abominable trenches. We were very glad to see our own Artillery again,
for, though their predecessors had done quite well, we always preferred
our own, even in the days of 15 pounders and 5 inch howitzers. Not only
were they more accurate than other people, but they were also more
helpful, and were obviously intent on serving us Infantry, not, as some
others, on carrying on a small war of their own. Besides, we knew the
F.O.O.'s so well and looked forward to seeing them in the Mess, where,
between occasional squabbles about real or imaginary short shooting,
they were the most cheerful companions. Lieuts. Wright, Morris-Eyton,
Watson of the 1st Staffs., Morgan, Anson of the 4th, and Lyttelton,
Morris, and Dixie of the 2nd Lincolnshires, were the most frequent
visitors for the "pip squeaks," while Lieuts. Newton, Cattle, and F.
Joyce performed the same duties for the Derby Howitzers. They always
took care to maintain their superiority over the mere foot soldier by a
judicious use of long technical words which they produced one at a time.
At Kemmel they were always "registering"; at Ypres, as we, too, had
learnt the meaning of "register" and even dared to use the word
ourselves, they introduced "bracketing," and as this became too common,
"calibrating" and so on; the more famous of recent years being "datum
point" and M.P.I, (mean point of impact). Occasionally our officers used
to visit the Batteries, in order to learn how a gun was fired--an
opportunity for any F.O.O. to wreak vengeance on some innocent Infantry
Subaltern, who had dared to suggest that he had been shooting short. The
Infantryman would be led down to the gun pit, and told to stand with one
leg on each side of the trail, "so that he could watch the shell leave
the gun"; some Gunner would then pull a string and the poor spectator,
besides being nearly deaf, would see some hideous recoiling portion
shoot straight at his stomach, stop within an eighth of an inch of his
belt buckle, and slide slowly back--a ghastly ordeal.