Artillery rank

[Muerrisch]

I had hoped that I made it clear above that a lot of men did not have a riding horse.

For corporal and below there were only 64 horses.

There were 75 drivers, 10 batmen and 29 gunners without a riding horse.

As far as wheeled transport was concerned the battery had:

6 limbered guns

12 limbered ammunition wagons, 3 bicycles, 1 maltese cart, 1 GS wagon. If the battery had absolutely nobody pegging along on foot, all 114 above had either to sit on a draught horse, cling on to a limber [max 36], or sit on a cart or bicycle.

[Ron Clifton]

My wife's grandfather (390 SB in the RGA) noted in his diary that he had been promoted to 'Sergeant in charge of B sub-section'. 390 SB was equipped with 4 x 6 inch howitzers, would that promotion have put him in charge of the entire howitzer crew?

He would have been in charge of the detachment serving one gun, inclusive of its ammunition wagons if the battery was horse-drawn.

Ron

[Old Cove]

Thanks Ron. No, no horses.

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Grumpy and others

The following is an extract from the Gun Drill for the 13-pounder:

The detachment consists of nine men, together with two horse-holders, Nos. 10 and 11. In each section and extra horse-holder, numbered 12, is required for the section commander. The senior non-commissioned officer is 1, and is in charge of the sub-section. He rides on the left of the lead driver of the gun, except at “Detachment Front”, when he is on the right of the detachment.

The next senior is 7, and is the coverer. The active numbers are Nos. 1 to 6, and are mounted men. The reserve numbers are Nos. 8 and 9. They are dismounted men and are carried on the limber of the first-line wagons.

War Establishments 1914 says that, as well as the detachments and others listed by you in posts #24 and 26, there were two look-out men, and one NCO and six gunners as semaphore signallers and telegraphists. These, together with the two dismounted members of each detachment, make 21 out of your 29, and I suspect that the other 8 were probably the 10% spare men.

The number of 45 horses for the detachments, bearing in mind that the horses for the No.1 (sergeant) and the coverer are counted separately, fits in neatly: the Nos. 2, 3. 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11 of each of six sub-sections, plus the Nos. 12 of the three sections as the officers' horse-holders.

From memory, a gun detachment in the King's Troop today has a No.1 on the left of the lead driver and either three or four men of the detachment riding behind each gun, these being the only men actually needed to fire the salute in Hyde Park. We will be able to check this next Saturday at the Queen's Birthday Parade!

Ron

Edit: Three mounted men behind each gun, who with the No.1 make up the four required to fire each gun in a salute. No need for range or fuze settings, of course.