The 38th (Welsh) Divisional Artillery (38th (W) DA) was a Royal Field Artillery (RFA) force raised as part of 'Kitchener's Army' in early 1915. Recruited in Wales, the units served with the 'Pals battalions' of the 38th (Welsh) Division on the Western Front for three years. They also supported other formations when 38th (W) Division was out of the line. The batteries saw action at the Somme and at Ypres. During the German Spring Offensive of 1918 they operated independently of 38th (W) Division during the Battle of the Lys, and then returned to their parent division for the victorious Allied Hundred Days Offensive, in which they played a prominent part.
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'.Army Council Instructions No 32 (6 August) and No 37 (7 August).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, many of the units were being organised by local recruitment initiatives. One of the largest of these was the 'Welsh National Executive Committee' (WNEC) formed after a meeting held at Cardiff on 28 September under the chairmanship of David Lloyd George. The WNEC proposed to raise a complete Welsh Army Corps (WAC) of two divisions. This proposal was authorised by the WO on 10 October, and recruitment got under way. As well as the infantry 'Pals battalions' raised by these initiatives, the K5 divisions required supporting arms such as artillery and engineers. The first field artillery battery for the 1st Welsh Division was formed at Sophia Gardens at Cardiff towards the end of October. It was then sent with the other artillery recruits to the training camp at Porthcawl where they were divided into subsections. There were no uniforms before the WNEC procured clothing in the grey Welsh cloth known as Brethyn Llwyd which the men wore until sufficient khaki could be obtained. There was a complete lack of equipment with which to train, and gun drill had to be carried out with improvisations such as a pair of old horse-drawn omnibus wheels fitted with a pole and hook to practise limbering-up. 1st Welsh Division was numbered as 43rd Division on 10 December 1914.Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 81–9, Appendix 2.38th (Welsh) Division at Long, Long Trail.Munby, pp. 1, 6–8.
Organisation and Training In January 1915 the artillery recruits at Porthcawl were organised into four batteries, numbered 1–4, with the original Cardiff battery as No 1. They moved to Pwllheli in February and over the following weeks each was ordered to form a second battery (Nos 5–8). Early in March Nos 3, 7 and 8 Btys moved to Criccieth and were designated '4th Temporary Brigade, 43rd Divisional Artillery', but the organisation was still evolving. During March and April the batteries split once again resulting in the 16 field batteries (4 brigades) and 1 heavy battery required for divisional artillery. In April 1915 the WO decided to convert the K4 battalions into reserve units to train reinforcements for the K1–K3 units, and on 27 April the K5 divisions were renumbered to take up the designations of the K4 formations. The short-lived 43rd Division thus became 38th (Welsh) Division on 27 April. The WNEC's over-ambitious plan to raise a complete Welsh Army Corps had been abandoned by then, and the 38th was the only Welsh Kitchener division actually formed. The division's embryo Royal Field Artillery (RFA) brigades were given numbers vacated by the break-up of the K4 divisions: CXIX–CXXI (119th–121st) from 30th Division, and CXXII (122nd) from 31st Division. As well as the number, the Welsh units gained those personnel who had already been posted to these K4 brigades, which brought 38th (W) DA closer to its establishment strength:Becke, Pt 3b, Appendices 1A, 1B.38th (W) DA at Long, Long Trail. CXIX Brigade, RFA A & B Batteries – from No 2 Bty formed at Porthcawl January 1915 C & D Batteries – from No 6 Bty formed at Pwllheli 3 March 1915 CXIX Brigade Ammunition Column (BAC) CXX Brigade, RFA A & B Batteries – from No 1 (Cardiff) Battery, formed October 1914 C & D Batteries – from No 6 Battery, formed at Pwllheli 12 March 1915 CXX BAC CXXI Brigade, RFA A & B Batteries – from No 4 Battery, formed at Porthcawl January 1915 A–D Batteries – from No 8 Battery, formed at Pwllheli 8 April 1915 CXXI BAC CXXII (Howitzer) Brigade, RFA A (H) and B (H) Batteries – from No 3 Battery, formed at Porthcawl January 1915 C (H) & D (H) Batteries – from No 7 Bty formed at Criccieth 27 March 1915 CXXII BAC 38th (Welsh) Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) 38th (Welsh) Divisional Ammunition Column (DAC)
When equipped, each RFA battery would consist of four 18-pounder guns (4.5-inch howitzers in the case of CXXII (H) Bde) and the RGA battery was to receive four 60-pounder guns.Farndale, Annex D.Farndale, Annex E.
Small numbers of horses began to arrive in April 1915 and all the greys and roans were assigned to C/CCXXI Bty. 38th (Welsh) Heavy Battery, RGA left the division before June 1915; it later went to France in 1916 and served with various heavy artillery groups (see below). On 13 July Brigadier-General W.A.M Thompson was appointed Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) of 38th (W) Division.Munby, pp. viii, xii.
In August 1915 38th (W) Division began to concentrate around Winchester where it trained for open warfare on the Hampshire downland. However, for 38th (W) DA the process of organisation continued for several months: CXXII BAC was only formed at Hazeley Down Camp on 28 August.CXXII Bde War Diary, August 1915–May 1919 (July–September 1917 missing), The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/2545/3. On 6 November 38th (W) Division was warned for service with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, but when the rest of the division embarked for France early in December 1915 the artillery remained behind to complete its training on the ranges at Larkhill.Munby, pp. 13–4.
