Royal Field Artillery 71st Brigade Arras

[michelin36]

My great uncle served with the 71st field artillery as a gunner and died on 28th April 17, at the battle of Arras. I wondered if there were any photos of the regiment around this time and if anyone could point me in the right direction as to where to look.

He was fighting at Les Fosse Farm it appears by all accounts and was in D battery. There is very little info it appears unfortunately and he has no known grave, but is remembered on the Arras memorial. 

Any information is greatly appreciated and thanks for the help so far. 

Regards

Roger

 

[David26]

Hi Roger,

 

as you probably know, the tab at top left (Long Long Trail) provides a good deal of background information about units.  See for example the following piece which shows that 71 Bde was part of 15th (Scottish) Division's artillery: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-royal-artillery-in-the-first-world-war/batteries-and-brigades-of-the-royal-field-artillery/lxx-lxxi-lxxii-and-lxiii-howitzer-brigades-of-the-royal-field-artillery-15th-divisional-artillery/.

 

And of course there are the War Diaries available from the National Archives (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/) at a cost of £3.50 to download so you would see what the unit was doing at that time.  It is unlikely to mention your great uncle by name - the diaries rarely mention anyone other than officers, though there are exceptions.

 

In terms of photos, that's harder.  Unless the photo was ascribed to 71st Bde at the time, it is very hard to know which unit is portrayed in a photo of RFA men since they all wore the same uniform and cap badge.  Unless there are pals out there with such photos already, you could try ebay or the RA Museum at Larkhill (Firepower) but it'll be a long shot, I'm afraid. 

 

David.

 

 

[michelin36]

Hi David

Thanks for your response. I am not giving to give up....

Roger

[battiscombe]

If this is Gnr Benjamin Line, I note that his service number was a Territorial number [previously 1560] so he  may have come to D/71st rather late, as a replacement... As he has a TF number I might guess he was originally part of one of the Territorial manned Howitzer batteries formed from june 1916 and more particularly  532nd Howitzer  Battery  .. which went overseas 10-Nov-16 - and first joined 72nd Brigade - then being broken up and divided between D Bty (H)/70th Bde and D Bty (H)/71st Bde on 16-01-17.

see here

 

so he might also appear in a photo of 532nd Battery [it is possible one exists(ed), taken before they left from France??] . It seems as if the original commander of 532nd Howitzer Battery was a Captain Stuart Douglas Graham MC [later C/70th Bde]

[Acknown]

IWM has some photos of 4.5 in howitzers in operation at Arras in April 1917. The 71st Brigade is not mentioned, so it could be any battery, but it gives an idea of the conditions of the battle.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205237323

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205239617

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205238245

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205237895

Acknown

[RFA Gunner]

From what I understand artillerymen of the 15th division had quite a distinct look with their divisional insignia painted on the front of their helmets. So if you can find a photo of a howitzer section with the gunners wearing such a helmet insignia there is a decent chance it will be his battery assuming that the division had introduced the practice of wearing the insignia by the time of Arras.

[michelin36]

Hi Guys, really appreciate your contributions and information. I will try to investigate further. 

It means a lot to me your assistance and hopefully I can find a 532 battery photo.

Thanks again

Roger

 

[David Porter]

Hi Roger,

 

With regard to the link given in post #4. I can confirm that Benjamin Line was a gunner in 532 (H) Battery. The battery being formed on July 25, 1916 at No. 3 Reserve Brigade TF, Bulford, it joined 72nd Brigade and was broken up between D (H)/70 and D (H)/71 on January 16, 1917.

[michelin36]

Hi Dave

Thank you for your further information. Helps me greatly as to where to look.

Regards

Roger

[Karen J McC]

Hi, 

I have this photo of RFA 71st Brigade D Battery which has my great Grandfather Edward Wycherley. He served 1915-1918 so not sure when it was taken but the message on the back refers to France. 

Hope it helps

Karen

[WhiteStarLine]

Welcome to the forum Karen and what a wonderful photo.  I love the difference between the immaculate Bombardiers on each flank (instructors perhaps) and the truly laid-back men in the middle, replete with mugs of rum, one with a cigarette, a cornet and various sundry items that might be for washing barracks.  There are some rum jars at the base and the men are very informally dressed, to say the least.  Great spirit!

The slogan on the blackboard underneath the 71st Brigade RFA reads "the boys for the Germans".

The huts look like Salisbury Plain training huts and the photographic studio name T.B. Rickards suggest a pre-embarkation informal group photo.  A lively bunch and I hope they made it back home.  Which one was your great grandfather?

