The 1st Argyll & Bute Artillery Volunteers was a part-time unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery formed in Scotland in 1860 in response to a French invasion threat. It 1908 it became the only Mountain Artillery unit in the Territorial Force, and saw action at Gallipoli and Salonika during the First World War. Before the Second World War, it became the first Territorial anti-tank unit. One of its successor units was captured at Saint-Valery-en-Caux, during the Battle of France, but others saw action in the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, and in North West Europe from D Day to VE Day. The latter included the Battle of Arnhem and the crossing of the Rhine. It continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1955.
Artillery Volunteers The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle and Artillery Volunteer Corps composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.Beckett.Grierson, pp. 1–12.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 1–4.Spiers, pp. 163–8. The 1st Administrative Brigade, Argyll Artillery Volunteers, was formed with headquarters (HQ) at Oban, on 10 October 1861 to include the following corps of Argyllshire Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVCs):Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 24–6.Frederick, pp. 649–50.Grierson, pp. 149–51.Army List, various dates.Beckett, Appendix VIII. 1st Corps formed at Easdale on 7 March 1860 (two batteries) 2nd Corps formed at Tarbert, Loch Fyne, on 12 April 1860 (disbanded 1862) 3rd Corps formed at Oban on 8 March 1860 4th Corps formed at West Tarbert on 12 April 1860; moved to Dunmore 1864, and Ronachan 1866 (disbanded 1874) 5th Corps formed at Ardgour on 16 January 1861 (one subdivision, disbanded in 1865) 6th Corps formed at Campbeltown on 11 February 1861 (Increased to two batteries, 1870) 7th Corps formed at Port Ellen, Islay, on 3 July 1861 8th Corps formed at South Hall on 10 September 1861; moved to Castle Toward 1878. 9th Corps formed at Tobermory, Mull on 15 May 1862 (Reduced to a half -battery, 1874). 10th Corps formed at Lochgilphead on 15 May 1862 11th Corps formed at Tarbet on 13 February 1866 12th Corps formed at Inveraray on 2 April 1867 (Recruited from men of the Furnace Quarries)
The 1st Bute Artillery Volunteers at Rothesay (raised on 20 March 1862) joined the unit on 20 March 1863, and the 2nd Bute Artillery Volunteers from Millport, Cumbrae, joined on formation on 5 October 1867. In 1864, brigade HQ moved to Lochgilphead, then, in 1870, to Rothesay. On 25 May 1880, the brigade was consolidated as the 1st Argyll and Bute Artillery Volunteers, with twelve and a half batteries, distributed as follows: Nos. 1 and 2, Easdale (late 1st Argyll) No. 3, Oban (late 3rd Argyll) Nos. 4 and 5, Campbeltown (late 6th Argyll) No. 6, Port Ellen, Islay (late 7th Argyll) No. 7, Castle Toward (late 8th Argyll) No. 8, Rothesay (late 1st Bute) No. 9, Millport (late 2nd Bute) No. 10, Lochgilphead (late 10th Argyll) No. 11, Tarbert (late 11th Argyll) No. 12, Inveraray (late 12th Argyll) Half-battery, Tobermory, Mull (late 9th Argyll) (disbanded in 1887)
In 1887, a new 12th battery was formed at Rothesay, and in the following year the 8th Battery moved to Dunoon.
Royal Garrison Artillery In 1882, all the artillery volunteers were affiliated to one of the territorial garrison divisions of the Royal Artillery (RA) and the 1st Argyll & Bute AVC became part of the Scottish Division. In 1889, the structure was altered, and the corps joined the Southern Division. In 1899, the RA was divided into separate field and garrison branches, and the artillery volunteers were all assigned to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). When the divisional structure was abolished, their titles were changed, the unit becoming the 1st Argyll & Bute Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers) on 1 January 1902, with its HQ at Tarbert.
During the South African War in 1900, 211 men of the 1st Argyll and Bute volunteered their services, but only eight were accepted for active service.
The corps was one of the most scattered in Britain. For example, No 6 Company had detachments at Bowmore, Bridgend, and Ardbeg. Personnel of the corps were spread over fifteen localities in some of the largest and least accessible country in Scotland. Owing to the varying occupations of the men, 75% were Gaelic-speaking, three training camps were arranged at different times of the year. In addition, the corps had to maintain 15 carbine ranges. Many prizes were won by the corps, both in gun practice and repository exercises, at the Scottish National Artillery Association camps - the King's Cup was won at Barry Buddon in 1903 by the Easdale companies. The pipe band consisted of over thirty pipers.
Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908Beckett, pp. 247–53.Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the bulk of the personnel of the 1st Argyll & Bute RGA (V) formed IV (4th) Highland (Mountain) Brigade, RGA, while the remainder formed one company of the Forth and Clyde Royal Garrison Artillery. The new brigade, which included the Lochcarron, Ross-shire, company from the former Highland Artillery Volunteers, was the only TF mountain artillery unit. It formed part of the Highland Division and had the following organisation:Frederick, pp. 894, 898–9.Litchfield, pp. 276–7.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 101–7.
IV Highland (Mountain) Brigade, RGA HQ at Russell Street, Rothesay Argyllshire (Mountain) Bty at Campbeltown Ross and Cromarty (Mountain) Bty at Lochcarron Buteshire (Mountain) Bty at Rothesay 4th Highland (Mountain) Ammunition Column at Tarbert
The batteries were equipped with the 10-pounder mountain gun,Becke, Pt 1, pp. 117–24. a 2.75-inch calibre 'screw gun' originally developed for the Indian Army's mountain batteries.
