in and tell the occupants that they were having a hundred and fifty men and a hundred and sixty five horses as overnight guests. We weren't exactly welcomed with open arms the majority of the time. On the arrival of the Battery, some two hours later generally , we had guides out to meet the column and had hot meals ready.

Upon the Battery Commander letting the remaining senior subaltern go on leave to Britain, his first leave for over a year, Major Mackay directed me to act a Battery Leader and Gun Position Officer. The following evening I was directed to select and occupy a suitable gun position about fifteen hundred yards behind the trenches forming the support line, with the front line overlooking "No Man's Land". The Major went forward to liaise with the infantry Brigade leaving me on my own with a experienced Gun Position Officer's Assistant to work with me.

I had been coached in Britain on the correct procedure of the standard "night position". In my desire to go the job well I grew impatient and went in too soon when my own movements could still be seen by the Enemy. In spite of my impatience, no one was killed and we managed to get all the guns placed, lined up and loaded in time to fire off our first three rounds of gun fire within seconds of Major Mackay's signal. The major and the Infantry commander with him were both gratified by the prompt response.

Everything soon settled down for a reasonably quiet night. Never again did I attempt to carry out a night occupation by daylight. I was fortunate to survive and be able to learn from my mistake. It gave me a great deal of respect for my fellow gunners and I began to feel that I belonged and was accepted into the fraternity.