RGA Battery

[7KRRC]

How many people made up a battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery?

[jay dubaya]

Depends on the battery

[Ron Clifton]

Hello 7KRRC

It also depended on what type of guns it had, and how many. Most Heavy and Siege Batteries started out as four-gun units but were increaseed to six guns by the beginning of 1918. It also depended on whether the battery was in France, in another theatre of war, or at home (coast or AA defences) and what its transport was (horses, road tractors, or railway mountings).

As a rough rule of thumb, a four-gun heavy or siege battery in France had six to eight officers and about 200 men. Six-gun batteries had up to 10 officers and 250-300 men.

I can give you more precise figures if you tell me which battery/ies you are interested in, and at what date(s).

Ron

[7KRRC]

Hello Ron......... My great Uncle was in the 120th Heavy Battery, RGA. Thats the one I'm interesred in knowing its composition (big word)

[Amor]

Hi Ron,

I am researching details of a man from my home town who served in 159th Heavy Battery and was KIA on 4th November 1916. I would be grateful if you could share any details you may have on this battery or recommend where I may be able to do further research. From the LLT I concluded the battery were sent to France in June 1916 but could not find much more.

Rgds,

Alex

[ororkep]

Alex,

159 HB was at the time in 4^th army, XIV Corps which they came under 11.9.16. With armament of horse drawn 4 x 60 pounders and their establishment should of been 203 men, inclusive of 6 Officers, 1 WO and 8 Serjeants.

Unfortunately nothing is recorded at all for Binning. But exactly the same diary information held in XIV Corps is freely downloadble from the Australian archives site (see AWM4-13-3-5) which will give you a rough location and orders for what happened on that day. There is no surviving WD for this battery at Kew.

Rgds

Paul

[Amor]

Hi Paul,

Many thanks for the information. I have downloaded the WD.

Would you be able to help with any of the below men (they all have a connection with my home town and served in the RGA).

• 82321 Gunner William Clark – 1st Welsh Heavy Battery RGA – KIA 30/11/1917. Buried in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground in Ypres.

• 45125 Gunner Charles Long – 20th Heavy Battery RGA – Died 01/09/1916. Buried in Salonika Military Cemetery in Greece.

• 344397 Gunner R McLaren – 221st Siege Battery RGA – KIA 01/11/1917. Buried in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery in Ypres.

• 78176 Gunner Douglas Morgan – 168th Siege Battery RGA – DOW 31/12/1916. Buried in Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery near Ypres.

• 344309 Battery Serjeant Major A Nicholson – 153rd Siege Battery RGA – KIA 04/07/1917. Buried in Dickebush New Military Cemetery near Ypres.

• 32921 Serjeant R Thomson – 4th Siege Battery RGA – KIA 01/09/1917. Buried in Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery in Ypres.

• 347468 Corporal William Todd – Forth RGA TF – Died 18/09/1917 from pneumonia. Buried in Inverkeithing Cemetery. #

Any help would be much appreciated.

Rgds,

Alex

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Ron......... My great Uncle was in the 120th Heavy Battery, RGA. Thats the one I'm interesred in knowing its composition (big word)

Here is the breakdown as at Aug 1914 (though the battery was not formed until early 1915, and only went to France in April 1916)

August 1914 Heavy Artillery Battery and Ammunition Column (4 x 60-pounder guns)

Battery: Major, Captain, 3 Subalterns, BSM, BQMS, 6 Serjeants, Farrier-Serjeant, 2 Shoeing-smiths, 2 Saddlers, 1 Wheeler, 1 Smith, 2 Trumpeters, 7 Corporals, 6 Bombardiers, 74 Gunners, 51 Drivers, 6 Batmen, 2 Privates RAMC.

Ammunition Column: Subaltern, 1 Serjeant, 1 Shoeing-smith, 1 Saddler, 1 Wheeler, 1 Smith, 1 Corporal, 1 Bombardier, 8 Gunners, 13 Drivers, 1 Batman.

