ARTILLERY ORGANISATIONS
Last updated 9 August 2002
INTRODUCTION
As with most armies, the British Army's organisation was decided by the General Staff, in accordance with the available manpower and the Army's doctrine. However, the detailed organisation of units was prepared and proposed by the appropriate staff branch of the 'owning' arm or service. This organisation was manifested in three main sets of documents:
Changes to organisation were usually promulgated as General Staff policy decisions, with Establishments and G1098 being subsequently amended.
British units have 'peace' and 'war' establishments. The latter are the full quota of men and equipment, while the former are reduced numbers appropriate to peace time training. In 1939 regular and TA units were brought up to war strength with reservists. The War Establishment included 'first reinforcements' - battle casualty replacements. Establishment documents were organised in Volumes, relevant to artillery were Volume II (divisional troops) and Volume III (corps troops). However, regiments in SE Asia were on different establishments that were appropriate to the theatre and these were Volume XV and airborne units were in Volume I.
ESTABLISHMENTS
There was an Establishment for every type of unit and HQ, it gave an entitlement to men (by rank and 'trade'), vehicles, and armament. It was divided into 5 parts:
(i) tabulated all personnel by rank, regiment or corps and role (some officers,
WOs and SNCOs) against sub-unit, usually down to troop level if the unit was
organised that way.
(ii) tabulated the distribution of rank and file by trades
and duties.
(iii) tabulated transport by sub-units
(iv) tabulated weapons
(excluding personal small arms) by sub-units.
(v) gave the organisation of
the unit by vehicle 'crew', grouping them into sub-units. The detail sometimes
included radios, first line ammunition and some information about the vehicle's
role/what it carried, eg 'MT stores'.
Finally, notes detailed allowed substitutions
for vehicles and detailed any variations for circumstances, listed the First
reinforcements and referenced the WE of any attached sub-units such as a LAD.
Artillery Training publications also provided the approved 'Organisation for Manoeuvre', this contained the information from part (v) of the Establishment but re-organised it to show the organisation of a unit for its tactical deployment drills. It defined the parties responsible for reconnaissance and preparation as well as the 'main bodies', it was more complicated that the 'in-action' organisation. It also assigned the individual vehicle role 'tac signs'. Some of these are available on this site.
Army Form G1098 gave a detailed entitlement to equipment listed in the Establishment plus personal weapons, wireless, tools, stores and all other equipment, for example spare sights, signals equipment and cooking equipment. Items like guns, wireless stations, vehicles and many other stores each comprised many separate items, these items were not individually listed in the G1098 but were part of a uniquely identified 'Complete Equipment Schedule' that was in turn listed in the G1098. Some items, notably instruments and wireless, were 'controlled stores' and issue of replacements had to be authorised by the General Staff.
For particular types of unit, for example a field regiment, there were many changes in detail throughout the war. These reflected lessons from the battlefield as well as new types of equipment and changes to the soldiers' 'trade' structure. However, in 1943 there was 'standardisation' of establishments, which incorporated the revised structure of tradesmen and non-tradesmen, standard vehicles and ensured that the number of men doing the same thing in different types of unit was consistent.
ARTILLERY UNIT ORGANISATIONS
There is a wider ranging overview of divisional and divisional artillery organisations, with summaries of supported arm (infantry battalion and armoured regiment) organisations here.
The following figure outlines the organisation of the 1941 field regiment and its general pattern was applied to other types of regiment and lasted throughout the war, the terminology is that of the time. Medium regiments had only two batteries (2 × 8 guns), while heavy regiments had four batteries (4 × 4 guns).
A battery in this 1941 field regiment was about 190 all ranks, by the end of 1943 it had increased to 199 and a medium battery was 253. For comparison a British infantry company was about 125 all ranks and an engineer field company about 250.
A regiment's Establishment included attached soldiers from other corps. These were:
In addition to the attached troops there were two elements with their own establishments that were part of an artillery regiment.
