page_title: South Midland (Warwickshire) Royal Garrison Artillery
section_title: Western Front
hierarchical_section_title: South Midland (Warwickshire) Royal Garrison Artillery / World War I / 1/1st Warwickshire Heavy Battery / Western Front
caption_attribution_description: British QF 4.7 inch Gun on 1900 Mk I "Woolwich" carriage, Western Front, World War I. AWM caption&#160;: "Picardie, Somme Pozieres. Australian transport limbers returning down Sausage Valley gallop past a battery of British 4.7 inch quick firing (QF) field guns."
context_page_description: The South Midland (Warwickshire) Royal Garrison Artillery was a volunteer artillery unit of Britain's Territorial Force formed in 1908. It served in Home Defence and provided heavy artillery support to the armies on the Western Front and Italian Front in World War I. In the interwar years it became 204 (Warwickshire) Battery serving in various regiments and formations before being expanded into a full regiment. In World War II it served in the heavy anti-aircraft role defending its home area of the West Midlands against German air attack, and then defended Calcutta against Japanese attacks. It continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1955.
context_section_description: The South Midland Division was ordered to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France on 13 March 1915, and the artillery embarked at Southampton for Le Havre, the 1/1st Battery disembarking on 31 March. By 4 April the division had taken over a section of the front line near Cassel.
  However, artillery policy in the BEF was to withdraw heavy batteries from the divisions and group them into dedicated heavy artillery brigades, so on 16 April the battery left the South Midland Division to join Second Army Artillery in time for the Second Battle of Ypres. At this time the practice was to move batteries between heavy brigades (later heavy artillery groups or HAGs) as required, so the 1/1st Warwickshire Bty moved to XVI Brigade RGA on 10 June, to VIII Brigade RGA on 3 July, to III Corps Artillery with First Army on 21 August, and IV Heavy Bde on 10 November.
  In early 1916 the battery was moved again, to 12th HAG with Second Army (10 April), to 'Loring's Group' with I ANZAC Corps (19 May), then to 44th (South African) HAG (5 August), and on to 34th HAG (27 August), which joined Fourth Army on the Somme in September. After the Somme fighting died down, the battery moved within Fourth Army to 7th HAG (30 November) and back to 44th (SA) HAG (23 December).
  By the end of 1916 the obsolete 4.7-inch gun had been largely superseded on the Western Front by the modern 60-pounder. On 28 February 1917 the battery was made up to a strength of six guns when it was joined by a section from the newly-arrived 199th Heavy Bty. It then moved north on 13 March to join 15th HAG with First Army, arriving on 21 March. Soon afterwards (15 April) it was switched south again to Fifth Army where it joined 9th HAG on 20 April. Through the early summer the battery continued to be switched rapidly from one HAG to another: 42nd (arriving 19 May), 16th with Third Army (5 July), 52nd with Second Army (9 July), 99th (12 July), then back to 52nd (6 August), and finally 11th (7 September).
  By now, Second Army was involved in the Third Ypres Offensive, taking the lead at the Battles of the Menin Road Ridge, Polygon Wood and Broodseinde, which were notable artillery victories. The 60-pounders were used for counter-battery (CB) fire before the attack, and then as part of the creeping barrage that led the infantry onto their objectives. However, the subsequent attacks (the Battles of Poelcappelle, First Passchendaele and Second Passchendaele) were failures. The British batteries were clearly observable from the Passchendaele Ridge and suffered badly from counter-battery fire, while their own guns sank into the mud and became difficult to aim and fire.
  While the Ypres offensive was still continuing, the German and Austrian victory at Caporetto on the Italian Front led to British forces being rushed from Flanders to shore up the Italian Army. Even before their defeat the Italians had asked for the loan of heavy artillery, and now a number of units were hurriedly sent by rail, including 1/1st Warwickshire Battery, which went on 14 November.
caption: 4.7-inch gun on the Somme, 1916
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