Current Information:

Enlisted-Harringay

Cambrin Churchyard, France

The Royal Artillery

During the First World War some 800,000 British and Allied men served in the artillery, of whom nearly 50,000 were killed. They were a vital component of the army, used for a number of purposes but primarily to destroy the enemy’s defences before the infantry attacked. The artillery brigade was the equivalent of an infantry battalion with a complement of over 800 officers and men whereas the artillery battery numbered about 200 personnel. Within the ranks there were gunners and bombardiers, drivers, signallers and telephonists. At the beginning of the war when things were much more fluid, artillery batteries could find themselves in the front line of the action but as the war progressed and trench warfare became the norm, the batteries were placed behind the line and in the case of the Royal Garrison Artillery, which employed the big, heavy guns, often many miles back from the line. However this did not mean safety. The enemy would use spotter planes and other methods to determine the positions of the guns and these would then be targeted by their own artillery. When this happened there was little escape for the gunners. They had to keep firing their own guns regardless of what might be happening around them and there were many a direct hit on their emplacements, killing and injuring whole gun crews. Others would act as spotters which meant going forward to the front line and signalling back to the guns necessary changes in target and other vital information. Once in position, artillery brigades tended not to move much so whilst the infantry could be relieved at regular intervals and move back to safe positions, the men of the artillery stayed where they were for much longer periods of time.

The Battle of Loos

This was fought by the British Army from 25th September, 1915 through to 13th October, was conducted along a six-and-a-half-mile front running north from the mining village of Loos on the outskirts of Lens in Northern France. It was the largest offensive carried out by the British so far. The opening day involved an attack by six divisions, with others entering the fray as it progressed and it was part of a much wider offensive with the French launching their own attacks in Champagne and at Vimy. It was the first time that the British used gas during the war, despite their condemnation of the Germans for doing the same in April 1915. There were some encouraging results on the first day but no major breakthrough was achieved and in the successive days of the battle it became bogged down in brutal trench warfare. By mid-October the battle had petered out with the British having suffered over 60,000 casualties during its course.

The reserve Corps for the battle, XI Corps, was made up of the Guards Division and two New Army divisions, 21st Division and 24th Division. 106 Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery were part of 24th Division. Field Marshal French kept them back from the front when the main attack went in on 25th September but when things did not go to plan the reserves were urgently called for. Even so they were held back until the last minute which meant that they had to march across country through a night of heavy rain to reach the battlefield. It was not until the afternoon of 26th September that they were in position to assault the German second line between Bois Hugo & Hulluch. But by this time the enemy had brought up reserves and were launching counter attacks which further disrupted proceedings. What happened next was a disaster. Advancing in broad daylight in ten columns, without the help of an artillery barrage these totally inexperienced divisions were cut to pieces by machine gun and rifle fire. They lost half of their number in a matter of minutes. Even the Germans were shocked at the slaughter and stopped firing to allow the survivors to withdraw.