The Establishment listed the numbers of officers and soldiers by ranks and
'skills' in each type of regiment and its batteries. Soldiers were divided
into 'Tradesmen' and 'Non-Tradesman'. The former received higher pay and
some of the latter were designated as 'specialists'. Some ranks were reserved
for tradesmen and non-tradesmen in particular positions, for example a field
regiment's
24 gun and 3 signal sergeants. However, most ranks were available as a
'pool' that could be assigned to any individual, although there were some reserved
for 'repair tradesmen'. Assigning these ranks to individuals was a matter
for each regiment. For example a 1944 field regiment had 358 'non-tradesmen'
Gunners, of whom 35 could be Lance Bombardiers, although any of the 35 could
be assigned to non-repair tradesmen. Similarly with the 63 Bombardiers,
of whom 15 could be Lance Sergeants. The 73 repair tradesmen had
13 NCO positions from Lance Bombardier to Staff Sergeant reserved for them,
these are not shown in the diagram above.
As the war progressed there were changes in soldier trades and vehicles.
The main soldier ones were:
In addition the 'Orderly Officer' in RHQ became the 'Intelligence Officer' and a 'Technical Adjutant' was introduced in SP regiments, mirroring armoured corps practice. In early 1945 another armoured corps practice was adopted, two of the four gun numbers on each gun in a SP regiment were 'removed' and 'replaced' by a 'gunner-operator' and a 'gunner-mechanic'. Chaplains were held on the establishment of HQRA and assigned semi-permanently to individual regiments, and almost as important in late 1944 regiments gained a sergeant cook of the Army Catering Corps.
In a battery the OP Parties each acquired a second vehicle to supplement their Armoured OP vehicle (carrier) or OP tank. This was an inevitable result of additional radios and the basic party increasing to 6 (officer, OPA, 2 driver- operators, driver-mechanic and signaller). This second vehicle was a Jeep (Car, 5-cwt, 4 × 4) as these became available.
DIVISIONAL AND HIGHER ARTILLERY
Most types of division had their own artillery, it was 'organic' in US terms. It comprised an HQRA, field regiments, an anti-tank regiment and for most of the war a LAA regiment. The infantry division artillery remained little changed through the war, three field regiments totaling 72 guns, although there were variations in Burma, and some divisions in UK were on a lower establishment of one or two regiments.
The main variations were in armoured divisions as these evolved. It's possible to identify 9 significant changes in armoured division organisation between 1939 and 1945, excluding changes in its brigade organisations, although some of these were peculiar to the Middle East and Italy! Naturally these changes did no always take effect in all theatres at the same time. From a field artillery perspective the significant changes were:
Other divisions with field artillery were:
Above divisional level there was initially 2 field and 2 medium regiments under command of each corps. However, this organic assignment ended with the introduction of AGRAs, which were generally allocated one to a corps, although for significant operations additional AGRAs were often allocated. Above corps level there were additional regiments variously under army, army group or theatre command and allocated as required.
ARTILLERY HEADQUARTERS
Artillery HQs (HQRA at division and corps, and AGRA HQs) and specialist staffs (Counter Bombardment Office) had their own Establishments and were not part of the parent formation HQ establishment. The formation HQ (division, corps) had its own signal unit and this provided R Signals men, vehicles, radios, etc to the HQRA.
The organisation of HQsRA reflected that of an infantry or armoured brigade: a brigadier in command and a major as his principal G staff officer (Brigade Major). The HQRA commanded all artillery, AA and anti-tank as well as field, in the division, AGRA or corps troops.
The staff included a Staff Captain responsible for A & Q matters and infantry divisions had a REME captain because their LADs were commanded by WOs whereas in armoured divisions officers commanded LADs. HQRA in an armoured division also had 4 liaison officers that they could deploy. Minor changes were made towards the end of the war, AGRAs gained a G.S.O.3 (captain), and an Army Education Corps officer was added to all HQsRA, part of their role was to act as watchkeepers.
Of course other parts of the signal regiment also provided communications services for HQRA, the cable section, the operating section (which operated the divisional exchange and provided cipher operators), the security section that monitored communications and the technical maintenance section.
Copyright © 2002 Nigel F Evans. All Rights Reserved.