A Introduction to Basic Gunnery used in the First World War
Battery Establishment
Each battery of the Brigade were lettered A, B & C, each of the Batteries totalled 198 men at full establishment. Each was commanded by a Major or Captain, with a Captain as Second-in-Command, and 3 Lieutenants or Second-Lieutenants in charge of 2-gun sections. Battery establishment also included a Battery Sergeant-Major [ B.S.M.}, a Battery Quartermaster Sergeant [B.Q.M.S.] , a Farrier-Sergeant, 4 x Shoeing Smiths (1x would be a Corporal), 2 x Saddlers [harness], 2 x Wheelers [maintained the wheels], 2 x Trumpeters, 7 x Sergeants, 7 x Corporals, 11x Bombardiers, 75 x Gunners, 70 x Drivers and 10 x Gunners acting as Batmen.
Gun Detachment Q.F. 18 pr Field Gun.
A gun detachment consisted of 10 men; No 1: [a Sergeants appointment but could also carried out by a qualified Corpl] who was responsible for the gun and the crew he gave the fire orders received from the CP via the section commander, to the gun crew and manipulated the trail handle to roughly set the bearing of the gun [Hand Spike]; No 2: sat astride the right hand seat, dealt with the range wheel with his right hand and breach lever with the left; the No 3: or Layer, sat on the left hand seat facing forward, set the sights to the bearing and elevation as ordered by the No1 and elevating wheel (also the traversing wheel on 18 pounders), controlled the hand brake and fired the gun when ordered. No 4: loader, stood on the left of the trail and loaded the rounds into the breech, responsible also for the Aiming posts and Paralleloscope. No 5: Ammo Number, was also responsible for the correcting bar (barometric pressure, fuse numbers and range numbers). and No 6: The Fuze indicator, No's 5 & 6 stood behind the limber, set the fuses and passed rounds to the No 4 loader. No's 7, 8 9: In Action, would remained at the wagon lines, to assist in the re-supply of ammunition and replace casualties. No 10: He is the Coverer, 2 i/c of the subsection and is in charge of the gun group ammunition wagon, in action he remains at the wagon line in charge of the horse teams and wagons of his subsection.
The 18 pr gun was pulled by a 6 horse team, it also had 1 x Carriage Limber [Ammo Cart] which carried 24 rds of ammunition and 1x Ammunition Wagon limber which carried 38 rds, giving a total of 62 rds this was the First Line ammunition supply, the gun and each limber was pulled by a team of 6 horses; each team consisted of a 2 x leaders, 2 x Centers [Followers] and 2 x Wheelers, when ridden the riders mounted on the left, each Gun Detachment had 18 horses.
Positions of the gun crew when Mounted.
No's 1 and 10 on their horses on the left of the leaders of the gun and gun group wagon respectively; 2 and 3 on the gun limber; 5 and 6 on the limber; 4 on the wagon of the gun group; 7 and 8 on the limber; 9 on the wagon of the first line group; even numbers on the near side [left]: odd numbers on the off side [right].
Gun drill for Q.F. 18 Pr Mark IV Gun: HMSO 1934
Early British Q.F. Artillery by Len Trawin, ISBN 1-85486-154-9 Pub Nexus Special Interests Ltd. 1997
Deployment
The deployment of a battery of 4 x 15 pounder or 6x18 pounder guns in the first years of the first world war, was not so quick or as precise as it is today, there was no hand held GPS to find your location, no computers to work out the bearing and elevation for you and in the beginning no Metrological information, and no mechanical transport either, so each battery had to work out the battery's position from a map using a protractor and compass, then from the battery center give the guns the zero line, each gun would then set its sights to the center point, all would then be in line. Then work out the map range to target and convert it into a bearing and elevation using range tables and then every 12 hours firing a mission to find out the "Correction of the moment", that is to say; what the prevailing weather conditions were at that time and at that place, the atmospheric pressure, the temp, wind speed; which includes the direction of the wind, rain and hail all have a bearing on the trajectory of the shell from the very moment it leaves the barrel until it hits the ground and explodes or in the case of a shrapnel shell at a predetermined height above the ground.
