6th County of London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

The 6th County of London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a new unit formed when Britain's Territorial Force was created in 1908. Its origin lay in Artillery Volunteer Corps formed in the Surrey suburbs of South London in the 1860s, which had later been incorporated into a larger London unit. Together with its wartime duplicate it served on the Western Front, at Salonika and in Palestine during the First World War. Converted to the anti-tank role just before the Second World War, it saw widely varied service during the war, while its duplicate regiment landed on D-Day. The regiment continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1961.

Volunteer Force The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer Corps composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.Beckett.Spiers, pp. 163–168. Two such units were formed in South London, the 1st Surrey Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVC) on 12 October 1860 at 12 Union Place, Lambeth Road, and the 2nd Surrey AVC on 10 November 1860 at Brixton. At that time, Lambeth, Brixton and the surrounding area was part of Surrey but was later incorporated into the County of London. The 1st Surrey AVC began as a 'sub-division', was expanded to a battery on 15 December 1860, and additional batteries were formed on 4 May and 19 November 1861. However, recruiting dipped after the first enthusiasm wore off, and the unit was struck off on 27 May 1864. The 2nd Surrey AVC took the title of 1st Surrey AVC in 1866 and recruited widely: by 1877, it had reached a strength of 10 batteries recruited from Brixton, Loughborough Junction, Camberwell, and even Shepherd's Bush in Middlesex. By then, its headquarters (HQ) was at Loughborough Road, Brixton, moving to Camberwell in 1881. In March 1883, the unit amalgamated with the 1st London (City) AVC based in the City of London, to which the 1st Surrey AVC provided Nos 7–16 Batteries.Barnes, Appendix III.Beckett, Appendix VIII.Frederick, pp. 669–670.Litchfield & Westlake, p. 158.Army List, various dates.London Gazette, 27 May 1864.Maude, Appendix F.1st London Artillery at Regiments.org

Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) on 1 May 1908 under the Haldane Reforms,Spiers, Chapter 10. the 1st City of London Artillery split to form three brigades in the Royal Field Artillery: I City of London Brigade in the city, VI County of London Brigade at Brixton, and VII County of London Brigade at Shepherd's Bush. The VI (or 6th) London Brigade was formed on 1 May 1908 from Nos 11–16 Companies of the 1st City Artillery, with the following organisation:London Gazette 20 March 1908.6th London Artillery at Regiments.org.Barnes, Appendix IV.Frederick, p. 678.Litchfield, pp. 156–157.Maude, pp. 1–2; Appendix C.

Brigade HQ at 105 Holland Road, BrixtonBorough of Lambeth, Drill Hall Register at Stepping Forward London. 15th County of London Battery 16th County of London Battery 17th County of London Battery 6th London Ammunition Column

The first commanding officer (CO) was Colonel Sidney Wishart, VD, from the 1st City of London Artillery.London Gazette, 23 June 1908. The brigade was assigned to the 2nd London Division of the TF. The three batteries were each equipped with four 15-pounder guns.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 69–75.47th (2nd London) Division at Long, Long Trail.

First World War Mobilisation When war broke out in August 1914, VI London Bde had already completed its annual training camp for the year, and the brigade was mobilised at Brixton under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel R.J. MacHugh, who had been Commanding Officer (CO) since 1912. After mobilisation, the 2nd London Division's artillery brigades moved to the country round Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Kings Langley in Hertfordshire to begin war training.Maude, pp. 2–3, 11.

On the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. On 15 August 1914, the WO issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way, duplicate batteries, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas. Eventually these too were prepared for overseas service and 3rd Line reserve units were formed to produce reinforcement drafts to the others.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6. The duplicate 2/VI London Brigade was formed in September 1914 and separated in March 1915 when 1/VI Brigade went overseas.Dalbaic, pp. 17–18.Frederick, pp. 690–691.

1/VI London Brigade At the end of October 1914, the 2nd London Division was chosen to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting on the Western Front and training was stepped up, despite bad weather and equipment shortages. Brigade and Divisional training began in February 1915 and it received its orders for the move to France on 2 March. By 22 March, all the batteries had reached the divisional concentration area around Béthune.Farndale, Western Front, p. 94.Maude, pp. 3, 11–12.

