During the First World War it was posted to Egypt in 1915, served as part of the Western Frontier Force in the Senussi Campaign in 1916 and in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign with the Imperial (later Australian) Mounted Division in 1917 and 1918. The second line battery – 2/A Battery, HAC – was formed in 1914 and served on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918 as part of an Army Field Artillery Brigade; the third line – A (Reserve) Battery, HAC – was formed in 1915 to provide trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line batteries.
In 1891, the Light Cavalry Squadron, HAC was converted to the Horse Battery, HAC, which in 1899 was redesignated as A Battery (1st City of London Horse Artillery), HAC. At the same time the Field Battery, HAC was converted to horse artillery as B Battery (2nd City of London Horse Artillery), HAC. The Field Battery originated in 1781, but was the second to form a horse artillery battery hence the junior designation.[2]
On 1 April 1908, the battery transferred to the Territorial Force without a change in title.[3] The unit consisted of the battery and London Mounted Brigade Ammunition Column at Armoury House, Finsbury.[7] The battery was equipped with four[5]Ehrhardt 15-pounder[8] guns and allocated as artillery support to the London Mounted Brigade.[9]
In accordance with the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (7 Edw.7, c.9) which brought the Territorial Force into being, the TF was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, many members volunteered for Imperial Service. Therefore, TF units were split into 1st Line (liable for overseas service) and 2nd Line (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) units. 2nd Line units performed the home defence role, although in fact most of these were also posted abroad in due course. Later, a 3rd Line was formed to act as a reserve, providing trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line batteries.[9]
In November 1914, the division moved to Norfolk on coastal defence duties.[12] Artillery headquarters was established at Cromer, before joining the divisional headquarters at Hanworth in December, and A Battery, HAC was at Mundesley (London Mounted Brigade was at Hanworth).[16]
Overseas service
In March 1915, the 2nd Mounted Division was put on warning for overseas service. In early April, the division starting leaving Avonmouth and the last elements landed at Alexandria before the end of the month. By the middle of May, the horse artillery batteries were near Ismaïlia on Suez Canal Defences.[16]
The 2nd Mounted Division was dismounted in August 1915 and served at Gallipoli.[17] The artillery batteries and ammunition columns (along with the signal troops, mobile veterinary sections, Mounted Brigade Transport and Supply Columns and two of the Field Ambulances) were left behind in Egypt.[16] The division returned from Gallipoli in December 1915 and was reformed and remounted.[18]
The battery rejoined the division on 13 December, but on 20 December it entrained at Alexandria for the Western Desert, concentrating at Mersa Matruh on 7 January 1916.[19] Thereafter, it served as part of the Western Frontier Force in the Senussi Campaign, taking part in the Affair at Halazin (23 January 1916).[20] The battery returned to Alexandria on 6 March and was rearmed with four 18 pounders. It returned to the Suez Canal Defences on 6 April and rejoined the 8th Mounted Brigade (the redesignated London Mounted Brigade). The brigade left for Salonika in November without the battery which joined the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade when it was reformed in February 1917.[19] It remained attached to the 4th ALH Brigade for the rest of the war.[21]
Imperial Mounted Division
The Imperial Mounted Division was formed in Egypt in January 1917; 4th Light Horse Brigade was one of the four cavalry brigades selected to form the division. A Battery, HAC joined the division on formation and was assigned to XIX Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery (T.F.).[22][b] In practice, the battery remained attached to 4th ALH Brigade.
