GHQ Artillery

[pjjobson]

Could one of the gunner experts on here please explain what GHQ Artillery was and how it evolved through WW1. I believe it was Heavy Artillery kept as a reserve by Corps, but I am prepared to be proved wrong.

Many thanks

Phil

[Piorun]

I understood that it meant the Artillery Command at General Head Quarters and didn't refer to ordnance itself. However, I, too, am prepared to learn further. Antony

[pjjobson]

I understood that it meant the Artillery Command at General Head Quarters and didn't refer to ordnance itself. However, I, too, am prepared to learn further. Antony

Sorry I should have been more precise in my question, I understand that this was a form of Artillery Reserve unit (not refering to the ordnance specifically) I think it was renamed the Heavy Artillery Reserve at some point but I'm not sure.

Phil

[David B]

Phil,

If you have access to Farndale The History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, you can find a good explanation of Heavy Artillery Reserves beginning on page 355. It is rather a long

and full explanation of how it operated, but I feel that I would be jumping across copyright if I typed it up on the forum.

As to the wording of your original query Antony was correct.

Cheers

[nigelfe]

MGRA at GHQ was an advisor not an artillery commander. It was the same at Army HQ. The implication is that any artillery commanded at this level was allcated to a corps or lower where there was the authority to exercise command and control

Interestingly this changed in a couple (at least) of armies in mid-1918 and their MGRAs became de facto commanders. This came about by placing the few long range guns under their control and making them responsible for attacking targets beyond the 'red line', this being a coordination line between corps and army artillery. The problem was that the only aircraft suitable for deep observation was the SE5 (IIRC) and while there were supposed to be two permanently assigned to each army artillery for observation and control of fire against deep targets they weren't always avaialble.

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Phil

I tried to navigate a way through this particular jungle some years ago!

Sources:

- Orders of Battle, British Armies in France and Flanders, at Kew in files WO95/5467 to 5469.

- A F Becke, Orders of Battle Part 4: GHQs, Armies and Corps has an appendix covering the six Heavy Artillery Reserve Groups, which eventually morphed into HQs Corps Heavy Artillery.

- Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Western Front 1914-18 has some Annexes on artillery organisation and administration.

Quick overview:

From August 1914, each infantry division had a Heavy Battery of 60-pounders (4.7-inch guns for TF). Apart from 7 and 8 Divs, which had some 4.7" guns instead of field howitzers, all other RGA units came under GHQ control.

From April 1915, the heavy batteries and the 6-inch how Siege Batteries were apportioned to Armies, usually in brigades of two or three batteries. These brigades were normally attached to Corps for operations, but remained under Army control. Each Army also had a HAR Group to administer the small number of batteries of 6-inch guns and 8-inch and 9.2-inch hows. Larger calibre guns stayed under GHQ. In particular these included the 15-inch hows manned by the RMA, the three armoured trains manned by the Navy and, later, the railway guns.

By April 1916 the heavy and siege brigades had all been redesignated as Heavy Artillery Groups, and virtually all of the medium and heavy siege batts had been devolved to Armies. HAGs, which had variable compositions, were apportioned to Corps as need arose, but remained under ultimate Army control. However, allocation to Armies was still controlled ultimately by GHQ, which also retained control of some of the heaviest guns, although even these were mostly devolved to Armies.

Apart from the change from HAGs to Brigades RGA (with relatively fixed combinations of batteries) in about Feb 1918, this remained the pattern for the rest of the war.

Anti-aircraft artillery was also allocated to Armies, plus a number of sections on the Lines of Communication.

Ron

[Rockdoc]

Anti-aircraft artillery was also allocated to Armies, plus a number of sections on the Lines of Communication.

Not always. Granted, there were no Armies in Salonika but the 11 AA Sections that served there for any length of time were split between XII and XVI Corps and LoC. Initially, all Sections were allocated to the two Corps but on 11th December, 1916, 73rd was "detached from 16th Corps and attached to Base Troops Salonika for administration, supply & tactical purposes only. GHQ RA." The other Sections subsequently based around Salonika also came under Base control. As might be expected, 95th and 98th AAS transferred to XVI Corps control when they moved from Lembet and Guvesne, respectively, to the Struma Valley in 1918.

Keith

[pjjobson]

All

Many thanks for the full and very useful replies, yes, I have the Farndale books and will read the relevant sections.

