Battle of Amiens -8/8/1918

[KONDOA]

Morning Chums,

A conundrum has arisen in my research concerning my grandfathers battery , 545th SB.

It is apparent from material I have in my possession that at the time of the Battle of Amiens the battery who were located further north on the River Lys had been depleted of men.

My grandfathers recollection stated he first went into action near the village of ???? near Amiens, he also stated he was involved with 8" Howitzers at this time.

545th SB were a 6" battery of 4 guns so GF's reference to 8" guns raises a question. In examining his previous recollections he has thus far been proven correct so I am reasonably confident that this unsolved comment will also prove to be fact.

My question is:

Which HAG's were present at this battle and does a Chum have any indication of their composition at this date.

Many thanks for any leads on this enquiry.

Roop

[essdee]

Roop

Your question has me confused!

545SB arrived in France and were attached to 2nd Army 27 July 18

as per Allocation of Batteries.

However you state he fought at the battle of Amiens which is some 55 miles

SSW on the river Somme. Did he mean Aire Sur La Lys? which would make sense.

The 5th Army, 11 & 13 Corps, held this part of the front. As per 11 Corps diary

28th HA Bde relieved 49th HA Bde on the 31st/1 Aug in the line. 49 Bde leaving

all stores and ammunition for the incoming Bde.

As you can see 545sb are clearly within 28 Bde which would have been around the Forrest of Nieppe at this time, miles from Amiens. It looks like they arrived in the 2nd Army area at the end of July and were almost immediately moved into 5th Army 11 Corps.

49th Bde RGA moved out of the line on the 1st Aug. to GHQ Reserve at Coyecques for training, taking with them all the Portuguese personnel from both 49 & 42 Bde’s RGA. Could this be where 28th Bde/545SB came from?

As for 8” guns the only thing I can think of is that 213SB who, as you can see, were the only 8” battery in either Bde were short of men and gave the incoming battery

valuable experience. It may be 545SB were not armed at this point with their own 6 inch guns as was the case with my G/f’s battery 521 SB, the older boys taking their shiny new toys to play with for a while as theirs were broken.

I’ll see if I can find anything else in my files. I hope this is of use.

Stuart

PS Could he have meant Thiennes?

[jhill]

. . . snip, snip  . . .

545th SB were a 6" battery of 4 guns so GF's reference to 8" guns raises a question. In examining his previous recollections he has thus far been proven correct so I am reasonably confident that this unsolved comment will also prove to be fact.

My question is:

Which HAG's  were present at this battle and does a Chum have any indication of their composition at this date.

Many thanks for any leads on this enquiry.

Roop

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You can find the distribution of heavy artillery supporting the Canadian Corps here . This is with the diary of the Canadian Corps Heavy Artillery.

It does not appear that your unit appears there so this may be of limited use to you. We can notice that it does not appear that the Heay Artillery was grouped into "Heavy Artillery Groups' at this time.

[essdee]

Roop

Another extract from 11 Corps diary of 31 Aug. Following their month out of the line training 49th Bde replace 42nd Bde and a small amount of jiggling about took place with the batteries. 545SB are shown as listed as administration only, its hard to read, which suggests they had moved into 15 Corps/2nd Army area or rather the front moved and they were taken over by 15 Corps which had been the right hand Corps of the 2nd Army front,

I have looked through to March 19 and can find no further references to them. It may be they remained with 2nd Army?

Stuart

[KONDOA]

essdee,

Many thanks for your research. You are quite correct regarding the location of 545th SB at this time, they being near Haverskerke on the Lys with Battery HQ at Tannay. They did not recieve all of their guns back from Ordinance workshops though until around the 8th -14th August, thus half the battery were twiddling their thumbs so to speak.

At this time 545SB were Army troops but affiliated to 11 Brigade RGA (this I realise should read 11 Corps but the war diary states brigade) . They moved south to Fourth Army at the end of September joining 47 Brigade.

Your information has been very useful in many respects and perhaps given the lack of guns your suggestion of them using other batteries guns is pertinent.

Thanks a bundle, I shall seek out the relevant diaries which may offer further clues.

Roop

[essdee]

Roop

Further to your post:-

"At this time 545SB were Army troops but affiliated to 11 Brigade RGA (this I realise should read 11 Corps but the war diary states brigade) ."

11 Brigade is correct, 5th Army had under its control 11 & 55 Brigades RGA. Brigades 42,49 & 28 were controlled at Corps level. So, on arrival they would have been, as Army Troops, allotted to one of one of the above. 11 & 55 Army Bde's RGA were in charge of the superheavies and the 6 inch guns and as their own were at the repair shops it would seem plausible the battery were loaned out to another to give a much needed rest or whilst replacements were enroute.

As suggested 213 SB may be the 8" battery mentioned as the 8" How was a shortened and bored out 6" gun. It would make sense to me to give them something to operate they were familiar with for max efficiency.

If you are going to look at diaries I'd suggest 11 Bde RGA, I looked at this a long time ago in search of 521SB. 545SB rings a bell with me and it may be from this diary I read something about them.

Stuart

[KONDOA]

Hi Stuart

Right, that has clarified that issue regarding 11 Brigade. I have the diary for them which interestingly fails to mention 545SB although 545SB diary indicates them as part of that brigade. No mention is made of 28th Brigade but they were evidently part of it as your previous posts show.

I guess the diary I am missing for this period is the Corp diary. Later when joining fourth army they were under III then XIII Corp so a few more acquisitions from the NA seem likely.

Your contribution has been extremely helpful for which I am grateful.

Roop