Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_.
SNIPING IN FRANCE
_By the Same Author._
WHERE BLACK RULES WHITE--HAYTI
THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA
HUNTING CAMPS IN WOOD AND WILDERNESS
THROUGH TRACKLESS LABRADOR
[Illustration:
_From a drawing by_] [_Ernest Blaikley._
The Sniper-Observer-Scout.]
SNIPING IN FRANCE
With Notes on the Scientific Training of
Scouts, Observers, and Snipers
BY
MAJOR H. HESKETH-PRICHARD
D.S.O., M.C.
_WITH A FOREWORD_
BY
GENERAL LORD HORNE OF STIRKOKE
G.C.B., K.C.M.G., etc.
_Illustrations by ERNEST BLAIKLEY, Artists’
Rifles, late Sergeant-Instructor at the First
Army School of S.O.S., the late Lieut. B. Head,
The Hertfordshire Regt., and from Photographs._
_NEW YORK_:
_E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
681, FIFTH AVENUE_
_Printed in Great Britain._
FOREWORD
BY GENERAL LORD HORNE, G.C.B.
It may fairly be claimed that when hostilities ceased on November 11th,
1918, we had outplayed Germany at all points of the game.
Perhaps as a nation we failed in imagination. Possibly Germany was
more quick to initiate new methods of warfare or to adapt her existing
methods to meet prevailing conditions. Certainly we were slow to adopt,
indeed, our souls abhorred, anything unsportsmanlike.
Had it been left to us, “Gas” would have taken no part in the Great
European War.
But, however lacking in imagination, however slow to realize the
importance of novel methods, once we were convinced of their necessity,
once we decided to adopt them, we managed by a combination of brains
and energy, pluck and endurance, not only to make up the lost ground,
but to take the lead in the race. In proof of this statement I would
instance Heavy Field Artillery, High Explosives, Gas, Work in the Air,
etc., and many other points I could mention in which Germany started
ahead of us, including Sniping, Observation and Scouting.
And for our eventual superiority we owe much to individuals, men who,
like the author of this book, Major Hesketh-Prichard, combined expert
knowledge with untiring energy, men who would not be denied and could
not recognize defeat.
In the early days of 1915, in command of the 2nd Division, I well
remember the ever-increasing activity of the German sniper and the
annoyance of our officers and men in the trenches. I can recall the
acquisition by the Guards’ Brigade, then in the Brickfields of Cuinchy
with Lord Cavan as Brigadier, of two rifles fitted with telescopic
sights and the good use made of them. It was the experience of 1915
that impressed upon us the necessity of fighting for superiority in all
branches of trench warfare, amongst which sniping held an important
position. It was therefore a great satisfaction to me upon my arrival
from the battlefields of the Somme in the autumn of 1916 to find
Major Hesketh-Prichard’s School firmly established in the First Army
area, thanks in a great measure to the support and encouragement of
Lieut.-General Sir Richard Haking, the Commander of the Eleventh Corps.
From that time onwards, owing chiefly to the energy, enthusiasm, tact
and personality of its Commandant, the influence of the Sniping,
Observation and Scouting School spread rapidly throughout the British
Forces in France. Of its ups and downs, of its troubles and its
successes, and of its ultimate triumph, Major Hesketh-Prichard tells
the tale with modesty typical of the man.
I may be permitted to add my testimony that in each phase of the war,
not only in the trenches, but in the field, we found the value of the
trained sniper, observer and scout.
