RGA Siege Artillery specifically 169th Battery

[Rob Chester]

Hello,

I am trying to find out more about the role of heavy siege artillery on the Somme and day to day life for the gunners. My specific interest is the 169th Battery. I have the War Diary for the 169th but would be interested to know if there was an official history for the 169th (I think probably not) or for the RGA/Siege Batteries in general (more likely). Also any published memoirs, diaries accounts of Siege Artillery in general would be of interest.

Any help much appreciated. This is research for a talk in Beverley next year.

Thanks

Rob

[rflory]

RGA unit histories in my library:

Heavy Artillery Group/BrigadeUnit Histories:

The 25th Army Brigade R.G.A. on the Western Front in 1918 by C.S.B. Buckland (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1940)

61, How Some Wheels Went Round by Brig-Gen O.C. Williamson Oswald (London: Henry J. Drane, 1929) [The activities of 61st Heavy Artillery Group, RGA during the Great War] History of the Seventy-First Siege Battery, South African Heavy Artillery (No publisher or date)

History of the 77th Brigade. RGA, France 1916-19 by Capt. F.W. Walter MC RGA (London: Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co., Ltd., 1919)

Nine Days: Adventures of a Heavy Artillery Brigade of the Third Army during the German Offensive of March 21-29, 1918 by Arthur F. Behrend (Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd, 1921) [Covers the activities of 90th Brigade RGA]

Siege Battery Unit Histories:

The Eleventh Siege Battery, R.G.A., 1914-1918 (London, 1919)

20th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, B.E.F., France and Flanders, 20th June, 1915 to 11th November 1918 (London: A Webster & Co., 1921)

27th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, B.E.F., France and Flanders, 5 September 1915 to 15th April 1919 (Aldershot: Gale & Polden, Ltd., no date)

Memoirs of 42 Siege Battery, R.G.A., 1914-1918 by Major M.J. Eaton, RGA (London: 42 Siege Battery Old Comrades Association, 1919?)

52 Siege Battery, R.G.A., August 1915 to August 1919 (London, 1919)

Short History of the 72nd (South African) Siege Battery, R.G.A. by H. Bailey (Hastings: F.J. Parsons, Ltd., 1924)

The History of 76 Siege Battery, R.G.A. by L.F. Penstone (1937)

History of 81 Siege Battery R.G.A. from August 4th 1914 to December 31st 1918 by Major H J G Gale, R.G.A. (London: J. & E. Bumpus, Ltd., 1919).

History of 88th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, December 1, 1915, to July 5, 1919 (London, 1920)

History of the 91st (Siege) Battery, R.G.A., December 1915 to 11 November 1918 by Major W.F. Christian DSO RGA (Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1920)

Siege Battery 94 during the World War 1914-1918 compiled by Major C.E.B. Lowe (London: Werner Laurie, 1919)

Occasional Gunfire: Private War Diary of a Siege Gunner by A.W. Paton MM RGA (London: Bishop-Laggett Publishing, 1998) [118th Siege Battery, RGA]

History of the 135th Siege Battery R.G.A. by Lieutenant D.J. Walters and Lieutenant C.R. Hurle Hobbs (1921)

138: War Service of a Siege Battery, 1916-1918 (London: Roworth & Co., Limited, 1919)

A History of 154 Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery by Maurice C. Walker (Dublin: Printed by John T. Drought, 1919)

A Battery in France. 178 Siege Battery R.G.A. 1916-1918 edited by J.J. Webber (1919)

"228." The History of a Siege Battery during the Great War by Charles Elam Hare (Portsmouth, 1922)

283 Siege Battery, R.G.A. 1916-1919 by Major J.H. Speeding (London, 1920)

A Brief Record of the Movements during the Great War of the 359th Siege Battery, R.G.A. by Frank House (London: H. Mones-Cross, 1920?)

*With a Siege Battery in France. 303 Siege Battery R.G.A. 1916-1919 edited by Major J.O.K. Dunlop (1919)

"Two Eleven": Being the History of 211 Siege Battery R.G.A. on the Western Front compiled by and privately printed for those who served in it (Portsmouth: W.H. Barrell, 1925)

326 Siege Battery, R. A. (no publisher, no date)

332 Siege Battery, R. G. A.: An Account of Its Adventures in the Great War, 1917-18 by Major A.C. Hardy (Windsor, Oxley & Son, no date)

The Record of 355 Siege Battery (London: 355 Siege Battery Old Comrades Association, 1920)

The Honourable Artillery Company in the Great War, 1914-1919 edited by G. Goold Walker (London: Seeley, 1930) [The HAC consisted of two infantry battalions, four field artillery batteries and one siege battery. Two of the TFA batteries served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force; the other units served on the Western Front]

London Gunners. The Story of the H.A.C. Siege Battery in Action by W.R. Kingham (London: Methuen, 1919)

Heavy Battery Unit Histories

The Road to Lindi: Hull Boys in Africa by Rupert Drake (Brighton: Reville Press, 2013) [1st (Hull) Heavy Battery, RGA]

The 9th Heavy Battery R.G.A. 1914-1919 (1919)

Chasing Von Lettow-Vorbeck: The Story by Harold Downs, (Heighington, Lincoln: Tucann Books, 2012) [11th Hull Heavy Battery, RGA]

War Diary and Roll of Honour of the14th Heavy Battery R.G.A. in France, Belgium and Germany – 1915-16-17-18-19 (1919)

With the Heavies in Flanders 1914-1919: A Record of the Active Service of the 24th Heavy Battery, R.G.A. by Harold F. Berdinner (London: The Botolph Printing Works, 1922)

126 Heavy Battery, R.G.A., 1915-1919 (London: W P Griffith and Sons, Ltd., 1920?)

The 142nd (Durham) Heavy Battery, R.G.A. (T.) by Major J.L. Marr (Sunderland: Puttery & Wing, 1920?)

Diary of 144th (York) Heavy Battery, R.G.A. 1915-1919 compiled by C.A. Muscroft (no publisher, no date)

Edited 6 March by rflory

[Rob Chester]

That's a fantastic bibliography - and a fantastic library. Thanks very much. Rob