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Show BIG GUNS SWELL j-FROM j-FROM AWFUL HEAT Rapid Rate of Firing on Somme Causes Expansion of the Metal. V1UST STCP TO COOL CFF "Juts and Various Small Parts of Guns Fly in Faces of Gunners Owing to Terrific Strain of Constant Con-stant Firing. London. The following letter received re-ceived at the home of Driver W. J. Kilie of the British Royal Field artil-ery artil-ery is a graphic description of his experience ex-perience in the "great push." Mr. Eadie was a London business man before be-fore joining the army : "You start from a village about four kilometers In the rear on a fine summer night. The noise is terrific as you ride along; batteries nil round you are firing salvos; shells from the heavy batteries and siege guns belli!;,-! you. hurtling through the air overhead, go roaring along on their way to the German lines. Ahead of you star shells may be seen going up merrily Into the night air, to float gracefully down and then go out. "Great clouds of smoke hanging over the trenches; our shells bursting on top of the German position; red rockets going up from the Germar, Infantry In-fantry asking their artillery for more support (in vain, however!) and, above all, the ceaseless rattle of the machine guns. All combine to make a perfect inferno of flame and sound. "Last, imt not least, while you see and hear all this, you have a considerable consid-erable amount of attention paid you by German shells ihe shrapnel bursting burst-ing with its peculiar and wicked whine, and the tear shells which, if you don't get your mask on quickly, produce such nn unpleasant effect on your eyes. This gas, by the way, smells very much like strong mustard and cress. "You have the satisfaction, however, of knowing that, for every shell that comes, we let about 100 per cent back In return, believing as we do that ' 'Tis better far to give than to receive!' Our airmen have brought down all the enemy's 'spotters,' or 'sausages,' while ours can be seen floating in the air all along the line. In Constant Stream. "At last, the day dawned and, after nn early cup of tea, we started to dispatch dis-patch a few more specimens of English Eng-lish metal into the enemy lines. "For a couple of hours, we (as well ns every other battery In the lim?) poured a ceaseless stream of metal upon the poor 'blighters' waiting for our infantry attack. In the gun pits, stripped to the waist, with sweat running run-ning down us and covered with oil and dirt, we do some record firing. "Deaf, owing to the terrific noise and concussion ; smarting eyes where lachrymatory gas had penetrated under un-der our masks, strained faces d-ue to lack of sleep; hut, withal, a look of satisfaction on every face. "We get the signal to pause for a minute, as the infantry is going 'over (lie top.' The London Terriers (London Scots, 'Rifle brigade, etc.), who were in front of us. went steadily across, end in exactly 30 minutes from the time of starting had penetrated the enemy's fourth line of trenches. , "As they got nearer the German lines, the latter rushed out and threw up their hands, but on the Terriers went to the next trench, though not without bestowing a kick on the tender ten-der part of the 'blighter's' anatomy, leaving them for those who followed. "We start firing again at a longer range, and work like demons as our range gradually creeps up. and the fuses are lengthened accordingly, for we know our men are going on rapidly. We set up a cheer when we knew they had reached the fourth line of trenches. "At one time we reached such a rapid rate of firing that water had to be poured down (he muzzles of the guns to cool them. All that came out the other end was steam, and, the steel of the breach expanding, we had to force the breach open after each shell with a stave of wood. At. length the guns became so hot that one could hardly stand near them, let alone touch them. The steel, of course, expanding ex-panding under the heat, stopped the gun from sliding .back into its proper place after the recoil. Two of the guns in our battery were thus compelled com-pelled reluctantly to 'cease fire' till they cooled down a bit. At Gunners' Own Risk. "Two guns, I might say, had been firing for quite half an hour at the gunners' own risk, with nuts, oil, etc., flying in their faces owing to the terrific ter-rific strain they (the guns) were subjected sub-jected to. But as soon as there was a lull, the guns were soon put right again. "As you will no doubt have read by now the wood round which we were attacking was a tough job, but the idea was to keep large numbers of enemy troops engaged while on our right our troops were advancing. We attained our object and when the others had a firm hold on the villages they had captured, cap-tured, we withdrew to our old positions. posi-tions. "Our wounded came down the road nt least, those who were able to walk most of them with a flower in their buttonhole or hat, and quite cheerful. "The German prisoners I saw looked as if they had had a terrible time of it. One of them picked up a potato from a field and started eating it. During Dur-ing the 'great push' the most difficult push of all is pushing hard biscuit down your throat accompanied by bully beef! But we don't mind, so long as we are giving the Germans a hot time. When it rains hard, we have the consolation con-solation of knowing that the enemy is getting wet as well as ourselves. "I should have mentioned that, towards to-wards the close of the first day of the advance so numerous were the German dead, both in the trenche and outslrl, they asked for a short armistice t enable them to clear away the bodies. Even then the 'rotters' couldn't play the game, but opened fire upon some of our men who were exposed. By way of punishment every one of our guns let fly six rounds of rapid fire, from which the Germans suffered considerably." |