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| 18 pounder gun in action. courtesy of the Imperial War museum © IWM (Q 106737) |
The
Royal Field Artillery was a branch of the Royal Artillery during
World War War 1. There were two other branches of the Artillery
during The Great War, The Royal Horse Artillery, the so-called elite
branch of the Artillery; and the Royal Garrison Artillery, which
mainly used the larger guns and developed 'technical' Gunnery (qv).
The heavy guns were crucial to the final victory, as they had longer
range and carried larger shells which were needed to destroy enemy
fortifications. The Royal Horse Artillery and the Royal Field Artillery were developed initially as battlefield units, operating at the front line, giving direct fire on the enemy lines, supporting infantry and cavalry attacks. Up to the First World War their mobility was considered to be one of their primary assets. Even in the Boer War, the ability to manoeuvre quickly was considered to be a primary tactical advantage. These ideas about how to conduct War were primarily based on the experience of the Army during the Napoleonic Wars. However, Field guns had two serious disadvantages, power and range, which were relatively low in both cases. In a static war such as WW1, which was largely fought in trenches, the ability to fire heavy shells long distances became a crucial factor. However, most of the warring parties had little idea that this was to be the nature of this war at the beginning, and were thus nearly all short on the so-called 'heavy guns', and the tactics needed to utilise them efficiently.
All
members of the Royal Artillery are Gunners, from the highest ranking
to the lowest. The rank of Gunner is assigned to the equivalent of
Private in the Infantry, who is a member of a Gun crew; similarly,
Bombardier is equivalent to Corporal. A Driver sat astride the left
horse in a pair of horses within the team of six horses which pulled
the gun. Therefore, there would be three Drivers per gun. All other
ranks are similar to those of the Infantry, with a few additional
trade specific ranks like Shoeing-smith, wheeler, and fitter.
Officers needed to be clever rather than rich (as was the usual
prerequisite for the more elite Regiments), as technical skills were
required for accurate deployment of the guns; ability in Mathematics
and Geography were valued more highly than social connections and
skill on the hunting field (though these did help as well).
The
Regiment was divided into Brigades, and were numbered to identify
each functioning unit. At the beginning of the War each Brigade was
attached to a Division (Henry's Brigade was the 277th Brigade of the
55th West Lancashire Division TF), but in 1917 the Royal Artillery
was re-organised and many units became came under the command of a
centralised Command structure. Brigades were divided into Batteries
commanded by an officer (theoretically a Major, if one was
available), each Battery having four, six or eight guns. There were
normally (but not always) four batteries in each Brigade, three with 6
eighteen pounder guns and one 6 piece howitzer battery.
A
Gun is the modern name for a cannon. It has a long barrel and is used
for firing high-velocity shell. It's trajectory is relatively low.
The eighteen pounder gun, common to most batteries, was designed to
be a mobile offensive weapon, and thus it was transported between
positions by being hooked up to the back of a Limber (shell carrying
trailer), which was in turn, pulled by a team of six horses. Three of
the horses of the team had a member of the crew on it's back, called a driver. They
controlled the horse they were mounted on and the horse next to it.
A
Howitzer is a short, large bore piece, tossing a heavy shell into a
high curve. Most RFA batteries were equipped with a 4.5 inch
Howitzer.
