47th Siege Battery was a heavy howitzer unit of Britain's Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) in World War I, formed at Portsmouth with a nucleus of Territorial Force coastal gunners from Hampshire. It served in the Ypres Salient, on the Somme and at Vimy Ridge, before taking part in the Third Battle of Ypres. It then fought against the German Spring Offensive and participated in the final Allied Hundred Days Offensive. The battery was absorbed into the Regular Army after the war.
Mobilisation & training On the outbreak of war in August 1914, units of the part-time Territorial Force (TF) were invited to volunteer for Overseas ServiceBecke, Pt 2b, p. 6. and the majority of the Hampshire Royal Garrison Artillery did so. This was a 'defended ports unit' with companies stationed at the forts around Spithead and the Solent.Frederick, p. 697.Maurice-Jones, p. 185. By October 1914, the campaign on the Western Front was bogging down into Trench warfare and there was an urgent need for batteries of siege artillery to be sent to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The War Office decided that the TF coastal gunners were well enough trained to take over many of the duties in the coastal defences, releasing Regular Army RGA gunners for service in the field.WO Instruction No 248 of October 1914. Although complete TF defended ports units never served overseas, the companies that had volunteered for foreign service were soon supplying trained gunners to RGA units on active service and providing cadres to help form complete units.Maurice-Jones, pp. 200–1.
47th Siege Battery, RGA, was formed on 28 July 1915 at Portsmouth with a nucleus from the Hampshire RGA and regular RGA gunners returned from Mauritius (No 56 Company) and Hong Kong (Nos 83, 87, 88 Companies and the Hong Kong-Singapore Royal Artillery).Frederick, pp. 702–7. Together with 46th Siege Bty the battery formed a new 'L' Siege Brigade (Training) at the RGA training camp at Lydd on 30 July. The batteries training at Lydd did their field firing with 9.45-inch Skoda howitzers from the Second Boer War and 8-inch rifled muzzle-loading howitzers dating from 1879.Frederick, pp. 712–8.46th Siege Bty War Diary, July 1915–February 1918, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/217/4.Anon, 71st Battery, p. 11.Penstone, pp. 11–2.
After training the battery moved to Horsham with 'L' Siege Bde, which was under orders to mobilise for overseas service as 36th Heavy Bde. However, the brigade's order to mobilise was rescinded. Instead 47th Siege Bty went to Taunton and mobilised on 30 September with 'J' Siege Bde (T), which became 33rd Siege Bde.
Western Front
47th Siege Bty embarked from Southampton on 26 November under the command of Major Robert Daubuz (who had been stationed on Gibraltar on the outbreak of war).Monthly Army List, August 1914. It was equipped with four 8-inch howitzers and accompanied by its Army Service Corps mechanical transport (MT) section (2nd Section, No 593 MT Company of 33rd Bde). The battery disembarked at Boulogne on 27 November and marched across France to Belgium (delayed when one of the howitzers became ditched), arriving on 7 December at Vlamertinghe in the Ypres Salient.47th Siege Bty War Diary, December 1915–January 1918, TNA file WO 95/465/4.'Allocation of Siege Batteries RGA', TNA file WO 95/5494/4.'MT Companies with RGA Batteries', TNA file WO 95/5494/3.Young, Appendix Q.
Ypres Salient At Vlamertinghe the battery joined 2nd Heavy Artillery Reserve (HAR) in V Corps Heavy Artillery (HA) under Second Army.Becke, Pt 4, p. 290. It handed over its guns to 20th Siege Bty and then marched to a position south-east of Vlamertinghe to take over 20th Siege Bty's guns already emplaced. Right Half Bty manned 'Northern Guns' and Left Half 'Southern Guns'; each position had two Mark II 8-inch howitzers. The battery opened fire at 15.00 on 8 December, engaging various enemy trenches and strongpoints at ranges from to . It fired 250 rounds in its first week in the line and then began registering its guns onto new targets with aircraft observation. It suffered its first casualties on 17 December when the billets of the South Guns section were hit by a 'Five-Nine' (150 mm) shell, wounding five men.
The battery settled into the routines of trench warfare, firing around 250 shells a week at targets around the Ypres Salient such as Hill 60, 'Stirling Castle', Hollebeke Chateau, and the Ypres–Comines canal, as well as retaliation shoots. On 14 February 1916 the battery came under the command of 5th Heavy Artillery Brigade in 2nd HAR Group. On that day the Germans attacked from the direction of Hooge Chateau: the battery brought down heavy fire on Stirling Castle and German communication trenches, but the enemy succeeded in capturing the British strongpoint known as The Bluff. Fighting continued next day, and the battery suffered a number of casualties. It continued retaliatory fire and desultory bombardment of The Bluff until 04.32 on 2 March when V Corps HA brought down a heavy bombardment to cover a surprise attack that succeeded in recapturing The Bluff. From 27 March the three guns of the battery that could be brought to bear cooperated in the fighting round the St Eloi Craters, which began with another British surprise attack launched at 04.15 without previous artillery preparation. This fighting continued until mid-April, when the line was virtually unchanged. V Corps ordered a protective barrage on its front when the Germans launched Gas attacks at Wulverghem after dark on 30 April.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 79–87.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 161–7.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 162–72, 177–91, 199–203, Sketches 6, 7, 9, 11.