In June 1917, the Desert Column was reorganised from two mounted divisions of four brigades each (ANZAC and Imperial Mounted Divisions) to three mounted divisions of three brigades each (ANZAC, Australian – Imperial Mounted Division renamed – and the new Yeomanry Mounted Division).[24] On 20 June 1917, the Imperial Mounted Division was redesignated as Australian Mounted Division as the majority of its troops were now Australian.[22] On 12 August 1917, the Desert Column disappeared and the Desert Mounted Corps was formed.[25]
The battery served with the Australian Mounted Division throughout the rest of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. As part of the Desert Mounted Corps, the division took part in the Third Battle of Gaza (by now re-equipped with four 13 pounders),[26] in particular the Capture of Beersheba (31 October) and the Battle of Mughar Ridge (13 and 14 November), and the defence of Jerusalem against the Turkish counter-attacks (27 November – 3 December).[23]
Still part of the Desert Mounted Corps, the division took part in the Second Trans-Jordan Raid (30 April – 4 May 1918).[23] XIX Brigade, RHA supported the 4th Light Horse Brigade in the advance on the Jisr ed Damiye–Es Salt track on 30 April. The next day, a strong Turkish force attacked from the direction of Jisr ed Damiye and soon the artillery was in danger. B Battery, HAC was in the rear and managed to get away with all but one of their guns (stuck in a wadi) but the Nottinghamshire RHA and A Battery, HAC were less fortunate. Machine gun fire cut down the horse teams before the guns could be gotten away. XIX Brigade lost 9 guns in total, the only guns to be lost in action in the entire campaign.[27][28]
After the Armistice of Mudros, the division was withdrawn to Egypt and started to demobilise. The last of the Australians returned home in April and May 1919.[23] A Battery, HAC were reduced to cadre in Egypt on 25 October 1919.[3]
A Battery formed a 2nd line in September 1914, initially designated as the A (Reserve) Battery, HAC. It was redesignated as 2/A Battery, HAC on 26 September.[29]
The batteries of the division were quite unready for war. Three had no horses, the fourth had just 23; three batteries had over 200 men on average, but the other just 91; one battery had no ammunition and another reported that its 15-pounders were "practically useless".[31]
CXXVI Brigade, RFA was reformed[e] at Heytesbury, Wiltshire in May 1917 with 2/A Battery and 2/B Battery HAC, both with six 18 pounders.[33] The brigade (with the battery) landed at Boulogne on 22 June 1917 and it became an Army Field Brigade.[33][f]2/1st Warwickshire RHA, by now also rearmed with 18 pounders, proceeded to France on 21 June 1917 and joined the brigade there.[9] The battery served on the Western Front for the rest of the war.[33]
At the Armistice, the battery (six 18 pounders) was still with CXXVI Brigade, RFA[39] serving as Army Troops with the First Army.[40] The battery entered Germany on 17 January 1919,[33] and was disbanded later the same year.[41]
A (Reserve) Battery, HAC
A (Reserve) Battery, HAC was formed in 1915 to replace the original reserve battery which had been redesignated as 2/A Battery on 26 September 1914.[29] It never left the United Kingdom and was disbanded later.[41]
^The basic organic unit of the Royal Artillery was, and is, the Battery.[13] When grouped together they formed brigades, in the same way that infantry battalions or cavalry regiments were grouped together in brigades. At the outbreak of the First World War, a field artillery brigade of headquarters (4 officers, 37 other ranks), three batteries (5 and 193 each), and a brigade ammunition column (4 and 154)[14] had a total strength just under 800 so was broadly comparable to an infantry battalion (just over 1,000) or a cavalry regiment (about 550). Like an infantry battalion, an artillery brigade was usually commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel. Artillery brigades were redesignated as regiments in 1938. Note that the battery strength refers to a battery of six guns; a four-gun battery would be about two thirds of this.
^Not to be confused with the original 1st Mounted Division which became 1st Cyclist Division, also in July 1916.[34]
^The original CXXVI Brigade, RFA was formed from November 1914 as an 18 pounder gun brigade for the original 32nd Division in Kitchener's Fourth New Army. The divisions of the Fourth New Army were broken up on 10 April 1915 and the brigade was transferred to the 37th Division.[35] It joined the division on 15 April as a 4.5" howitzer brigade[36] and proceeded to France with the division at the end of July 1915.[37] It served with the division on the Western Front until 28 January 1917 when it was broken up.[38]
^Army Field Artillery Brigades were artillery brigades that were excess to the needs of the divisions, withdrawn to form an artillery reserve.
^"Future Soldier Guide"(PDF). United Kingdom Parliamentary Publishings. Ministry of Defence. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
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Order of Battle of the British Armies in France, November 11th, 1918. France: General Staff, GHQ. 1918.
United Kingdom
British Army
