however, was so
great, and created so much merriment among the French that they
christened the British Artillery, "Un coup par piece"; with which term
of endearment I was always personally greeted by the French Artillery
General and his Staff, with all of whom I was great friends.

At the battle of 28th June the French were unable to spare us the
howitzers or ammunition we begged of them. The failure of the gallant
156th Brigade of the 52nd Division to take the H.12 trenches was
essentially due to lack of artillery ammunition, especially of H.E.
Allowing for losses that must have been suffered under any condition, I
believe that some 700 or 800 Scottish casualties were due to this cause.
Before the action the Corps Commander sent for me to say that he did not
consider that enough guns and ammunition had been allotted to this
portion of the Turkish trenches. I replied that I agreed, but that there
were no more available and that to reduce the bombardment of the
hostile trenches on the left of our front would gravely prejudice the
success of the 29th Division in that quarter and that I understood
success there was more vital than on our right flank. After consultation
with the G.O.C. 29th Division, the Corps Commander agreed with my
allotment of the artillery. We then did our utmost to obtain the loan of
more guns, howitzers or ammunition from the French without success and
with the result that the attack was beaten off.

So successful had been the attack on our left with its capture of five
successive lines of Turkish trenches that we had actually some
ammunition to spare. In the afternoon it was agreed that there should be
another attack on H.12, preceded by a very short but very intense
bombardment from every gun and howitzer we possessed. All artillery
arrangements for this were completed before 2.30 p.m., from which hour
all the guns waited alert and ready for the Infantry to inform us of the
hour they wished us to commence fire. I was in direct telephonic
communication with the commander of the 52nd Division, having had a
private wire laid on to his Headquarters the previous day. Suddenly, to
my horror, I received a telephone message from my Artillery Group
Commander, Colonel Stockdale, saying the Infantry were making the
assault and that he had no time to do more than fire half a dozen shots!

In the attacks of 12th and 13th July, the French placed some thirty or
forty guns and howitzers under British command, an