HIGHLAND DIVISION T.F. No. 4387 (G).

CONFIDENTIAL.

            The following extract from a letter from an Artillery Officer, serving with the Allied Forces, is circulated.  All the information is confidential, and is not to be circulated outside the Highland Division:-

2.11.14.

…..”This battle has been going on for some time, and my battery has been under fire more or less continually for five days and nights now.

“To show you what sort of show it is, Number 4, at out No. 3 gun loaded by himself, in our first position yesterday, three and a half tons weight of 4.7” B.L. Q.F. shell.  Of course, this is the most in our battery in one position, so far; but it gives one an idea of the show.

“You cannot really imagine the roar that goes on continuously day and night here.

“My first advice to fellows coming out here is to teach your men to take every conceivable cover from aeroplanes, i.e. have straw, etc., tied to all the spokes of wheels, rims of wheels wrapped up in old grain sacks, and gun covered in straw mattresses with loose straw on top.  Cover the ground all round with straw for 20 yards.

“Never bring your battery into action in line, but always in a very eccentric way, with a field and hedges in between guns.  Have all communications by telephone.

“Directly you see a German aeroplane, stop firing; so that they cannot see the flashes of your guns.  If they see you they signal back to their “Black Marias” the square and position on it of your guns are on, and in half an hour you will be having hell on earth, and will have to abandon.

“Just called up to fire again.  All right, we are back again in our funk-holes.  These should be at the side of every gun, and dig them very narrow.  You can generally undercut this soft clay soil, and so get extra cover.

“The Black Marias generally arrive on end, in bunches of three; then a pause of three seconds, and three more.  The range generally varies about fifty to seventy-five yards.  Their shooting is very accurate, and if your position is found you must leave the guns and get under cover.

“Never stay for more than one day in the same position, as, otherwise, spies give information of where you are.

“I suppose one will get used to it in time, but some of the shell-fire here is bad for the nerves, especially at night.

“Another good way to dodge aeroplanes is to come into action behind a wood by night, and build, by planting trees in the battery, a wood round the battery.  It seems that these air fellows cannot notice the change in the slight increase in the wood.

“We always have a squad of men told off to fire on air-craft with rifles, as soon as identified as German.