"Yet the record of their actions is their best memorial." Field-Marshal Earl Haig wrote the above words in his foreword to the Royal Artillery War Commemoration Book. When it is recalled that during the Great War some three-quarters of a million of men fought guns of all calibres in every quarter of the globe, it may be realised that to write the history of the part taken by the Royal Regiment of Artillery as a whole must prove an impossible task. All the more important therefore that each unit

To write the history of a unit in the war must, even to the most able pen, prove a mighty task, for it is not given to many to be able in words to describe deeds greater almost than human intellect can grasp. But when the task falls to the lot of one who, himself neither author nor historian, can claim as a sole reason the fact that it was his humble privilege to serve with the unit in question, the work becomes doubly and trebly difficult. In a book of this nature it is probably desirable that

August 1914 and its succeeding months will ever recall to the minds of that generation which was privileged to live through those epic days memories of a great turmoil, a chaos, a shattering of that normal—and in many cases humdrum—existence which to the majority represented Life. The outstanding impression will depend upon the character of the person who looks back—to some it will be a sense of overwhelming surprise, to some a rending and shattering of all their dreams of a long-awaited happy f

On a foggy afternoon, typical of Flanders in December, there crept into Aire station a long and heavy train obvious even to the lay mind as a troop train, consisting as it did not only of ordinary passenger coaches, but also of innumerable horse boxes and a line of long open trucks crammed with guns and wagons. Every window was crowded with faces—the faces of British soldiers surveying with interest this, to most of them, new and strange land, listening with a thrill to the distant mutter of gun

Early on the morning of July 10th the long troop trains carrying the batteries of the 33rd Divisional Artillery drew into the stations of Longueau and Sallieux, in the neighbourhood of Amiens, and began to unload with every due speed. All ranks fully expected to march into action forthwith, and therefore with something akin to dismay it was learnt that the destination of the batteries was the area around Soues, Arouves and Le Mesge, villages some miles west of Amiens, and far away from the battl

In the foregoing chapter the doings of the Divisional Artillery in the Battle of the Somme have been chronicled, and, in view of the very heavy strain undergone by all ranks, it might be expected that at least a short rest would have been granted before the batteries went into action again. This, however, was not to be, for the wastage of men was tremendous at the moment, and so great was the necessary concentration of guns for any attack that every available battery was kept in the line. The ne

From November 23rd, the date of arrival at Airaines, until December 5th when the first units began the march back to the line again, a complete rest was enjoyed by the batteries, and badly was it needed. Clothing, harness and equipment had to be overhauled carefully, casualties amongst men and horses replaced, while many of the reinforcements lately arrived from England were not fit to take their place in the gun detachments or teams, and needed a thorough drilling to change them from the half-r

The march of the batteries from the Somme to Arras proved very exacting; not only were the weather conditions rather more than bad—intense cold and wet being experienced the whole time—but also the batteries, already deprived of their commanders, were further depleted on the second day of the march, when an order was received for one officer and twenty men from every battery to go forward by motor lorry to work upon the positions which had been allotted for occupation. A measure of praise is due

When the batteries marched back to the wagon-lines on June 20th they knew that they were to set off next day to go into action immediately on another portion of the front, but their actual destination remained somewhat of a mystery. There was a rumour that they were going a considerable distance northwards, even to the Coast it was suggested, and therefore, when they set out in a southerly direction on the morning of the 21st, a certain amount of surprise prevailed amongst the rank and file. Sou

In and around the Salient of Ypres there are to be found the graves of more gunners than in any portion of the line, and even those graves represent a mere particle only of the many thousands to whom Ypres brought death. That much discussed, much described and oft-portrayed area will never and can never be properly comprehended by any man who has not fought there, for, before the real meaning of the Salient can be understood, the picture of destruction which it offered must be accompanied by the

After the tremendous fighting of the autumn offensive at Ypres and the smashing casualties which were suffered therein by the batteries, a full month in the rest area was required to bring the 33rd Divisional Artillery back to anything like its normal pitch of efficiency once more. Every detachment in every battery had to be reorganised and built up on the foundation of the few remaining gunners who had survived the two months' battle; raw recruits from England needed instruction and drilling, g

Early on the morning of Tuesday, April 9th, there came to the batteries, as they lay resting in their wagon-lines, the sound of tremendous shelling to the south, a continuous thunder which was maintained throughout the whole of that and the succeeding day (April 10th), giving rise to considerable speculation and rumour. Clearly a great weight of artillery was at work and almost certainly an attack was, if not already begun, at least imminent, but what was happening and why did not the batteries

Following on the two checks which had been administered to the Germans on April 29th and May 8th, there now set in a period of holding the line and of taking every possible step to prevent the enemy from renewing the offensive. From May 9th until the 12th counter-preparation was fired morning and evening, and to the weight of artillery employed in this was added, on the 10th, three groups of the French 47th Regiment of Artillery together with the 107th French heavy battery. On the same day also

Before the doings of the 33rd Divisional Artillery in the 3rd Army advance are followed, it will be wise to review the tactical situation on this part of the front from the opening of the British offensive on August 8th up to the point where the 156th and 162nd Brigades joined in the battle. Accordingly, the movements of the batteries in question must be left for a moment while the broad aspect of these operations is considered. On August 8th Rawlinson's (4th) Army had opened the offensive with

And so the work is done, the record finished. In all humbleness the pen was taken up to chronicle the deeds of these men; in all humbleness it is laid down again with the closing of the story. In mere bald words it has been impossible to describe the wonderful gallantry, the grand determination and the final success over insuperable difficulties which typified the men of the 33rd Divisional Artillery. The true tale of their heroism, of their suffering and sacrifice can never really be understood

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