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24th Siege Battery


KONDOA

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Roop

The 24th Siege Battery was part of the 21st(mobile) Brigade RGA, Fourth Army.

This was made up of 71 & 1/2 Lancs Heavy Batteries (60 Pdrs) and 24th & 354th Siege Batteries who were both 6" How Batteries.

Stuart

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  • 12 years later...

Hello, I'm trying to find the war diary for 24 Siege Bty, 21st Brigade RGA for 1916 and 1917 to see where they were when Bombardier 28506 H. J. Sandys got his M.M. and then was killed 13th April 1917. The National Archives have the diaries under WO 95/469/1 but are missing the dates I require. Would one of you learned gents be kind enough to point (or is it kick!) a lowly Corporal in the right direction to where the info supplied by Stuart might help me. thanks

Tony

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You need the higher unit the battery was attached to for the times you need, and can also be found on the NA site. HAGs, later Brigades, can be searched using "# brigade royal garrison artillery". Therefore if you which for the diary for the time he was killed it would be 23rd HAG (Brigade) 22/3/1917 to 12/5/1917- http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/d322868cc8424dc4ae8e385ceda2e541 . Just change the number of the HAG/Brigade for the other ones.

 

Kevin

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That's brilliant Kevin - thank you for the explanation! and thanks for the link!

So I use the details from Stuart's info to find the HAG they were with at what time. What's the significance of the 'Right' and 'Left' sections please.

 

Would yourself or Stuart have the same info that Stuart posted for '24th Siege Bty' for the '464th Bty 179th Brigade RFA' ?. Again the 179 Brigade

diary doesn't exist for the dates I require i.e. December 1917 on the NA site so I'm assuming I need the higher unit they were attached to in December 1917.

 

Hope you can help!

thanks again

Tony

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2 hours ago, swedehiggler said:

What's the significance of the 'Right' and 'Left' sections please.

A section was two guns. There would be Right and Left Sections in a four-gun battery, and an extra Centre Section in a six-gun battery.

 

Ron

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Tony

You seem to have the hang of searching TNA Discovery so I will just nudge you in the direction I would go next. 179 Brigade were in a Division which is the next highest unit. Find that division and look for the Headquarters diaries.  You will find diaries for Commander Royal Artillery in that section, look for the one starting in December 1917. 

It should cover the activities of all the various Brigade Artillery in that Division.

Shout if you get stuck.  Like many of us I'm not a real expert so hope I've headed you in the right direction!

Peter

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Tony

 

179 Brigade RFA was with 39th Division until early in 1917, when it became an Army FA Brigade not attached to a division. Here are the references for the War Diaries:

FIFTH ARMY
WO 95/538 179 Army Field Artillery Brigade 1917 May - 1919 June  
39 DIVISION 
WO 95/2569 Commander Royal Artillery 1916 Mar. - Dec.  
WO 95/2570 Commander Royal Artillery 1917 Jan. - 1918 Dec.  
WO 95/2574 174 Brigade Royal Field Artillery 1916 Mar. - 1918 Dec.  
WO 95/2574 179 Brigade Royal Field Artillery 1916 Mar. - 1917 Jan.  
WO 95/2574 184 Brigade Royal Field Artillery 1916 Mar. - Nov.  
WO 95/2574 186 Brigade Royal Field Artillery 1916 Mar. - 1918 Dec.  
WO 95/2574 Divisional Ammunition Column 1916 Mar. - 1919 Mar.  

 

You may need to add a suffix such as /2 to the file reference, as there are several diaries in the same file.

 

Good hunting!

 

Ron

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Tony

I'm not sure what information you are after however, it might be worth your while to look at the 179 diary covering November 1917.  WO95-538-7.  179 Brigade were attached to 12th Divisional Artillery then.  The end of the diary contains a typewritten letter by the Commanding Officer giving an account based on his recollections of the desperate fighting on the 30th during the  German Counter attack at Cambrai. Only 463 battery was got away, 17 other guns were lost.  The diary records that the brigade commander reported to 60th Division on the 30th November, whether the brigade changed attachment from 12th to 60th Division then is not clear to me.  It might give you another clue where to look though. 

 

Peter

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Hi All,

  May be I have missed something, not for the first time, but we seemed to have gone from RGA to RFA. If we are talking about a siege Battery it would not be part of a Divisional Field Brigade. I would suggest that the 179 unit mentioned above is 179 siege Battery RGA.

Tony P

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2 minutes ago, tony paley said:

Hi All,

  May be I have missed something, not for the first time, but we seemed to have gone from RGA to RFA. If we are talking about a siege Battery it would not be part of a Divisional Field Brigade. I would suggest that the 179 unit mentioned above is 179 siege Battery RGA.

Tony P

As you were, I did miss something!

Tony P

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Sorry for the confusion guys, yes the initial posting was for 24th Siege RGA & then in response to that I inquired about 179th RFA - my mistake, should

of started a new thread. Sincere apologies....

Tony

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