This book is not only a record of a successful system of training,
valuable as such to us soldiers, but also will be found to be full of
interest to the general reader.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I.--THE GENESIS OF SNIPING 1
II.--THE SNIPER IN THE TRENCHES 25
III.--EARLY DAYS WITH THE XI. CORPS AND FIRST ARMY 56
IV.--THE FIRST ARMY SCHOOL OF SCOUTING, OBSERVATION AND
SNIPING 71
V.--SOME SNIPING MEMORIES 94
VI.--AN OBSERVER’S MEMORIES 114
VII.--THE CURRICULUM AND WORK AT FIRST ARMY SCHOOL OF S.O.S. 144
VIII.--WILIBALD THE HUN 164
IX.--THE CAT 176
X.--THE TRAINING OF THE PORTUGUESE 184
XI.--THE MODERN SCOUT 191
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A.--PROGRAMME FOR TRAINING OBSERVERS 211
APPENDIX B.--GENERAL COURSE AT FIRST ARMY SCHOOL OF S.O.S. 214
APPENDIX C.--I. CARE OF ARMS, GROUPING AND RANGE PRACTICES 222
II. PATROLLING AND SCOUTING 232
III. THE STALKING TELESCOPE 239
IV. FRONT LINE OBSERVATION AND REPORTS 246
V. SOME USES OF SCOUTS, OBSERVERS AND SNIPERS IN
ATTACK AND DEFENCE AND OPEN WARFARE 253
VI. THE ENFIELD 1914 PATTERN “SNIPER’S RIFLE” 259
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The Sniper-Observer-Scout _Frontispiece_
The Sniper’s End _Facing p._ 28
Examination of a German Prisoner 30
Outside the Snipers’ Post.--“Shut the loopholes. I’m coming in”
38
Telescopic Sights. “Nurse your Target.” 1. “Not yet.” 2. “Now!”
44
Spotting the Enemy Sniper 46
XI Corps Sniping School. Imitation German Trench used for
spotting targets, etc. 64
Method of inserting Loophole. 1. Original Section of Parapet;
2. How bags are arranged and fixed round loophole to imitate
original parapet (Gray’s Boards.); 3. Parapet reconstructed
with loophole 64
XI Corps Sniping School. Showing the best form of parapet to
conceal loopholes, and the wrong type of parapet for concealing
snipers’ loopholes 66
Section of typical German Parapet. Showing concealed loopholes
made through tins, bags, etc. 66
First Army School of S.O.S. 72
First Army School of S.O.S. No. 1. Flat Parapet. The easiest
possible form of parapet to spot movement behind--practically a
death-trap 74
First Army School of S.O.S. No. 2. Same parapet as in No. 1 after
five minutes’ alteration 76
First Army School of S.O.S. Sniper’s Robe on a 6ft. 4in. man in
the open 88
Find the Sniper. (The flat cap gives him away) 92
Find the Sniper (Look for the rifle barrel) 94
Telescopic Sights. With Periscopic Prism--Aldis. With Winchester.
With German telescopic sight (showing use at night) 98
Inside the Observation Post 122
Lovat Scouts: Battle observers 126
The Fatal Cap 142
First Army School of S.O.S. Comparison of sniper’s robe as
opposed to ordinary kit firing over a turnip heap 144
First Army School of S.O.S. Typical German Loophole Disguises in
Earth Parapet 148
1. There are two snipers here--one in uniform and one in a
“sniper’s robe” 150
2. A contrast showing the drawbacks of uniform and a “correct”
position 152
First Army School S.O.S. Showing effects and importance of light
and shade 156
Night-work in No Man’s Land 194
SNIPING IN FRANCE
CHAPTER I
THE GENESIS OF SNIPING
Readers of this book must realize the necessarily very narrow and
circumscribed point of view from which it is written. It is simply an
account of some memories of sniping, observation and scouting in France
and Flanders, and its purpose is to preserve, as far as may be, in
some form the work and training of a class of officers and men whose
duties became ever more important as the war progressed. It is in the
hope that the true value of sniping and scouting will continue to be
recognized in the future training of our armies, as it certainly was
recognized in the later years of the war, that this book is written.
The idea of organized sniping was not a new one to me when I went out
to France in May, 1915. I had been there before, in the previous March,
and had seen the immense advantages which had accrued to the Germans
through their superiority in trench warfare sniping.
It is difficult now to give the exact figures of our losses. Suffice it
to say that in early 1915 we lost eighteen men in a single battalion in
a single day to enemy snipers. Now if each battalion in the line killed
by sniping a single German in the day, the numbers would mount up. If
any one cares to do a mathematical sum, and to work out the number of
battalions we had in the line, they will be surprised at the figures,
and when they multiply these figures by thirty and look at the month’s
losses, they will find that in a war of attrition the sniper on this
count alone justifies his existence and wipes out large numbers of the
enemy.
