Tom Wood speaking about his experiences in the artillery

Tom Wood speaking about his experiences in the artillery

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You see, the English boys were over there you see, before we were, you see. We didn't come till February. Well, they were over there, oh, 2 months before that, the 57th Division, the English bunch of boys.

We used to be in with 18 pounders. We used to be the first in the line you know, cause you could roll them up and put them in you see. Oh, an 18 pounder, depends on the shot you were firing. It could be shrapnel, it could be high explosive, it could be anything you see, in them days.

It depends on how far away you were. We were, half the time, we were about maybe a hundred yards away from the Germans, you know. That was why we used to have the 18 pounders right in the front line, pretty near. Depends on if it was a battle scene coming up, we had everything there, you see, way back to the six pounders, eight pounders, 18 pounders, .45s.

Well, Vimy Ridge, there is Petit Vimy and Vimy you see. Petit Vimy is right on the Canal bank. It is sort of a bank, you know, a railroad and everything else there, you see. Well that was the largest, at that time that was the largest barrage that was ever fought in any battle, you see. We had them shooting from about 21 miles away, from the front line I'm talking about now, you see. And they used to, oh God. That is why we won Vimy Ridge, you see. Cause through that, we had so much artillery back of us, it was just out of this world, just out of this world. We used to take our guns, especially the 18 pounders. They are a heavy gun too you know, plus the brass, [not audible]. You put it in the gun, you see.

Well in one, well, say, in the first battery, you see the first battery, we had six horses to a gun, you see, and maybe four, four horses to a limber. In other words, the limber was carrying the bullets for us to use on the gun. In a battery, there would be about say 12 guns, 12 guns. A gun would take six horses, two, four, sixes. That is just the gun itself, now. I'm not talking about the limbers, the shots, you know.

People don't seem to, even the kids at the schools, they didn't realize that you could fight without, just horses. There wasn't an automobile or a truck. With small railroad tracks, you see. But with the small railroad track, the railroad wasn't that big, you see. And that brought all our wounded down and brought extra guns in, not extra guns, extra ammunition, you see. They kept us filled up. There were two battalions of them, just putting in railroads, little railroads, now.

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