All things Royal Garrison Artillery (R.G.A)

[David Gwynn]

Hi I am researching the movement of my grandfather during the great war he was a gunner in the 22nd heavy battery RGA. I have got all the relevant war diaries from the national archives, these are easy enough to follow as to the general locations but there are grid references used in these diaries in conjunction to battery positions  that do not make a lot of sense to me and my ordnance survey grid reference trained brain. Each brigade they were part of seems to get detached and reattached to different command structures for administration and tactical reasons. will these movments be traceable in other war diaries etc? And an overview of how these heavy batteries were used and where they sat in the army/corp/div/ who could call on them for fire support if indeed they used like this or were they assigned targets to soften up and were  the rfa,rha left to directly interact with the front line needs. i have just been listening to a pod cast and heard mention of barrage maps do these even exist and are they helpful to my cause. Thanks in advance for anyone who takes on these questions as i am completely new to this R.G.A stuff and any pointers are of great help.

[ianjonesncl]

36 minutes ago, David Gwynn said:

 Each brigade they were part of seems to get detached and reattached to different command structures for administration and tactical reasons. will these movments be traceable in other war diaries etc? 

This is the Heavy Artillery Brigades to which 22 Heavy Battery was allocated [Source: WO95-549 Allocation Units]

The relevant Brigade War Diaries may be able to provide details of the movements and activities of the Brigade and what 22 HB was doing. 

 

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

1 hour ago, David Gwynn said:

there are grid references used in these diaries in conjunction to battery positions  that do not make a lot of sense to me

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battlefields/how-to-read-a-british-trench-map/

 

The master grid for which map you need is here:

https://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww1/ndx5to40.htm

[ianjonesncl]

1 hour ago, David Gwynn said:

And an overview of how these heavy batteries were used and where they sat in the army/corp/div/ who could call on them for fire support if indeed they used like this or were they assigned targets to soften up and were  the rfa,rha left to directly interact with the front line needs. 

 

There were various organisations at different points during the war, but this may give you an overview which surmises the information outlined in Farndale's History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery - Western Front 1941-18.

 

The Heavy Batteries and Siege Batteries were grouped together in Heavy Artillery Groups (HAG), later to become Heavy Artillery Brigades. The Groups / Brigades were a Lieutenant Colonel's command.

 

The Groups / Brigades were allocated to either an Army or Corps. At Army level they were commanded by the MGRA (Major General Royal Artillery) and would be used for Army level targets. Depending on the situation, the  Groups / Brigades could be allocated to Corps.

 

At Corps level they were commanded by the BGRA (Brigadier General Royal Artillery). There they would be used on Corps level targets, including Counter Battery shoots, under the direction of the Corps RAHQ Staff. The Corps could also allocate Groups / Brigades or individual Batteries to Divisions were they were commanded by the Commander Royal Artillery (CRA {Brigadier} and used to fire on targets for the Division. This would be a temporary allocation for the duration of a specific task. 

 

Targets allocated at all levels included counter battery, defences, logistics, reserves within range.

 

The heavy batteries could be viewed as what would be a general support role whereby they were not tied to a specific formations as the Divisional Artillery was, but go where required and come under the command of the Artillery Commander of the formation to which they were allocated.

[ianjonesncl]

1 hour ago, David Gwynn said:

 i have just been listening to a pod cast and heard mention of barrage maps do these even exist and are they helpful to my cause. 

 

This is a barrage map which shows the timeline and target lines which would be fired during an attack. Heavy Batteries may have been allocated to barrage, however it was usually Divisional Artillery, and from 1917 onwards Army Brigades RFA allocated to the formation, undertaking the operation.

 

 

 

[ianjonesncl]

1 hour ago, David Gwynn said:

 i have just been listening to a pod cast and heard mention of barrage maps do these even exist and are they helpful to my cause. 

 

This is a Target Map which shows specific targets for engagement. These would have been allocated to the Heavy Artillery Groups / Brigades for Heavy and Seige Batteries to fire on. 

 

[Ron Clifton]

Hello David, and welcome to the Forum!

