Royal Artillery

“ In spite of the fact that the enemy brought up in support of his attacks guns of great range and shell power, our men have succeeded throughout in preventing the enemy from establishing anything in the nature of superiority in artillery. The skill, courage, and energy displayed by the commanders of the Royal Artillery have been very marked. The Royal Engineers have been indefatigable in their efforts to assist the infantry in field, fortification, and trench work. ”

“ As far as comfort and satisfaction can be obtained from the study of an unsuccessful war, they can be got by the Royal Artilleryman in tracing the services of his Corps during the great war in America. ”

“ In no English war was this pernicious system of battalion guns more systematically urged and practised. Occasionally—as will be seen presently—the guns were brigaded; and during the siege operations, as at Valenciennes, the Artillery did duty by companies: but, as a rule, the guns were attached in pairs to the different battalions. Only one waggon accompanied Ibid. each pair of guns; and the following was the strength of the Artillery detachment: viz., 1 subaltern, 2 non-commissioned officers, 8 gunners, 3 drivers, and 9 horses. ”

“ Regimental March, "British Grenadiers."
Cap badge, A gun with motto.
Collar badge, A grenade.
ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, as it is now known, was formed in 1716, when two companies were permanently established at Woolwich, but, prior to that, artillery formed part of the King's Armies as early as the 15th century. The history of the Artillery is really the history of the British Army, for very seldom indeed has there been an action fought by British troops without some representatives of the Royal Regiment being present. ”

“ Leaving General Lawson’s force at Gibraltar, let the reader return for a moment to that under Colonel Seward, which was to form part of the Secret Expedition. The Royal Artillery employed consisted of 386 of all ranks, besides that marvellous accompaniment of all expeditions in those days, whether secret or open,—22 women and 11 children. ”

“ No Master-General ever penned a more considerate and kindly Warrant, and 389none ever more fully realized the speciality of the Artillery service. "Without prejudice to their companies:" here is the true Artillery unit officially recognized. No word of battalions: these were mere paper organizations, devoid of all tactical meaning. History in the end always preaches truth; and at the close of a seven years' season of very earnest war, the uppermost thought in the mind of his Grace—the Colonel ex officio of the Royal Artillery—was the welfare of the companies. ”

“ The brilliant Field Artillery of the great war would have otherwise become a mere tradition, whereas, under the system adopted, it remained a reality, a model, and a standard. The adoption of the other alternative would have vitally injured the Horse, without much benefit to the Field Artillery ”

“ Though one and the same arm, they are equipped and intended for totally distinct purposes. The necessary quick movements of the Horse Artillery could not be attained by 9-pounders; the telling effect of 9-pounders could not be expected from Horse Artillery. One is intended to act with Cavalry, and, from the nature of its equipment and the lightness of its metal, is expected to maintain at all times, and under all circumstances, of bad roads, of rough, hilly, or broken 46 ground, the same pace as Cavalry; and, in short, to bring artillery into action wherever Cavalry can act.... ”

“ During the Peninsular Campaign, the armament of a troop was as follows:—2 9-pounders, or 2 heavy 6-pounders; 45 1 heavy 51⁄2-inch howitzer; 3 light 6-pounders; 6 ammunition Lefroy. waggons; 3 reserve waggons, and 4 other carriages. Compared with the simplicity of modern Horse Artillery armament, the presence of three different guns in the same troop, with the consequent necessity of a variety of ammunition, seems a very complicated and undesirable arrangement. ”

“ One cannot but be struck—in studying the history of this national corps of Artillery—with the rapidity of its formation, and its attainment of high discipline and professional knowledge,—keeping pace in its career of half a century with the constant changes, with which even in those days this arm was harassed ”

“ The Brigades in Ireland are more efficient, and fitted to move with other troops, than the Brigades in England. But it is a delusion to say that England has a Field Artillery. There is not a single 9-pounder horsed in the British service—an astounding fact. Nor will it be believed, except by those who know the truth, that the English army has been for years without Artillery attached either to Cavalry or Infantry, for the common purposes of drill and exercise in their combined movements. ”

