The 8th Lancashire Artillery Volunteers was a unit of the British Volunteer Force raised in Liverpool, Lancashire, in 1860. Later it transferred to the Territorial Force as a brigade of heavy artillery, and its batteries fought in many of the great battles on the Western Front during the First World War.
Volunteer Force 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.Spiers, pp. 163–8. One such unit was the 8th Lancashire Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVC) formed in Liverpool on 9 January 1860.Frederick, p. 664.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 107–13.Beckett, Appendix VIII.Lancashire Record Office, Handlist 72. In March the Army List showed it as having been absorbed by the 1st Lancashire AVC (also in Liverpool) but it retained its independence and by June had become part of the 1st Administrative Brigade of Lancashire Artillery Volunteers. On 19 October 1860 it became a fully independent unit. It also raised additional batteries: the 2nd on 28 June 1860, 3rd on 14 September 1860, 4th and 5th on 12 October 1860, 6th on 23 April 1861, 7th and 8th by July 1861. In April 1864 it absorbed the 25th (Liverpool) Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps also formed on 9 January 1860 and recruited mainly from the Mersey Steel & Iron Company. The 8th Lancashire AVC's headquarters (HQ) was at the Mersey Steel & Iron Co in 1869, but from 1870 it was in Toxteth Park, Liverpool. By the 1880s it was at Sefton Barracks, Upper Warwick Street, Toxteth.Army List, various dates.Beckett, Appendix VII.Westlake, p. 147.
When the Volunteers were consolidated into larger units in 1880 the 8th Lancashire AVC was large enough to retain its identity: it had 10 batteries by 1864 and 12 by May 1885, when it was reduced to eight. In 1882 all the AVCs were affiliated to one of the territorial garrison artillery divisions of the Royal Artillery (RA) and the 8th Lancashires became part of the Lancashire 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). In 1902 their titles were changed, the Liverpool unit becoming the 8th Lancashire Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers), designated as heavy artillery (ie semi-mobile heavy field artillery, rather than fixed garrison artillery).Litchfield and Westlake, pp. 3–6.
Territorial Force
When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the 8th Lancashire RGA (V) formed the Lancashire Heavy Brigade, RGA of two batteries (initially designated West and East, then from 1910 the 1st and 2nd) and ammunition columns, all at Sefton Barracks.Frederick, pp. 696–701.Litchfield, p. 128.London Gazette, 20 March 1908.
The Lancashire Brigade was not intended to be a tactical unit: the 1st Lancashire Heavy Bty was attached to the TF's West Lancashire Division,Becke, Pt 2a, p. 37.55 (WL) Division at Long, Long Trail.55 (WL) Division at Regimental Warpath. while the 2nd was attached to the East Lancashire Division.Becke, Pt 2a, p. 135.42 (EL) Division at Long, Long Trail.42 (EL) Division at Regimental Warpath. Each was equipped with four 4.7-inch guns and had its own dedicated ammunition column.Conrad, British Army, 1914.
First World War Mobilisation The West Lancashire Division had just begun its annual training when war broke out on 4 August 1914 and the units immediately returned to their peacetime HQs to mobilise. The men of the East Lancashire Division similarly gathered, and were billeted close to their HQs. The TF was intended for home service, but on 10 August its units were invited to volunteer for overseas service. The East Lancashire Division, having volunteered en masse, moved into camps for battle training on 20 August. On 15 August 1914, the War Office (WO) issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. Then on 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate batteries, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 1–7.
On 5 September the East Lancashire Division was ordered to Egypt to relieve the Regular Army garrison there for service on the Western Front. It was the first TF division to go overseas, and embarked on 10 September, leaving behind the 1/2nd Lancashire Heavy Bty, which joined the 2nd East Lancashire Division that was being assembled.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 67–71.66 (2EL) Division at Long, Long Trail. Similarly, the West Lancashire Division sent most of its infantry units to the Western Front between November 1914 and April 1915, when the 1/1st Lancashire Hvy Bty joined the 2nd West Lancashire Division.
1/1st Lancashire Heavy Battery The 1/1st Bty joined the 2nd West Lancashire Division (57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division from August 1915) after the last of the 1st Line division was broken up in April 1915. The new division was being assembled and trained round Canterbury, and the battery remained with it until the end of the year. On 28 December the battery moved to Woolwich to prepare for overseas service. It disembarked at Le Havre on 26 January 1916, and joined 29th Heavy Artillery Group (HAG) on 1 February.'Allocation of Heavy Batteries RGA', The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/5494/2.57 (2WL) Division at Long, Long Trail.
Somme 29th HAG was part of Fourth Army, which was being assembled for the forthcoming 'Big Push' (the Battle of the Somme).'Allocation of HA Groups', TNA file WO 95/5494/1.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 102–5. The group's role was to support XIII Corps in its assault on the German lines from Maricourt to beyond Carnoy. The guns were assembled on the reverse slopes of Maricourt Ridge, from which the observation posts (OPs) had excellent views over the long gentle slope to Montauban Ridge, up which the British infantry had to attack. In this sector the British had almost a four-to-one advantage in heavy artillery (one heavy gun or howitzer for every of front) and by 'Z Day' had achieved complete mastery with its counter-battery (CB) fire, which had begun six days earlier and continued during the attack.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 320–5.Farndale, pp. 147–8.
