76th Siege Battery was a heavy howitzer unit of Britain's Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) raised in Essex and Suffolk during World War I. It saw active service on the Western Front at the Somme, Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, against the German Spring Offensive, and in the final Allied Hundred Days Offensive.
Mobilisation On the outbreak of war in August 1914, units of the part-time Territorial Force (TF) were invited to volunteer for Overseas ServiceBecke, Pt 2b, p. 6. and the majority of the Essex and Suffolk Royal Garrison Artillery did so. This unit had mobilised as part of No 14 (Essex & Suffolk) Coastal Fire Command at Landguard Fort, charged with defending the Haven ports of Harwich, Felixstowe and Ipswich and the associated naval base.Farndale, Forgotten Fronts, pp. 402, 409.Maurice-Jones, p. 185. By October 1914, the campaign on the Western Front was bogging down into Trench warfare and there was an urgent need for batteries of siege artillery to be sent to France. The WO decided that the TF coastal gunners were well enough trained to take over many of the duties in the coastal defences, releasing Regular RGA gunners for service in the field.WO Instruction No 248 of October 1914. Soon the TF RGA companies that had volunteered for overseas service were also supplying trained gunners to RGA units serving overseas and providing cadres to form complete new units.Maurice-Jones, pp. 200–1.
In August 1915 Harwich was chosen as one of the depots for forming these units, under the command of Major G.W. Horsfield of the Essex & Suffolk RGA. The selected Territorials were sent to Beacon Hill Battery under Capt F.A.W. Cobbold (a member of Ipswich's Cobbold brewing familyFrancis Alfred Worship Cobbold, DSO, TD, at Cobbold Family History Trust.) to begin their training. The first battery to be formed at Harwich, 76th Siege Battery, consisted of a half battery of men drawn from all four companies of the Essex & Suffolk RGA, the remainder being returning wounded Regulars, men of the Special Reserve, and 'Kitchener's Army' volunteers.Army List, August 1914.Penstone, pp. 9–14.
On 3 November 1915 the half battery from Harwich travelled to Roffey Camp, Horsham, to join the other personnel from Clarence Barracks, Portsmouth, under the command of Maj W.H. Brent Clark. Clark had been the Regular Army adjutant of the Essex & Suffolk before the war and had applied to transfer to the battery from command of 67th Siege Bty. In December the battery moved to Lydd Camp where the men were introduced to modern heavy guns, but did gun drill on 9.45-inch Skoda howitzers from the Second Boer War and their actual field firing with 8-inch rifled muzzle-loading howitzers dating from 1879. The other units under training at Lydd at this time included 67th and 69th Siege Btys and five South African Heavy Artillery batteries (71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th). On 15 March 1916 the battery left Lydd for Bristol, where it mobilised with its equipment (four 9.2-inch howitzers towed by Holt 75 caterpillar tractors) and was joined by its Ammunition Column, Motor Transport (MT), 653 Company, Army Service Corps, which had formed on 3 March 1916.Frederick, pp. 702–8.Anon, Seventy-First Siege Battery, p. 11. 25th Bde War Diary February 1915–June 1916, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/303/1.Young, Annex Q.'Allocation of Mechanical Transport Companies ASC', TNA file WO 95/5494/G.
Western Front On 24 March the main body of the battery went to Avonmouth Docks to load the equipment on HM Transport Aragon while an advance party went to Southampton where they boarded SS Hantonia. The advance party landed at Le Havre on 28 March and reached Albert, Somme, on 2 April, where they began preparing gun positions. The main body from Bristol embarked at Southampton on SS Lydia together with 69th Siege Bty with whom they had trained at Lydd, arriving at Boulogne on 1 April. The delayed Aragon with the guns and equipment arrived on 14 April and these were entrained for Talmas. The battery spent the next two weeks learning how to lay the firing beams and to mount and dismount their new howitzers. The few Regulars who had already seen service with 10th, 12th and 13th Siege Batteries were able to pass on their experience. By 11 May the whole battery was in position alongside the Albert–Amiens road, the guns camouflaged as haystacks, ready to open fire.Penstone, pp. 14–7.'Allocation of Siege Batteries RGA', TNA file WO 95/5494/4.
Somme The battery had joined X Corps' Southern Heavy Group on 19 April, being assigned to 25th Heavy Artillery Group (HAG) when that HQ arrived at Bouzincourt on 24 April. 653 Company, ASC, was absorbed into 25th HAG's ammunition column next day. X Corps was part of Fourth Army, which was preparing for that year's 'Big Push' (the Battle of the Somme). 76th Siege Battery was actually positioned among guns belonging to the neighbouring III Corps, including 69th Siege Bty alongside. The III Corps batteries had already requisitioned all the best sites for observation posts (OPs), but the 76th was able to obtain essential stores from III Corps. Eventually four OPs were established facing the village of Thiepval. 76th Siege Bty fired 100 rounds in support of a trench raid at Thiepval on 5 June. The batteries of 25th HAG then began registering their guns on their targets in support of 32nd and 36th (Ulster) Divisions who would launch the main attack.Penstone, pp. 17–20.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 99–107.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 193–7.'Headquarters Heavy Artillery Groups', TNA file WO 95/5494/1.
