The Seaforth News, 1942-03-12, Page 6,RAGE SlX
THIS SEAForivi NEWS
HU135PsAY, MARCH 12, 1942
era i>llhl Astros M
anadian Gunners Get Down To It
A few seconds after this picture shot was taken the
into line and the first round was on its way,
ail was on the ground, the rubber tired wheels up on their platform, the gull traversed
Crash Action Gunners
Beat Stop - Watch
By Kim Beattie.
In many different spots in Eng
land, some of them miles apart, I
watched while Canadian crews of
anti-tank, Bofors, 25 -pounder field
guns and the grimly business -like 5.5
field -howitzers, went through their
particular "Crash Action." Each
time I was fascinated by the perfec-
tion of their precision training. The
exacting old -school drilling master
would have been enthralled.
Each man knew his own job with
sure -handed, automatic familiarity.
He also knew that of every other
man in his gun -crew. From order to
"crash" into firing position while
moving across country, until the first
whamp of the field -howitzer, first
crack of the 25 -pounder, first lash
of the Bofors, first lightning stab of
the anti -tanker, each man slammed
into action with na wasted move-
ment, awkwardness or confusion.
The thrill of watching a battery
of 25 -pounder field guns moving
evenly down a road and suddenly
erupting into position and action, is
unforgettable. The Horse Artillery
never made a finer, braver show.
Stop?watch Timing
The chief instructor stood beside
me with his stop -watch. He gave the
signal. The battery smashed through
a hedge into the field and raced to-
wards us, each gun a trailing, bonne.
ing cornet behind its tractor.
The practice is carried out with a
quarter -mile dash included in, the
"crash action" time limit. They hit
the position, halted,—and the crew
exploded hi a flying body from the
tractor. At first jump they looked
like an insane confusion of hurtling
arms, legs and bodies. But the tangle
unravelled, fell into place. They un-
hooked the tractor in what seemed a
single motion, set up the gun, laid it
—then. stood taut and breathless to
await the verdict.
Two and a half minutes!
They were crestfallen. The No. 1
cursed. They knew that anything
over three minutes expended bet-
ween the alarm, or order to halt and
turn, denotes a bad gun -crew. The
ideal speed is 1/ to 2 minutes, and
that is what they were striving to
attain.
No ham-handed, slow-witted, or
clumsy man would ,possibly. fit into
the modern Canadian gun -crew, not
even into the big crews of the grim
field howitzers. They are just as ard-
ent and tireless exponents of speed
and precision as the 'crews of their
lighter, more mobile brethren.
The formidable field -howitzers
have a crew composed of a Sergeant
(the No. • 1), with a bombardier and
eight men behind him, In coming in-
to action in soft groundthey have to
be husky, but they handle their pon-
derous weapon with astonishing ease.
Despite the size and weight of the
gun and, its., platform, their powerful
tractors own tarn a whole troqp from
column of route on a road and roar
them into position, where the gun-
crews work with such despatch that
they are pumping salvoes vdithin a
few minutes flan tlii'action right."
That 'included the overland rush;
the halt, setting up the gun platform,
end the huge spade; curved against
the recoil, which digs in and holds the
gun on a firm base.
Gunners Stage Demonstration
Gunners of the 23rd (Toronto)
and 7th (Montreal) Field Batteries
wider Lt. A. Melanson, 5th Medium
Field Regt., staged the medium art-
illery's "Crash Action" demonstra-
tion for us. Working from the halt,
they were ready to fire in just over
five minutes, with a crew who had
never previously worked together,
A well -drilled crew can do it in 414
minutes.
Tt may be that the influence of the
new guns, which depend on speed for
success, was a spur to the field -artil-
leryman to smarten his pace. The
great artillery change, of course, is
the addition of many batteries of
anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. If
they arc'not fast they are useless.
Their example may have inspired the
field and field -howitzer gunner to ex-
cel himself. In any event, they aur
not only taking every advantage of
the hurricane speed of motor -horses
in the reckless race to gun -position,
but have also developed new, re-
markable crew -speed in getting into
action after the sudden, shattering
halt.
We saw the ultimate in gunner's
speed, of course. while Canadians
handled that beautiful piece of mech-
anism called the Bofors. Their "crash
action!" speed is almost unbeliev-
able. From the halt in a hedge -flank-
ed lane of a mobile antiaircraft col-
umn, I saw a battery of Canadian -
manned Bofors speaking within 43
seconds.
On Target In Three Seconds
From a stationary position pro-
tecting an air -field, when the anti-
aircraft crews are always on their
gun, I watched Lt. Alan. Nobleston,
a newspaperman turned gunner, put-
ting a troop of the 53rd Canadian
Light A.A. Battery through an actual
"Crash Action!" They 'flashed on
their target within three seconds.
In the drill that reel action job,
the spotter calls, "Plane!" The gun
swings, lays, fires—all inthat fleet
three seconds, on almost every re-
hearsal. It's 'an extremely brief tick
of time and the precision -practice to
attain it must be extensive. They'll
snort scorn at the metaphor but their
timed, drilled movements are as
beautiful to watch as a cadent chor-
us of Rockettes.
The anti -tanks gun "Crash Action"
demonstration is a similar illustra-
tion of well -drilled "precision men".
Anti-tank gunners can whirl into
action in 17 seconds with their gun
on wheels, and with a spud dropped
to hold the gun solid: Setting up the
built-in permanent gun -platform re-
quires longer. But the Canadian anti
tank' gunner is so •fastgetting his
vicious missiles ,away that only an
ill -trained, crew takes more than 2
ninutes.frosn -the Warning of a tar-
get. .
