War Services of the 62nd West Riding Divisional Artillery — John Shaqi
War Services of the 62nd West Riding Divisional ArtilleryAnderson, Austin Thomas
History
War Services of the 62nd West Riding Divisional Artillery
Anderson, Austin Thomas
Great Britain. Army. Division, 62nd; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
Against the corps on our right the Boche had been more successful, and
the position on its extreme right was at one time full of peril. Here
the enemy penetrated our lines and captured Gonnelieu and Gouzancourt,
though he was driven out of the latter village by the Guards that same
night. The back areas were very heavily bombarded all through the day,
and the D.A.C. in Metz suffered a good many casualties.
Lieut. C. B. Innes was wounded during this day's fighting; Lieut. E. T.
Williams was awarded the Military Cross, while Lieut. J. B. Boden added
a bar to the decoration which he had earned only eight days before:
"During a strong enemy attack the battery was in action during the
whole of the day. For over seven hours the battery was heavily shelled,
and during the whole of this period Lieut. Boden was among the guns,
occasionally working a gun himself, and setting a magnificent example
to the men of his detachment. Finally he was put _hors de combat_
through a shell dropping close by him and stunning him. His cool
determination and devotion to duty were magnificent."
"On the battery being heavily shelled, and fired on by machine guns
from the flank, orders were received to withdraw. Lieut. Williams
remained behind with two guns, the wheels of which had been damaged,
but succeeded in getting both of them clear of the position, thereby
setting a splendid example of gallantry and fearlessness to the men."
Thirty-three Military Medals were also awarded (v. Appendix).
I handed over artillery command on the evening of the 30th, and
rejoined Divisional Headquarters at Haplincourt, to find that all
our three infantry brigades had again been thrown into the line in
support of three different divisions. I heard to my great sorrow that
Brig.-General Bradford, V.C., who had joined the 62nd only about three
weeks before, had been killed. He was a man of extraordinary gallantry
and great personal charm, and a born soldier and leader of men.
I copy here an extract from a captured document, signed by the
Commander of the German army on our front, which was rather flattering
to our pride as gunners:
"It is worthy of remark that our enemy's guns have a much smaller zone
of dispersion than our own. They also appear to have better and more
accurate data for shooting from the map than we have. This seems to be
proved from the fact that in weather that excludes all possibility of
observation, and under conditions very different from those prevailing
during previous shoots, he obtains hits on small targets with great
accuracy."
[Sidenote: Dec. 1917.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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