To get the "Correction of the Moment" the Observation officer would pick a target; something prominent and easily recognizable if possible on the enemy trench line, he would then work out the Grid reference, bearing and elevation and direction to the target from his position, using a map and protractor [Deg's] and type of fire mission, in this example "Registration". The OP Officer would then give orders to the guns via his Signaler/telephonist, these men were also trained to use Heliograph and signal lamp [No Radios then], the command post would then plot the Observers target information on to a map, this would also include the Op's location and direction [Obs to tgt] this would enable the command post to adjust on to the target from the corrections given by the Op.
The Command post would give the guns the order to load i.e. "Battery Action", "No 3 Load",* The No1 of No 3 gun would then order "Load" then the CP would work out the Bearing and elevation to the target from the gun position and give the bearing and elevation to be fired on, to the guns .The No's 1 of No3 gun would report ready, and the C/post would give the order to fire, on firing; the C/post telephonist would report "Shot" followed by a time of flight in seconds [T of F] to the observer. * [No type of ammo given as shrapnel was only one issued pre 1915]
Using the direction of Observer to target, the Op Officer would make adjustments to the fall of shot, by giving left or right add or drop corrections to correct his line, using the graticals in his binoculars [this would have been in deg's, 180 deg's in a circle] in the command post this would be calculated into gun data i.e. a left correction from the OP may well be an "Add" correction according to the position of guns on the ground.
As you see in the above example the” Left” correction from the OP to bring the fall of shot on to the Dir of Obs- Target line is in fact an “Add “ correction applied to the guns, and a “Add” or “Drop” correction from the OP, along the Dir OB target Line, would be a ”Left” or “Right” correction applied to the guns, a combination of orders could also be given.
Ammunition
The Field Artillery started the war with only one type of shell for the 15/18 pdr, this was a Shrapnel shell for the 18 pr it was a fixed type of ammunition, that is to say the shell and cartridge were supplied in one piece the charge inside was a standard charge which by the use of elevation the required range could be obtained.
The shell was fitted with a fuze [No 80 Mk 1V] which when set [sec’s] exploded at a certain height above the ground [30 ft] this was set with the use of a fuze key. The resulting explosion scattered 375 x 1-inch balls of made of Lead & Antimony in a forward and downward trajectory into the trenches and it caused many German casualties. It was also used extensively to cut the wire protecting the German trenches, but this was not very effective. The shrapnel shell was of little use against the machine gun posts/dugouts and hard targets.
This was overcome at the end of 1915 with the issue of a high explosive [HE] shell fitted with Fuses No's 101,101E, 80 & 83 as the war progressed other types of ammunition came in to service i.e. Star shell [Illuminating], Smoke.
Cartridge clips: Were made of brass, in a cruciform shape and had a canvas strap on the top were clipped on to the base of the cartridge this was to aid the unloading or repacking of cartridges, it also served to protected the percussion primer which was set in to the base of the cartridge.
Distribution of Ammunition.
Early in the war the amount of ammunition expended was strictly controlled perhaps 5 or 6 rounds per day, which generated a lot of paper work if this total was exceeded, but as the war progressed and the civilian work force was mobilised the amount of ammunition produced increased, the expenditure increased also. The 1st line Ammunition, was held at the gun position [carriage limber] 24 rds in total, 2nd line Ammunition, held at the wagon lines in the Ammunition limber total 38 rds and 3rd line Ammunition at the B.A.C. [Bde Ammo Column] and later at the D.A.C. [Div ammo column.] the quantity of ammunition held by B.A.C. & D.A.C. would vary from day today according to expenditure and supply.
The ammunition was distributed to the gun positions according to the prevailing weather conditions by Wagon, Horse, Mule and when the aforementioned could not get to the guns, because of the weather, the Ammunition was carried by men carrying 4 rds in leg pouches [two either side] slung by straps over their shoulders, this method was particularly tiring when the weather was really bad, the mud would cling to their boots and they would sink into the glutinous sucking mud up to their knees and they had to be pulled out, this was a long and dirty business. Some men got lost in the dark on their way to the gun positions and fell into shell holes filled with water and drowned, others were rescued by others passing by and who had heard their shouts for help.
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