Thunder in the Skies by Derek Grout

Author:Derek Grout
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2015-07-30T04:00:00+00:00

Pack horses of the 2DAC carrying 18-pounders to the 20th Battery, Neuville St. Vaast, April 1917. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, PA-001231.

As the last days before the attack ticked away, the pace quickened. While 18-pounders chopped lanes through the German wire, the 23rd’s howitzers continued to destroy communication trenches. On April 1 alone it dropped 250 rounds of BX on Dump Avenue, 150 on Fritter Trench, 75 on Balloon Avenue, and 85 on Grenadier Graben. These received more of the same the following day, 625 rounds in all. Observed from the Canadian front lines, the German trenches soon showed the effects of heavy shelling. “Hun trenches on 5th Brigade Zone badly knocked about,” reported the War Diary on April 6.

Ammunition stores at each gun continued to increase in anticipation of the attack. Lieutenant-General Julian Byng, commanding the Canadian Corps,***** had determined that victory would be purchased with shells and not with the lives of men. Orders for 5th Brigade specified that howitzers were to use not less than 150 rounds per gun per day: 120 for trench destruction, 10 to prevent repairs, and 20 for harassing fire. It was a welcome change from the 1915 shell shortage, when Canadian gunners were rationed to no more than three rounds per day. In practical terms, it meant more than 70 tons of ammunition were being hauled each day to the 5th Brigade alone. As Bert wrote, “By the time Zero Day arrived, horses and men alike were thoroughly played out.”

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