129th (Bristol) Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, was a New Army ('Kitchener's Army') unit of the British Army raised in the City of Bristol in World War I. It was later joined by a contingent recruited from Smethwick in Staffordshire. The battery served with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, spending a long period in the Vimy Ridge area, including the 1917 battle, then saw action at Messines and Ypres. It fought against the German Spring Offensive and took part in the Allies' victorious Hundred Days Offensive.
Recruitment
On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army, and the newly-appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'.Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 2 & 8. The flood of volunteers overwhelmed the ability of the army to absorb and organise them, and by the time the Fifth New Army (K5) was authorised on 10 December 1914, many of the units were being organised as 'Pals battalions' under the auspices of mayors and corporations of towns up and down the country.See, for example, Middlebrook, Somme, pp. 9–11.
Following their success in raising the 12th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (Bristol's Own) from August 1914,Marks, pp. 7–83. the Bristol Citizen's Recruiting Committee was authorised by the War Office (WO) on 1 February 1915 to raise a heavy battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) in the city. A further battery was authorised on 22 April. These became the 127th (Bristol) and 129th (Bristol) Heavy Batteries under the administration of the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command.WO Instructions July 1915, Appendix VI. These 'local' units were the equivalent of Pals battalions and were not officially taken over by the military authorities until 25 July 1915 (in practice this may not have happened until October).WO Instructions September 1915, Appendix VII.Frederick, pp. 699–701.
Service All the local units suffered from lack of equipment and instructors, which held up training. However, after completing its training, 129th Heavy Bty joined 38th (Welsh) and 120th Heavy Btys to form a new 42nd Heavy Brigade, RGA, at Bordon Camp on 2 March 1916. The brigade was mobilised for overseas service on 8 March and it embarked at Southampton on 27 March for the Western Front where it joined First Army. 129th Heavy Bty established its wagon lines and ammunition column at Béthune while the gunners began improving existing gun positions and dugouts at Annequin. The battery fired its first rounds on 6 April.Frederick, p. 713.'Allocation of Heavy Batteries RGA', The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/5494/2.'Headquarters Heavy Artillery Groups', TNA file WO 95/5494/1.129th Heavy Bty War Diary, April 1916, TNA file WO 95/397/4.
Artillery policy in the BEF was now to redesignate the RGA brigades as 'Heavy Artillery Groups' (HAGs) and to switch batteries between them as required. 129th Heavy Bty was transferred to 3rd HAG on 7 April, then back to 42nd HAG on 22 April.Farndale, Annex E .3rd HAG War Diary October 1915–August 1916 TNA file WO 95/297/1.
Trench warfare
Meanwhile the battery registered its guns on enemy batteries and on Douvrin, and received a few German shells in return. This counter-battery (CB) fire, sometimes in conjunction with observation aircraft, became the battery's routine. German return fire included both high explosive and gas shells. On 27 April the gun positions round Anneqin were heavily shelled and later enveloped in a gas cloud released from near Loos (part of the action known as the Gas attacks at Hulluch). The battery replied with a vigorous bombardment while the gunners were wearing their gas helmets. The battery positions were shelled again on 29 April, suffering some damage.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 71–8.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 193–8.
On 22 May the battery was transferred to the command of 15th HAG, which was concerned with Vimy Ridge, to the south of Loos, which had recently been taken over from the French Army. Bitter trench warfare was going on here, and the Germans had made a major attack on 22 May. First Army switched additional artillery to this sector ready for a counter-attack, with 129th Heavy Bty firing CB and retaliation tasks, and bombarding the ridge itself, though on occasions one of its guns was unable to get the requisite angle from its positions near Annequin. The fighting at Vimy died down at the end of the month as the BEF concentrated on its preparations for the summer's 'Big Push' (the Battle of the Somme). German artillery on First Army's front was generally quiet during May and June.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 210–24.15th HAG War Diary January–June 1916, TNA file WO 95/215/2.
By now, 129th Heavy Bty had its four guns disposed into two sections, North and South. The gun that could not achieve the angle had its platform moved and was re-registered. At the end of the month one of the battery's guns was withdrawn to the workshops having fired the maximum number of rounds. On 30 June 15th HAG fired a programme of 'strafes' as part of First Army's diversionary actions to assist the Somme offensive (which was launched next day). Apart from daily CB fire, occasional trench raids in the Vimy or Loos areas, or bombardments against targets such as Vimy Station and La Chaudiere, First Army's front was generally quiet during the summer while the fighting continued on the Somme. However, the battery did suffer some casualties when 15th HAG's observation post (OP) at Notre Dame de Lorette was shelled.Edmonds, 1917, Vol I, pp. 309–11.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp. 543–4.15th HAG War Diary June–August 1916, TNA file WO 95/215/3.