“ And these are the very qualities which for centuries remained in England unimproved and stagnant. The eighteenth century saw Artillery conducted by drivers, not under military discipline, nor marked by distinctive costume; who not unfrequently fled with their horses during the action, leaving the gunners helpless, and the guns at the mercy of the enemy. In this year, 1872, our drivers go into action unarmed, it being considered that the possession of defensive weapons might distract their attention from their horses. ”

“ If his battery is firing, he can take no thought of safety. He must expose himself. Shells or no shells, he must go about his duty. Thus, though the day of the race forward with the guns is over for the moment, the gunners’ casualties go on steadily, in little driblets, it is true, but nevertheless mounting up to a long roll of honour that will show future generations that, in the long months of trench warfare, the Royal Artillery, true to its grand [Pg 271] traditions, did its work as steadfastly and gallantly as in the thrilling days of the retreat from Mons and the advance on the Marne. ”

“ Siege and garrison artillery have not usually the complete and permanent organization that distinguishes field artillery. For siege trains the matériel is usually kept in store, and the personnel and transport are supplied from other sources according to requirement. In garrison artillery, the guns mounted in fortresses and batteries, or stored in arsenals for the purpose, furnish the matériel, and the companies of garrison artillery the personnel. In Great Britain, the Royal Garrison Artillery finds the mountain batteries and the heavy field artillery in addition to its own units. ”

“ The Guards form Her Majesty’s Body Guard, and there is not a finer body of men in the world. The English Light Cavalry is composed of Dragoons, Lancers, and Hussars.
The Artillery consists of what is called the Royal Regiment of Artillery, which has a strength of about 800 officers, 1500 non-commissioned officers, 1900 rank and file, with 4200 horses. In addition to this Artillery Regiment, there is a brigade of Horse Artillery, comprised of 70 officers, 150 non-commissioned officers, and 2200 rank and file, with 1900 horses. ”

“ Four guns were present with the Royal Artillery; but on account of the small number of gunners, men from the Line or volunteers must have assisted in working them. The total number of casualties on the English side was as follows—killed, 70 ”

“ The French, on the other hand, constantly applied the very prime of their strong horses (those belonging to the officers not excepted) to the draught of their ordnance, which were chiefly on the Horse Artillery establishment, with 8-pounder guns and 6-inch howitzers, opposed to light 6-pounders and royals only. ”

“ Our present Brigades would be greatly advanced in efficiency if, like the Horse Artillery, or the Brigades with the Duke of Wellington’s army in the Peninsula, they were placed under the command and the responsibility of their captains. They should also, to become effective Field Artillery, be placed on the same footing as the Horse Artillery, for their contingent share in all garrison and general duties. They should march to and from the outposts in relief in the same manner as the Horse Artillery ”

“ Horses of the field batteries to be harnessed.' A thousand seamen with heavy guns were landed from the British fleet, and formed a naval brigade to act in co-operation with the Royal Artillery in the trenches.
The enemy, however, were equally energetic in developing and completing their earthworks, and, having an almost unlimited supply of heavy ordnance and munitions close at hand, they were in reality, as the event proved, able to strengthen their defensive [Pg 41] position faster than the allies could concentrate their powers of attack. ”

“ And whereas by Our Warrants of the 27th November 1715 two Companies of Gunners and Mattrosses were raised for the service of Our Artillery sent upon the late Expedition to North Britain and having been found always necessary that a sufficient number of Gunners with proper Officers should be maintained and kept ready for Our Service. ”

“ But the force during the great siege was lavish compared with that deemed sufficient at first "for the better defence of ye said place." One chief engineer, Talbot Edwards by name, a storekeeper and his clerk, two fireworkers, six bombardiers, and fifty-five gunners, were at first deemed sufficient Artillery force for the defence of a place whose chief means of protection lay in its guns. Half-a-dozen brass 13-inch mortars, and four-and-twenty guns on ship carriages, varying from 6-pounders to 24-pounders, constituted the armament sent from England. ”

