On the 4th and 6th September the Noreuil valley was again heavily shelled; on the first of these dates A/310 had two guns knocked out, but suffered no loss to personnel; on the 6th the fire was directed on B/310 and C/310; one man was killed and one wounded, but no damage whatever was done to material. Capt. J. G. Robinson was awarded the Military Cross in connection with the above:
"On the 4th September, near Vaulx, the battery position was very heavily shelled. Capt. Robinson, having got his men into safety, endeavoured to locate the hostile battery by compass bearing. Later on, noticing that the camouflage of the two gun pits had caught fire, he, with Sergt. Rider and Gunner Charlesworth, left cover, and proceeded to extinguish the fires and to recover the gun pits with camouflage. As the shelling continued and the dial sights had not been removed from the guns, he again went out and removed four of them. All this was done under very heavy fire and at great personal risk. He showed very great gallantry and coolness, and set a fine example to the rest of the battery."
On the 10th the trench mortars in Bullecourt carried out one of their periodical bombardments of the Boche trenches and knocked them about handsomely. The enemy turned a number of batteries of varying calibres on to the mortar emplacements and put one mortar out of action. Corporal W. Settle, who was in charge of one of the mortars, behaved with great gallantry. He was almost buried by an explosion, and his coat was literally riddled, with at least 30 rents and holes, though in some miraculous way he escaped unwounded. In spite of this he stuck to his work until the shoot was finished. He got the Military Medal, but, to my great sorrow, was killed five days later at Cherisy.
At the beginning of September the G.S.O.I. of the Division, Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. A. Hore-Ruthven V.C., left us on transfer to the Guards Division, much to the regret of us all. He was succeeded by a Gunner, Lieut.-Colonel C. R. Newman, D.S.O.
On the night of the 11th our infantry carried out a successful little raid on the Star Cross Roads, about quarter of a mile S.W. of Riencourt. The guns bombarded the trench from 11.10 to 11.15 p.m., and then formed a box barrage round the cross roads for quarter of an hour, while the infantry walked in; they bombed the dug-outs, did as much destruction as they could, and returned with four prisoners; their own casualties were only three wounded. Early in the morning of the 13th the enemy attempted a raid on our trenches at the Apex. The S.O.S. signal was sent up, and our guns were firing hard for about two hours. The attack was completely repulsed.
The G.O.C. received the following message from Sir Douglas Haig:
"The Commander-in-Chief congratulates you and your troops on the repeated successes shown in your local operations, which show excellent spirit and skill. These successes help appreciably in the general plan."
A few days before this attack I had been ordered to lend two 18-pounder batteries and two trench mortar batteries to the 50th Division to help them in a raid in the neighbourhood of Cherisy, and as they had marched out on the 12th for an absence of four days, our artillery strength was in a dangerously low state when the attack took place, their being only sixteen 18-pounder guns and eleven howitzers to cover a front of 5000 yards.
The two field batteries that were temporarily detached for this duty were A/310 and B/312. The raid was a very successful one, but, unhappily, our losses in the trench mortars were very heavy, and we lost two valuable officers killed, Lieuts. G. A. Craven and W. E. Harris, and one wounded, Lieut. W. Wooliscroft. Seven N.C.O.'s and gunners were also killed, and a large number wounded. Lieut. E. Parkinson was given the Military Cross "for gallantry and devotion to duty during minor operations west of Cherisy. After his battery had suffered many casualties during the first phase, he reorganised his positions, and, after his Commanding Officer had been killed, went round under heavy fire encouraging his men to keep their mortars going. Later, under heavy fire, he searched his gun position and assisted to get wounded clear and his men away."
Lieut. Parkinson has kindly furnished me with the following account of what took place: