242
THE YPRES TIMES
bog where the wounded fell and were drowned in the swamp." Surrounding us
was the aftermath of the earlier fightingbroken rifles, equipment, stranded tanks,
half-buried friend and foe, the swamp pitted with shell holes ten to twelve feet
deep and filled to the brim with water. The only approach was a duckboard track
constantly swept by the German 4.2's. And so we lived.
Those of us who had to constantly remain with the guns had the use of a few
pill-boxes recently vacated by Fritz but frequently ranged on by him. These
seemed very indifferent shelter after our roomy cellars under the houses of the
mining villages around Lens; but how often did our thoughts revert to those same
pill-boxes when later, pushing forward, we were sheltering under elephant irons
within observation from the enemy lines
Our early stay at Hampshire Farm was marked by a deal of heavy counter-
firing by the German artillery and some bombing from above. As an instance, it
was noted on October 24th that the battery had attracted the attention of 4.2's,
8-in. howitzers, 5.9's and naval guns, and yet, by wonderful luck, not a single
casualty was recorded on that day.
October 26th was a day of feverish anxiety. All day long .the guns were
engaged in a heavy strafe of the enemy trenches, and the second phase of the
Battle of Passchendaele had begun. On November 1st the battery engaged in a
terrific duel. Whilst concentrating on the enemy trenches, the guns were heavily
bombarded with gas shells and also subjected to determined bombing raids from
Gothas. Three bombs dropped within ten yards of one gun, and yet no appreciable
damage was done. One bomb dropped on the fighting post, and although two
officers and two telephonists were inside at the time, apart from a shaking, no
damage was effected.
On November 6th the Canadians took Passchendaele, and the guns now moved
forward to St. Julien. To the left of us was Kitchener's Wood, where, in 1915,
during the first gas attack of the war, the memorable fight .took place round the
4.7 guns of the 2nd London Battery of Heavy Artillery. The Germans, by their
treacherous methods, swept through the wood, capturing the guns and advancing
to the outskirts of Ypres. Their success was checked by the famous charge of the
Canadian Scottish, who retook the wood, but, being unable to hold it, destroyed
the 4.7's. At this time the wood was merely a collection of thin broken tree
trunksevidence, indeed, of the concentrated gun fire which we are .told in the
official history swept the wood as a tropical storm sweeps the leaves from a
forest." In front of us a few heaps of stones and low broken walls served to show
where once had stood St. Julien. We had now left such shelter as the pill-boxes
afforded us and spent our days and nights, when not with the guns, by reposing
under elephant irons. The swamp precluded any attempt at constructing a
dug-out, and the thin iron, mounted on a few sandbags, was our only shelter.
Shells frequently fell around our meagre shelter, and on one momentous occasion
three fell within three yards, one burrowing right under our "haven" but failing
to explode.
The first time that I entered Ypres itself was on November 16th, 1917. The
day was misty, and I tramped back from St. Julien by the duck-board track to the
Yser Canal and on to the city. The Cloth Hall, standing desolate yet magnificent
even in its ruin, was an unforgettable picture.
On the following day our No. 4 gun blew up, at the cost of one killed and four
injured. I do not know the experiences of others serving with the artillery, but
our battery was singularly unfortunate in the matter of prematures." Most
days we received our fair share of attention from the enemy batteries, but on
November 20th we experienced real concentrated fire for over two hours. When
a battery is concentrated on, it is an experience not easily effaced from memory