“ Artillery Company, in the Prince of Wales’s Brigade, 20 others of heavier calibre were now paraded in charge of the 1st Administrative Brigade, the Middlesex Artillery Volunteers, commanded by Col. Creed, and the 3rd Middlesex Artillery Volunteers. The bearing of the men and their general equipments were highly creditable to all concerned; and, not content with mere efficiency, some of the batteries borrowed a hint, as to style, from the Royal Horse Artillery, and horsed their guns exclusively with animals of one colour. ”

“ When, however, the Artilleryman seeks for something that is genial and lovable in the soldiers of that victorious age,—he turns from the cold and undemonstrative Chief, and dwells fondly on the men who had by their exertions raised Artillery, as a science, to an unprecedented point, and had elevated with it the Corps Hime. ”

“ The main body of the army marched at once towards Paris; and the damage suffered by the Artillery during the battle was so quickly repaired, that Sir George Wood was able to take every gun with him that had been on the field, with four 18-pounders in addition; Sir George Wood to D.-A.-Gen., dated 3 July, 1815. making a total of 123 pieces of ordnance, and over 20,000 rounds of ammunition, with which the army marched on Paris. The collapse of any opposition, and the ultimate occupation of that city by the Allies, are facts well known to the reader. ”

“ Order. gem in a soldier’s character.” In the repulse of the enemy on the 22nd May the conduct of the Artillery was such that “His Royal Highness the commander-in-chief begged to thank Captain Trotter, with the Artillery under his command, for their great display of intrepidity and good conduct, which reflected the greatest honour on themselves, and at the same time was highly instrumental in deciding the important victories of the 22nd.” ”

“ The opposers of the existing system have always been able to argue with great force, because there are undoubted anomalies, which can easily be described in such a way as to appear ludicrous. As selection for employment in the Horse Brigade has always been conditional on previous zeal and efficiency, it follows that the reward for activity and knowledge in the performance of, it may be, Siege and Garrison Artillery duties, is often employment in a service totally dissimilar. This may be compared with rewarding an Infantry officer for skill in battalion drill, by giving him a troop of Horse! ”

“ On one occasion, a sergeant and thirteen men in the trenches were killed by the explosion of one of the enemy's shells; and so numerous at last were the casualties among the Artillery, that the Brigadier had to apply for 200 men from the infantry to assist in working the guns. There was great difficulty in obtaining even that number: the duties of the camp were hard; and the importance of keeping the Artillery ranks at a siege well filled was not yet fully understood. But with the progress of the siege, came an increase of wisdom ”

“ We know now that for any serious attack on an enemy who has plenty of machine-guns and plenty of successive well-wired positions a great mass of heavy and other artillery is absolutely indispensable. And over ground deliberately wrecked and obstructed such artillery must take time to bring up. And yet—to repeat—how rapidly, how "persistently" all difficulties considered, to use the King's adjective, has the British Army pressed on the heels of the retreating enemy! ”

“ All the foot artillerymen are armed with a short straight sword; all who serve on horseback carry cavalry sabres. The guns are horsed by country-bred horses—compact, strong brutes, not particularly attractive to the eye, but useful, and well able to stand any climate. If the French Artillery were placed on the war establishment, it would number 60,000 strong, with 49,000 horses and nearly 1200 guns. The Commissariat troops and the indispensable Engineers, in their blue tunics, come next, and while they pass before us we may offer a few words on the army in general. ”

“ The necessity of impressing on infantry commanders that though at the commencement of an attack it is possible to support them with a great weight of artillery, it is not possible to push this mass of artillery forward when movement becomes rapid, [Pg 305] and that if they push forward rapidly, they are better served by a small mobile allotment of guns. ”