I received the following letter from the G.O.C.R.A. 58th Division:—
"The B.G.R.A. 58th Division wishes to express his gratitude and appreciation to all ranks of the 62nd Divisional Artillery, whom he has had the honour to have under his command during the past month.
"Despite heavy shelling of their positions and continual firing night and day, they have never failed to respond quickly and efficiently to every call which he has made upon them, and it has been largely due to their excellent and energetic shooting that the operations which have just concluded have attained the measure of success which has come their way.
"All ranks of the 58th Divisional Artillery unite in thanking the 62nd Divisional Artillery for all their help, and wish them the best of luck.
"E. J. R. PEEL,
"Brig.-General."
The 310th Brigade were now in positions in the Noreuil Valley, which had been given not inaptly the name of the Valley of Death, and the 312th in the neighbourhood of Lagnicourt. Early in the morning of the 25th they supported a successful little raid made by our infantry on the Boche front line south of Riencourt. No prisoners were taken unfortunately, but the infantry found several dead bodies, killed by our artillery fire.
We now began to get the trench mortars into action. Up till this time they had not had much chance of proving their value, although the personnel had done much useful work in helping the D.A.C. with the ammunition supply. They were now to take up their legitimate rôle in the front trenches.
On the 26th D/312 underwent a severe shelling, but although two howitzers were badly hit, no men were hurt.
About this time I used often to go round the O.P.'s in my spare time, and to test the quickness of the different batteries in getting off a round on a trial call of S.O.S. I considered it distinctly good if a battery opened fire within 40 seconds of getting the call, but as time went on most of them became extraordinarily quick to answer, and I well remember my satisfaction when, during a walk round the O.P.'s in company with General Benson, Commanding the 5th Corps Artillery, we tried a few S.O.S. tests, and one of my batteries got off the answering round in 17 seconds. I think that the record time was nine seconds, the battery that reached it being C/310, then in position in the Noreuil Valley.
July 1917.
On the 2nd July I was returning from one of these tours, and, calling on my way back at the 310th Brigade Headquarters, which were then in a sunken road just N.W. of Noreuil, I found that a few minutes before my arrival a 4.2-inch shell had penetrated and burst inside a small shelter in the trench, killing four men and wounding three—all, of my special little R.A.R.E. company. The place was a shambles when I went into it. It was a particularly distressing affair, as there was a good and equally handy dug-out just beside the one that had suffered, fit to withstand any number of 4.2-inch shells; and these poor fellows had selected a place with no more protection than a corrugated iron roof.