British Artillery 1914–19 Field Army Artillery
Extract from: British Artillery 1914–19: Field Army Artillery (New Vanguard 94)
Introduction
In 1914, British Army artillery equipments sufficiently mobile to accompany troops in the field were classified as 'Artillery of the Field Army' (as opposed to siege and fortress 'Artillery of Position'). Field Army artillery comprised of the light field guns of the Royal Horse Artillery and the field guns and howitzers of the Royal Field Artillery (which together consituted the 'Mounted Branch' of the Royal Regiment of Artillery). To these were added mountain guns and 'heavy field' guns manned by the Royal Garrison Artillery, the 'Dismounted Branch', which also manned Britain 's siege and coastal batteries. The Mounted Branch rode into action, while the Dismounted Branch marched.
Royal Horse Artillery
The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) provided artillery support for the cavalry and was equipped with light field guns. It was a corps d'élite within the Royal Artillery. A junior officer would not be considered for service with the RHA ('earning his jacket') until he had completed at least six years' service with the Royal Field Artillery (RFA), and was an accomplished horseman. Although the RHA was extensively employed in its traditional role during the mobile warfare of 1914–15, the lack of opportunities for cavalry action on the Western Front resulted in RHA batteries becoming increasingly interchangeable, in role and equipment, with those of the RFA. On other fronts, horse artillery batteries (frequently from the Territorial Force – see below) continued to operate in their traditional role throughout the war.
Royal Field Artillery
The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) provided the artillery support for the infantry divisions of the British Army. All ranks being mounted on horses or various limbers and wagons, RFA batteries of this period were scarcely less mobile than those of the RHA. In 1914 the RFA was equipped with field guns and field howitzers on a scale of one howitzer brigade for every three brigades of guns.
Royal Garrison Artillery – mountain and heavy batteries
The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) provided the army in the field with mountain batteries of light guns (and later howitzers) that could be dismantled and carried into action on the backs of mules. Mountain artillery provided pre-war RGA officers with opportunities for active service abroad and there was tough competition for postings. Three RGA mountain artillery batteries went to the Western Front in 1914, but proved unsuitable and were withdrawn and sent to Egypt . However, extensive use was made of mountain artillery in German East Africa during the Salonika campaign and in the Dardanelles . Mountain artillery was re-named 'Pack Artillery' in 1920. Heavy batteries were added to the field army following experience in South Africa , during the Boer War (1899–1901), when Boer guns outranged the British field artillery. 4.7-in. naval guns were mounted on field carriages as a temporary expedient and, as these guns were also in service with the RGA in coastal defences, some RGA batteries were subsequently equipped as 'heavy field'. One RGA heavy battery was attached to each infantry division sent to France in 1914.
The Reserves and the Territorial Force
Before World War I Great Britain rejected compulsory military service in favour of a system based on a professional army in which men enlisted 'with the colours' for a period, after which they continued to be liable for service, as reservists, for a further period. In the case of the RHA and RFA, these were six years' service and six years in the Reserve – eight years' service and four in the Reserve for the RGA. To the Regulars and Reservists were added the part-time volunteers of the Territorial Force (TF), established in 1908, to replace the old Yeomanry, Volunteers and Militia. The artillery of the Volunteers and Militia had been largely static or siege 'Artillery of Position'. The new Territorial Force, however, was required to be a 'complete army' and, from 1908, formed mountain, horse, field and heavy batteries.
The Empire and Dominions
Throughout the Empire and Dominions, local artillery units existed, Regular and Volunteer. Although these colonial units generally followed British practice ( India exercised considerable independence in the selection and design of equipment), obsolescent equipment frequently remained in service on the furthest frontiers. Elderly field artillery also survived as 'movable armament' to defend the landward approaches of the Empire's coastal batteries and coaling stations.
The role
In the attack, field artillery would fire on the enemy until the last possible moment, to keep the defenders' heads down. In defence, their fire would break up the enemy advance. To achieve this, the guns fired shrapnel shell, an anti-personnel projectile containing hundreds of lead alloy balls ('bullets'), tightly packed around a bursting charge. The gunpowder bursting charge was detonated by a time fuse, the balls showering down in a cone-shaped burst. Howitzers used high explosive (HE) ammunition, a shell packed with 'lyddite' explosive and fitted with a percussion fuse to burst on impact. HE shells depended for their effect on blast and fragmentation (shell 'splinters').
© 2006 Osprey Publishing Ltd, British Artillery 1914–19 Field Army Artillery (New Vanguard 94)
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