 

RGA Batteries were originally allocated on a scale of one Heavy Battery to each division, but these were withdrawn by about Feb 1915 and joined the Siege Batteries which were already under Army command. At first they were grouped in pairs (or occasionally threes) as Heavy or Siege Brigades, but from spring 1916 a more flexible formation, the Heavy Artillery Group (HAG) was created to act as a span-breaker between batteries and the higher formations. These consisted of a mixture of batteries depending on the needs of the moment and batteries were often swapped, as in the case of 22 HB.

 

At the beginning of 1918 the HAGs "settled down" into Brigades RGA which had one of five fixed establishments. Those including Heavy Batteries were of two types: the Mobile Brigade which had two HBs of 60-pounder guns and two SBs of 6-inch howitzers, and the Mixed Brigade which was the same but with one SB each of 8-inch and 9.2-inch howitzers.

 

Each Corps had two notionally separate artillery commands: Commander Corps RA (CCRA) and Commander Corps Heavy Artillery (CCHA). Each was commanded by a brigadier-general, but the CCHA would be principally responsible for the RGA batteries. It is still possible to download War Diaries free from Kew's website and the various Corps CCHA diaries may help you to flesh out the story.

 

Ron

[David Gwynn]

13 hours ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battlefields/how-to-read-a-british-trench-map/

 

The master grid for which map you need is here:

https://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww1/ndx5to40.htm

Thanks for that link, I should of thought of that before asking such an obvious question 😞

[David Gwynn]

13 hours ago, ianjonesncl said:

 

There were various organisations at different points during the war, but this may give you an overview which surmises the information outlined in Farndale's History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery - Western Front 1941-18.

 

The Heavy Batteries and Siege Batteries were grouped together in Heavy Artillery Groups (HAG), later to become Heavy Artillery Brigades. The Groups / Brigades were a Lieutenant Colonel's command.

 

The Groups / Brigades were allocated to either an Army or Corps. At Army level they were commanded by the MGRA (Major General Royal Artillery) and would be used for Army level targets. Depending on the situation, the  Groups / Brigades could be allocated to Corps.

 

At Corps level they were commanded by the BGRA (Brigadier General Royal Artillery). There they would be used on Corps level targets, including Counter Battery shoots, under the direction of the Corps RAHQ Staff. The Corps could also allocate Groups / Brigades or individual Batteries to Divisions were they were commanded by the Commander Royal Artillery (CRA {Brigadier} and used to fire on targets for the Division. This would be a temporary allocation for the duration of a specific task. 

 

Targets allocated at all levels included counter battery, defences, logistics, reserves within range.

 

The heavy batteries could be viewed as what would be a general support role whereby they were not tied to a specific formations as the Divisional Artillery was, but go where required and come under the command of the Artillery Commander of the formation to which they were allocated.

Hi thanks for all that info and especially the maps they are very interesting. The detaching and reattaching of sections and guns makes more sense now and helps me understand the workings of the RGA a little better . Just one observation on my part is that there seems to be a lack of reading material for the RGA , currently reading the master of Belhaven which is an eye opener in itself although it's RFA, am i correct in this or just not looking in the right place?

[David Gwynn]

12 hours ago, Ron Clifton said:

Hello David, and welcome to the Forum!

 

RGA Batteries were originally allocated on a scale of one Heavy Battery to each division, but these were withdrawn by about Feb 1915 and joined the Siege Batteries which were already under Army command. At first they were grouped in pairs (or occasionally threes) as Heavy or Siege Brigades, but from spring 1916 a more flexible formation, the Heavy Artillery Group (HAG) was created to act as a span-breaker between batteries and the higher formations. These consisted of a mixture of batteries depending on the needs of the moment and batteries were often swapped, as in the case of 22 HB.

 

At the beginning of 1918 the HAGs "settled down" into Brigades RGA which had one of five fixed establishments. Those including Heavy Batteries were of two types: the Mobile Brigade which had two HBs of 60-pounder guns and two SBs of 6-inch howitzers, and the Mixed Brigade which was the same but with one SB each of 8-inch and 9.2-inch howitzers.

 

Each Corps had two notionally separate artillery commands: Commander Corps RA (CCRA) and Commander Corps Heavy Artillery (CCHA). Each was commanded by a brigadier-general, but the CCHA would be principally responsible for the RGA batteries. It is still possible to download War Diaries free from Kew's website and the various Corps CCHA diaries may help you to flesh out the story.