Phil

[Piorun]

Artillery Command published some very interesting directives on how to use artillery. Even the Americans circulated them. Forty years later, we were still trained on 'em (pardon the pun). Antony

[Ron Clifton]

Keith, you're right. My earlier post was meant to refer to France & Flanders, though I didn't say so. In other theatres, the level of control was usually one step lower than in France.

Ron

[Rockdoc]

Ron, just making things complete.

The organisation of AA Sections varied anyway. In F&F they were soon grouped into Batteries, comprising varying numbers of Sections, while the Salonika Sections stayed as such. Those under Corps control were always used as Subsections, mostly some distance apart. By contrast, when British AA Sections moved to Italy from France thy retained their existing Battery structure.

Nothing's ever simple!

Keith

[nigelfe]

Artillery Command published some very interesting directives on how to use artillery. Even the Americans circulated them. Forty years later, we were still trained on 'em (pardon the pun). Antony

There wasn't any such thing as an 'Artillery Command' of any sort above corps level (and initially not even at that level). The senior artillery officers there were not commanders and not general staff officers. Like any other British senior officer position if the position title didn't have 'commander' in it then you weren't one. Very simple really. Command at GHQ and Army level command of artillery was legally vested in the C-in-C BEF or Army Commander with the detail handled by their general, A and Q staff officers (not forgetting military secretaries of course). What command of artillery at these levels meant was the authority to assign artillery resources to subordinate commanders, including Commanders RA at corps and division.

There was an artillery branch in GHQ where the Major General Royal Artillery (MGRA) was the artillery advisor to the C-in-C and principal staff officers (CGS, AQ, QMG). The same applied at the Army HQs where there was a MGRA. The role of the MGRAs evolved and in Sep 15 these 'Artillery Advisors' were formally authorised to deal with certain artillery matters, including ammo, design matters, defective ammo, accidents to guns, hows and trench mors and any user problems related to equipment.

However, in Nov 1915 the MGRA at GHQ (Headlam), in collaboration with the Army MGRAs, started a program to have selected artillery officers (who may or may not have been artillery staff officers somewhere) who were recognised as experts to draft various policy directives. The GHQ Artillery Notes series (1 to 7, some with 2 editions), which started to appear in early 1916, is the best known and some were re-published by the War Office as official publications. But there were also many other circulars, notes and memoranda. In fact the amount of stuff being issued led in early 1918 to a monthly summary of what had been issued!

[Piorun]

Thanks, Nigel. These Circulars were identified as being from Artillery Command; e.g., "Artillery Command Circular No.2" etc. Are you saying that was just a name or did the word "Command" govern "Circular" rather than "Artillery" govern "Command"? Cheers, Antony

[nigelfe]

I don't know what you've got and wonder if its an original version of a GHQ or War Office issued document. The Brtish Army was somewhat pernickity about this sort of thing.

Just digging into my stack the first one I find, copied in the Clavell Library at Woolwich from an authentic original has the title page as:

G.H.Q. ARTILLERY CIRCULAR No. 4.

HORSE, FIELD, HEAVY AND SIEGE ARTILLERY

(ISSUED BY THE GENERAL STAFF) (actually in camel case)

It's also marked FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY with a property assertion, at the top of the front page and month and year towards the bottomMarch, 1917

with printers data in very small print at the bottom.

Various other documents (Notes, etc) concerning artillery and produced by GHQ all have one thing is common, 'Issued by the General Staff'. (Which doesn't mean they wrote them!)

[ianjonesncl]

Phil

This is from Orbat for December 1916

GHQ Artillery:

Artillery

Anti-Aircraft Artillery - Attached to 2nd Army

No 1 Section (2 x 12 pounder guns)

No 2 Section (2x 12 pounder guns)

No14 (Headquarters) Section (2x 18 ponder guns)

Armored Trains - Attached Belgian Army

"Jellicoe" (2 x 4.7" guns & 1 x MG)

3 Wireless Trains

Incidentally the The Order of Battle of the whole of the BEF is on line with the National Archive - bargain at £3.50

ORDERS OF BATTLE OF THE BRITISH ARMIES IN FRANCE, INCLUDING LINES OF COMMUNICATION UNITS:ORDERS OF BATTLE OF THE BRITISH ARMIES IN FRANCE, INCLUDING LINES OF COMMUNICATION UNITS:

WO/95/5468 ORBAT 1916

Just wondering what the Wireless Trains were ?

Cataloger referenceWO 95/5468 Cataloger referenceWO 95/5468