After the increase to six guns:

August 1916 Heavy Artillery Battery and Ammunition Column (6 x 60-pounder guns)

Battery: Major, Captain, 4 Subalterns, BSM, BQMS, 8 Serjeants, Farrier-Serjeant, 3 Shoeing-smiths (incl one cpl), 2 Saddlers, 1 Wheeler, 1 Staff-Sjt Fitter, 1 Smith, 7 Corporals, 8 Bombardiers, 110 Gunners, 71 Drivers, 7 Batmen.

Attached: Serjeant AVC, 3 Drivers ASC.

Ammunition Column: Subaltern, 1 Serjeant, 2 Shoeing-smiths, 1 Saddler, 1 Wheeler, 1 Fitter, 1 Corporal, 2 Bombardiers, 12 Gunners, 35 Gunners as Drivers, 1 Batman. Attached: 1 Driver ASC.

Note that these are nominal figures: the actual strength would have varied, depending on casualties and reinforcements.

Ron

[7KRRC]

Hi Ron... Many thanks for the response to my post! My Great Uncles rank was DVR (Driver?) within the 120th HB RGA. I managed to buy a Victory Medal for a man who served and died in this battery too. Good info..Cheers!

[Ron Clifton]

Hello 7KRRC

Yes, DVR means Driver. Have you ever seen displays by the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery? If so, replace their guns with much bigger ones, drawn by eight large Shire or Clydesdale horses, and you will have a fair idea of what he would have done!

Ron

[Greenland]

Ron, forgive me for riding piggy-back on Alex's original post but this is just the battery I am interested in: 120th Heavy Battery of the RGA.  I have downloaded the war diaries from TNA but to be honest, it is very technical and I do not understand half of it.  Would you be able to give me a brief idea of the areas in which this battery served in N. France from the time they arrived there so that I can add this to the story I am writing of two soldiers, both from my village.  They enlisted at the end of October 1915 and were discharged from this battery at the end of the war.  Family postcards addressed to one soldier show that he remained with this battery for his entire service.

 

Thank you for any help you can give me,

Greenland

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Greenland

 

The war diaries should give you map references for their locations. Look on the parent site, The Long Long Trail (there is a link at the top left of this page) for advice on how to interpret these references. Sheet 28 is one of those covering the Ypres area and sheet 57 covers the Somme, though in each case there are other nearby sheets.

 

From December 1917 onwards you will find the battery's activities covered in the diary of 85 Brigade RGA, which is in this file:

WO 95/479 85 Brigade Royal Garrison Artillery 1917 Apr. - 1919 Feb.  
 

It can be downloaded from the Kew website, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk for about £3.50. You may need to add a suffix such as /1, /2 etc as there are two or more diaries in each file. I don't think that is available on Ancestry.

 

War Diaries rarely mention individuals by name other than officers, but numbers of casualties each day are nearly always given, and the location of the unit, with a short description of its activities, is given on each day.

 

You may find references such as A, AX, B and BX in the diaries. These are a simple code to the type of shells fired.

 

Good hunting!

 

Ron
 

[WhiteStarLine]

Hi Greenland, there are a few mapping forumites who can help.  Either post some references and we will help with identifying a modern location with sites such as McMaster, tmapper or Munnin Project.  Or PM me and send me a war diary extract and I will give you an idea of where they were.

 

Cheers,

 

Bill

[Greenland]

Ron and Bill,

Thanks for your responses - so kind.  The following were the diaries I downloaded and the detail is tremendous for those who understand maps etc. 

 

If one looks at war diaries of battalions of the Wiltshire Regiment just for example, each day one knows where a battalion was entrenched or in billets and I had assumed an RGA Heavy Battery would be the same but it is far more technical!  I was trying to see more or less where these two gunners served in Northern France but I can understand that a heavy battery is a very different unit from a battalion of infantrymen.  I am happy to let you have any of these diaries, for your own records if you would like them and if I am permitted to do so.  I think I shall call it a day on their movements!

 

Thanks so much

Greenland