 

Ron

Thanks Ron for the info. Do you think looking for the orbats in the national archive is a good way to go ( I did find January 1918 22hb were part of 4th army but not allocated to any particular division ) I will definitely look ccha diaries and as I have said in my reply above now the movement in and out of brigade for short periods now makes some sort of sense. If you have any ideas on further reading for the RGA they would be greatly appreciated. 

David 

[Ron Clifton]

You should download WO95/5494 free from the National Archives. It contains twelve sub-files, three of which relate to the RGA (the extract posted by Ian Jones above is an example of what you will find there). The orbats in WO95/5467-5469 have not been digitised but they will tell you little more than you will get from 5494.

 

Sir Martin Farndale's book, also referred to by Ian Jones, will give you some more information. There are various privately printed battery histories but these are usually quite hard to find. I know of one, "The Hampstead Heavies" by Walter Wright (who served with the battery) covering the activities of 138 (Hampstead) Heavy Battery.

 

I will try to dig out a partial timeline for 22 HB for you from my notes, but it will not give you Corps attachments, and nor will the HAG section in 5494. Heavy artillery were treated as Army Troops, even though they were normally attached to Corps for actual operations.

 

Good luck!

 

Ron

[Ron Clifton]

Further to the above:

 

MOVEMENTS OF 22 HEAVY BATTERY RGA

Went out to Western Front 31 Aug 1915 (with 21 and 23 HBs) and formed part of 22 Heavy Brigade.
The brigade was allocated to First Army and was attached to I Corps until April 1916 when as 22
Heavy Artillery Group it was transferred to Fourth Army.

In early Sep 1916 the battery was transferred to 44 (South African) HAG, still under Fourth Army. In Mar
1917 the battery was transferred to 27 HAG, still under Fourth Army. 

In Aug 1917 27 HAG moved to Third Army, and in Sep 1917 22 HB moved to 13 HAG in Fifth Army. In
Nov 1917 the battery and HAG moved briefly to Second Army before rejoining Fourth Army, which had
taken over the Ypres sector when Gen Plumer went to Italy.

13 HAG became 13 (Mobile) Brigade RGA in Jan 1918, still in Fourth Army, but by May 1918 it had
returned to Second Army, which again took over the Ypres sector on Gen Plumer's return from Italy. In
Aug 1918 it moved to Third Army where it remained until the Armistice.

 

You should look in the HAG/Brigade War Diaries after 1915, as many HBs and SBs ceased to keep separate diaries. For the period to April 1016 the diaries of I Corps CCRA and CCHA are in WO95/627 and 628 respectively.

 

Ron

[David Gwynn]

On 29/03/2021 at 14:15, Ron Clifton said:

Further to the above:

 

MOVEMENTS OF 22 HEAVY BATTERY RGA

Went out to Western Front 31 Aug 1915 (with 21 and 23 HBs) and formed part of 22 Heavy Brigade.
The brigade was allocated to First Army and was attached to I Corps until April 1916 when as 22
Heavy Artillery Group it was transferred to Fourth Army.

In early Sep 1916 the battery was transferred to 44 (South African) HAG, still under Fourth Army. In Mar
1917 the battery was transferred to 27 HAG, still under Fourth Army. 

In Aug 1917 27 HAG moved to Third Army, and in Sep 1917 22 HB moved to 13 HAG in Fifth Army. In
Nov 1917 the battery and HAG moved briefly to Second Army before rejoining Fourth Army, which had
taken over the Ypres sector when Gen Plumer went to Italy.

13 HAG became 13 (Mobile) Brigade RGA in Jan 1918, still in Fourth Army, but by May 1918 it had
returned to Second Army, which again took over the Ypres sector on Gen Plumer's return from Italy. In
Aug 1918 it moved to Third Army where it remained until the Armistice.

 

You should look in the HAG/Brigade War Diaries after 1915, as many HBs and SBs ceased to keep separate diaries. For the period to April 1016 the diaries of I Corps CCRA and CCHA are in WO95/627 and 628 respectively.

 

Ron

Hi Ron thanks for all that info it really will make my task a bit easier and has got me off to a flying start and  i should be able to mark a map up to a rough extent to get a general idea of his locations. i will also have to learn the dark art of the nation archives and navigating my way round them but it is all part of the challenge. just to let you know i managed to source a copy of the Hampstead Heavies which is in the post so thanks for that little snippet of info

David