Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1918-08-08

me I could examine the gun If I
wanted to, just as If he owned 1t.
So sat In the seat and trained the
cross wires on an object, opened and
closed the breech and examined the
recoil.
Then Brown said: "wen, Chlnk,
you'll see some real gunnery now" and
they passed the word and took sta
lions. My eyes bulged out when
saw Brown take his station with themi
"SilenceW is about the first COM
mand gun crew gets when IL is going
into action, but forgot oil about IL,
and shouted out and asked Brown how
he got to be n gunner. But he only
grinned and looked dopey, as usual.
Then 1 came to and expected to get a
call down from the officer, but he only
grinned and so did the crew. II
seems they had 1t all framed to spring
on me, and they expected would be
surprised.
So we put cotton In our ears and
the captain called the observation
tower a short distance away and they
gave him the range. Then the captain
called 412S meters TO Brown. They
placed the nose Of a shell In fuse
adjuster and turned the handle until
II reached scale 412S. This set the
fuse TO explode at the range given.
Then they slammed the shell into the
breech, locked It shut and Brown sent
his best to Fritz.
The barrel slipped back, threw out
the shell case at our feet and returned
over a cushion of grease. Then we
received the results by telephone from
the observation tower. After he had
fired twelve shots the captain said to
Brown, "You should never waste your
self In infantry, son." And old dopey
Brown Just stood there and grinned.
That was Brown every time. He
knew about more things than you could
think of. He had read about gunnery
/ and fooled around at Dixmude until
/ they let him play with the "75's," and
! finally here he was, giving his kindest
to old Fritz with the rest of them.
I never saw a battery better con-
cealed than this one. Up on the ground
you couldn't see the muzzle twenty
yards away-and that was all there
was to see at any distance. There
was a ruined garden just outside the
gun quarters, and while the gunners
were there picking apples there would
be hiss and an explosion, and over
would go some Of the trees, or maybe
n man or two, but never n shell struck
nearer the guns than that. The poilus
used to thank Fritz for helping them
pick the apples, because the explosions
would bring them down in great style.
Shells from our heavy artillery passed
just over the garden, too, making an
awful racket. But they were not in 1t
with the "75s."
They gave me little practice with
a "75" under the direction of expert
French gunners before went to my
14-inch naval gun, and, believe me, 1t
was a fine little piece. Just picture
to yourself a little beauty that can
send a 3S-pound shell every two sec
onds for five miles and more, IL you
want it to, and land on Fritz vest
button every time. There is nothing
like better than a gun, anyway, and
have never since been entirely salts
fed with anything less than "75."
AS you probably know, the opposing
artillery In this.war is so widely sepa-
rated that the gunners never see their
targets unless these happen to be
buildings, and even then IL is rare. So,
since an artillery officer never sees the
enemy artillery or infantry, he must
depend on others to give him the range
and direction.