Heavy
firing began, lasting about five minutes, and over they came again. We
opened up heavily with our battery of four guns, throwing a barrage in
his front as best we could; mine was the only battery left working on
this particular sector. Our fellows went out and met Fritz in a
hand-to-hand argument, backing up their contention so thoroughly with
the cold steel that they sent him flying back to the line he had
established at Sanctuary Woods.
But it was necessary, in order to keep him quiet, to keep up a barrage.
Our ammunition had run down to a point where we had only fourteen shells
left, and we received orders to hold two high explosive shells, one for
the muzzle and another for the breech of the gun, to put it out of
business in case they broke through.
If it became necessary to resort to the expedient of blowing up the gun,
it would be done by placing a shell in the breech of the chamber, the
breech closed, another shell inside the muzzle, the lanyard fastened to
the firing lever and strung out of the front pit door for a distance of
25 or 30 feet to a large tree standing at our rear, fastened to the
tree, and when retreating pull it from there, blowing the gun and the
gun pit into as many pieces.
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