But it is not only by the casualties that one can judge the value of
sniping. If your trench is dominated by enemy snipers, life in it is
really a very hard thing, and _moral_ must inevitably suffer. In many
parts of the line all through France and Belgium the enemy, who were
organized at a much earlier period than we, certainly did dominate us.
Each regiment and most soldiers who have been to France will remember
some particular spot where they will say the German sniping was more
deadly than elsewhere, but the truth of the matter is that in the
middle of 1915 we were undergoing almost everywhere a severe gruelling,
to say the least of it.
When I went out in May, 1915, I took with me several telescopic-sighted
rifles, which were either my own property or borrowed from friends. I
was at the time attached to the Intelligence Department as an officer
in charge of war-correspondents, and my work gave me ample opportunity
to visit all parts of the line. Whenever I went to the line I took
with me, if it was possible, a telescopic-sighted rifle, and I found
that both brigades and battalions were soon applying to me to lend
these rifles. In this way opportunities arose of visiting the line and
studying the sniping problem on the spot.
One day I remember I was going through the trenches in company with
the Australian Correspondent, Mr. Gullett, when we came to a very
smart notice board on which was painted the word “Sniper,” and also an
arrow pointing to the lair in which he lay. The sniper, however, was
not in the lair, but was shooting over the top of the parapet with a
telescopic-sighted rifle. These rifles were coming out from England at
that time in very small numbers, and were being issued to the troops.
I had for many years possessed telescope-sighted rifles, and had some
understanding of their manipulation as used in big-game shooting. In a
general way I could not help thinking that they were unsportsmanlike,
as they made shooting so very easy, but for shooting at rabbits with
a small-bore rifle, where you only wounded your rabbit unless you
hit him in the head, they were admirable and saved a great deal of
unnecessary suffering.
But to return to the sniper. Much interested, we asked him how he
liked his rifle, and he announced that he could put a shot through the
loophole of the iron shields in the German trenches “every time.” As
the German trenches were six hundred yards away, it seemed to me that
the sniper was optimistic, and we asked him if he would let us see
him shoot. I had with me a Ross glass which I always carried in the
trenches, and when the sniper shot I saw his bullet strike some six
feet to the left of the plate at which he was aiming. He, however, was
convinced from the sound that it had gone clean through the loophole!
He had another shot, and again struck well to the left. I had a look
at his sight, which was a tap-over fitting, and seeing that it was a
little out of alignment I questioned the sniper as to how much he knew
about his weapon. It is no exaggeration to say that his knowledge was
limited.
From this moment all telescope-sighted rifles became a matter of great
interest to me, and it was not long before I came to the conclusion
that about 80 per cent. were quite useless, much worse, in fact, than
the ordinary open sights, in the hands in which they were. The men
using them had in most cases hardly any knowledge of how their sights
were aligned. A tap or a knock and the rifle was straightway out of
shooting.
For the benefit of the untechnical reader it will be well here
to remark that if a telescopic sight set upon a 4-inch base is
one-hundredth of an inch out of its true alignment, it will shoot
incorrectly to the extent of 9 inches at 100 yards, and, of course, 18
inches at 200 yards, and 54 inches at 600 yards. The sights had been
issued without instruction, were often handed over as trench-stores,
and were served out by quartermaster-sergeants who very often looked on
them as egregious fads.
It seemed to me that here was something definite to go upon towards
that organization of sniping in which I so much desired to have a
hand. That evening I laid the matter before my Commanding Officer,
Lieut.-Colonel A.G. Stuart, of the 40th Pathans, than whom surely no
finer officer went to the war. He was killed in 1916 by a chance bullet
a mile behind the trenches, when he was serving near Ypres as G.S.O.1
to the 50th Division.
He listened with both sympathy and interest. “You say,” said he, “that
all or nearly all the telescope-sighted rifles you have seen are so
incorrect as to be worse than useless. Are you quite sure of this?”
“Quite sure,” said I. “And that is only one side of it. The men have
no idea of concealment, and many of them are easy targets to the Hun
snipers.”
“The proper authorities should move in the matter,” said Colonel Stuart.
