1 a
19 February
DEW
10/2/16 My dear Father — I have
just received your letter
of 5th February & as I have a
few minutes to spare at
present am replying at
once. As regards the
Hyposocpe I dont think
you need take any further
special trouble about these
for with the introduction of
the Lewis gun which is employed
in the front trenches, the
practice now is to use the
Vickers guns in the support
& reserve trenches in which
positions there is really no
necessity for using the Hyposcope.
As you will have heard, we
are now in the trenches
& I have 8 guns actually
2 2

in positions the remainder
being in reserve. By day
we only fire indirect fire, that
is from positions concealed
from the enemy & by night
when we employ some of the
others there is no necessity
for a Hyposcope. We have
only got 4 of the Gardin Hyposcopes
in the Coy (there was only 1 per
Batt) but I dont expect we
shall ever use them, at any
rate not in our present
positions. The Govt.pattern
issued with the guns is not
at all satisfactory. The gun
cannot be fired by one man.
One man holds the handles
of the Hyposcope — which is nothing
more or less than a box
periscope clapmed to the gun —
& a second man operates a
3 3

lever to release the safety
catch & press the firing lever.
The Gardiner Hyposcope is
superior in every way & we
have done some quite good
shooting with it on the range
but mechanically it requires
improvement. I altered one
so as to make the top mirror
adjustable & fitted a new
bottom mirror of same size
as top one with much improved
results. Unless the top mirror
can be adjusted it is impossible
to bring the rear sight in
line with foresight. However
as already mentioned we are
not using the Hyposcopes at
all owing to the different
method now adopted in using
the Vickers guns & so as
the W O seem to have set
4 4

themselves against the Gardiner
pattern I should let the
matter drop. As very glad
to hear the Trench pistol is
now nearing completion —
it will be 'great' to get at the
Germans with something new.
They have so far alsways been
the first in this line. I am
afraid however we wont be
able to experiment on this
particular part of the line
for the trenches are for the
most part about 400 yds
apart. There is not much
rifle fire but plenty of artillery.
I had a rather narrow escape
this morning with 2 of my
officers & a Corp. We were
inspecting one of the old
gun emplacements — the
one nearest the firing line
5 5

about 200 yds in rear — & I
was taking some bearings
with a view to straffing a
a part of the German support
trenches when suddenly
2 guns opened fire on
us with 15 lb shells. Fortunately
for us they did not get a
direct hit on the emplacement
but the shells hit some of them
within 10 yds & we were
well spattered with earth &
fragments of stones etc
An adjoining old French
gun emplacement which
was very conspicuous &
which the Germans evidently
took to be the one we were
inspecting — for they must
have observed something —
was broken up. There
was no near communication
6 6

trench & the trenches were
very shallow & came to a
blind end but between
the shots we scooted along
as far we could get from
the gun emplacement &
lay down in the mud. The
shelling went on for about
1/2 hr — about 40 shells in
all — & as they were all
dropping about 20 - 25 yds
away it was certainly far
from comfortable but
very exciting. The Corp
had an almost miraculous
escape — he ran the other
way to his dugout & just
as he got to the entrance
a shell landed on the
parapet beside him but
did not explode &
rolled down at his feet 7 7

where I saw it later.
At present I am having more
to do than I can well get through.
It is seldom I am in bed
till midnight & then up at
7 am or before. There are
so many returns to be sent in
besides all the organisation
of work etc & the worst of it
is one feels that the most of
these returns are never even
looked at.

Have had a note from Kathleen
but am afraid this will have
to do for all as I wont have
time to write again for some
days. Hoping you are keeping
well & with kind regards to
& others at office.

Your affectionate son
Jim