Those of our readers who have read the dispatches of Sir Douglas Haig may have noticed how the British Field-Marshal on the western front eulogized the work of the trench mortars during the fighting which has taken place under his direction. This week Gunner Albert Upton, R.F.A., second son of Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Upton, of Montague-street, Rushden, gave a “Rushden Echo” representative an interesting peep into the life of the trench mortar gunners, with whom he has been working in France practically during the whole of 1916. He left France on Sunday morning last and arrived in Rushden in the evening.

Gunner Upton enlisted on October 6th, 1915, and went out to France with the R.F.A., on February 20th, 1916. However, he was under fire before then.

“You see,” he said to the reporter, “I was in the Zepp raid on Woolwich on Oct. 13th, 1915, and the cook-house at the barracks where I was stationed was set on fire by one of their ‘fire-balls’ (incendiary bombs).”

Continuing, he said, “We arrived at Le Havre, on the French coast, at about 7.30 p.m. on February 20th, and we encamped at Harfleur. We left there on February 29th and arrived at Rouen on March 1st. The next day I joined the 21st Divisional A.C. at Bailluel and left there for the Armentieres front, arriving on March 6th.

“We went to the firing line on the same day, but things were quieter than I had expected and we soon got settled down. I remember on March 12th going to a church service. The ‘church’ was in a private house, and just after we had left the building it was blown to bits by three enemy shells, one of our chaps being wounded. That was my first narrow escape.

“Six days later we left Armentieres and arrived at C……… on March 19th, being billeted in a cowshed. This, I can assure you, was not very pleasant. We soldiers slept in a loft, and in the room below there were about 20 cows. What with the ‘bestial’ odour and the lady of the farm waking us up at 5 a.m. instead of 6 a.m., we were glad to get away from that place.

“The first night I went there I was put on guard, and my brother (Aza Upton), who was serving in this division with me, was due to go on guard the next night. Unfortunately, there were not many who know ‘which was which of the two,’ so to speak, and I was unintentionally called instead of him and put on guard again on my second night there. In connection with that difficulty of knowing ‘which is which,’ I might mention another incident. When I went to be examined for the Army my teeth were passed as satisfactory, but my brother Aza was told that he must have some out. Subsequently I got a notice to have some of my teeth out and I obeyed the order, not knowing it was a mistake of the authorities, and the result was that we both had some teeth out. I had some new teeth, but I have since lost them ‘somewhere in France,’ and if anyone picks them up they are welcome to them. They fitted so badly I would rather be without them.

“On April 1st I was sent to a riding school, the authorities being bent on keeping up the old tradition as far as I was concerned. I don’t know whether it was the horse or myself who was ‘being had,’ but at any rate we both played the fool, and I have never liked horses since!

“I was excused riding for a time after this as I went on the sick list. I soon got over it, however, and went up to the firing line again – this time in a different district – being transferred to the trench mortar section. There are three kinds of trench mortars – the ‘heavy’ (with shells of about 152 lbs. weight), the ‘medium’ (shells about 60 lbs. weight), and the ‘stokes’ (shells about 13 or 14 lbs. weight). I was engaged on the heavy trench mortars with my brother.”

“Did you like the change?” asked our representative.

“Well,” replied Gunner Upton, “I fancy I did. The work was certainly more dangerous and more exciting than before, but I was glad to get away from the horses. I didn’t fancy them, and I am sure they didn’t fancy me!

“On April 28th I went to the 4th Army Trench Mortar School near B……., for a seven-day course in my new branch of service. I went up to the line again on May 16th in the Somme district. We had to dig ourselves in just behind the first line trench (the trench mortars had to have a ‘bed’ made for them) and consequently we were working for some time on almost open ground. Luckily the enemy’s fire was rather slack. Later on in the day, however, they found us out, and shelled us with their trench mortars for two hours, but we had already dug ourselves in. During this shelling I was hit in the back with a piece of shell and knocked down, but I sustained no injury. After this our position was condemned as unsafe – the enemy had succeeded in blowing it up one and looked like doing it again.