“There don’t seem to be any proper authorities, sir. The officers know
no more than the men about these sights, and what I want to do is this:
If it is possible I should like to be appointed as sniping expert to
some unit. I believe I could save hundreds of lives even in a brigade
the way things are.”
Colonel Stuart said nothing, so I went on:
“Will you help me to get a job of this kind, sir? I am asking because
it seems absurd for a fellow like me who has spent years after big game
to let men go on being killed when I know perfectly well that I can
stop it.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“I am quite willing, sir, to go to any unit for a fortnight’s trial,
and if I do not make good, there will be no harm done.”
“Well,” said Colonel Stuart at length, “we will talk to people about it
and see what they say.”
After that, Colonel Stuart often questioned me, and I pointed out to
him our continued and heavy losses, the complete German superiority,
the necessity not only of a course of training but, more important
still, the selection of the right men to train and also their value
to Intelligence if provided with telescopes, and made a dozen other
suggestions, all very far-reaching.
When I look back now on these suggestions, which came from a very
amateur soldier of no military experience, I can only marvel at Colonel
Stuart’s patience; but he was not only patient, he was also most
helpful and sympathetic. Without him this very necessary reform might,
and probably would, have been strangled at birth, or would have only
come into the Army, if it had come at all, at a much later time.
Colonel Stuart not only allowed me to speak of my ideas to various
officers in high command, but even did so himself on my behalf. I was
amazed at the invariable kindness and courtesy that I met on every
hand. I used to introduce myself and say: “Sir, I hope you will forgive
me if I speak about a thing I am awfully keen on--sniping, sir. The
Huns got twelve of the Blankshires in this Division on their last tour
of duty, and I think we could easily beat them at this if we had proper
training and organization.” And then I would lay out my plans.
But, though people listened, there were immense difficulties in the
way, and these might never have been surmounted, although quite a
number of Corps and Divisional G.O.C.’s had said to me: “If you can get
away from your job at G.H.Q., come here and be our sniping expert. We
shall be very glad to have you.”
Still, as I say, there is a thing in the Army called “Establishment,”
and there was no Establishment for a sniping officer, and if the matter
were put through the War Office it would probably take some months, I
knew, to obtain an establishment. Colonel Stuart, however, once I had
convinced him, backed me up in every possible way, going to see the
M.G.G.S., Third Army, Major-General Sir A.L. Lynden-Bell, who was in
full sympathy with the idea. It was thus that the matter was mentioned
to Sir Charles Monro, commanding the Third Army, and Colonel Stuart
arranged with Brigadier-General MacDonogh, now Lieut.-General Sir
George MacDonogh, who was then in command of the Intelligence Corps, to
allow me to serve with the Third Army as sniping expert.
John Buchan,[A] who was at that time the _Times_ correspondent on the
Western Front, also gave the idea great encouragement. He had seen for
himself the awful casualties that we were suffering, and considered the
scheme which I laid out to be a sound one.
[A] Afterwards Lieut.-Col. John Buchan, Director of Information.
Sir Charles Monro, in talking over the matter, made a remark which I
have always remembered.
“It is not,” he said, “only that a good shot strengthens his unit,
but he adds to its _moral_--he raises the _moral_ of his comrades--it
raises the _moral_ of the whole unit to know that it contains several
first-class shots.”
These are not the exact words which Sir Charles used, but they are as
near them as I can remember.
* * * * *
Now that I had got my chance I was at first extremely happy, but
later, as I could not go to my new work at once, I became a little
nervous of failure, and pictured myself unsuccessful in my attempt to
dominate the German snipers. I began to wish that I had gone to my work
a month earlier, for when the Third Army took over from the French, the
Germans offered any amount of targets, whereas I now heard that they
were becoming more cautious. I, therefore, cast about for some way in
which I might hope to make certain of success, and to this end, having
conceived a plan, I went down to Neuve Chapelle, where my friend,
Captain A.C. Gathorne-Hardy, 9th Scottish Rifles, since killed at Loos
leading his men and within ten yards of the German wire, was in the
line. We obtained from the old German trenches a number of the large
steel plates from behind which the German snipers were wont to shoot,
and these I took home with me to England, for I had obtained a week’s
leave before taking up my new duties.
