[/i]Further to the task I set in my posting 5:45am - 1 July 1915 (just south of Mametz)

Today I searched through various books on Haig, the Somme and the Artillery. My notes follow:

Haig had originally wanted a short preliminary bombardment. Rawlinson was in favour of a long sustained shelling campaign and was supported by Birch (MGRA).

The Artillery was inexperienced - as with the Infantry, many were new army men and they needed the experience of real combat conditions.

Many of the actual guns were of poor quality. Old artillery pieces with converted barrels or new artillery pieces made quickly and to a low standard - often the length of barrels and the bore would differ on the same models.

Likewise, the ammunition was quickly made by inexperienced technicians and of poor quality, and again shells of the same pondage differed in length.

In all, 1537 guns were available for a frontage of around 20,000 yds (was it 25,000 yds?). The vast majority of these were field guns and relatively very few heavy howitzers were available. Something like 1 field gun for every 20 yds and 1 howitzer for every 56 yds.

Aerial observation and photography (weather permitting, was available)

The artillery objectives were: 1) Cut enemy wire 2) Destroy trenches 3) Silence enemy guns.

Counter-battery preparation on enemy guns was determined by Corps GOC and their respective BGRAs. Results as follows:

VIII Corps - Generally their counter-battery preparation was successful.

XV Corps - Did not allocate enough guns to task.

III Corps - Unsuccessful preparation.

X Corps - Too little ammunition was allocated.

VII Corps - Too little ammunition was allocated.

"The idea of the creeping barrage met with a mixed reception. The artillery commanders understood what was wanted but in a number of cases they could not convince Divisional and Brigade Commanders of its merits. [They] missed the point that, to be effective, the fire must start well on the 'home side' to protect the infantry as they moved forward". source: The Western Front 1914-18

I think it could have been considered unclear whether the artillery had the experience to perform a creeping barrage although as it turns out, there was some success in achieving this on 1 July and in later offensives during the Battles of the Somme.

Creeping barrage on 1 July yielded the following results:

VIII Corps - Barrage opened around line of German front line trenches rather than on the 'home side' of the enemy.

XV Corps - Some success with 7 Div but unsuccessful for 17 and 21 Divs.

III Corps - Infantry could not stay close enough to shelling due to orders to rake back and forth on German lines. (note: Uniacke was BGRA for III Corps)

X Corps - Concept of creeping barrage ignored.

VII Corps - Circumstances determined shelling from trench to trench.