Royal Artillery WW1

UBIQUE - GUNNERS IN THE GREAT WAR

Britain declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914 and three days later the advanced parties of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) deployed to France. The BEF would concentrate in the area of Maubeuge and Le Cateau and on the 21st August cavalry troops reconnoitring forward near Mons exchanged the first shots of the First World War.

A day later a troop from  16th  Lancers were engaged by an enemy patrol, and to cover their withdrawal the guns of E Battery RHA unlimbered and fired the first British Artillery round of the Great War.

1914 - First round fired by RA on the Western Front

By the end of World War One, the Royal Artillery would have fired 86 million rounds of ammuntion and in conflict around the world.

RGA  9.2 in Howitzer Western Front

 ROYAL ARTILLERY WW1

UBIQUE

France and Flanders

Mesopotamia

Gallipoli

Egypt and Palestine

Aden

The Western Desert

Salonika

Italy

North West Frontier

North Russia

Source: Imperial War Museum 

•  © IWM (IWM 430) 

The work of the Royal Field Artillery and Royal Garrison Artillery, mainly on the Western Front, 1916-1917.

Drivers water their horses at a trough. A brigade of RFA 18-pounders moves off from their camp ground. Other 18-pounders move past dead Highlanders.  A battery of 18-pounders in line fires. Two 60-pounders being fired. An officer climbs a ladder into a tree as an observation post. A 60-pounder battery fires under scrim. Rear view of an 18-pounder firing. Some 9.2-inch howitzers fire from a chalk pit. Finally, 60-pounders in action in Mesopotamia.

ROYAL ARTILLERY WW1

Transition from Mobile to Positional Warfare

 Prior to the  First World War began the Royal Artillery was focussed on manoeuvre warfare, as it was anticipated that conflicts would be mobile in nature. The is reflected in the nature of guns which would support the British Expeditionary Force, field guns of the Royal Horse and Field Artillery.

 WW1 Field Artillery

When the BEF deployed in 1914, 72 field, 5 horse artillery and 6 heavy batteries provided the artillery support. The ratio of field to heavy batteries / artillery is 13 to 1. The doctrine is one of mobility and close support of infantry and cavalry.

The opening Battle at Mons saw the British Expeditionary Force forced into a retreat, together with their French Allies which ended with German advance being checked on the River Marne. An allied counter attack caused the Germans to withdraw to the River Aisne where the battle ended in stalemate and the was the advent of trench warfare.

The stalemate of the trenches and the move to positional warfare, necessitated the deployment of more troops, requiring more field guns to support them and a demand for heavy artillery, 6 inch guns / howitzers and above.

In 1915 the first of the Territorial and Kitchener's New Army divisions brought an additional 50 + guns each time a new division deployed. There is also additional heavy artillery deploying and by August 1915 the field artillery / heavy artillery ratio is 6 to 1.

On the eve of the Battle of the Somme, the Kitchener divisions deployed for the 'big push' have added additional field artillery. However, the expansion in heavy and siege artillery has been greater the field to heavy artillery being 3 : 1.

8 inch guns - Heavy Artillery Battle of the Somme

The failure to break through the German defences on the first day of the Somme led to a protracted battle that lasted till November 1916. Heavy artillery would remain the dominant fire support component as further attempts to break through the German lines were made in 1917; Battle of Arras on  April / May, Battle of Messines in  June, and Third Ypres July to November, and Battle of Cambrai November. The attempts to advance eventually brought to a halt through heavy casualties and battlefields of mud.

Third Battle of Ypres - Passchendaele 1917 

The dominance of field artillery would return in 1918. After successfully stopping the German Spring Offensive during March to July, the Allied forces went on the attack. In August 1918 the Battle of Amiens was the start of a 100 day offensive that pushed the German Army back 150 km, culminating in the signing of the Armistice on November 11 1918.

Artillery in the advance

ROYAL ARTILLERY MANPOWER WW1

Over the course of World War One, the manpower of the Royal Artillery would expand from 78,000 in August 1914 to over half a million men by the time of the Armistice in November 1918. Those joining the Gunners would be volunteers and conscripted men.

The call to Arms in 1914 by Lord Kitchener saw the Royal Artillery grow five times it's size by the start of of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, expanding to nearly seven times it size by the end of the war.