page_title: 174th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
section_title: Ypres
hierarchical_section_title: 174th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery / Service / Ypres
caption_attribution_description: English: IWM caption&#160;: THE BATTLE OF PASSCHENDAELE, JULY-NOVEMBER 1917. A 6-inch howitzer of the Royal Garrison Artillery ready for firing in the ruins of Pilckem, 23rd August 1917.
context_page_description: 174th Siege Battery was a unit of Britain's Royal Garrison Artillery formed during World War I. It served on the Western Front, including the Battles of Arras, Messines and Passchendaele, and the crushing victories of the Allied Hundred Days Offensive in 1918.
context_section_description: Next, 174th Siege Bty moved to 46th HAG on 22 June. This group was with Fifth Army for the opening of the Third Ypres Offensive. An even greater concentration of guns was massed than for Messines, but the circumstances were less favourable. Gun batteries were packed into the Ypres Salient where they were under observation and counter-battery (CB) fire from the Germans on the higher ground. Casualties among guns and gunners were high, and despite the massive preparation Fifth Army failed to take all its objectives when it attacked on 31 July (the Battle of Pilckem). A second push on 16 August (the Battle of Langemarck) suffered from rushed artillery planning and was unsuccessful. 174th Siege Bty was rested from 19 August to 4 September.
  The offensive continued through the summer and autumn of 1917: the Battles of the Menin Road, Polygon Wood and Broodseinde were highly successful because of the weight of artillery brought to bear on German positions. But as the offensive continued with the Battle of Poelcappelle and First and Second Battles of Passchendaele, the tables were turned: British batteries were clearly observable from the Passchendaele Ridge and were subjected to CB fire, while their own guns sank into the mud and became difficult to aim and fire.
caption: 6-inch howitzer and crew during the Ypres offensive, 1917.
exif: {"Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Copyright": "Imperial War Museums"}