XII (Howitzer) Brigade (12th (Howitzer) Brigade) was a unit of Britain's Royal Field Artillery from 1900 until 1920, seeing service during the Second Boer War as mounted infantry. In World War I it served with 6th Divisional Artillery on the Aisne and during the Race to the Sea, later in the Ypres Salient. In 1916 it was broken up and reformed as a field gun brigade in home defence. Demobilised after the Armistice, it was quickly reformed, but was absorbed into another brigade in 1920.
Origin Traditionally, the basic unit of the Royal Artillery (RA) has always been the battery. Although batteries were organised into 'battalions', these were purely administrative groupings. Between 1859 and 1900, independent batteries were brigaded together into geographic groups termed at different times 'brigades', 'divisions' or 'brigade divisions' (though the titles had no connection with the field formations of the same names). The Second Boer War saw brigade divisions of three batteries established as a permanent unit type of the Royal Field Artillery, under the command of a lieutenant-colonel and comparable with an infantry battalion or cavalry regiment; they were redesignated simply brigades in 1903.Frederick, p. 496.Headlam, Vol II, p. 54. One such new unit was XII Brigade Division, formed in March 1900 as its constituent batteries were sent to South Africa for service against the Boers. Commanded by Lt-Col John Barker and equipped with BL 5-inch howitzers, it had the following organisation:Frederick, pp. 501–2.Hart's Army List 1901.Headlam, Vol III, Appendix J. 43rd (Howitzer) Battery 86th (Howitzer) Battery 87th (Howitzer) Battery 12th Brigade Division Ammunition Column
Second Boer War On the outbreak of the war in 1899, 43rd (H) Bty had been at Shorncliffe, 86th (H) Bty at Newcastle upon Tyne and 87th (H) Bty at Seaforth.Hart's Army List, 1899. They were sent to South Africa in early 1900 to reinforce the troops already there for the projected advance. At first the batteries remained independent and the brigade-division was not concentrated. On 14 April the British commander, Lord Roberts, allocated 43rd and 87th (H) Btys to the Corps Artillery of his main army at BloemfonteinMaurice, Vol III, p. 35. while 86th (H) Bty was with the Corps Artillery of Sir Redvers Buller's Natal Army,Amery, Vol IV, Appendix to Chapters I-XIV, pp. 503–14. On 24 April 87th (H) Bty joined Sir Ian Hamilton's force that had just captured the waterworks outside Bloemfontein, and by 5 June Roberts had marched from Bloemfontein to capture Johannesberg and Pretoria.Amery, Vol IV, pp. 69–73.Amery, Vol IV, 159.
With the loss of the main Boer cities, the period of pitched battles was ending and the Boers adopted Guerrilla warfare. Increasingly, artillery brigades and batteries were broken up as the British employed mobile columns often with only a pair of guns, or even single guns. The RFA lieutenant-colonels became district or column commanders and the ammunition columns formed local depots of men, guns, horses and ammunition for the sections in the field.Headlam, Vol III, pp. 448–9. For example, two howitzers of 43rd Bty accompanied Sir Archibald Hunter's column in September 1900 as he endeavoured to trap Christiaan de Wet's forces in the Doornberg area. Sir Henry Hildyard employed a larger concentration of artillery, including two howitzers of 86th (H) Bty, to bombard Boer positions when he forced the Winderhoogte defile on 10 September.Maurice, Vol III, pp. 463–75. In November two howitzers of 86th (H) Bty were guarding the railway in the Dundee Sub-district of the Johannesburg–Durban Line.Maurice, Vol III, Appendix 8, p. 557. At the end of November De Wet was trapped between the Orange and Caledon rivers, but the rain stopped and he got away once the Caledon became fordable pursued by three columns, including one commanded by Lt-Col Barker with a section of his 86th (H) Bty. The columns were often in sight of their prey, but only rarely got into artillery range and he disappeared into the mountains.Amery, Vol V, pp. 27, 37–43.Headlam, Vol III, pp. 457, 468.
In January 1901 De Wet prepared to invade Cape Colony from the Doornberg, and the British columns were reorganised to prevent him. Part of 43rd (H) Bty was with White's column (incorporatimg part of Barker's column) in Maj-Gen Bruce Hamilton's force, while two howitzers of 86th (H) Bty were with Pilcher's column in Maj-Gen Charles Knox's force. When De Wet slipped between Hamilton and Knox's forces, Knox pursued while Hamilton was moved south by railway to forestall him. De Wet also avoided this block, and the British columns reorganised for what became known as the 'Great De Wet Hunt'. Hamilton and Knox were on the Orange River near Bethulie, and two howitzers of 43rd (H) Bty were with Hickman's newly organised column in reserve near Naauwpoort. This combination again failed to stop De Wet and Knox set off in pursuit. However, De Wet's incursion into Cape Colony failed to raise a rebellion there, and he had to return to Orange Free State where he disappeared again, having lost his wagons and guns. The Great Hunt was called off in late February.Amery, Vol V, pp. 132–9.Kruger, pp. 401–5, 410–1.
Simultaneously, single howitzers of 87th (H) Bty accompanied the columns of Colonels Edmund Allenby and William Pulteney operating against Gen Louis Botha in Eastern Transvaal from 28 January. Next day the two columns combined to turn the Boers off their position on Boschman's Kop. They followed up and found the Boers in position with some artillery, forcing them out on 1 and 2 February. The British columns then converged on Ermelo, with Pulteney advancing directly up the road. Although Botha was prevented from invading Natal, the columns were too scattered to stop his commandos escaping. Pulteney found Ermelo deserted, and Allenby was held up by a resolute Boer rearguard.Amery, Vol V, pp. 160–70.
