The History of the 33rd Divisional Artillery, in the War, 1914-1918.

by John Victor Macartney-Filgate

It will be remembered that just before the Battle of the Somme a change had been made in the formation of the brigades, and that the 167th Brigade (until then a 4·5 in. Howitzer Brigade) was so split up that the four brigades each had three 18-pdr. batteries and one 4·5 in. howitzer battery, each battery consisting of four guns. Very early in 1916, however, B/167 had been posted away to another division, and therefore, after the reorganisation of the brigades before the Battle of the Somme, the 167th Brigade consisted only of the three 18-pdr. batteries which it had received from each of the brigades in return for the 4·5 in. howitzer battery it had sent to them. It was now ordered that all 18-pdr. batteries should consist of six guns, and therefore from September 11th the 167th Brigade ceased to exist. Sections of each of its batteries were sent to the 156th and 162nd Brigades, Lieut.-Colonel C. G. Stewart assumed command of the 166th Brigade, and on September 13th, with six-gun batteries of 18-pdrs. (except for the 166th Brigade), but with the 4·5 in. howitzer batteries still consisting of only four pieces each, the Divisional Artillery resumed its march and moved into action once more on the Arras front near Dainville. One section per battery went up on the first night and began taking over from the 37th Divisional Artillery, and on the night of the 14th/15th the remaining sections of the batteries moved in, assuming, from 6 A.M. on the morning of Friday the 15th, responsibility for the artillery support of the infantry on their front; the 156th Brigade covered the 35th Division, the 162nd and 166th Brigades the 12th Division, each brigade for fighting being under the control of the C.R.A. of the Division behind whose infantry it lay. In addition, the artillery on the front was divided up into groups, and Lieut.-Colonel Harris, from his headquarters in the white house on the Arras-Doullens road, controlled not only his own batteries but also C/63 and D/64 which, together with the 162nd Brigade, went to form "G" group. "H" group was administered by Lieut.-Colonel Stewart.

At the beginning of this chapter it was stated that, owing to the huge concentration of artillery on the "live" sectors of the front, no batteries could be spared to go into the rest area, and that therefore the best which could be hoped for was a comparatively quiet time on a peaceful part of the line. This was what the batteries at Dainville were hoping for, and this was what they badly needed after the strenuous days of the Somme fighting; it is therefore interesting to note what happened to them in the following few days, for it will give a good idea of the worry and hardship which thoroughly bad staff work can give, and which it did give, to men already tired by fighting.

By their northward march the batteries had left the XV. Corps of the Fourth Army and were now under the orders of the XVII. Corps, Third Army. On the night of September 14th/15th, after six weeks' heavy fighting and four days' marching to follow, the batteries moved into action; at seven o'clock on the evening of the 15th, just eleven hours after the batteries had assumed responsibility for the defence of the front, orders were received to move out of action and to march south to the VII. Corps area to cover the infantry of the 33rd Division, the 12th Divisional Artillery taking over the Dainville sector. This in itself was not so very bad; it is true that, as a result of the orders, leave which had just reopened both for England and for the Boulogne rest camp was stopped, and it was generally felt that the batteries might equally as well have marched to the VII. Corps area in the first case. There was the consolation of knowing, however, that once again the batteries were to cover their own infantry, and occasional mistakes of this kind were not altogether unusual.

This, unfortunately, was not all. On the night of the 15th/16th one section per battery withdrew from action and moved to the Coullemont-Warlincourt-Couturelle area, the remainder of the batteries, except those of the 156th Brigade, following on twenty-four hours later. The next night the leading sections marched into action as ordered on the Gommecourt front, relieving the batteries of the 17th Divisional Artillery, and twenty-four hours later, on the night of the 17th/18th, they were joined by the remaining sections who had left the Dainville positions vacant; at the same time the 156th Brigade marched to Gaudiempré and came into action, on the morning of the 19th, north-east of Sailly-au-Bois. Thus on September 19th all the batteries were in action on the Gommecourt front, and wagon-lines had been established around Gaudiempré and Pas.

So far, so good, but now chaos set in. On the 20th, after the batteries had been in action just twenty-four hours, orders were received for the 162nd Brigade to sideslip and relieve the batteries of the 78th Brigade, forming the northern group. This was done by one section per battery and was to have been completed on the 21st, but was cancelled late on that evening; instead of sideslipping, the batteries were ordered to return to their old positions on the Arras front which they had quitted five days previously, were relieved by the 46th Divisional Artillery and retired to their wagon-lines at Pas, while at the same time half-batteries of the 156th Brigade moved out of the line to wagon-lines around Wanquetin and Montenescourt. At noon on the 22nd the remaining sections of the 46th Divisional Artillery relieved what had been left in the line of the 33rd, and the batteries of the latter returned to their old wagon-lines around Wanquetin and Sombrin. Two sections per battery (156th and 162nd Brigades) moved into action the same night (22nd/23rd) in the Dainville sector and were joined by the remaining sections next day, while on the 24th the 166th Brigade came into action between Dainville and Arras, forming once again "H" Group of Artillery in the Dainville sector. Thus after a general shuffle, numerous orders and counter orders, general disturbance and three days' marching, the batteries were in exactly the same positions which they had occupied ten days before. They had marched all the way to Gommecourt for nothing—merely to inhabit positions for twelve hours and then to return to Arras and Dainville again. Yet these were tired men who ached for rest and a little comfort.

It may be thought that at this stage the Higher Authority would have been able to sort matters out and to run their administration on slightly more efficient lines, but nothing of the sort was experienced. On October 1st, six days later, the good game of battledore and shuttlecock between XVII. and VII. Corps was continued, and orders were again received to march to the VII. Corps area, the scene of the previous excursion. On the 3rd the leading sections of the batteries set out over the now well-known road and, after establishing themselves once more in wagon-lines around Gaudiempré on the 4th, came into action on the Gommecourt front on the 5th, where they were joined 48 hours later by the remaining sections which had stayed behind at Arras to cover the move. Thus, in order to carry out the apparently simple work of transferring a Divisional Artillery from the Arras to the Gommecourt front, somebody amongst the Higher Command had forced the unfortunate batteries to march down from one front to the other, sideslip, return along the road to their original Arras front, and then march all the way down again to the zone they had been in after the very first march!

Strange to say, the batteries really did remain now on the Gommecourt front, and, as they took part from there in operations connected with the Battle of the Ancre, it will be well to examine their positions carefully.

The 156th Brigade established itself around Sailly, the 162nd just south of Fonquevillers, and the 166th Brigade north of the same village, the advantage of these positions being that the hostile trenches west of Gommecourt could be barraged in enfilade—the deadly effect of which had already been proved in the Battle of the Somme—while the batteries could also cut wire on various parts of the front east of Hebuterne to as far as Rossignol Wood. This wire-cutting was, indeed, the main occupation of the batteries, and every moment of good visibility was utilised to carry out the tedious and extremely difficult work.

Scale 1:40.000.