I proceeded to try on these plates all kinds of rifles, from the
Jeffreys high velocity .333 to heavy elephant guns of various bores,
and was delighted to find that the bullets from the .333, as well as
the elephant guns, pierced them like butter. Here, again, Colonel John
Buchan came to my assistance, and obtained for me a fund, to which Lord
Haldane, Lord Glenconner and Lord Finlay kindly contributed the money,
and which enabled me to purchase the necessary rifles. Later on, Mr.
St. Loe Strachey, the editor of _The Spectator_, continued to keep up
my fund, which really was of incalculable value to us, and out of which
everything from dummy heads purchased at Clarkson’s to football jerseys
for the splendidly-appointed Sniping School, which finally eventuated,
were purchased.
At length I was free of my work at G.H.Q., and went down to the Third
Army, where I was attached to the 7th Corps, the 4th Division, and the
10th and 12th Infantry Brigades.
It would be out of place to describe in detail the days that followed.
Suffice it to say that very early in the proceedings it became clear
that snipers must always work in pairs, one man shooting and one man
finding the targets with the telescope. The regulation issue of the
latter was at the time, I think, about eight telescopes per battalion,
and these were used by the Signallers, but Lord Roberts’ Fund,
administered with extraordinary energy by Mr. Penoyre, came to the
rescue, and soon a certain number of telescopes dribbled down into the
4th Division line. As to the heavy and armour-piercing rifles, they did
their work exceedingly well, and no doubt caused a great surprise to
the enemy.
One day I obtained leave to go to Amiens, where I visited the French
Camouflage Works, and found to my delight that they had made a number
of papier-mâché models of the heads and shoulders of British soldiers.
Of these I was able to purchase a large quantity, and had no longer
any need to buy in London, where the heads were rather theatrical
properties than the real thing. The uses to which the heads were put
were varied. They were, in these early days before they were too much
advertised (for they afterwards became an issue in our Army), most
useful in getting the enemy to give a target. It was also possible, by
showing very skilfully the heads of Sikhs or Ghurkas in different parts
of the line, to give the German Intelligence the impression that we
were holding our line with Indian troops, and I have no doubt they were
considerably worried to account for these movements.
One day I received orders from Army Headquarters telling me that
Colonel Langford Lloyd, D.S.O., had now started a telescopic-sight
school in the 10th Corps area, and ordering me to go there and to
collaborate with Colonel Lloyd in a book upon sniping and telescopic
sights. I went and found a splendid school running, in which the
instruction in telescopic sights was rapidly correcting these rifles in
the 10th Corps.
I had the opportunity at Colonel Lloyd’s school of learning a great
deal that I did not know about telescopic sights, and many other
matters in which Colonel Lloyd is a past master. He listened with great
interest to the various ruses, of which there was now quite a long
list, that we had employed in the trenches.
We wrote our pamphlet on sniping and telescopic sights, a pamphlet
which, owing to a change in the Army Command, was never published, and
shortly after my visit to Colonel Lloyd I received the intimation that
my trial time with the Third Army had been successful, and that steps
would now be taken to get me placed permanently upon its strength. In
the meantime, I went from brigade to brigade, burning with eagerness
to make organized sniping a definite fact. The instruction took place
both in and out of the trenches, and during the course of it we had
many interesting experiences. As soon as people began to talk about
sniping as a new and interesting subject, our arrival in the trenches
became rather trying, as we were certainly looked upon as something in
the light of performing animals who would give some kind of a show of
greater or less interest. But the Higher Command soon put a stop to
this, and thence-forward we were allowed to plough our lonely furrow.
It would be difficult to describe the various days spent in the
trenches, or the duels that took place there; but each one threw fresh
light upon sniping and showed the enormous extent to which it might be
developed. I will make some reference to these days in later chapters.
As I have stated, snipers always worked in pairs, one observing, the
other shooting, and soon we found that the notes kept by the observer
were invaluable from an Intelligence point of view. If a line was
well covered with snipers’ posts, nothing could happen in the enemy
line without our snipers’ observers reporting it--no work could be
done, no alteration in the parapet made. Successful observation was,
in my experience, first obtained in the 10th Brigade, commanded by
Brigadier-General Hull,[B] by the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders. They had an
extraordinarily keen Commanding Officer, who provided his men with good
telescopes.