When the infantry launched their assault on 1 July, XIII Corps had considerable success (certainly compared to most of the rest of the attack) and most of its casualties were caused by machine gun and rifle fire from strongpoints, instead of by artillery, as was usually the case. 30th Division on the right reached both its first and second objectives (Montauban), but could not go further, because the neighbouring 18th Division was held up. 18th Division, however did achieve all its objectives by 16.00. The sector was reported to be eerily quiet by the late afternoon, with only a single German 5.9-inch gun shelling Montauban Alley at extreme range, slowly and inaccurately. Unfortunately, much less success had been achieved on the rest of the front and the Somme Offensive ground on until November 1916.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 325–45.
The obsolescent 4.7-inch guns were progressively replaced in the BEF by 60-pounders during 1916. In December 1916 the WO decided that all heavy batteries should be composed of six guns and 1/1st Lancashire Hvy Bty was brought up to that strength on 12 February 1917 when it was joined by a section of 193rd Heavy Bty, a New Army unit newly arrived in France and immediately broken up.Farndale, Annex E.
Vimy
1/1st Lancashire Hvy Bty had been transferred to 57th HAG on 7 December 1916. It rejoined 29th HAG when it was brought up to six guns, and then on 14 March transferred to 84th HAG with First Army further north, which it joined a week later. First Army was preparing for participation in the Arras Offensive, and 84th HAG was assigned to I Corps for the attack on Vimy Ridge on 9 April. The concentration of heavy guns was one for every of front. The artillery preparation began on 20 March, with the batteries of 84th HAG firing from around Bois de Bouvigny on the north flank of the attack, from where they could virtually enfilade the German lines in support of I Corps. The artillery plan for the heavy guns emphasised CB fire. At Zero hour, while the field guns laid down a Creeping barrage to protect the advancing infantry, the 60-pounders switched to 'searching' fire on the German rear areas to catch machine gunners and moving infantry. When the British infantry reached their Phase 2 objective (the Blue Line) the field guns would move forward and the 60-pounders move up to occupy their vacated positions. The attack went in on 9 April with I Corps and Canadian Corps successfully capturing Vimy Ridge while Third Army attacked further south near Arras. The only hold-up on 9 April was at Hill 145, near the north end of the Canadian attack, and the capture of this position was completed the next day. Fighting in the southern sector (the Battle of Arras) continued into May.Farndale, pp. 164–6, 174–6, Map 23.Cave, pp. 119–27, Map p. 121.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 74–8.
Later war On 15 May, 1/1st Lancashire Hvy Bty transferred to 15th HAG, quickly moving on to 98th HAG on 28 May, with which it stayed while First Army carried out a number of operations round Oppy Wood and Hill 70. On 4 September it moved to 87th HAG, then on 25 October to 46th HAG with Second Army, which was engaged in the final actions of the Battle of Passchendaele.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 82–7.
Second Army HQ was sent to the Italian Front at the end of 1917, and Fourth Army took over the Ypres Salient. By now HAG allocations were becoming more fixed, and on 1 February 1918 the HAGs were converted into permanent RGA brigades, with 46th becoming a 'Mobile' brigade of 60-pounders and 6-inch howitzers. Apart from a temporary attachment to 79th HAG from 24 December to 28 January 1918, 1/1st Lancashire Hvy Bty remained with 46th Bde until the end of the war.Farndale, Annex E.Farndale, Annex M.
Fourth Army was engaged in the second phase of the German spring offensive in April 1918 (the Battle of the Lys). 46th (Mobile) Bde moved to First Army on 1 May. The Allied Hundred Days Offensive began on 8 August, with First Army attacking at Arras and the Drocourt-Quéant Line in late August and early September. On 2 October, 46th (Mobile) Bde transferred to Fifth Army, which launched its final advance that day, liberating Lille on 17 October ad closing up to the Scheldt. By the Armistice with Germany, Fifth Army was across the Dendre.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 114–20.Edmonds & Maxwell-Hyslop, p. 404.
1/2nd Lancashire Heavy Battery After the East Lancashire Division departed for Egypt, 1/2nd Hvy Bty was attached to the 2nd Line division (later 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division), but did not fully join it in Kent until September 1915 after the Right Section of the battery returned from detachment at Sunderland. It left the division on 5 January 1916 and went to Woolwich to mobilise. It disembarked with its 4.7-inch guns at Le Havre on 9 February 1916 and joined 16th HAG. It moved rapidly between HAGs: to 29th on 3 March and 21st on 12 March before joining 18th on 14 May. This HAG was with Second Army HQ in the Ypres Salient, but on 10 September it reinforced Fourth Army HQ for the later battles of the Somme Offensive.