During the First World War, the Royal Artillery saw its transformation from an auxiliary arm supporting the infantry into the dominant military branch on the battlefield. With the onset of trench warfare, the Royal Artillery developed specialized, technical tactics, operating with a much higher degree of operational independence. By the end of the war, it had become the second largest branch in the British Army, reaching a peak strength of 550,000 officers and men.
Leadership, command and control The General Officer Commanding Royal Artillery (GOCRA) of the Army was charged with the co-ordination of all artillery action, both in offensive and defence. Working closely with the General Staff, he developed proposals for the Army Commander as the definition of counter-battery zones between corps, regulation of cross-corps fire, and cooperation with the Royal Flying Corps. He also worked in close touch with the General Staff (Intelligence) and Field Survey Company in all matters affecting artillery intelligence.
Below him was the General Officer Commanding Royal Artillery of the Corps. He was responsible for establishing the general plan for countering enemy artillery—including both its systematic destruction and its temporary suppression (e.g., during an infantry attack). This also included the integration of field artillery. Other tasks involved coordinating with neighbouring corps, providing updates on the current counter-battery situation, managing ammunition, and control of the counter-battery units.
The Brigadier-General, Commanding Corps Heavy Artillery, was the executive commander of all the heavy and siege batteries allotted to the Corps. In each Corps a Counter-Battery Staff Officer was responsible for the organization and execution of counter-battery work in accordance with the instructions of the GOCRA of the Corps. Before the war, guns heavy artillery such as the 4.7-inch and 60-pounder were assigned directly to infantry divisions to provide fire support. Siege artillery, equipped with heavy guns such as 6-inch, 8-inch, howitzers or 12 and 14 inch guns, was under the command of an army corps.With the onset of trench warfare on the Western Front, all heavy guns were centrally organized at the corps level in Heavy Artillery Groups (HAGs) under the command of a lieutenant colonel
Field and horse artillery as part of the divisional artillery, were under the command of a brigadier general—the division’s Commander of the Royal Artillery (CRA). Before the outbreak of war, the divisional artillery consisted of three 18-pounder brigades, one brigade of 4.5-inch howitzers, and a heavy battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) equipped with four BL 60-pounder guns. In August 1914, the 60-pounder battery was disbanded and replaced by an Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) 13-pounder brigade and two RGA batteries, each with four 4.7-inch guns. By the end of 1914, the divisional artillery had been reduced to three brigades, each consisting of three RFA batteries with four guns each.
In 1915, the divisional artillery units were expanded to include three trench mortar batteries designated X, Y, and Z, which were later reorganized into two batteries, each with six mortars (X and Y). Howitzer batteries and brigades were designated with an "H" until May 1916; at that time, the RFA was reorganized so that all brigades consisted of three field gun batteries and one howitzer battery. In early 1917, the divisional artillery units were reduced to two brigades. The remaining brigades became Army Field Brigades, strategic reserves deployed wherever additional firepower was needed. Each brigade had a strength of 755 to 795 men, including officers, and was under the command of a lieutenant colonel. A brigade had a staff of four officers and consisted of either two RHA or three RFA batteries. The batteries comprised 168 to 198 men and four to six cannons or howitzers under the command of a major. Compared to cavalry squadrons or infantry companies, batteries operated almost autonomously. Mounted batteries were designated by letters, while field artillery batteries were numbered.
Recruitment and training The recruitment followed the same pattern as those for the rest of the army. Once a man had passed the examination and considered fit for service he was sent to his training depot. Training was based on the Field Service Regulations of 1909 and lasted about 11 months. The annual training cycle began with physical training, drill, and marching exercises, while the recruits learned weapon handling, self-defence, signalling, and reconnaissance. Unit training began in the spring, initially with exercises battery level. It concluded in the summer with large-scale manoeuvres at the brigade and division levels. The training included Gunnery, handling ammunition, and ballistics. Additionally recruits of the RHA were trained in raiding horse care and stable work. Following Lord Kitchener's successful recruitment campaign, training was reduced to six months in order to provide enough soldiers. Officer candidates were sent to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich attending a 2 years course. In addition, students could take courses offered by the Officers’ Training Corps at universities or other public schools.