[B] Afterwards Major-General Sir A. Hull, K.C.B.
We now began all through the 7th Corps to start sniping sections
consisting of trained snipers and observers, and the success of the
movement grew very rapidly. The German began to cower in his trenches,
and as time wore on our casualties grew less and less. My life at this
time was an extraordinarily interesting and strenuous one. Moving
from brigade to brigade, I would often find splendid arrangements
for testing the telescopic sights, and as often none at all. A horse
before breakfast, on which I would set forth to find a range, followed
by an hour in the Pioneer’s shop, pasting up targets made out of old
_Daily Mails_ on to frames--the snipers of the brigade paraded at nine
o’clock, the march to the improvised range, shooting the telescopic
sights at the target, and after dark a lecture in some barn, was often
the order of the day.
I think in these early days that I was exceedingly fortunate in having
something definite to show. The telescopic sights were often very much
out of shooting, and no one understood the cure. I think many thought
for the first time that there was something in this sniping movement
when a sniper missed the target three times running at 70 yards, and a
little later, after his rifle had been manipulated, scored three bulls
on end.
One thing that struck me was the extraordinary interest taken by all
Brigade Commanders in every detail of the work. I do not say, nor do
I think, that at the beginning they looked on my coming with unmixed
favour. Once I walked into a Brigade Headquarters, and while waiting in
the passage heard a voice say:
“Who is this blighter who is coming?” And then someone gave my name.
Then a voice said: “Plays cricket, doesn’t he?”
I could not help laughing, but as I say, in the very early days every
Brigade Major and G.O.C. had to be converted to a belief in sniping.
Often and often the Brigade Commanders would spend hours on the first
day at the range, and I think that without exception when they saw the
incorrect rifles being made correct, they once and for all decided in
my favour. On my second visit to these Brigades, I was almost always
made the guest of the Brigadier-General and received with a kindness so
great as to be really overwhelming. Things, in fact, were going very
well indeed for the work which one hoped would soon spread through the
whole B.E.F., for to my delight one day I received a letter from Major
Collins, then G.S.O.2 to the Second Army, whom I had informed of my
appointment as sniping expert, to say that General Plumer was starting
an Army Sniping School in the Second Army, and asking for any notes I
might have.
But one morning while shooting on the range I heard that Sir Charles
Monro and his staff had gone to Gallipoli. I had been so keen on
my work that I had not pushed the matter of getting my appointment
regularized, but now I realized that its tenure might become very
insecure. Indeed, as a matter of fact when I did raise the question
I was informed by G.H.Q. that if I did not keep quiet I should be
recalled.
In 1915, the Third Army was far and away the best sniping Army in
France. There was hardly an incorrect sight in the 10th or 7th Corps,
and scores of officers and hundreds of men had been through courses
at Colonel Lloyd’s 10th Corps School, or with me. It was while I was
with one of the Infantry Brigades of the 37th Division that I received
a letter which gave me immense pleasure. It was to the effect that
Lieut.-General Haking, the Corps Commander of the 11th Corps in the
First Army, wished to borrow me, so that I might lecture on sniping to
his Corps, and go through their telescopic sights. Here was a splendid
chance of carrying the work outside my own Army.
About this time I was attached to the Third Army Infantry School, then
just formed under its first and very capable Commandant, Brig.-General
R.J. Kentish, D.S.O. I lectured there on sniping and started a range
and demonstrations, but I found myself lecturing to Company Commanders,
whereas I ought to have been doing so to sniping officers, in order
to get the best results. The Company Commanders liked, or appeared to
like, the lectures, but, in the Army phrase, it was “not their pidgin,”
and I soon felt that I should do better work nearer the line.
From the school, however, I journeyed up into the First Army area,
and went through the sights and fulfilled my engagement with the 11th
Corps. I think these days as the guest of the various Corps Commanders
of the First Army--for I was passed on from the 11th Corps to the 3rd,
and from the 3rd to the 1st--were the best days I had in France, for
the extraordinary keenness in the First Army was very marked. It was
here that I had to go through the ordeal of having to lecture to the
Guards Divisional Staff and Snipers at nine o’clock in the morning.
