495 Seige Battery

[Guest]

Hi , I am trying to find out where the 495 Seige Battery were posted in 1917  , part of the Royal Garrison Artillery. 

My husbands grandfather Arthur Edward Harper,  service record 181960 was posted 06/09/1917 but I can't find out where . He was a Shell Turner and would be grateful if anyone has any information about what this would involve . Or if anyone else had relatives or photographs of the regiment . 

. Hope someone may be able to help fill in some blanks. Thank you. 

 

 

 

  

Edited 17 September , 2019 by Guest

[Langdon]

This is from a thread here in 2016 (NA being National Archives):

 

 

Unfortunately there is no surviving war diary for 495 Sge Bty; a very small one (one month only) does survive online at the NA discovery website for 493 SB reference WO95/221/11 and can be downloaded for a small fee. After that you can track the movements of 493 for another six months from the Army Brigade it joined on entering a theatre of war. This was 26 Army Brigade whose war diary reference is: WO95/218/3 on the same website, which 493 came under on 6.2.18. The battery had armament of 2 x 12 in Howitzers which were road mounted (as opposed to on rails).

 

Edited 17 September , 2019 by Langdon

[MaxD]

Shell turner was his civilian occupation not his army trade so something presumably to do with making shells in an armaments factory.

 

Can't be more precise than to say that in Sep 1917 495 Siege was in UK, he went to France on 24 March 1918.  The NA reference given above is for 493 Siege Battery not 495 (note the dates given are before he arrived in France).  

 

One of the sections of 495 went to 34 Siege Battery on arrival in France on 6 March 1918 which at that time was in 84 Heavy Artillery Group.(aka 84 Brigade RGA).  The date on his record for France, 25 March however,  suggests he went with the later two sections (only one of which had a gun) that were 3rd Army Troops.  I haven't been able to uncover a war diary -  not unusual.

 

Max

Edited 17 September , 2019 by MaxD

[tony paley]

Hi Karen 34 Siege Battery RGA joined 84 Brigade RGA towards the end of 1917, the Battery would remain with the Brigade until the Armistice. The Battery was equipped with 9.2'' Howitzers drawn by Holt Tractor Units.On the 23rd December 1917 the Brigade was at Clairmarais rest camp near St,Omer. On 5th February 1918 the 84th Brigade moved XVII Corps 3rd Army and took up positions Athies just East of Arras on the banks of the River Scarpe.. On the 21st March the long expected German offensive commenced. Although the brunt of the offensive fell on the 5th Army further South, it also included elements of the 3rd Army.. The Brigade was moved South to VI corps 3rd Army and on the 26th March 1918 34 Siege Battery took up positions on the Doulon to Arras Road, now the N25, near Ransart.  The unit would remain in this area until August 1918.  From around the 21st august until the Armistice 84 Brigade supported the Divisions in VI Corps finishing up at Mauberge when the War ended.  The Brigade with it's Batteries then moved into Germany as part of the occupation of the Rhineland. Hope this is of interest.

Tony P 

[tony paley]

On ‎17‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 20:09, MaxD said:

Shell turner was his civilian occupation not his army trade so something presumably to do with making shells in an armaments factory.

 

Can't be more precise than to say that in Sep 1917 495 Siege was in UK, he went to France on 24 March 1918.  The NA reference given above is for 493 Siege Battery not 495 (note the dates given are before he arrived in France).  

 

One of the sections of 495 went to 34 Siege Battery on arrival in France on 6 March 1918 which at that time was in 84 Heavy Artillery Group.(aka 84 Brigade RGA).  The date on his record for France, 25 March however,  suggests he went with the later two sections (only one of which had a gun) that were 3rd Army Troops.  I haven't been able to uncover a war diary -  not unusual.

 

Max

At this time Batteries were unlikely to keep a War Diary.  From December 1917 Batteries became permanently attached to Brigades.  The War diary for 84 Brigade Royal Garrison Artillery if WO95/396 and can be downloaded

Tony P

[MaxD]

Thank you Tony I was aware of that, I should have been clearer and said it was the other section of 495 Siege that I couldn't trace a brigade diary for.

 

Max

Edited 25 September , 2019 by MaxD