Western Front
While the infantry of 38th (W) Division were introduced to trench warfare alongside the experienced Guards and 19th (Western) Divisions in the line at Richebourg-Saint-Vaast, they were supported by I, II, III and IV (H) London Field Brigades and 10th DAC (which had all gone to France earlier with 36th (Ulster) Division). 38th (Welsh) Divisional Artillery embarked at Southampton Docks between 22 and 25 December and by 28 December it had rejoined its division with all the personnel billeted around Saint-Venant. The London brigades left in January 1916 when their parent 56th (London) Division was reformed. As with the infantry, the men of 38th (W) DA were attached to batteries of the Guards and 19th (W) Divisions for instruction. D/CXXI Battery was the first complete subunit to go up to the firing line, where it was attached to 19th (W) Division for barbed wire-cutting duty.38th Division CRA War Diary 1 December 1915–31 August 1916, TNA file WO 2542/1.CXIX Bde War Diary, December 1915–February 1917, TNA file WO 95/2546/1.CXX Bde War Diary, December 1915–August 1916, TNA file WO 95/2546/2.CXXI Bde War Diary, December 1915–April 1919, TNA file WO 95/2546/3.38th (W) DAC War Diary December 1915–May 1919, TNA file WO 95/2546/5/
38th (W) Division took over responsibility for the Neuve-Chapelle sector of First Army's line on the night of 23/24 January 1916 and from then until June was continually in the line along different parts of XI Corps' front. As well as artillery ammunition, the BACs' role included supplying small arms ammunition (SAA) to the division's infantry; for example, CXX BAC supplied 114th Infantry Brigade from the time it went into the line. 38th (W) DA was based at Lestrem, with the DAC at Paradis, and completed the relief of 19th (W) DA on 30/31 January, when its batteries were distributed as 'Right Group' (CXX Bde with batteries of CXIX and CXXII) and 'Left Group' (CXXI Bde with the rest of CXIX and CXXII), while A/CXIX and single howitzers were assigned as 'Counter-Battery' (CB) or 'Flank guns'. There was little firing to begin with because poor weather restricted observation. Later in the month 19th (W) DA took over Left Group's guns in position while 38th (W) DA HQ took over command II Indian Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery, (RHA). However, the RHA found some of their 13-pounder guns to be unsteady, so they borrowed the 18-pdrs of an RFA brigade of 35th Division for a wire-cutting shoot. Right Group then took over guns in position on relieving part of 2nd Division, leaving 38th (W) DA in three groups: Right (CXXI Bde HQ), Centre (CXXII Bde HQ) and Left (CXX Bde HQ). The CRA's HQ was now at Locon. During early March wire-cutting by N Bty RHA and D (H)/CXXII continued in the Givenchy sector, where the heavy artillery, trench mortars, and tunnellers of the Royal Engineers (RE) were attacking a German salient; this led to exchanges of retaliatory fire involving the field artillery. The Germans were seen to be building a brick and concrete parapet, and 38th (W) DA demolished this with 120 rounds of 4.5-inch howitzer fire. II Indian RHA Bde was replaced by I Indian RHA Bde on 9 March, the gunners taking over the borrowed 18-pdrs. Wire cutting, parapet destruction, and enfilade fire from flanking guns continued around the Givenchy salient. Later in the month, to economise ammunition the guns were limited to four rounds each per day. 38th (W), 19th (W) and 35th DAs continued to shuffle personnel between battery positions in front of Givenchy, with the result that 38th (W) DA's batteries and waggon lines were shifted towards the 'Moated Grange' sector and the CRA moved his HQ to La Gorgue on 16 April. German aircraft and observation balloons were active when the weather permitted, and their positions having been located the batteries came under more frequent CB fire from heavy artillery, but the gunners had installed double thickness roofs over their gun pits and damage was slight. The guns supported a number of trench raids by the infantry. Each battery in turn was sent for a few days to the XI Corps Artillery Training Area (commanded by Lt-Col Pringle of CXXI Bde).Munby, pp. 15–6.
At this time 38th (W) DA was reorganised to match current practice in the BEF. The infantry brigades had begun forming light Trench Mortar Batteries (LTMBs), manned by infantrymen, in May 1915 and these were formalised in December–January 1916. By April 1916 38th (W) DA formed a brigade of medium TMBs manned by a mixture of gunners and seconded infantrymen; a heavy TMB was formed later:Farndale, Annex G.38th Divisional Trench Mortars War Diary April 1916–January 1919, TNA file WO 95/2546/4. 38th (Welsh) Trench Mortars X Battery – formed by April 1916 Y Battery – formed by April 1916 Z Battery – formed 5 April 1916 from 38th (W) DAC V (Heavy) Battery – formed by July 1916
The mortar batteries were commanded by the Divisional Trench Mortar Office (DTMO). The medium batteries were initially issued with the 1.57-inch mortar and at first 38th (W) DA organised them into two groups of six covering the Moated Grange and Fauquissart sectors, all manned by the men of one battery, with the personnel of the second in support and providing working parties, and the third in reserve. The batteries were rotated every four days. The new TMBs carried out a shoot against the 'Duck's Bill' craters in early April. The heavy battery carried out registration with a spotter aircraft on 4 June.