196 and 232 Siege Batteries RGA

[tjec]

Hi,

My Grandfather served in both of these Batteries as BQMS and was eventually BSM for 196 Battery. I have the War Diaries (only some pages available) for 196. Does anybody have any other information on these Batteries?

Thanks,

Norman

[ororkep]

Norman, as the other battery has now been done, here is the missing allocations.

232 SB, consisted originally of 4 x 6 in Howitzers (26 cwt) and went out to France, 18/1/1917. They joined 50 HAG 22/1/17; then on to 64 HAG 28/2/17; to 44 HAG 16/4/17; to 2 HAG 26/4/17; to 14 HAG 13/5/17; to 43 HAG 30/6/17; to 40 HAG 10/7/17; to 4 HAG 3/9/17; to 9 HAG 6/9/17; back to 14 HAG 6/11/17; and finally to 93 HAG 17/12/17 with on subsequent changes. If you look on the NA catalogue and substitute Brigade for HAG you will find most of these diaries, without any ‘th’ or ‘nd’ after the numbers. It was made up to 6 guns in Oct 1917 with personnel joining from 436 SB.

Regards Paul

[tjec]

Thanks for the information Paul. I found the reference to 196 battery in a separate post.

I had previously found a reference to 232 being part of 93 HAG in ORBAT and believing it to have been with them from arrival in France got copies of some pages of the 93 HAG War Diary from the NA. Surprisingly, this WD refers to 232 from 5 September 1917 to 1 November 1917, which differs from the allocation list. Is this usual?

Regards,

Norman

[ororkep]

Norman,

You can see by the attached original with the missing edge of the page why I at first thought it was 9th HAG, when obviously with hindsight and reading the diary it is 93 HAG; so the allocation is correct.

Regards

[tjec]

Thanks for clearing that up Paul. It doesnt need much to confuse me, especially when starting with researching. I had read the Forums before dipping my toes in the water and find the wealth of information given by subscribers very informative.

Regards,

Norman