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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

RGA 64 Coy


andyspiller

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Pals

Checking through my grandfather's papers they all state that he was is the above company. The mother site does not list any companies, just batteries and brigades.

Does anyone have any info on this unit? All I know is that it served in India (Poona/Rangoon).

Regards

Andy

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Andy

Can only confirm their service location. 64 COY RGA were a regular unit which was in Aug 14 at Rangoon as part of the Burma Division staying int he Burma/E.India area for the war period.

Dave

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Dave

Thanks for the confirmation. Do you know the difference between a company and a battery?

Regards

Andy

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Andy

Sorry I don't know.

Dave

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A company of Royal Garrison Artillery was a unit of gunners who served the guns of fortresses and other fixed defences. A battery of Royal Garrison Artillery was a unit of gunners who were armed with guns that could be moved from one location to another. (Heavy batteries were armed with weapons that were almost as mobile as field pieces - 60-pounders or 4.7" guns. Siege batteries were armed with weapons that might require a bit of installation work before they could be fired.)

The use of the term "company" was adopted for units manning fixed defences because the term battery had a special meaning in fortresses. Whereas a battery in the field consisted of guns, men and horses, a battery in a fortress consisted only of a number of guns located in the same firing position. If RGA fortress units were called "batteries," one would have heard confusing orders such as "1st Battery is responsible for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th batteries while 2nd Battery is responsible for the 1st and 5th Batteries."

As this problem of nomenclature is shared by both the French and German languages, the French and German counterparts to the RGA - the "artillerie a pied" and the "Fussartillerie" (both names mean "foot artillerie") - also used the word "company" to designated units manning fixed defences.

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Hoppy

Many thanks for your concise reply. It makes a lot of sense as Grandad was only classified as B1 and was sent to India for his war.

Maybe the mother site should be updated with some of your info?

Regards

Andy

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