In lecturing, even on an interesting subject like sniping, it has
always seemed to me much easier to be successful in a warm room at five
o’clock rather than in a cold one at nine.
After finishing with the First Army and correcting some 250 telescopic
sights, I went back to the Third Army Infantry School. Here I found
that the Army Commander of the Third Army, Sir E. H. H. Allenby, had
applied for my services for the Third Army, and had received the reply
that these could be granted provided I relinquished the staff pay I
was receiving and was willing to accept instead the lower rate of an
Infantry Captain. This, of course, I agreed to do. Evidently, however,
there was some further hitch, for I received no pay for the next eight
months, nor did I dare to raise the question lest I should be sent back
to G.H.Q.
I remember one General saying to me upon this question, not without a
smile, “You are not here officially, you know, and any Germans you may
have killed, or caused to be killed, are, of course, only unofficially
dead.”
I will conclude this chapter with a letter that I wrote in November,
1915, which gives my impressions at that date.
MY DEAR ----
Since I have been with the 3rd Army, I have had an Officer from
every battalion in the 7th Corps through my course. These Officers
in their turn train snipers, and so the thing permeates quickly
and, I think, with really good results.
Sniping seems to me to be the art of--
I.--Finding your mark.
II.--Defining your mark.
III.--Hitting your mark.
With regard to No. I, it is absolutely essential that the use of the
telescope should be taught from the stalking or big-game point of view.
If we had one Officer teaching it in every battalion of our Army in
France, we should kill a lot of Germans, and not only this but the task
of Intelligence Officers would be greatly facilitated. With four good
telescopes on every battalion front, very little can happen in the
enemy line without our knowing it. There are a good many telescopes in
France.
With regard to defining a mark. It is here that telescope sights help
us, but telescope sights in the hands of a man who does not thoroughly
understand them are utterly useless. I have had a great many through
my hands, and in every ten I have had to correct about six after they
have been in the trenches a short time. I wish every battalion had
an Officer who could correct and shoot telescopic sights. It is very
important that he should be thoroughly knowledgeable, because a rifle
barrel must not have too many shots fired through it. With a new barrel
a good shot can nearly always get a 3-inch group, but after 600 or
1000 shots have been fired through the barrel the group becomes more
scattered. It is therefore necessary that the man who regulates the
rifle behind the trenches should be able to do so with as few shots as
possible.
Another point is,--that men must be trained to understand and believe
in their telescopic-sighted rifles. One Brigade I had for instruction,
on the third day of instruction with 16 snipers shooting, got 17 hits
on a model of a human head at 430 yards in the first 21 shots. Some of
the rifles used by these men had been 6 or 8 inches off at 100 yards
until regulated. In all they got 27 hits in 48 shots on the head,
shoulder hits not counted.
Also I have been having Officers through a regular course. I give them
first of all 20 objects, such as models of heads of French, British
and German soldiers, periscopes, rifle barrel, pickaxe, fire lighted,
etc. These objects are shown for fifteen seconds each from a trench,
and those under instruction have to write a list of what they can
see with a telescope from 600 or 700 yards away. It is wonderful how
quickly they come on. After a short time they can spot the colour of
the pieces of earth thrown up from the trench under observation. Then I
give them a hillside to examine. On this hillside I place a couple of
objects which are easy to find, perhaps the heads of a Frenchman and an
Englishman. I also put in two carefully concealed loopholes, which they
usually fail to find. This teaches thoroughness of search.
The construction of loopholes is most important. In this we are behind
the Germans. There is one form of double loophole, which I am keen to
see more universally adopted. The plate is placed in the parapet, and
two feet behind it a second plate is placed in grooves along which it
will slide. Not once in a hundred times does the German at whom one is
shooting get his bullet through both loopholes.
The drainpipe loophole is also very good. If put in at an angle, it is
very difficult for a German to put a bullet down it. In fact if the
drainpipe is put in low in the parapet, the brave Hun has to come clean
over the top of his own parapet to shoot down it at all.
I am also keen on teaching our fellows to open loopholes sanely.
