Remembrance Sunday

Today we remember all those who died in Wars. I think we should also remember all those who suffer injuries in wars; some so badly injured that they will never lead normal lives again. They and their families live with daily grief which does not lessen with time.

'At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,

We will remember them'

Laurence Binyon

The 277th Brigade RFA

The 277th Brigade RFA

Horses of an Artillery Brigade awaiting embarkation on a train. The whole of the army was dependent on horses for most of its transport needs. Each Field artillery gun was usually pulled by six horses.
Picture courtesy of the Imperial War Museum Collection Q3042

The 277th RFA started life as the 12th, 13th and 14th Lancashire Batteries and were originally attached to the 55th West Lancashire Division, Territorial Forces. These eventually were renamed the 277th Brigade in May 1916, after they rejoined the 55th West Lancashire Division (January 1916)

After the Boer War, the Government and Army realized that the small standing Army of the Empire was insufficient for modern needs, and in 1908 the Territorial Forces came into being, and trained and were equipped as the Regular Army. Though they were raised to serve on the home front only, at the outbreak of World War 1, many volunteered for service at the front. 

The 277th did not go into action immediately, and when they did go off to France in late 1915, the West Lancashire Batteries were attached to the 2nd Canadian Division who were still getting their artillery up to strength and a suitable level of competence. Before embarkation they exchanged their rather out-dated 15 pounder guns for the standard 18 pounders (qv).

The 277th saw action on the Somme in 1916, but were moved again in January of 1917 to become an Army Brigade under the more centralized command of the newly re-organised Royal Field Artillery. Logistically, this made sense, because moving vast numbers of horses, guns and men to different sectors of the front (traditionally following their parent Division), on a fairly regular basis, did not make much sense as it was a highly dangerous and frequently complicated exercise.

The Brigade saw action in all of the major battles from October 1915 to the Armistice in November 1918, including The Battles of the Somme, the latter Battles of Ypres (Including Passchendaele).

In order to clarify what happened and when, I am going to start a page attached to this Blog which gives a transcription of the official War Diaries, the originals of which are housed in the National Archives and the Royal Artillery Museum at Woolwich. As these were handwritten, there may be some items which are difficult to interpret. These will be indicated by (?) sign. I hope you find them interesting and useful.

The War Diary Page will be updated, regularly. I hope to be able to post commentaries on the diary to show how the action of the Brigade fitted into the way the War was unfolding, as it progresses.
In addition, I will be producing a page about men in the 277th Brigade, and some notes on various technical issues such as map references and technical terminology.

Prepared for war?

Though those in power were perfectly aware that Germany had been building it's military capabilities for some time, to my mind, Great Britain and it's Empire seemed remarkably unprepared for War in 1914. 
The exception to this lax attitude was the Navy - it had been built up in response to the huge fleet that the Germans had constructed. Indeed there had been a very public competition going on between Britain and Germany for several years before the War. The Kaiser wanted to have an Empire to rival Britain's, and presumably, that would necessitate ruling the waves too, which up till the end of the 19th century had been Britain's boast.

It's when you look at the Army and the fledgling Royal Flying Corps (then a part of the Army) that you realize that somewhere along the way, someone was not thinking ahead. It seems hard to believe now that Britain's vast Empire was kept in it's place by a relatively small Army. It managed to do this by setting up small Garrisons in its Colonies (manned largely by local recruits), which really acted as a local police force. 

When you consider the million plus conscript armies of both France and Germany, the ninety odd thousand of the British Army seems a bit inadequate, by comparison. The Kaiser even had the effrontery to call it 'A contemptible little Army' (hence the phrase The Old Contemptibles, a phrase adopted by the rump of the Regular Army, which survived the slaughter of those first few months of war). The politicians and army chiefs, of course, were perfectly aware of these numeric imbalances - presumably they believed that the quality of the British soldier was sufficient to address this deficit. They must have done so, because we had not only guaranteed Belgian neutrality in the early nineteenth century, but also given guarantees to the French about defending their ports, just prior to the declaration of War.

Royal Field Artillery Cap Badge

Not everyone had been quite so confident, of course. After the Boer Wars, some had pressed for a reserve home Army to be formed. This became the Territorial Army, which had been set up in 1908. Trained and equipped as the Regular Army, this part-time force was to become vital to Britain's war effort once the War started. Though Territorials were raised to be there to protect the country at home, on the outbreak of War, the Territorial Divisions all volunteered to serve abroad.

The 55th West Lancashire Division was a Territorial Division, of which the 277th Brigade RFA (Henry's Brigade) was a part. They had been on annual manoeuvres at the outbreak of war, and it's various parts started to prepare for active duty almost immediately.
To be continued

Remembering Henry

On August 4th, one hundred years ago, we declared war on an increasingly militant Germany, and the whole horror of the Great War was unleashed on an unsuspecting generation. Most families will have at least one member who served in the First World War; most will have somebody who was either killed, maimed or injured during it. To this day, the wounds of that particular conflict are still raw, and it's effects echo down the generations. For sheer brutality and stupidity, some would would say it has never been equaled. 

Henry Hunt

My Grandfather, Henry Hunt served as a Bombardier in the 277th Royal Field Artillery. He didn't do anything that tens of thousands of others didn't do - he was just an ordinary soldier, serving his country. My Dad knew very little about his father's war service. He was only six when Henry died of pneumonia and heart failure. His lungs and health had been permanently damaged by mustard gas at a place called 'Wipers'. Dad told me all this when I was about seven or eight. I remembered it because I thought Wipers was an odd name for a place - we now know it as Ypres. Looking into the records, I think he was probably gassed at the Third Battle of Ypres, better known as Passchendaele (q.v.)

But, for now, I'd just like to remember Henry's war service, and his short life. He has no other memorial anywhere else, but here on the Internet. 

I shall be posting here regularly over the next few years about the Great War, the Royal Field Artillery, the 277th Brigade, and what I personally feel about the war. These brave men should not be forgotten.