The 33rd Divisional Artillery (33rd DA), popularly known as the Camberwell Gun Brigade, was a Royal Artillery force raised as part of 'Kitchener's Army' in early 1915. Recruited in the Borough of Camberwell, South London, the units served with the 'Pals battalions' of the 33rd Division on the Western Front for three years. They also supported other formations when 33rd Division was out of the line. The batteries saw action at the Somme, Arras, and Ypres, suffering heavy casualties. They were particularly distinguished defending against the German spring offensive of 1918, and continued through the victorious Allied Hundred Days Offensive.

Background On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army, and the newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'.Army Council Instructions No 32 (6 August) and No 37 (7 August).Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 2 & 8. The flood of volunteers overwhelmed the ability of the army to absorb and organise them, and by the time the Fifth New Army (K5) was authorised on 10 December 1914, many of the units were being organised as 'Pals battalions' under the auspices of mayors and corporations of towns up and down the country.See, for example, Middlebrook, Somme, pp. 9–11; Bilton, pp. 22–40; Inglis, pp. 13–6; Jackson, pp. 14–7.

The six K5 divisions were to be numbered 37th to 42nd, but the War Office (WO) then decided to convert the K4 battalions into reserve units to train reinforcements for the K1–K3 units, and on 27 April the K5 divisions were renumbered to take up the designations of the K4 formations. The short-lived 40th Division thus became 33rd Division.Becke, Pt 3b, Appendix 2. The division's original infantry units were Pals battalions raised by London regiments (particularly the Public Schools Battalions and Sportsmen's Battalions), and the Royal Artillery (RA) brigades were raised in Camberwell, South London.Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 31–9.

Recruitment On 14 January 1915 the WO authorised Major Frederick Hall, MP for Dulwich, and the Mayor of Camberwell to raise a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery (RFA), to be numbered CLVI (156th). The local response was so prompt that in March another brigade was raised, numbered CLXII (162nd). The WO was then told that there were still enough would-be recruits in the Camberwell neighbourhood to raise the whole artillery for an infantry division. At once, authority was given to recruit the two remaining RFA brigades, CLXVI (166th Bde) and CLXVII (H) (167th Howitzer Bde), the 126th Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery, and the Divisional Ammunition Column (DAC). Major Hall himself was the first commanding officer (CO) of CLVI Bde. All the men came from Camberwell and nearby Dulwich, and the units were complete by 1 June:Frederick, pp. 551–2.Frederick, pp. 699–701.Macartney-Filgate, pp. 1–2.Seton-Hutchinson, p. 3.Brian Green, 'Dulwich During World War I', Dulwich Society.The authorisations by the War Office were actually issued on 3 February (156th), 2 March (167th) and 17 April (remainder): War Office Instructions July 1915, Appendix VI.33rd DA at Long, Long Trail.

33rd Divisional Artillery CLVI (Camberwell) Brigade, RFA CLXII (Camberwell) Brigade, RFA CLXVI (Camberwell) Brigade, RFA CLXVII (Camberwell) Howitzer Brigade, RFA 33rd (Camberwell) Divisional Ammunition Column, RFA 126th (Camberwell) Heavy Battery and Ammunition Column, RGA

Each New Army RFA brigade consisted of four 4-gun batteries (designated A, B, C and D) and a Brigade Ammunition Column (BAC).

Training

33rd Divisional Artillery trained at the Grove Vale Depot in East Dulwich, while specialists were sent for courses to the Royal Artillery Barracks at Woolwich, St John's Wood Barracks and Larkhill Camp. At first there were no uniforms and they only had three obsolete 15-pounder guns and dummy loaders with which to learn the rudiments of gunnery. The men of CLVI Bde and the DAC lived at home, CLXII Bde was housed at Gordon's Brewery, CLXVI Bde at the Tramway Depot at Peckham, and CLXVII (H) Bde partly at home and partly at Dulwich Public Baths.Macartney-Filgate, pp. 2–3.

In July 1915 the 33rd Division began to assemble at Clipstone Camp, Nottinghamshire, but the artillery remained at Camberwell where four modern 18-pounder field guns arrived, together with the first 4.5-inch howitzer for CLXVII (H) Bde. In August the division moved to Salisbury Plain for final battle training, the artillery arriving at Bulford Camp between 5 and 10 August.Macartney-Filgate, p. 4. The units were formally taken over by the military authorities on 12 August.War Office Instructions September 1915, Appendix VII.

On 4 November the 33rd Division was ordered to prepare to embark for France. However, gunners required longer training, so the division's infantry joined the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France with the divisional artillery of the 54th (East Anglian) Division of the Territorial Force (TF) temporarily attached.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 125–31. Orders for 33rd DA to proceed to France were received on 6 December, and the batteries began to entrain at Amesbury for Southampton, 51 trains in all being required to move the batteries and ammunition columns.Macartney-Filgate, p. 5.