A new series of concentric drives began in Northwestern Free State in July 1901, with one howitzer of 43rd (H) Bty marching with Col W.H. Williams' column (Col Barker was commanding one of the 'Stop columns', based on Winburg, which he had fortified). The columns pursued Generals Koos de la Rey and Jan Kemp through the winter, but often the guns were held up by thick bush, which provided cover for the Boers.Amery, Vol V, pp. 32.Amery, Vol V, pp 304–5, 323, 327.Amery, Vol V, pp 415–6.
Mounted Rifles By the end of 1901 artillery had become almost irrelevant in the mobile guerrilla warfare then prevailing, but the British forces had a desperate need for more mounted troops. One solution was to convert artillery units into mounted infantry, known as the Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles, riding battery horses. The whole of XII (H) Brigade Division, under Maj C.D. Guinness of 86th (H) Bty, combined with VIII Brigade Division to form Colonel James Dunlop's Column about 750 strong. The RAMR assembled at Pretoria and took the field for the first time during the 'New Model Drives' that rounded up hundreds of Boers in January–February 1902. Dunlop's RAMR served with Col the Hon Julian Byng's column in northeastern Orange Free State.Amery, Vol V, pp. 472–91.Headlam, Vol III, pp. 469–72; Appendix I.
Before the drive by parallel columns began, Byng's column had been positioned near Reitz to watch Boer movements, prevent any hostile groups coming together, and to find Commandant Mears and the remaining Boer artillery. On 1 February De Wet ordered a rendezvous with Mears, but Byng was between them, posted on the banks of the Liebenbergsvlei River. Attempting to cross, Mears was driven back with the loss of his artillery. On 5 February the British columns began the 'Drive' with a cordon of mounted men at intervals of 10 yards pushing towards the blockhouse line along the railway, 50 miles ahead. The drive took three days and two nights, and stringent precautions were taken to prevent any Boers slipping back through the cordon at night. The first drive was only partly successful: De Wet broke through the blockhouse line with several hundred Boers. But a second drive immediately followed to clear the next area of the Free State. On the night of 23 February at Langverwagt, De Wet attempted to force a break in the cordon with a picked force of Boers, to allow the convoy of wagons carrying the Free State government and civilians to escape northwards. In the confusion, Commandant Jan Meyer with the Harrismith Commando lost their bearings and ran into the section of the line held by Dunlop's gunners. They were repulsed with losses, and fled south. Again, De Wet got away with a hard core of Boers and some of the civilians, but hundreds were caught in the closing net and forced to surrender, including Meyer and over 570 Harrismith men. The drives continued, Col Barker now commanding a group of six small columns, and in May the Boers finally surrendered, signing the Treaty of Vereeniging.Amery, Vol V, pp. 474–92.Amery, Vol V, pp. 554–6.Amery, Vol V, p. 578.Headlam, Vol III, pp. 472–6.Kruger, pp. 471–4.
Postwar After the end of the war XII (H) Brigade returned to Newcastle, now under the command of Brevet Colonel F. Waldron, later of Bt-Col A.S. Pratt.Hart's Army List 1903.Hart's Army List 1905. During 1905 it moved to the Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, coming under the command of Lt-Col J.B. Langley,Hart's Army List 1906. and by 1909 it had gone to Aldershot.Hart's Army List 1909. During 1910 the brigade moved to Deepcut Barracks near Farnborough, Hampshire, and Lt-Col W.A. Robinson took command, followed by Lt-Col W.T. Furse during 1912.Hart's Army List 1911.Hart's Army List 1913. By the end of 1913 the brigade had crossed to Ireland.Hart's Army List 1913.
By the outbreak of World War I, the howitzer batteries were each equipped with six 4.5-inch howitzers.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 1–2. Ammunition columns were only formed when a brigade was mobilised for active service. As part of the Haldane reforms in 1908 the men of the former Artillery Militia units of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) joined the part-time Special Reserve as the Royal Field Reserve Artillery. Their wartime role was to form brigade ammunition columns (BACs) for the RFA.Edmonds, 1914, Vol I, p. 5.
World War I
Mobilisation On the outbreak of war in Europe in August 1914, XII (H) Brigade was stationed in Ireland, under the command of Lt-Col G. Humphreys, with the following dispositions:12th (H) Bde War Diary, August 1914 – May 1916, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/1597/1. Brigade HQ at Clonmel 43rd (H) Bty at Fethard 86th (H) Bty at Clonmel 87th (H) Bty at Kilkenny XII (H) BAC mobilising at Curragh Camp
Under the mobilisation scheme, a number of units in Ireland including XII (H) Bde were assigned to 6th Division of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), which would serve on the Western Front. XII (H) Brigade received the order to mobilise on 5 August, and on 15 August it moved to Queenstown where the batteries boarded SS Cymric bound for Liverpool. On arrival in England it joined 6th Division concentrated in camps around Cambridge and took part in divisional training. Then on 7 September it entrained for Southampton, the port of embarkation for France. 43rd and 86th (H) Btys boarded the transport Kingstonian, 87th (H) Bty on SS Cornishman, while the BAC went on Cornishman and SS Bellerophon.Becke, Pt 1, pp. 73–9.XII (H) Bde at Long, Long Trail.6th Division at Long, Long Trail.
Western Front The brigade disembarked at St-Nazaire on 10 September, and entrained for the front. By 13 September, 6th Division had concentrated at Coulommiers, east of Paris, and next day it moved up to join the BEF, which was attacking on the Aisne.Farndale, Western Front, p. 65.
Aisne