First World War Mobilisation The Highland Division received a warning order for mobilisation on 29 July 1914, and the order to mobilise was received at 17.35 on 4 August. IV Highland Mtn Bde arrived at Bedford on 10 August, where the division concentrated over the following days. During the winter of 1914–15, a number of units left the division to join other formations in the field. On 10 March 1915 IV Highland Mtn Bde (except the Bute Bty) transferred to the 29th Division. This was a new division formed mainly from Regular Army units returned from stations round the Empire, and was allocated to the forthcoming Dardanelles operation. The battery left from Avonmouth Docks on 16 March, bound for Malta and then Alexandria, where it disembarked.
Gallipoli
29th Division re-embarked at Alexandria and landed at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli Peninsula at 07.00 on 25 April 1915. IV Highland Mtn Bde and its two batteries served through the difficult opening weeks of the campaign with 29th Division, including the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battles of Krithia and the Battle of Gully Ravine, before transferring to 11th (Northern) Division on 29 July. The 11th was a newly arrived formation of 'Kitchener's Army' volunteers recruited since the outbreak of war. It was concentrating on the island of Imbros for a fresh landing on the peninsula at Suvla Bay, which was carried out on 7 August. This landing was no more successful than the first, and the campaign bogged down again. Once at Suvla, the Argyll Battery transferred to the command of another Kitchener formation, the 10th (Irish) Division, on 8 August, followed by the rest of the brigade on 13 August.Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 19–25.Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 11–18.
The IV Highland Bde fought with 10th (I) Division through the campaign, including the Battle of Hill 60 and the following trench warfare. When the division was withdrawn on 30 September, the artillery, including IV Highland Bde, remained in action until the final evacuation of Suvla on the night of 19/20 December, when every gun was successfully withdrawn without loss.
Salonika After the evacuations from Gallipoli, the troops were transported back to Egypt for rest and reorganisation. The IV Highland Bde was classed as 'Army Troops' with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the Suez Canal defences. In September 1916, the brigade was sent to Salonika as reinforcements for the Macedonian front. The Bute Battery, which had remained behind in Scotland and later England with the second line troops of the Highland Division (later the 64th (2nd Highland) Division), sailed direct from England to Salonika, disembarking on 20 September.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 55–9.'Mountain Batteries, RGA', The National Archives, file WO 95/5494/1. Each mountain battery in Macedonia had four of the improved 2.75-inch mountain guns.Farndale, Forgotten Fronts, Annex 1.
The Macedonian Front was another area of stationary trench warfare until late in the war, when the final offensive began on 1 September 1918. IV Highland Bde and its batteries were allocated to different formations as required. The brigade was with 28th Division from December 1916 until 22 July 1918, when the Bute Bty went to 27th Division. The rest of the brigade left 28th Division on 10 September to come under XVI Corps before joining 26th Division on 23 September. The Bute Bty left 27th Division on 8 September when it went to XVI Corps, returning on 23 September. On 25 September, the battery rejoined IV Highland Bde, which had left 26th Division and was then operating with 14th Greek Division as the campaign came to a successful end.Becke, Pt 1, pp. 97–103.Becke, Pt 1, pp. 105-11.Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 143–9.
Interwar When the TF was reconstituted on 7 February 1920, the brigade re-formed as 1st Highland Mountain Bde, RGA, under the command of Lt-Col W.H. Macalpine-Leny, DSO, with HQ at the Drill Hall at Tarbert. The TF was reorganised as the Territorial Army (TA) in 1921 and the brigade was redesignated as the 26th Highland Pack Brigade, RGA in January 1922. The Bute Bty (initially listed as 102 (Howitzer) (Bute) Pack Bty) had a Cadet Corps affiliated to it. The RGA was subsumed into the Royal Artillery (RA) in 1924. The brigade (which was the only 'pack' unit in the TA) changed its number to 13th, with the following organisation: HQ, Drill Hall, Tarbert 49th(Argyll) Bty, Drill Hall, Oban 50th (Bute) Bty, Drill Hall, Rothesay 51st (Ross) Bty, Drill Hall, Stornoway
The brigade changed its designation again from 'Pack' to 'Light' in 1927, but it underwent a more fundamental reorganisation in 1936 when it was converted into a field artillery unit as 54th (West Highland) Army Field Brigade (the regiment and batteries re-used numbers from a Hampshire-based field regiment that had recently been converted to the anti-aircraft role):Frederick, pp. 495, 515. HQ, Drill Hall, Tarbert 214 (Argyll) Field Bty, Campbeltown 215 (Bute) Field Bty, Drill Hall, Rothesay 219 (Ross) Field Bty, Drill Hall, Stornoway 371 (Oban) Field Bty, Drill Hall, Oban, formed February 1937
However, this was short-lived: by the late 1930s, a need for specialist anti-tank (A/T) artillery had been recognised, and on 28 November 1938 the regiment (as RA brigades were termed from that year onwards) became the first such unit in the TA as 51st (West Highland) Anti-Tank Regiment.Frederick, pp. 914, 918, 920. Regimental HQ (RHQ) at 130 George Street, Oban 201 (Argyll) Anti-Tank Battery at Campbeltown 202 (Bute) Anti-Tank Battery at Rothesay 203 (Ross) Anti-Tank Battery at Drill Hall, Stornoway 204 (Oban) Anti-Tank Battery at Oban
Second World War Mobilisation The TA was doubled in size following the Munich Crisis of 1938, with existing units splitting to form duplicates before the outbreak of the Second World War. 51st A/T Regiment reorganised as follows:
51st (West Highland) A/T Rgt
RHQ at 130 George Street, Oban 201 (Argyll) A/T Bty at Campbeltown 202 (Bute) A/T Bty at Rothesay 203 (Ross) A/T Bty at Stornoway 204 (Oban) A/T Bty at Oban
61st (West Highland) A/T Rgt
RHQ at Rothesay 241 (Highland) A/T Bty 242 (Oban) A/T Bty