I usually lie in front watching, and it is rarely that, if I shot
straight, I should not be able to kill or wound nine of every ten men
who open them. Loopholes should, of course, be opened from the side,
and a cap badge exposed before they are looked through. If the German
does not fire for 75 seconds, one may conclude that it is fairly safe.
These little simple-sounding precautions can save so many lives.
I cannot help feeling that sniping, even in these days of many
specialists, should be organized and improved. My aim has always been
to work in with battalions. Some are better than others, naturally so,
but always without exception I have found them very keen on improving
sniping.
The use of snipers in attack is another point. If you have a man who
can hit a model of a human head once in every 2 shots at 400 yards--and
I will undertake to get most men up to this standard who can shoot
decently--we shall kill some machine gunners in our next advance. Also
when a German is shooting at our troops coming down a road through an
aperture made by the removal of a brick from a wall, as they have often
done, how useful to have a fellow who can put a bullet through the
aperture.
Of course no telescopic sight should ever be touched, except as far as
moving the focussing sleeve goes, by anyone who does not understand it
thoroughly. When the object-glass becomes dirty or fogged with wet,
snipers often unscrew it. Unless they put it back in its exact original
position, they of course alter the shooting of the rifle hopelessly.
They also unscrew the capstan heads, which are for the lateral
regulation of the sighting. I have seen telescopic sights which were 30
inches out at 100 yards, or about 25 feet at 1000 yards. These things
would be impossible under a keen sniping Officer.
One thing I am certain snipers can do. They can make it very hot for
the enemy’s forward artillery observing Officers. If when the enemy
shell our trenches, one can get on the flank, one can often spot a
Hun Officer observing. The thing to do then is to lay a telescope on
through a drainpipe loophole near by. If you pack in the rifle on to a
bed of sandbags so that the pointer of the telescopic sight rests just
_under_ the place where the Hun pops up, it is possible to take aim
and fire the rifle in from two to four seconds. It is very important
that the man who is to shoot should look through the big telescope and
get a map of the trench opposite into his brain. Our telescopic sights
magnify about 3½ and one can often make a successful shot by shooting
six inches or a foot left or right, or above or below a white stone or
some prominent object in the opposing parapet, even when you cannot
define the Hun’s head very clearly through the sight.
I have seen this done. It is a very good sign when the Hun’s
field-glasses fall on the wrong side of the parapet.
Another thing to which we might give attention is the use of decoys. I
have had some made for me by the French.
I am quite convinced if I were asked to give the Germans the impression
that we had been relieved by Sikhs, Gurkhas or Frenchmen, that I could
do so, so wonderful are the models made for me by the French sculptor.
It is impossible to tell them from the real thing if skilfully exposed
at 100 yards, unless the light is very strong, and at 300 and 400 yards
it is quite impossible.
In fact as long as trench warfare lasts, I believe much can be done in
many small ways, if desired. But 1200 or 1500 telescopic sights in the
hands of trained men and four times as many optical sights, _if full
value is got out of them_, might along our line shorten the German army
of many a valuable unit before the spring.
Again and again battalions report two, three or four Germans shot by
their snipers in a single day; if you reduce these claims by half
or even if each battalion snipes but one Hun a day--and this is an
absurdly low estimate where adventitious sights are skilfully used, the
loss to the Germans would be great.
I have received the most kindly welcome possible from everybody, and in
many cases, almost in all, the Corps have been asked to let me go back
to give further instruction. All Brigadiers are very keen indeed to get
a high standard of sniping, and many of them feel that to do this is
almost impossible unless the snipers are trained to their rifles until
their belief in their own powers of hitting a mark, however small,
becomes fixed.
As I think of sniping all day and often dream about it at night, I
could write you a lot more on the subject, of which I have only touched
the fringes. If we organize sniping, we can get solid and tangible
results by killing the enemy and _saving the lives of our own men_.
Only those who have been in a trench opposite Hun snipers that had the
mastery, know what a hell life can be made under these conditions.
I don’t think the Germans are better snipers than our men, except that
they are more patient and better organized and better equipped. I have
found out a good deal about the German sniping organization, but this
is too long to go into now. I have said nothing of piercing and blowing
in German plates with heavy and .333 rifles. You can shut up their
sniping very promptly for a time in this way.