Dawson's Comer.
IÓ4
THE YPRES TIMES
By a Gunner.
WE were a New Army field battery. We had had our initiation in a quiet bit
of the line, and were out at rest an existence which some of us
regarded as less restful than life "in the line" in the peaceful Laventie
sector. Rest," however, did not last long. We're for Ypres," we soon
heard, followed by Selected for the new Corps," To hold the left of the
British line," and so on. Pride mingled with the awe in which we held the Salient
from stories told by those who had had their turn there.
Many who knew the north end of the Salientthe left of the line will
remember Dawson's Corner, a cross-roads of ill repute on the road between
Elverdinghe and Brielen. It would be interesting to know after whom Dawson's
Corner was called. It was an unhealthy spot towards evening, as cross-roads near
the line were wont to be, and yet it seemed to have a curious attraction as a
meeting place for guides, a halting place for transport passing on towards the
canal bank by the road which runs east from this point. In the angles between
this road and the main ElverdingheBrielen road were two farms. Both farms
had been pretty well knocked about, but in the southern of the two a large barn
with a thatched roof still stood intact. In this barn was the battery position
which we were to take over. The ill repute of Dawson's Corner of course lost
nothing in the telling, when we were regaled with local knowledge by the old
hands of the Salient on our arrival in the wagon-line area.
Dawson's Corner had features of its own as a battery position. The barn
referred to was, roughly, parallel to the line, and the guns shot out of openings
made in the side of the barn. These openings were closed by screens, when the
guns were not firing, to hide the shadows they would cause and thus easily give
away the show to enemy aeroplanes. Inside the barn work could be carried out
by daylight without being seen by prying eyes aloft, and our predecessors had
constructed really strong gun pits, for which we were duly grateful later on.
Each gun pit consisted of an elephant shelter covered by a layer of concrete.
Then came an air space, and above it an outer roof of concrete. At the end of
the barn a good dug-out for signallers and command post had been made, and we
lived and fed in peaceful times among the ruins of the farm-house hard by the barn.
We moved into this position by sections on successive nights, and took up the
routine of life in the line again. The enemy had a pretty shrewd idea of
where the battery was, and on one occasion particularly treated us to an accurate
bombardment by 4.2's. We were then thankful for our protected gun pitsmade
by our predecessors and improved by ourselves. A shell hit one of the outer
concrete covers separated by an air space from the inner roof below. The outer
cover was smashed into bits, but not a man was touched in the gun pit below. So
much for the value of air spaces and double roofs.
Then came a day when we were doing our best to stop enemy trench mortars,
which were seriously worrying our infantry in the front line. An enemy aeroplane
appeared and must have seen our flashes and accurately marked down where the
battery was. We expected trouble after thisand got it. It came one evening
soon afterwards in the form of a bombardment with incendiary shell, with the
object of setting on fire any inflammable part of our estate. The remains of the
farm-house soon caught alight. We concentrated our efforts on trying to prevent
