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Heavy mortar emplacement after a night of firing |
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This picture was taken after a night of heavy firing of a battery of heavy mortars (4.2 inch.) The pile of empty boxes and empty packing tubes to the left of the pile of boxes show the amount of ammunition that was expended during the night's attack. The base of the mortars had been pounded a foot or so into the soil by the constant firing. In talking to some of the people here they described their firing routine. Before starting to fire the mortars they wrapped a burlap bag around the tube. Then one man opened the packing, another cut the charge (removed little cellophane packets of propellant that were held in clips at the base of each round surrounding an igniter which looked like a 12 gauge shotgun shell.) He'd then hand the prepared round to the next person who would drop it down the barrel of the mortar. Another man stood by and occasionally poured water on the burlap bag to help keep the tube cool. This was as close as the infantry gets to automatic artillery. When I was there, the mortar's base plates had been driven a foot or more into the soil by the constant, sustained, pounding during a rapid-fire barrage. Since the mortars were sighted on a stick pounded into the dirt nearby, I've often wondered how they kept their mortars sighted properly. Or maybe it just didn't matter -- it was only necessary to throw high explosives out there during a Chinese assault and you'd kill someone. In the distance you can see a tall hill with a road running below the
crest. This is the position the battalion held before being move to its
present location. Happy Valley is between the near hill and the far
hill.
Click here to see an earlier
picture taken from the high hill across the valley back towards this location. This
picture is also shown on page 5. |
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©Copyright Freeman Bradford. All rights reserved |
