British Artillery 1914 19

World War I is often deemed to have been 'a war of artillery', and British heavy artillery played a vital part in destroying the German trenches and providing invaluable cover for advancing troops on the Western Front. This book details the huge guns of the Royal Garrison Artillery, including the 6-in. siege gun and howitzer, the 8-in. howitzer, the 12-in. railway and siege howitzer and the infamous 9.2-in breech-loading siege howitzer. Camouflage and enemy battery locations and transport are covered, as well as tactics used and how the guns were developed and manned.

World War I is often deemed to have been 'a war of artillery', and British heavy artillery played a vital part in destroying the German trenches and providing invaluable cover for advancing troops on the Western Front. This book details the huge guns of the Royal Garrison Artillery, including the 6-in. siege gun and howitzer, the 8-in. howitzer, the 12-in. railway and siege howitzer and the infamous 9.2-in breech-loading siege howitzer. Camouflage and enemy battery locations and transport are covered, as well as tactics used and how the guns were developed and manned.

In 1914 the artillery of Britain's 'Field Army' encompassed those weapons judged to have sufficient mobility to keep up with troops in the field. This book describes all major variants, from the 60-pdr guns of the heavy field batteries, perched somewhat uncomfortably on the cusp between field artillery and siege artillery, to the 2.75in. guns of the mountain batteries, almost toy-like in comparison. Between these two extremes lay the bulk of the artillery of the Field Army: the 13-pdr guns of the Royal Horse Artillery, and the 18-pdr guns and 4.5in. howitzers of the Royal Field Artillery batteries.

In the popular imagination, the battle fields of the Western Front were dominated by the machine gun. Yet soldiers at the time were clear that artillery - not machine guns - dictated the nature, tactics and strategy of the conflict. Only in the last months of the war when the Allies had amassed sufficient numbers of artillery and learned how to use it in an integrated and coherent manner was the stalemate broken and war ended. In this lucid and prize-winning study, the steady development of artillery, and the growing realisation of its primacy within the British Expeditionary Force is charted and analysed. Through an examination of British and Dominion forces operating on the Western Front, the book looks at how tactical and operational changes affected the overall strategy. Chapters cover the role of artillery in supporting infantry attacks, counter-battery work, artillery in defence, training and command and staff arrangements. In line with the 'learning curve' thesis, the work concludes that despite many setbacks and missed opportunities, by 1918 the Royal Artillery had developed effective and coordinated tactics to overcome the defensive advantages of trench warfare that had mired the Western Front in bloody stalemate for the previous three years.

First published in 1972, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918 is the definitive account of British artillery from World War I. It meticulously catalogues all known types of artillery weapons that were in British service at the commencement of WWI and the new machinery that was created for the battlefield during the following four years. In addition, it lists the wide variety of coastal defense weapons and old nineteenth century veteran machines that were wheeled out of retirement in readiness for active service if necessary. The details of ammunition are also covered, including dimensions of cartridge cases and the different ammunition types for each artillery weapon listed. This new edition, featuring previously unpublished photographs and a foreword by Peter Simkins, distinguished historian and professor at the University of Birmingham, will be useful for military historians and weapons collectors alike.

On 14th January, 1915, a letter from the War Office to the Mayor of Camberwell authorised the recruiting of a brigade of field artillery (156th Brigade R.F.A). The local response was so prompt that further authority was given to raise another brigade in the same neighbourhood, to be designated 162nd Brigade R.F.A. and this was done by mid May. It was then brought to the attention of the WO that a mass of would-be recruits still remained in the Camberwell Borough, enough to complete the whole of the artillery for the 33rd Division, a Kitchener division of the Fourth New Army. The two additional field artillery brigades needed were numbered 166th and 167th (Howitzer), and the divisional ammunition column (33rd D.A.C)was also formed. This book took nearly two years to complete and throughout that time the author maintained the closest collaboration with the official war diaries, personal diaries, letters and experiences of individuals and every sort of reliable information to produce an accurate and complete record of the doings of the batteries in France. An appendix contains a list of the casualties suffered by the divisional artillery (officers by name, other ranks numerically) during the war, another shows all the other divisions supported by 33rd Divisional Artillery, when and where; a third appendix shows the various sectors of the line where the batteries were in action, with dates and official names of the battles in which they were engaged. In the text are twelve tables showing the names of the HQ Staff, brigade commanders, adjutants and battery commanders at various stages of the war.