REAL LIFE
In the daytime we were under the protection of the edge of the jungle. The trees
sheltered us from ‘Pistol Pete’ which was a Japanese Naval artillery piece that
was on tracks in the hills. It would fire two or three rounds - firing at random
all hours of the day - and then would be rolled back into a cave where it was well
camouflaged. It was eventually located and destroyed a few months later.
At dusk, where we were protected by darkness, we would move our Howitzers
onto the open airfield and point in the direction of the hills - towards
Grassy Knoll, Bloody Ridge and Kukombona. In the open we could fire in any
direction. Then, before daylight, we would pull back under the trees.
The big disadvantage of living on the airfield as we did was that it made us
a part of the main target - which was the airfield and aircraft - so that every
enemy plane or ship that got within range either shot at us or dropped bombs on
us. We were very fortunate not to have had lots more casualties than we did.
“I was acting section chief throughout the whole Guadalcanal engagement...
54 // War Thunder Community Magazine
The GameOn Magazine