Aubers Ridge While the division's infantry were introduced to trench routine by being attached in groups to the 1st and 2nd Divisions holding the line, the TF field batteries with their obsolescent 15-pounders were interspersed with those of the two Regular divisions equipped with modern 18-pounder guns. However, ammunition was very scarce, and the guns were restricted to three rounds per gun per day during April. Ammunition was being saved up for the Battle of Aubers Ridge on 9 May, when the 15-pounders of 1/VI London Bde joined with the guns of 1st and 2nd Divisions and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) to cut the barbed wire for the assault by 1st Division. The bombardment began at 05.00 with Shrapnel shell, then at 05.30 the guns switched to High Explosive (HE) shell to join the howitzers already firing at the German breastworks. At 05.40 the guns lifted to targets further back and the infantry moved to the attack. The attackers ran into devastating machine gun fire (there was no artillery barrage to suppress the defenders) and they found that the wire was inadequately cut and the breastworks barely touched. The inexperienced artillery had failed in all its tasks. A renewed bombardment was ordered from 06.15 to 07.00, but the artillery's forward observation officers (FOOs) were unable to locate the hidden German machine gun positions, which required a direct hit from an HE shell to be put out of action. The second attack failed as badly as the first, as did two others launched during the afternoon, and the survivors were pinned down in No man's land until nightfall, despite a further bombardment being laid on to allow them to withdraw.Edmonds, 1915, Vol II, pp. 6, 17–29, 39.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 103–107.Maude, pp 12–3.

Festubert Although 2nd London Division suffered few casualties at Aubers Ridge, its gunners had learned a sobering lesson about the impossibility of suppressing strong defences with inadequate guns and shells. On 11 May, the division was redesignated 47th (1/2nd London) Division, and on the night of 14/15 May it took its place in the line for the Battle of Festubert. The guns were already in place, with 47th Divisional Artillery operating under the control of 7th Division. Despite the continuing shortage of ammunition, the plan this time was for a long methodical bombardment. On 13 and 14 May the field guns carried out three two-hour deliberate bombardments each day, attacking the wire with slow observed fire or keeping the enemy communication trenches under fire. At night, they carried out intermittent bombardments of the communication trenches and defences, to stop supplies being brought up and to prevent repairs being carried out. The guns fired about 100 rounds per day. During 15 May feint bombardments mimicking the moment of assault were carried out, but the actual attack was made after dark with some success. The fighting went on for several days, and 47th (2nd L) Division made its own first attack on the night of 25 May. The leading brigade captured the German front and support trenches, but were then pinned down by accurate German artillery fire and could advance no further. This effectively ended the battle. The heavy rate of fire during the battle was too much for the old 15-pdrs: by 26 May, 11 out of 36 guns in the division were out of action.Edmonds, 1915, Vol II, pp. 44–76.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 107–110.Maude, pp. 14–20.

Loos In June, 47th (2nd L) Division took over trenches in front of Loos-en-Gohelle from the French. This was the sector selected for the next major British attack (the Battle of Loos), to which part of 47th (2nd L) Division would provide the southern 'hinge'. 1/VI London Bde with its obsolescent guns was not assigned a major role in the complex artillery plan, and 10 of its guns remained in reserve at Haillicourt, behind the attack of 141st (5th London) Brigade. Supported by poison gas clouds, the attacking portion of 47th (2nd L) Division made good progress. However, events had not played out so well further north, at Hill 70 and the Hohenzollern Redoubt, and the battle raged on after 47th (2nd L) Division had been relieved between 28 September and 1 October.Cherry, pp. 41, 109–112.Edmonds, 1915, Vol II, pp. 174–76, 182–91.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 116–123.Maude, pp. 25–36.

On 13 October, 47th (2nd L) Division was in support for the final attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt, and was practising on dummy trenches for a follow-up attack on Hulluch next day, but the results at the Hohenzollern were so disappointing that the operation was cancelled. The division took over the line and the artillery was in constant action over the following weeks. On 6 November 1915, the batteries of 1/VI London Bde were re-equipped with modern 18-pounders. Ammunition supply also improved, and the guns could be used for counter-battery (CB) work.Maude, pp. 37–41, 46–47.

Spring 1916 On 17 May 1916, 1/VI London Bde was renumbered CCXXXVI Bde (236 Bde) and the batteries were designated A, B and C. At the same time, it was joined by 1/22nd London Bty from 1/VIII London (Howitzer) Brigade (now CCXXXVIII Bde), which became D (H) Bty; it was equipped with four 4.5-inch howitzers. At this time the brigade ammunition columns (BACs) were abolished and incorporated into the divisional ammunition column (DAC).