Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 230, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1916 — BIG GUNS SWELL FROM AWFUL HEAT [ARTICLE]

BIG GUNS SWELL FROM AWFUL HEAT

Rapid Rate of Firing on Somme Causes Expansion of the Metal. MUST STOP TO COOL OFF Nuts and Various Small Parts of Guns Fly in Faces of Gunners Owing to Terrific Strain of Con- — stant Firing.

London. —The following letter received at the home of Driver W, J. Edie of the British Royal Field artillery is a graphic description of his experience in the “great* push.” Mr. Eadie was a London business mun before joining th£ army: “You start from a village about four kilometers In the rear on a fine summer night. The noise is terrific us you ride along; batteries all round you are firing salvos; shells from the heavy batteries and siege guns behind yoti, 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 Gentian infantry 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, but not least, while you see and hear all this, you have a considerable amount of attention paid you hy German shells—the shrapnel bursting with its peculiar and wicked whine, and the tear shells which, if you don’t get your mask on quickly, produce such an unpleasant effect on your eyes. This gas, by the way, smells very much like strong mustard and cress, 1 “You have the satisfaction, however, of knowing that, for every shell that conies, 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 tin early cup of tea, we started to dispatch a few more specimens of English metal into the enemy lines. “For a coup)e of hours, we (as well as every other battery in the line) 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, 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 our masks, strained faces due to lack of sleep; but. withal, a look of satisfaction on every face. “We get the signal to pause for a minute, as the Infantry is going ‘over the top.’ London Terriers (London Scots, Rifle brigade, etc.), who were in front of us, went steadily across, and 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 part of the ‘blighter’s’ anatomy, leaving them for those who followed. “We start firing again at a longer range, and work like demons ns 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 the 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 under the heat, stopped the gun from sliding back into its proper place r after the recoil. Two of the guns In' our battery were tints compelled reluctantly to ‘cease fire’ till they cooled down a bit. .. At Gunners’ Own Risk. “Two guns, I Plight 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 strain they (the guns) were subjected 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, we withdrew to our old positions. , . ■ m “Our wounded came down the road —at least, those who were able to waif —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 the ‘great push’ the most difficult push of all is pushing _hard biscuit down your throat accompanied by bully beef 1 But we don’t mind, so long as we ore giving the Germans a hot time. When it rains hard, we have the consolation of knowing that the enemy is getting wet as well os ourselves. “I should have mentioned that, towards tiie close of the first day of the advance so numerous were the German

dead, both In the trenched and butslde, they nsked for a ahor’’ armistice to enable them to dear 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 Are, from which the Germans suffered considerably."