From April RGA brigades were redesignated Heavy Artillery Groups (HAGs), and had no fixed organisation, batteries being attached as required.Farndale, Annex E. Increasingly 47th Siege Bty was used for counter-battery (CB) work, registering on known enemy batteries as well as its usual targets. On 2 June the batteries of 5th HAG were ordered to fire on Stirling Castle and Clonmel Copse as the Germans launched an attack on the Canadian Corps holding the line at Mount Sorrel. Fighting continued until 13 June and the battery was frequently called on to shell targets around Hill 60, Stirling Castle, Hooge, the canal and Armagh Wood.5th HAG War Diary December 1915–December 1917, TNA file WO 95/465/2/Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 227–42, Sketches 14–15.
Somme
On 14 June the battery paraded at Vlamertinghe and boarded a train at Godwaerswelde station bound for Fourth Army on the Somme, while the transport proceeded as a road convoy with the three serviceable guns. At Longeau the battery detrained and picked up a new (Vickers Mark VI) howitzer before marching into camp near Bray-sur-Somme on 17 June when it was attached to 14th HAG supporting XV Corps. Major Daubuz was injured in an accident, and on 20 June Maj E.D. Matthews arrived from 34th Siege Bty to take over as temporary officer commanding (OC).
Fourth Army was preparing for that summer's 'Big Push', (the Battle of the Somme). XV Corps' task was to capture the Fricourt Spur, including the villages of Fricourt and Mametz. The main bombardment was to extend over five days, U, V, W, X and Y, before the assault was launched on Z day. U Day was 24 June, but 47th Siege Bty was still registering its guns on that day. At first the new Mk VI gun (No 4) was described as 'very satisfactory', but it soon developed a series of faults and was sent to the workshop for repair. The battery joined in the bombardment on 26 June against enemy trenches north of Fricourt. Each day began with an 80-minute concentrated barrage, simulating the opening of the attack. The strenuous work of firing the heavy guns and howitzers was divided into 2-hour periods to allow the gunners to rest, forward observation officers (FOOs) to be relieved, and the guns to cool. The bombardment continued through the night, but half the guns were rested. 47th Siege Bty fired 780 rounds a day, but on several days the weather was too bad for good air or ground observation and the programme was extended by two days (Y1 and Y2), for which ammunition had to be used sparingly. The final bombardment began at 06.25 on Z Day (1 July), with 47th Siege Bty laying down a barrage on the enemy front line NW of Fricourt, then the infantry began their assault at 07.30. Two brigades of 21st Division had the task of capturing the German trenches NW of Fricourt before another brigade assaulted the village frontally. Although the Germans reported their tenches 'nearly completely destroyed', the leading battalions lost very heavily in the initial attack from a few machine gun posts that the bombardment had not hit. An hour later the supporting battalions also lost heavily crossing No man's land, but managed to push on to the Sunken Road north of Fricourt, gaining some of the 1st Objective. XV Corps' HA had been ordered to advance the barrage in a series of 'lifts', but the sixth lift onto Fricourt village was postponed until 14.30 and when the follow-up attack went in it met with disaster. However, that night the Germans abandoned Fricourt, which was threatened by the British advances to the north and south (where 7th Division had captured Mametz).Becke, Pt 4, pp. 99–109.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 223–8.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 299–305, 346–51, 356–69, Sketch 20.Farndale, pp. 141–9, Map 21.Farrar-Hockley, pp. 147–52.Middlebrook, pp. 87–9, 115–8, 129–30, 135–6, 144–5, 205–6, 262, 268.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp. 5–7, Sketch 1.
Over the following days the battery fired a few bursts on Fricourt Wood, Bazentin le Grand and Mametz Wood, but had another gun condemned as worn out. On 9 July it moved its two serviceable guns forward close to Mametz, bringing up a new Mk V gun later. From here it registered on the German second position between Bazentin and Longueval. At 03.20 on 14 July it joined in the hurricane bombardment accompanying a surprise pre-dawn attack (the Battle of Bazentin Ridge). After that success it fired on Switch Trench and the village of Flers as XV Corps attacked High Wood and fought its way into Longueval (29 July).Farrar-Hockley, pp. 179–96.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp. 62–86, 136–7, 156–61, 163, 168 Sketches 10, 16, 20, 22.
Major H.A. Ramsay had been named to take over as OC of the battery on 6 July; he arrived from 14th HAG HQ on 1 August when Maj Matthews moved to 10th Siege Bty. On 1 August the battery began registering two guns on Ginchy Church. Next day Left Section (around 70 men with two guns) arrived from 126th Siege Bty, which had landed in France on 25 July. This allowed a similar number of 47th Siege Bty's gunners to be rested until 15 August. The combined four guns (the recently arrived Mk V was also condemned and had to be replaced) bombarded Ginchy for several days as the fighting continued round Delville Wood and then switched to the nearby Ale Alley, Beer Trench and Vat Alley (Beer Trench was reported 'nearly obliterated' when it was captured on 18 August). Fourth Army finally captured Guillemont and Ginchy in early September.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp.175, 183–7, 193–4, 251–7, 262–8, 271–7, Sketches 24–6, 34.