The anti-tank gunner's first doe.,
trine is that wherever the artillery-
man uses his guts and . his head he
beats the tank, ;The nightmare tho
tank was once thought is nowhere
so thoroughly dispelled as amongst
the men who handle the gun with
the greatest velocity of all weapons,
The 2 -pounder has a muzzle velocity
of 2,800 feet a second, and its al-
most dead -level trajectory is nearly
as accurate as a sniper's rifle. Its
arinour-piercing slug travels with a
high-pitched metallic scream, and
crashes its target before that chilling
wail hits its peak. Canadian anti-tank
gunners boast that it is the top of
its kind, able to fire 12 rounds per
minute which will hold any tank in
use.
The two -pound projectile can be
hurled 12,000 yards if necessary,
but the most effective velocity and
range is under 800. Canadian gun-
ners prefer sniping at 300 when it
is deadly. They train on' the theory
that only one miss, the sighting shot,
is permitted; they must hit on the
second—or hear about it. A fast -
travelling wheel swings the muzzle
60 degrees in. a flash. By releasing
his foot, the gunner can slow
traverse to stalk, follow and concen-
trate on an approaching tank.
The Germans have special speed,
co-ordination and intelligence tests
for finding good anti-tank gunner's.
Our selection system has the choice
of brilliant, keen sergeants for No.
1 anti-tank gunner. He's the sole and
supreme boss of the anti-tank crew.
On him rests all responsibility, ..No
officer helps him, inspirts him, ad-
vises hire. In action he runs his own
show and must be as high in personal
calibre as his gun is in precision and
efficiency.
As for the Bofors gunner, the
Canadian artillery officers and inen
who arrive without expectation of
anti-aircraft fighting show tremen-
dous elation the moment they start
training. We saw a volunteer crew
of Canadian subalterns going
through a "Crash Action!" with only.
six clays experience on the gun.
Dirty, sweating, happy, they moved
and worked furiously to the com-
mands of a Warrant Officer with a
voice -with a crackle in it. Then they
challenged a picked crew of their in-
structors—and beat them. They were
inordinately pleased.
OLD SALTS
Would. Shiver Their Timbers Over
• Ship's Biscuits of To -day
British seamen compelled to take
to their boats no• longer have to dig
their teeth into the ironclad ship's
biscuits of tradition. Instead they
are given dainty little wheatmeal
biscuits, about 2 in. square and 14 in'
thick.
Packed in rust -proof watertight
containers, 48 to a lb. tin, there is
enough in each boat to supply every
person with 14 oz. Together with
pemmican ( a concentrated mixture
of beef extract), malted milk tablets
and chocolate, the shipwrecked sail-
or is now provided with "minimum"
rations which are not only more var-
ied and tasty than the old 'biscuits
and condensed milk, but have a much
higher food value. What is eves more
important, the space saved can be
used for carrying water, the ration
of which is now three times as .great.
as it was. .
These biscuits are made not only
by Britain's table .blacuit makers, but
by people who• normally ,turn..out.
thousands of tons of dog biscuits and
who have swung over to war produc-
tion in this way in three wars, the
South African, the 1914-1918 and the
present. Itthe last European War one
firm alone made .a grand total of 1,-
256,976,708 biscuits for the armed
forces; enough to go three times
round the globe.
To -day, they and the other con-
cerns in Great Britain are making
biscuits for the fighting forces as well
SO for the Merchant Navy. The Army
likes its biscuits in oblongs, rather
than squares, and packed in grease-
proof paper, the Royal Navy, on the
other hand, prefers its own cabin
biscuit.
• A Scotsman was leaving on a fort-
night's business trip and called back
as he left home: `Good-bye all, and
Katherine dinna forget to mak' leetle
Donald tak' his glasses off when he's
looking at naething."
Want and For Sale ads, 3 weeks 50c.
2,000 MEN AND A GIRL
Songstress Frances Cramer, blonde,
and petit, is one of the chief reasons,
why twenty hundred young airmen:
fife into the his concert hall at Ex-,
hibitiou Park every week to attend;
the C130 broadcast, at Manning De-
pot. The programme features the
music of Russ Gerow's orchestra, the
comedy sketches, and songs by
Francs. The show will be heard
Friday, March 27th at 8
Now'Hollywood Child Stars Must
Save Their Money
Adele Rogers St. Jolni, popular
Hollywood commentator,.. writing in
The American Weekly with this Sun -
clay's (March 16) issue of The De-
troit Sunday Times,.. explains how a
California law now protects juvenile
actors from squabbling relatives...
and themselves, Be sure to get The
Detroit Sunday Times this week and
every week.
n H. McINNES
CHIROPRACTOR
Office — Commercial Hotel
Electro .Therapist — Massage
Hours -Mon. and Thurs. after-
noons and by appointment.
FOOT CORRECTION
by manipulation—Sun-ray
treatment.
Phone 227.
AUCTIONEER
F. W. AHRENS, Licensed Auction•
ser for Perth and Huron Counties
Sales Solicited. Terms on Application.
Farm Stock, chattels and real estate
prope'-ty. R. R. No. 4, Mitchell.
Phone 634 r 6. Apply at this office,
HAROLD JACKSON
Licensed in Huron and Perth coun-
ties. Prices reasonable; satisfaction
guaranteed. For information, write
or phone Harold Jackson, phone 14
on 661; R.R. 4, Seaforth.
EDWARD W. ELLIOTT, Licensed
Auctioneer for Huron. 'Correspond.
ence promptly answered. Immediate
arrangements can be made for Sale
Date by calling Phone 203, Clinton.
Charges moderate and satisfaction
guaranteed.
Counter
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Books are Well Made, Carbon is Clean and.Copies Readily.
All styles, Carbon Leaf and Black Back. Prices as Low as You
Can Get Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your Next Order.
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