The 7th London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a new unit formed when Britain's Territorial Force was created in 1908. Its origin lay in Artillery Volunteer Corps formed in West London in the 1860s, which had later been incorporated into a larger London unit. Together with its wartime duplicate it served on the Western Front, at Salonika and in Palestine during the First World War. It formed several units for service in the Second World War, when they were in action in North Africa, Italy and North West Europe. The unit continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1961.
Origin
When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) on 1 May 1908 under the Haldane Reforms,Spiers, Chapter 10. the 1st City of London Artillery split to form three brigades in the Royal Field Artillery: I City of London Brigade in the City of London, VI County of London Brigade at Brixton in South London, and VII County of London Brigade at Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, in West London. The VII (or 7th) London Brigade was formed on 1 May 1908 from Nos 8–10 Companies of the 1st City Artillery, descended from part of the 1st Surrey Artillery Volunteers, which had been absorbed by the City of London Artillery in 1883. The commanding officer (CO) was Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Chambers, VD, who had previously commanded the 1st City Artillery.Frederick, pp. 665, 670.Barnes, Appendix III.Litchfield & Westlake, p. 158.Litchfield, pp. 157–158.Army List, various dates.
The new unit had the following organisation:Frederick, p. 678.Litchfield & Westlake, p. 116.London Gazette 20 March 1908.7th London Artillery at Regiments.orgBarnes, Appendix IV.Maude, pp. 1–2; Appendix C.Maude, Appendix F. 18th County of London Battery 19th County of London Battery 20th County of London Battery 7th London Ammunition Column
Before 1914 the brigade (except 19th Bty) moved from Shepherd's Bush to 86 Fulham High Street.Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, Drill Hall Register at Stepping Forward London. The brigade was assigned to 2nd London Division of the TF. The three batteries were each equipped with four 15-pounder guns.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 72–75.
First World War Mobilisation and organisation
When war broke out in August 1914, VII London Bde had only just arrived at Perham Down on Salisbury Plain for its annual training camp, and it was immediately recalled to London to mobilise under the command of Brevet Colonel Chambers. After completing their mobilisation the 2nd London Division's artillery brigades moved to the country round Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Kings Langley in Hertfordshire to begin war training.47th (2nd London) Division at Long, Long Trail.Maude, pp. 2–3, 11.
On the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. On 15 August 1914, the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. 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. Eventually these too were prepared for overseas service and 3rd Line reserve units were formed to produce reinforcement drafts to the others.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6. The duplicate 2/VII London Brigade was formed in September 1914.Dalbaic, pp. 17–18.Frederick, p. 691.
1/VII London Brigade At the end of October 1914 the 2nd London Division was chosen to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting on the Western Front and training was stepped up, despite bad weather and equipment shortages. Brigade and divisional training began in February 1915 and it received its orders for the move to France on 2 March. By 22 March all the batteries had reached the divisional concentration area around Béthune.Farndale, Western Front, p. 94.Maude, pp. 3, 11–12.
Aubers Ridge While the division's infantry were introduced to trench routine by being attached in groups to the 1st and 2nd Divisions holding the line, the TF field batteries with their obsolescent 15-pounders were interspersed with those of the two Regular divisions equipped with modern 18-pounder guns. However, ammunition was very scarce, and the guns were restricted to three rounds per gun per day during April. Ammunition was being saved up for the Battle of Aubers Ridge on 9 May, when the 15-pounders of 1/VII London Bde joined with the guns of 1st and 2nd Divisions and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) to cut the barbed wire for the assault by 1st Division. The bombardment began at 05.00 with Shrapnel shell, then at 05.30 the guns switched to High Explosive (HE) shell to join the howitzers already firing at the German breastworks. At 05.40 the guns lifted to targets further back and the infantry moved to the attack. The attackers ran into devastating machine gun fire (there was no artillery barrage to suppress the defenders) and they found that the wire was inadequately cut and the breastworks barely touched. The inexperienced artillery had failed in all its tasks. A renewed bombardment was ordered from 06.15 to 07.00, but the artillery's forward observation officers (FOOs) were unable to locate the hidden German machine gun positions, which required a direct hit from an HE shell to be put out of action. The second attack failed as badly as the first, as did two others launched during the afternoon, and the survivors were pinned down in No man's land until nightfall, despite a further bombardment being laid on to allow them to withdraw.Edmonds, 1915, Vol II, pp. 6, 17–29, 39.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 103–107.Maude, pp 12–13.