Western Front

33rd Divisional Artillery (less 126th Heavy Battery) embarked at Southampton on 12–13 December 1915, and concentrated at Aire and Thiennes on 16 December to rejoin their division. 54th Divisional Artillery left on 12 December and embarked at Marseille to join their own division in Egypt.Macartney-Filgate, p. 7.

Each brigade of 33rd DA sent successive parties up to the line to be attached to the artillery of 2nd Division so that between 18 December and 11 January 1916 all the personnel received four days' experience with a front line battery. From mid-January the batteries began to relieve those of 2nd and 12th (Eastern) Division for six-day spells, continuing their training when not in the line. C/CLXVII (H) Battery went into the line in its own right on 30 December, attached to I Corps' Heavy Artillery for Counter-battery (CB) duties. A/CLXII and A/CLXVI Batteries joined it on 13 February, before the whole of 33rd DA took over the sector from 12th DA between 23 and 25 February, while 33rd Division's infantry relieved 12th Division. As the units he had raised began to move into the line, Lt-Col Hall handed over command of CLVI Bde to a permanent officer and returned to Parliament; he was later knighted (KBE) and awarded a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his efforts.Macartney-Filgate, pp. 8–11.London Gazette, 28 December 1917.London Gazette, 7 January 1918.

The line held by the division was on the La Bassée front from 'Mad Point' to Givenchy, just north of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, scene of bitter fighting the previous autumn, but now considered a 'quiet' sector suitable for newly arrived formations. But there was active Tunnel warfare in this sector, leading to further actions at the Hohenzollern Redoubt. The divisional artillery had to be prepared to put down an 'SOS barrage' at any time when a mine was exploded followed by an infantry raid. On 27 April a German mine was fired and 33rd Division was attacked with heavy gas shelling. Following this attack the batteries were subjected to several days of CB fire.Macartney-Filgate, pp. 11–7. On 22 June a German mine near Givenchy required every available gun to fire SOS missions. On 27 June a British trench raid at Mad Point was covered by a Box barrage fired by the divisional artillery. Further raids were carried out on 2 and 5 July as diversions from the Somme Offensive further south.Macartney-Filgate, pp. 20–1.

Reorganisation On 14 February, B (H) Battery and a subsection of the BAC were transferred from CLXVII (H) Brigade to 1/IV London (H) Brigade in the 56th (1st London) Division (TF).Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 141–47. Then in May the field artillery of the BEF was reorganised so that howitzer batteries were distributed among the brigades of 18-pounders. All three remaining batteries of CLXVII (H) Brigade were therefore sent to the other brigades of the division, to be designated D (H) Battery in each case. In exchange, CLXVII received an 18-pounder battery from each of the other brigades, The three former D batteries became A/ B/ and C/CLXVII Batteries. The BACs were also abolished and merged into the DAC, which was reorganised as a headquarters and four sections.Farndale, Annex D, pp. 348–54.Macartney-Filgate, pp. 17–9.Seton-Hutchinson, p. 14.

In January, the division's infantry brigades had formed light trench mortarFarndale, Annex G. batteries (TMBs). Now a brigade of medium and heavy trench mortars was formed by the divisional artillery (although in most divisions around half the men came from the infantry): X/33, Y/33 and Z/33 Medium TMBs (each equipped with four 2-inch Medium Mortars) by 4 May, and V/33 Heavy TMB (9.45-inch Heavy Mortars) by 29 May.

Battle of the Somme

After five months of familiarisation with trench warfare on the Western Front, the 33rd Division saw its first fullscale operations during the Somme Offensive as part of XV Corps. It began to move south by train on 10 July and was in Corps Reserve during the Battle of Albert (12–13 July) before being committed to action during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge on 14 July. CLXII and CXLVI Brigades deployed in Caterpillar Valley largely without incident, though D (H)/CLXII Battery deployed in the wrong position and its guns and teams came under heavy shellfire, losing a number of casualties. The infantry of XV Corps took most of their objectives on 14 July, but High Wood and Delville Wood remained in enemy hands. 33rd Division renewed the attack the following day, supported by its own two brigades bombarding Switch Trench west of High Wood for an hour before moving the barrage on to Martinpuich while the infantry assaulted Switch Trench. But Switch Trench was almost completely hidden from the artillery's Forward Observation Officers (FOOs) and the attack was a failure, the infantry returning to their starting positions.Macartney-Filgate, pp. 21–9.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp. 36, 84, 95–6.Seton-Hutchinson, pp. 16–8.