The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1918-11-14

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
a man or two, but never q 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 "75's."
They gave me a little practice with
"75' under the direction Of expert
French gunners before went to my
14-inch naval gun, and, believe me, 1t
was fine little piece. Just picture
to yourself n little beauty that can
send 3S-pound shell every two sec
onds for five miles and more, II you
want 1t to. and land on Fritz vest
button every time. There is nothing
l like better than gun, anyway, and
l have never since been entirely satis-
fled with anything less than "75."
! AS you probably know, the opposing
artillery In this war is so widely sepa-
rated that the cunners never see their
targets unless these happen to be
buildings, and even then 1t is rare. So,
since an artillery officer never sees the
enemy artillery or infantry, he must
depend on others to give him the range
ana direction.
For this purpose there are balloons
and airplancS attached to each artil-
lcry unit. The alrplnncs are equipped
with wireless, but also signal by
smoke and direction OF fight, while
the balloons use telephones. The OBJ
servers have maps and powerful
glasses and cameras. Their maps are
marked off in zones to correspond with
the maps used by the artillery officers.
+ The observations are signaled to a
receiving station on the ground and
arc then tclcphoned to the batteries.
All our troops were equipped with
telephone signal corps detachments
ana this was very important arm
OF the service. The enemy position Is
shellcd before m attack, either en-
barrage or otherwise, and communica-
ton between the waves Of attnck and
the artillery is absolutely necessary.
BomDnrdments are directed toward
certain parts Of the enemy position
| almost as accurately as you would use
searchlight. The field telephones are
very light and are portable to the last
| degree. They can be riggcd up or
knocked down In a very short time.
The wire Is wound on drums or reels
md you would be surprised to see how
quickly our corps established COM
municntion from a newly won trench
to headquarters, for instance. They
were asking for our casualties before
we had finished having them, almost
Artillery fire was directed by men
whose duty 1t was to dope out the
: range from the information sent them
by the observers in the air. Two men
were stationed at the switchboard,
one man to receive the message and
the other to operate the board. AS
soon as the range was plotted out 1t
was telephoned to the gunners and
they did the rest.
The naval guns at Dixmuds were
mounted on fiat cars and these were
drawn back and forth on the track by
little Belgian engines.
After had been ut my gun for sew
eral days / was ordered back to my
regiment, which was again in the
front-line trenches. My course was
past both the British and French lines
but quite a distance behind the front
lines.
Everywhere there were ambulances
ard wagons going backward and for
ward. ! met one French ambulance
hn ftn nf
from n field hospital near the firing
line and was driven by man whose
left arm was bandaged to the shOul
der Two poilus who sat In the rear
on guard had each been wounded In
the leg and one had had big strip OF
his scalp torn off. There was not u
! sound man In the bunch. You can
imagine what their cargo was like, II
the convoy was rs used UP as these
chaps. But ali who could were sing
Ing and talking and full of pep. That
is the French for you. thcy used no
more men than they could possibly
spare to take care Of the wounded. hut
! they were all cheerful about it
always.
Just after I passed this ambulance
the Germans began Smelling n section
. of the road too near me to be comfort
! able, so I beat 1t to u shell crater
about twenty yards off the rOn1 to the
, rear. A shrapnel shell exploded pretty
near me just as I Jumped into this
hole-I did not look around to see how
! close it was-and / remember now
how the old minstre, Joke had heard
on board ship came to my mind at the
time-something about fellow feel
Ing so small he climbed into a hole
and pulled 1t after him-nnd wished
I might do the same. flattened my
self as close against the wall OF the
crnter as ] could and then I noticed
: that somebody had made duaout In
the other wall Of the crater and I
I started for it.
! The shells were exploding so fast
by that time that you could not listen