Festubert Although 2nd London Division suffered few casualties at Aubers Ridge, its gunners had learned a sobering lesson about the impossibility of suppressing strong defences with inadequate guns and shells. On 11 May the division was redesignated 47th (1/2nd London) Division, and on the night of 14/15 May it took its place in the line for the Battle of Festubert. The guns were already in place, with 47th Divisional Artillery operating under the control of 7th Division. Despite the continuing shortage of ammunition, the plan this time was for a long methodical bombardment. On 13 and 14 May the field guns carried out three two-hour deliberate bombardments each day, attacking the wire with slow observed fire or keeping the enemy communication trenches under fire. At night they carried out intermittent bombardments of the communication trenches and defences, to stop supplies being brought up and to prevent repairs being carried out. The guns fired about 100 rounds per day. During 15 May feint bombardments mimicking the moment of assault were carried out, but the actual attack was made after dark with some success. The fighting went on for several days, and 47th (2nd L) Division made its own first attack on the night of 25 May. The leading brigade captured the German front and support trenches, but was then pinned down by accurate German artillery fire and could advance no further. This effectively ended the battle. The heavy rate of fire during the battle was too much for the old 15-pdrs: by 26 May, 11 out of 36 guns in the division were out of action.Edmonds, 1915, Vol II, pp. 44–76.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 107–110.Maude, pp. 14–20.
Loos In June 47th (2nd L) Division took over trenches in front of Loos-en-Gohelle from the French. In August the divisional artillery was rested for the first time since March, and the brigade began training on the 18-pounder for when these became available. The Loos sector had been selected for the next major British attack (the Battle of Loos), to which part of 47th (2nd L) Division would provide the southern 'hinge'. 1/VII London Bde with its obsolescent guns was not assigned a major role in the complex artillery plan, and it remained in reserve behind the attack of 140th (4th London) Brigade except for two batteries; of these a section of 1/19th Bty was attached to 15th (Scottish) Divisional Artillery. Supported by poison gas clouds, the attacking portion of 47th (2nd L) Division made good progress towards its limited objective, and 15th (S) Division had almost broken through, though it had failed to take Hill 70. However, events had not played out so well further north at the Hohenzollern Redoubt, and the battle raged on after 47th (2nd L) Division had been relieved between 28 September and 1 October.Cherry, pp. 41, 109–122.Edmonds, 1915, Vol II, pp. 174–176, 182–191.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 116–123.Maude, pp. 14, 25–36.
On 13 October 47th (2nd L) Division was in support for the final attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt, and was practising on dummy trenches for a follow-up attack on Hulluch next day, but the results at the Hohenzollern were so disappointing that the operation was cancelled. The division took over the line and the artillery was in constant action over the following weeks. On 6 November 1915 the batteries of 1/VII London Bde were re-equipped with modern 18-pounders, for which they had been training since August; ammunition supply also improved.Maude, pp. 37–41. Colonel Chambers was succeeded as CO by Lt-Col W.E. Peal, DSO, promoted from command of 20th Bty during November.Maude, Appendix D.
The division returned to the Loos sector in January 1916, with most of the artillery round Grenay, with Observation Posts (OPs) in the cottages of Maroc. The guns carried out a great deal of counter-battery (CB) work against battery positions in and around Lens. However, there was now a policy of pushing a few guns close up behind the infantry's trenches, and a gun of 1/19th Bty was brought into action from the mine pit (fosse) at Calonne, no more than from the front line, from where it could shoot laterally at the railway triangle east of Loos. 'Although searched for by every type of missile, including trench-mortar bombs, the gun remained in action for several weeks, until the battery left the neighbourhood'.Maude, p. 46.
Spring 1916 On 24 April 1/VII London Bde was joined by an additional 4-gun battery, manned by half of 93rd Bty RFA, a Regular battery that had come to France from India with the 3rd (Lahore) Division and stayed with the BEF when the division went to Mesopotamia. This became R/VII Bty, but only stayed a short time: on 17 May 1916 1/VII London Bde was renumbered CCXXXVII Bde (237 Bde) and the batteries were designated A, B and C; R Bty transferred to CCXXXVIII (formerly VIII London Bde). At the same time the brigade ammunition columns (BACs) were abolished and incorporated into the divisional ammunition column (DAC).Perry, pp. 50–52.Maude, p. 57.