“We started taking up a new position, working day and night under heavy trench mortar fire, which, being carried on at only 300 yards range, is very dangerous. The only advantage is that you can see the shells coming, for they rise straight up in the air and drop almost straight down on their object if they are aimed true. At night time they usually have a burning fuse, which is of course a warning, but some of the shells are those which burst on concussion, these you cannot see at night time.

“On May 21st, the Lincolns were going over for a night raid on the enemy’s trenches, and I went up the first line trenches with a working party. I did not know how I should go on, but I got back safely on the morrow after dodging a few shells and snipers. On the 23rd we were at the old game – taking up a gun position – but on the following day we went back into billets for a rest. At this time we were served out with steel helmets (the infantry had already got theirs) and we began to feel a bit safer as far as our top quarters were concerned.

“On June 4th, I went in what we called a ‘Tambo’ – an exploded enemy mine, and at midnight a heavy bombardment started and I began to learn what real heavy shelling was. Up to that time it was the worst bombardment I had been in, but I have been in many as bad and worse since then. On that occasion the Germans took our first line trenches twice, but were eventually driven out. It cost both sides a lot of men.

“It was on June 24th, that the terrific British bombardment on the Somme commenced. I was engaged in carrying shells up to our trench mortar (‘medium’) guns on a sort of overhead railway over the trenches. The lines were on planks over the trenches and I walked in the trench guiding the shells which were on wheels overhead. The bombardment was still on on June 29th – five days later – and I came through with nothing more than a slight bruise on the arm from a stray piece of a ‘whiz-bang.’ The piece of shell went right through my sleeve and my jersey but only grazed my arm.

“On the following day I had another narrow escape. A ‘premature’ shell (so called because it burst as soon as it left the muzzle of the gun) from a 4.5 inch gun burst near me as I was bending. It blew one chap’s foot off on one side of me, as he was standing up, wounded a chap on the other side of me as he was walking away, and wounded a dozen chaps behind me, though not seriously, but, as I was bending down, I escaped injury. I came to the conclusion after this that I was bearing a charmed life and I have stuck to that conclusion ever since.

“On Saturday, July 1st, at 6 a.m. every available British gun was on the go (some having slackened a little in the few days previous) and at 7 a.m. we blew 7 mines up under the enemy’s trenches. This was the biggest mining adventure of the British known up to that time. Over went the infantry at about 7.15, and we stood on the parapet of our trenches just behind the first line watching the Somersets go over. The Englishmen went straight over three lines of German trenches, capturing the third line by 8.30, and we took up our position in the original British first line trenches. As we were in these trenches three Germans ran towards us shouting ‘Mercy, kamarade!! But, not being particularly vain for spoil, we stopped in our trenches while some Royal Welsh Fusiliers went out to them with fixed bayonets and ransacked their pockets.

“At this time we were all dosed with rum – just enough to imbibe us with the fiery ‘spirit.’ Later on in the day the firing slackened a little, and I was on guard that night in the original front line trenches.

“I was again engaged in carrying bombs on July 5th for the trench mortars, again serving the ‘mediums.’ The latter tried to get dug in again after the advance, but there were too many enemy shells flying about. Six days later they made another attempt to fix a trench mortar position in M……. Wood, but they could not get into action. The day after this attempt we retired to the rear for a rest.

“On July 13th I was taken sick, probably through the terrific noise of the guns and the damp conditions and hard work, and I was taken to the 3rd Canadian Hospital at Boulogne.

“I became attached to the 4th Canadians on Sept. 3rd at D…….., and on the next day went with them up to the trenches to take over the trench mortars, but we were out again after three days there. From then to Oct. 1st I was engaged in various manoeuvres behind the line. On Oct. 1st I went up to the trenches with a working party, but later was taken to a district farther north, and spent a period in which we were alternately six days in and six days out of the trenches. After Oct. 29th I was again shifted to the Somme region, and that is the region I left last week to come home.”