The German positions facing X Corps were of great strength: Thiepval itself formed a strongpoint on the crest of a ridge overlooking the British lines, while other strongpoints protected the German line with crossfire. The main bombardment was to extend over five days, U, V, W, X and Y, before the assault was launched on Z Day. The strenuous work of firing the heavy guns and howitzers was divided into 2-hour periods to allow the gunners to rest, Forward Observation Officers (FOOs) to be relieved, and the guns to cool. U Day was 24 June, but on several days the weather was too bad for good air or ground observation and the programme was extended by two days (Y1 and Y2). During the bombardment 76th Siege Bty concentrated on strongpoints and machine gun posts in and around Thiepval, including the chateau and Mouquet Farm ('Mucky Farm'). From X Day the intensity of the bombardment increased, with A and B guns firing 130 rounds each in 12 hours, and C and D 125 rounds each in 6 hours (the 9.2-inch howitzer was only designed to fire 6 rounds per hour). On Z Day (1 July, the First day on the Somme) the artillery programme began at 06.35. The infantry went 'over the top' at 07.30 and the heavy artillery bombardment proceeded through its planned phases, lifting from one objective to the next. However, in the words of 25th HAG's war diary, the attack was 'not very successful: Left Division (36th) gained objective, 32nd Division held up'. One brigade of 36th (Ulster) Division had swept through the German positions opposite, but the other was shot down in No man's land. 32nd Division had crept into No man's land under cover of the barrage and the men rushed the German front trenches, but were then cut down crossing the open ground. At 08.30 the 4th Phase bombardment was ordered to be repeated because the infantry were held up in front of Thiepval and could not reach their objective. The batteries continued firing on this line until 10.55 (incidentally blocking the planned advance of 36th (Ulster) Division's reserve brigade), when 76th Siege Bty was ordered to cease fire and the other batteries switched to shelling German strongpoints. 76th Siege Bty joined in a re-bombardment of the trenches at 12.15 and then a bombardment of Thiepval from 15.00, but it was too scattered to be effective and the advance could not be restarted, while counter-attacks drove the Ulstermen out of most of their gains.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 299–300, 304–5, 394–421.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 144–8.Farrar-Hockley, pp. 124–6, 130–8.Middlebrook, pp. 147, 173–9, 208–10, 223–4.Penstone, pp. 20–2.25th Bde War Diary July–August 1916, TNA file WO 95/303/2.
The offensive continued over subsequent days, 76th Siege Bty firing at targets in Thiepval and the Ovillers-la-Boisselle area. On 7 July one of the battery's howitzers (C gun) was damaged by the premature explosion of a shell and was replaced a few days later. The battery supported the attacks on Pozières and Contalmaison, to the right of Thiepval, which meant that new OPs had to be established in the old German front line. II Corps of Reserve Army now took over this part of the line, including 25th HAG, whose batteries continued to fire on Pozières, which was finally captured on 25 July. 76th Siege Bty supported the capture of Ration Trench in early August then during the fighting for Mucky Farm on 11–12 August, the battery's ammunition expenditure was unusually heavy, D gun firing 85 rounds in 52 minutes, the barrel having to be cooled with wet sandbags. 18 August saw another day of heavy firing, the heavy artillery's barrage isolating the objective for 145th (South Midland) Brigade's successful attack. Firing continued daily until the end of the month, when there was a special bombardment of the Thiepval and Ration Trench area: 76th Siege Bty fired 400 rounds and broke the timber baulks beneath both C and D guns, which had to be dismounted and re-positioned. Major Clark was evacuated to hospital on 8 September and Capt Cobbold took command.Becke, Pt 4, pp. 137–43.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp. 10–2, 14, 22, 32, 34, 58, 149–51, 209–11, 216–7, 221.Penstone, pp. 22–31.
On 10 September the battery's Left Section (LX) was ordered to dismount its guns and move forward to a new position near Usna Hill, close to the British font line of 1 July in front of La Boisselle. The two sections were now directed at different targets: while Right Section (RX) continued to pound Thiepval, LX attacked Mucky Farm and the Schwaben Redoubt, and contributed to the successes of the Battle of Flers–Courcelette on 15 September. Once II Corps finally captured Thiepval Ridge on 26–28 September after a heavy bombardment, RX could be brought forward. On 1 October the battery's personnel took over three guns from 13th Siege Bty at Ovillers-La Boisselle and brought up D Section's original gun. The gunners occupied captured German dugouts and the OPs were in disused trenches or in Mesnil Chateau. At this period the heavies were engaged in firing concentrations at enemy-occupied villages, with 76th Siege Bty targeting Grandcourt, Pys, Miraumont and Irles. It also participated in counter-battery (CB) shoots in combination with observation aircraft: on 25 October it fired at four separate hostile batteries. Ammunition was brought up to the guns over the cratered ground by means of a Decauville Railway. II Corps gradually captured the Schwaben Redoubt and other German strongpoints in their front. For 63rd (Royal Naval) Division's attack on Beaumont-Hamel on 13 November (the Battle of the Ancre), 76th Siege Bty was required to swing its howitzers to their extreme left so that they could enfilade two enemy support trenches: these trenches were reported to be completely destroyed by this bombardment.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 150–56.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp. 392–5, 399–407, 414–9, 485–91.Penstone, pp. 31–7.25th Bde War Diary September–October 1916, TNA file WO 95/303/3.25th Bde War Diary November–December 1916, TNA file WO 95/303/4.