low that they
seemed to be even with the tops of the trees and singing us their
humming hymn of hate. An idea of the deadly nature of the conflict may
be had from the first day's casualties, that covered several thousand of
our men.

On the seventh day the German fire was so heavy it was impossible to get
ammunition up to the guns, and we pulled the backs out of the gun pit as
fast as we could smash them, man-handled the guns out of the Garden
down on to a little unused road in the rear of the railroad,
three-quarters of a mile southwest of the Garden; here the grass was a
foot or two in length, and we covered the guns with it and some brush,
dug out some large shell holes for them, then the wagons pulled up
there, unloading the ammunition, eight hundred to a thousand rounds
apiece, and we got orders to open up as an "S.O.S." came from the
trenches.

Fritz was not aware of our new position, for his fire was wild, and in
the darkness we were safe from the airplanes, although their humming was
distinctly audible as they flew here and there vainly looking for our
new spot. We worked the guns until 2 o'clock, cleaned them up and got a
couple of hours' badly-needed sleep.

At 4:45 A.M. next day another "S.O.S." came from the trenches, and, as
fast as we could do so, we let them have it,--this time in Sanctuary
Woods. Fritz replied, but his fire was wild. Again the planes came, in
an effort to find us, and we got the "keep-firing" whistle. The planes
still hovered over us and, under the urgency of a new demand from our
trenches, we again had to open up, and this time the plane found us, and
the result was quickly seen by a group of visitors breaking directly
over us. To register our battery was the work of but a few minutes. The
first blast was too far to the right; the next fell short, and again the
correction was made; with just three corrections they had our number;
the fourth shell got its mark. The lighter German batteries then passed
the range back to the heavies, 5.09 Howitzer batteries, and inside of a
minute we were the object of their earnest attention. Their first shell
smashed No. 2 gun and crew, leaving us with two guns. We held up our end
for half an hour, each moment expecting to get the dose they gave No. 2.

The efficiency of our work was disclosed during the day by the efforts
Fritz made to smother us; his fire became so intense we were ordered to
leave the battery and take refuge in the basement of a Fr