23rd September 1914, Lessines.
The 3rd Brigade Royal Garrison Artillery consisted of the two batteries of 60 pounders previously attached to 3rd and 5thDivisions, they had been put under Corps command by the order of the GOC 2nd Army, Sir Bruce Meade Hamilton. General Grierson had been visiting the front over the last several days at the behest of Winston Churchill and he had suggested it to General Smith Dorrien who concurred. This order was to be implemented throughout the BEF, with Divisions both regular and territorial to lose their 60 pounder and 4.7 guns to Corps command, the goal being to give the Corps Commander a heavier punch he could allocate as needed across the whole sector. The divisional commanders had railed against the order but had been mollified by the promise of a share of any German guns captured particularly the German howitzers.
The guns had been positioned 2000 yards behind the line held by II Corps, the front-line positions had been connected via field telegraph to the two battery firing points. Additional telegraph lines went forward to the positions held by the cavalry, a single squadron from the Lancers occupied the village of Ogy this was almost 2 miles forward of the main British positions. A warning order was received, infantry in the open followed by the firing co-ordinates, there had been no time to register the fire so the first ranging shots were fired by the first gun of each battery with a suitable time to allow of the observation of the fall of shot.
The German infantry wavered then continued to advance when the first shots were fired, the observer high in the church steeple was impressed by their bravery and or discipline. He had expected to be under fire himself, but thus far the German guns where silent, he supposed that they may be short on ammunition and preserving it for more heavily defended positions. The two batteries were registered now, the firing became steady, the guns were putting 2-3 rounds per minute onto the target, a mixture of high explosive and shrapnel shells. The effect of the eight medium guns firing was devastating, the shrapnel shells detonated above and in front of the infantry most of whom had no cover and who were scythed by hundreds of steel balls travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of sound.
The gunnery observer issued the cease fire order after 2 minutes of firing, he was conscious of the number of rounds available to the guns and the brigade commander had ordered every gunnery observer to husband the fire. Astonishingly when the fire ceased, the writhing mass of downed infantry gradually began to draw itself back into formation, many men lay dead or badly wounded on the ground and great shell holes had been blasted into the road and the farmland nearby. But after a few minutes’ military order had been restored and the advance by the infantry column resumed. In the distance a second larger formation was advancing.
The observer looked at the advancing German Regiment, it had changed from column of march to advancing in line abreast, the line was much to closely spaced for this age of magazine fed rifles, but it was more open than the marching order. Even though the closer regiment was a threat to his own skin he had his orders and relayed a new set of firing co-ordinates back to regiment. Once again, the ranging round were fired and the steady crump of shrapnel shells bursting over this second larger formation began. Soon the crump was mixed with the whine of shrapnel balls, the screams of wounded men and the shrieks of maimed horses.
Back at the regiment the Lt Colonel commanding was pleased with his command, he had previously been the deputy to the Commander Royal Artillery for his divison and now he was in command of a regiment of 60 pounders. The men had pulled together well, the royal garrison artillery were the technical specialists even amongst the gunners, half their challenge was getting the guns into the fight. This time they had been able to position the guns in time to do some valuable work and the field telephone was relaying the observers’ orders. There was a steady flow of shells forward to the guns, the ammunition column bringing shells and charges forward without disruption, the regiment was doing good work this day.