Heavy artillery policy in the BEF was to increase batteries from four to six guns. 129th (Bristol) Heavy Bty was one of the first to benefit when it was made up to six 60-pounders with the arrival of a section from 148th (Smethwick) Heavy Battery on 21 July. This was another New Army 'Local Unit', which had been raised at Smethwick in Staffordshire in 1915 by Lt-Col Ernest Meysey-Thompson, MP. Authority for the 148th Hvy Bty was given by the WO on 21 September 1915, and the unit was to be administered by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command.WO Instruction No 159, September 1915. It went out to the Western Front on 17 July 1916 and joined First Army. On arrival one section was posted to 129th (Bristol) Heavy Bty, and the other to 120th Heavy Bty (also in 15th HAG). Because some batteries had moved south to jojn in the Somme fighting, there were empty gun positions for the new sections to take over.
The quiet routine continued through the autumn and into the winter: 129th Heavy Bty sometimes shelling active anti-aircraft batteries, Minenwerfers, road traffic or working parties, but on some days there was no firing at all. 15th HAG War Diary September–December 1916, TNA file WO 95/215/4.
129th Heavy Bty pulled out of its positions on 27 January 1917, leaving 15th HAG and moving north to join VIII Corps' HA. At this time VIII Corps was in reserve: it formed part of Second Army in the Ypres Salient, but was being held to exploit any breakthrough when First Army launched its planned attack on Vimy Ridge. On 13 February the battery was assigned to 41st HAG, which was concentrating artillery for IX Corps for Second Army's own planned attack at Messines. 129th Heavy Bty registered its guns on Wytschaete Church and 'the brickstacks', and was active in CB and retaliatory fire, but was soon moved out again on 22 February to return to First Army.15th HAG War Diary January–April 1917, TNA file WO 95/215/5.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 79–87.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 179–83.Falls, 1917, Vol I, pp. 64, 128, 532–3.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 185–91.41st HAG War Diary March 1916–March 1918, TNA file WO 95/472/2.
Vimy Ridge
The battery joined 76th HAG on 26 February and got its guns into position on 13 March. The group had just moved out of the Ypres Salient to Mont-Saint-Éloi, supporting the Canadian Corps. Large numbers of enemy batteries were engaged while day and night firing was carried out against the German back areas. First Army was preparing for the Arras Offensive, with the Canadian Corps tasked with taking Vimy Ridge. In the days before the attack (9 April) prodigious quantities of ammunition were expended on enemy trenches, strongpoints, wire and batteries, with 76th HAG paying particular attention to the villages of Thélus, Tilleuls and Vimy. The attack went in at 05.30 with a heavy barrage; while the field artillery fired a creeping barrage in front of the advancing infantry and the heavy howitzers fired a standing barrage on each objective in turn. Meanwhile, the 60-pdrs 'swept' and 'searched' in depth to catch enemy machine guns and moving infantry. With this support the Canadians overran three lines of German trenches and seized the crest of the ridge. Now 76th HAG was able to establish four observation posts (OPs) on the ridge and directly observe its targets.76th HAG War Diary December 1916–May 1919, TNA file WO 95/477/1.Falls, 1917, Vol I, pp. 306–7, 312–6, 321–39, Sketch 15.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 164–6, 174–6, Map 23.Nicholson, pp. 248–9, 252–8.
As the Germans fell back, the 60-pdr batteries moved into forward positions, then on 19 April 129th Heavy Bty moved four guns to Tilleuls, beyond the old German front line and just behind the crest of the ridge. From here it engaged the enemy, though it suffered a few casualties of its own. On 23 April (the Second Battle of the Scarpe) the batteries supported the attacks against La Coulotte (Canadian Corps) and Gavrelle (63rd (Royal Naval) Division), and then on 28 April the Canadians captured Arleux while 76th HAG's batteries engaged 65 hostile batteries and fired at opportunity targets such as enemy troops massing for counter-attacks. Fresnoy was captured on 3 May but the Arras offensive made less progress as the weeks went by, although 76th HAG's batteries continued their neutralisation tasks against hostile batteries, and night harassing fire (HF) on roads.Falls, pp. 398–405, 423–4, Sketch 19.Farndale, pp. 178–9.
Messines 76th HAG pulled out on 14 May and moved with its batteries to Kemmel, where it came under Second Army. 129th Heavy Bty, now under Maj Chapman, began preparing positions but on 26 May it transferred to the command of 57th HAG. On the evening of 27 May the group supported a trench raid by 16th (Irish) Division, then on 31 May it began bombarding 'special targets' in connection with the forthcoming attack on the Messines Ridge. This activity reached a crescendo in early June, with the guns participating in practice barrages and wire-cutting. The bombardment continued with the systematic destruction of enemy defences until the assault went in at 03.10 on 7 June, following the explosion of huge mines. 57th HAG supported the assault by IX Corps, which rushed the village of Wyteschaete with ease. The results of the limited attack were spectacular, with the whole ridge being captured. At 18.00 the same day 129th Heavy Bty was ordered to pull out its guns and transfer to 92nd HAG.57th HAG War Diary May 1917–December 1918, TNA file WO 95/393/1.Edmonds, 1917, Vol II, pp, 41–2, 44–9, 54–5, 57–9, 64–5, Sketches 3–5.Farndale, pp. 184–92, Map 24.Wolff, pp. 111–4, 117–9.
Ypres