History Of The Royal Artillery From The Indian Mutiny To The Great War Volume Ii 1899 1914

This volume continues the theme of the development of the Royal Artillery during the run-up to the Great War, fifteen years compared with the forty of VoL I, fifteen years devoted to definite preparation in which the developments in Organization, Armament and Training discussed in Vol I were co-ordinated to a common aim. On the other hand the breach between branches was widened by the separation between mounted and dismounted, and the general trend towards spacialization. So, in this volume a different method has been adopted in which the developments of each branch are recorded separately in three parts - The Field Army Artillery, The Siege Artillery and the Coast Artillery. Part V has a couple of chapters on the Auxiliary Artillery which included the Militia, Volunteers, the Special Reserve and the Territorial Force. The final Part VI deals with Regimental Institutions such as the Remount Department, the Riding Establishment, the RA Institution, the Artillery College, Gunnery courses, the RMA, the RA Mess and the Bands. One of the appendices provides a chart showing the distribution of units as on 1 Aug 1914. There is a very comprehensive index

This history, written at the beginning of the Great War half a century after the events it describes, started out only as a history of the Royal Artillery s part in the Indian Mutiny. However, the unit became inextricably mixed with the Bengal, Madras and Bombay artillery during the campaign, and the four regiments were officially amalgamated soon afterwards in 1861. Therefore, as the author remarks, this book is effectively a military history of the Indian Mutiny itself, covering events chronologically and in some detail, from minor skirmishes to the great setpiece sieges of Delhi and Lucknow. The narrative is based both on official despatches and on books, diaries, letters and interviews with eye-witnesses of the events it relates and is illustrated with drawings and sketch maps. Detailed appendices list awards, Rolls of Honour and lists of actions and enagements in which the artillery fought.

Since its creation in 1716, the Royal Artillery has been a cornerstone of the British Armed Forces, as their motto Ubique, 'Everywhere' implies. In this book Philip Jobson has collated the enormous and complex artillery lexicon which has accumulated since that day, as dynamic as its subject to keep pace with technical and tactical innovation. The development of indirect fire, counter battery, anti-tank and anti-aircraft fire all required a novel vocabulary, as did advances in survey and locating. Changes in communication from shouts, to flags, to line, to radio, to compressed data transmission all left their mark on the language. Epic in scope and detail, even the most expert Gunner would be likely to fail an unseen test based on this work. It will therefore be a pleasure to those who think themselves expert to browse this volume, and will serve as an invaluable reference for historians and researchers to ensure that they use the correct term and understand its true meaning.

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.