[Karen J McC]

Hi

Thank you, it is a great photo isn’t it. I think my great grandfather is the one in the black T shirt and moustache left of centre in the middle row, although I am not 100%. He survived the war but sadly died in 1922. 

Do you think this would have been taken early in the war then, before they left for France? I assumed the message on the back meant it was written in France.

Karen

[kenf48]

1 hour ago, Karen J McC said:

Do you think this would have been taken early in the war then, before they left for France?

A brilliant photo but you will note, as Bill has pointed out. the photographer was "T.B.Rickards Salisbury". bottom left corner.

Photographs of soldiers taken by Rickards on Salisbury Plain often come up for sale, that takes nothing away from your photograph which is a treasure.. 

[Michelle Young]

What a brilliant photo. I’d say they wrote it in France. Edwards MIC, ©️ Ancestry. 

[WhiteStarLine]

2 hours ago, Karen J McC said:

Do you think this would have been taken early in the war then

Karen, we have some wonderful RFA experts on the forum, so in advance of their take, here is my personal take.

Photographers were very active on Salisbury Plain and highly skilled at getting great photographs printed off quickly, onto postcards, which they sold to soldiers.  These soldiers would buy a handful and take them overseas and mail them to friends, wives, families, sweethearts etc.  Often they would keep 1 or 2 as a souvenir.  We still have my grandfather's postcard showing him and a handful of other soldiers on arrival at Salisbury Plain for their artillery training.

I think the light-hearted photo definitely shows pre-embarkation training.  It almost looks as if they are clowning around deliberately - the outer battery members are immaculately dressed and disciplined in their stance.  The lads in the middle look as if they hastily discarded their tunics, grabbed some S.R.D. jars and steel cups and are hamming it up for the camera with a good tot of rum.  Good on them too!

With respect to the poem / slogan on the back, soldiers often used self-deprecating language or adopted derogatory terms used by others as a badge of honour.  In Australia, from WW2, divisions proudly called themselves the "Rats of Tobruk" or the "Mice of Moresby" and these slogans were not intended as badges of honour when first used.

As you know, artillery is incredibly noisy.  WW1 saw artillery as arguably the prime weapon on the battlefield.  It was so noisy that barrages were heard in England and there was a term used called "drumfire", where the explosion of 1 shell was so close to the next one and the one before that an observer could no longer distinguish individual shells exploding.  So if he calls them the "boys who make no noise", perhaps they had a reputation of not being involved in many actions.  Or firing more dud shells than other batteries.  Or off drinking rum instead of fire missions.  All a joke obviously, but sometimes names stick.

My grandfather's division was late-formed (1916) and by the time they arrived on the battlefield, the Australians who had experienced Gallipoli, then 23,000 casualties in 46 days at Pozieres, called them the "deep thinkers".  Obviously if they weren't fighting, they must be doing something else.  They were also called "Eggs a Cook", in appreciation of the Egyptian street vendors who called out "Eggs a cook - very white, very soft".  In time they proudly published battalion histories using this as the book title.

Cheers, Bill

[kenf48]

I notice the originator of this thread @michelin36 has not visited the GWF for a while but as they were looking for a photograph I hope my tag will alert them to your post.

 

[Karen J McC]

Thanks to everyone for their comments on the photo. I have no military knowledge but very interested in family history.

I guess I imagined that the bit about being “the boys who make no noise” was about quietly creeping up on the enemy, or being quiet in the trenches but not sure how much sense this makes from an artillery perspective.

I thought it might have been taken in France but printed in the UK by the Salisbury photographers but I see it makes sense that it was taken and printed here whilst on training before they left and perhaps posted it back home to his wife and child (my grandmother). Perhaps the writing on the back about somewhere in France was written by him later when he got home from the war.

Any more comments or info welcome and I hope the person who was looking for a photo sees it.

Karen

 

Edited 3 April by Karen J McC

[kenf48]

1 hour ago, Karen J McC said:

Any more comments or info welcome and I hope the person who was looking for a photo sees it.

You can send them a personal message, just click on the name and open the dialog box Message

[Karen J McC]

4 hours ago, kenf48 said:

You can send them a personal message, just click on the name and open the dialog box Message

thanks, i have just done that

[michelin36]

Hi I was the originator of this thread and thank you so much for the photo. I wish I could complete the story of my uncle. I spend sometime last year in Arras and on the advice of this forum went to Fosse Farm and found the whole experience truly humbling. Theo has reignited my desire to find out more information. Thank you guys and gals for all your help to date. And thanks for tagging me Roger