Sunday Weather fair & cold fired this afternoon On guard to night & false S.O.S. at 10:30 it kept Heinie quiet anyway, rest of night quiet
The War Diary reports that a “considerable amount of movement in the enemy lines was engaged by our batteries and dispersed.” (1)
These days the artillery in the Lens sector have two main functions. First, they respond to SOS calls from the infantry, by firing on a pre-arranged line to defend infantry from a raid or attack. Unless they are firing on another target, the guns are aimed at the SOS line for rapid response to the signal — which earlier this month, according to the War Diary, was a succession of green rockets or Very lights. (2)
The other function is harassing fire (by night) and sniping (by day). The purpose of such fire is largely to lower the enemy’s morale by keeping them pinned in their trenches.
At night, shellfire is directed at locations where there is likely to be traffic. (3) Each battery in the 13th Brigade has been allotted 50 rounds for this purpose, according to the War Diary, though it doesn’t say how frequently they can draw their allotment. (4) Sniping is more focused than harassing fire. “Every observation post kept the hostile territory in front of it under close watch all the time and anything that moved within reach of the sniping gun was promptly fired at. In the great majority of cases no casualties were inflicted, but … people fired at were [generally] forced to run for cover and not to expose themselves again.” (5)
Sniping and harassing fire are the tasks of dedicated guns, stationed at a distance from the main battery position, to prevent the enemy from locating the main position. (5) That is the case with the 55th Battery, which has one forward and one rear gun for night firing and sniping. The Observation Post which directed the sniping is located in Fosse 11. (6)
The photograph from Percy’s small album shows the entrance to the Observation Post at Fosse 11.
(1) War Diary of the 13th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. Vol. 9: 11. October 28, 1917.
(2) War Diary, Appendix 73: 2
(3) Macpherson, J.S.B. “The Canadian Artillery.” In Volume 6: Special Services, Heroic Deeds etc. of Canada in the Great War: An Authentic Account of the Military History of Canada from the Earliest Days to the Close of the War of the Nations. 1921. 7
(4) War Diary, Appendix 73: 2.
(5) Macpherson, 6.
(6) MacArthur, D.C. The History of the Fifty-Fifth Battery, CFA. 1919.
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