Ammunition crisis
Before 1914, the British War Office, under Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, anticipated a short war of manoeuvre, for which shrapnel shells were the preferred choice. In trench warfare, however, high-explosive shells were needed to destroy positions and barbed wire. The British arms industry was not structurally equipped for the mass production of millions of artillery shells. Of the 481,000 high-explosive shells required for the first quarter of 1915, only 52,000 had been produced. The British Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Sir John French, had already requested more ammunition. Following the defeat at the Battle of Aubers, a report leaked by French to The Times blamed the lack of high-explosive shells. The ensuing shells scandal led to the creation of the Ministry of Munitions, under Lloyd George. With Munitions of War Act of July 1915 the labor law was restricted National Shell! Projectile (for heavy shells) and filling plants were established and expanded; in the process, more and more women and unskilled men were employed. By 1916 the number of shells produced had risen up to 35,407,193.
Logistics
The Army Service Corps (ASC) was responsible for transporting ammunition from the ports and main supply depots by vehicle to the Divisional Ammunition Refill Points. The ammunition was transported from the railway stations to the resupply points by motorized transport units, each consisting of 342 men, including officers, 45 trucks with a load capacity of 3 tons, and 16 trucks with a load capacity of 1.5 tons. Each division had four ASC companies forming the divisional train, comprising 430 officers and men, 378 horses, 125 wagons, and 17 carts.
The handover to the front lines took place in stages. The Divisional Ammunition Columns received the ammunition from the ASC companies. From there, it was transferred by horse-drawn wagons to the Artillery Brigade Ammunition Columns and, the Heavy Artillery Battery Ammunition Columns. The Brigade and Heavy Battery Ammunition Columns distributed the ammunition accordingly to the respective batteries and sections. The cavalry’s ammunition was transported directly to the Brigade Ammunition Columns or the Battery Ammunition Columns.
Tactics The battles of 1914 had seen artillery misused by placing it too far forward, or underused by holding it back in reserve too long. Officers had considered artillery only as an infantry support. As a result there were neither much interest nor knowledge about the needs of artillery. With the transition into trench warfare the role of the artillery changed. From then on, the long-range heavy guns were removed from the front-line. This would ensure that they would not be overrun in the event of a sudden attack and would allow them to be massed. To support infantry attacks the British adopted the French system of "tir progressif" later known as barrage in which massed field artillery fired linear fire missions in a series of lifts.
Standard procedure was to fire a 100-yard barrage every three minutes at a rate of three rounds per minute per gun. A barrage of airburst shrapnel shells was fired from No Man's Land, advancing through and beyond the objective. This created a wall of fire in front of the attacking infantry. As the shrapnel shells contained balls that were fired forwards, the infantry could follow close behind the barrage. The fire passed across the enemy's front-line trench and continued into the support and reserve lines, preventing a counter-attack. In poor ground conditions, the interval between 100-yard lifts could be as long as five minutes to allow the struggling infantry to keep up. There were several types of barrage used in the British Artillery including creeping barrage, pile up barrage or lifting barrage.
Target acquisition and survey methods In theory, if the same settings were applied to the sights and range dials of a battery of identical guns, the projectiles were expected to land in a neat row at the specified distance from the battery's front. This was essentially the basis for battery fire prior to 1914. In practice, these conditions were rarely met, resulting in the unfortunate nickname 'the Drop Shorts' among infantrymen. In order to avoid casualties, the RFA was forced to adopt the approaches of the RGA to achieve better results. Apart from knowing exactly where the battery and target were in relation to one another there were variables affecting the flight of shells including the temperature of the propellant charge, winds at different altitudes, barometric pressure and the characteristics of each individual gun. Therefore, a battery fire plan were required involving different settings for each gun, based on pre-recorded data (known as calibration), to ensure the shells arrived in a line. It also required accurate timing across the entire formation to ensure they arrived when expected. Upon arrival in France, the BEF was supported by a Printing Company RE, responsible for distributing army maps. In late 1914, a 'ranging section' was added, which became the 1st Ranging & Survey Section following with the addition of topographers from the Ordnance Survey in 1915. Eventually, it expanded into three Topographic Sections, one for each British army on the Western Front. In 1916, the organisation expanded again to include three Field Survey Companies, each with specialist sections for surveying, map compilation and drawing, printing, observation and sound ranging. By 1918, each of these companies had grown to the size of a battalion. Throughout 1915, heavy batteries were surveyed (Their exact locations were recorded on detailed maps, and bearings to target points, as well as distances and bearings to known targets, were determined.) by the Field Survey Section of the Royal Engineers. Battery positions could also be surveyed before they were manned, and the bearings could be marked with numbered iron posts. An artillery board which featured a map or grid showed the target points and targets already plotted for the battery. This enabled a battery to be operational very soon after its arrival and to fire with reasonable accuracy The system was soon extended from heavy artillery to field artillery.