The 359th Siege Battery was a unit of Britain's

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

(RGA) raised during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It operated heavy railway howitzers on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918,

Mobilisation

BL_12_inch_MK_I_%26_III_railway_howitzer_diagram

The battery was raised at

Lavernock Lavernock ( cy, Larnog) is a hamlet in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, lying on the coast south of Cardiff between Penarth and Sully, and overlooking the Bristol Channel. Marconi and the first radio messages across open sea Following over ...

on 21 January 1917 under the auspices of the Glamorgan Royal Garrison Artillery, a unit of the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

(TF) serving in No 26 Coastal Fire Command in South Wales, responsible for the defence of Swansea,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

. Since 1914 the TF's coastal defence units had been supplying cadres of trained gunners to form new batteries of RGA siege guns for service on the Western Front. The Glamorgan RGA had already formed at least three such batteries ( 96th, 121st, and 172nd).Frederick, p. 704.

Battery Sergeant-Major Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source * Automotive battery, a device to provide power ...

(BSM) George Evans, a TF veteran who had already seen active service, served as the provisional commander. In early February, 1917, 2nd Lt George Rae and 2nd L. Robert C. Palmer were the first two officers assigned to the battery.House, ''Short Record''. Originally established as an 8-inch howitzer battery, the unit was reformed as a 12-inch railway howitzer battery while training at

Lydd Ranges Lydd Ranges is a military firing range south of Lydd, in Kent, England, extending as far as the south coast. It has been used for military training for over 150 years and is part of the Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay Site of Special Scie ...

in April and May 1917.

War Service

The men of 359th Siege Battery went out to the Western Front on 10 June 1917, embarking on the troopship SS ''

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

'' from

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and arriving at

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

the following day. It joined 19th Heavy Artillery Group (HAG) on 27 June, manning two 12-inch railway howitzers, and 19th HAG joined

XV Corps 15th Corps, Fifteenth Corps, or XV Corps may refer to: *XV Corps (British India) * XV Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army prior to and during World War I * 15th Army Corps (Russian Empire), a unit in World War I *XV Royal Bav ...

on the Flanders coast on 1 July. On 5 July, King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

and the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

inspected the battery.'Allocation of Siege Batteries RGA', The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/5494/4.
/ref>'Allocation of HA Groups', TNA file WO 95/5494/1.
/ref> While on the Flanders coast 359th Siege Bty was variously positioned at Coxyde (

Koksijde Koksijde (; french: Coxyde ; vls, Koksyde) is a town and a municipality in Belgium. It is located on the North Sea coast in the southwest of the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises apart from Koksijde, the villages of ...

), Oost Dunkerque (

Oostduinkerke Oostduinkerke (; french: Ostdunkerque ; vls, Ôostduunkerke) is a place in the Belgian province of West Flanders, where it is located on the southern west coast of Belgium. Once a municipality of its own, Oostduinkerke now is a sub-municipali ...

) and Nieuport ( Nieuwpoort). 12_inch_railway_howitzer_Dickebusch_14061916_IWM_Q_711

19th Heavy Artillery Group transferred south to join Fourth Army on 1 August. The battery was without its guns from 8 to 20 September, and then it joined 76th HAG with Second Army in the

Ypres Salient The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee ...

on 21 September, moving to the command of 5th HAG on 28 September. It was separated from its guns again from 1 until 22 October, by which time Second Army was fighting the last stages of the Battle of Passchendaele. On 14 November the battery transferred to 80th HAG, but that headquarters was sent to the Italian Front, so the battery came under the command of 84th HAG on 21 November, and finally of 11th HAG on 18 December. In January 1918, the battery became 'Army Troops' and was no longer attached to a Heavy Artillery Group. While in the Ypres Salient, 359th Siege Bty was positioned at different times at Vierstraat, Oaten Wood, Passchendaele,

Wytschaete Heuvelland () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of Dranouter, Kemmel, De Klijte, Loker, Nieuwkerke, Westouter, Wijtschate and Wulvergem. Heuvelland is a thinly populated r ...

Ridge, Verbrandenmolen,

Voormezele Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...

, Borre Yard, and Wulverghem. At Voormezele, on the evening of 3 April 1918, BSM Evans and four others were killed by one enemy artillery shell. Wulverghem was the last position for the 359th, because rail tracks could not be laid fast enough to keep the railway guns within range of the retreating enemy during the Allies' Hundred Days Offensive. It was still serving with Second Army when the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

came into force in November 1918.Farndale, ''Western Front'', Annex M. The men of 359th Siege Artillery returned home to Wales some time after 16 December 1918, and the battery was disbanded in 1919.

Notes

References

* Gen Sir

Martin Farndale General Sir Martin Baker Farndale, (6 January 1929 – 10 May 2000) was a British Army officer who reached high office in the 1980s. Military career Educated at Yorebridge Grammar School, Askrigg, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Farnd ...

, ''History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Western Front 1914–18'', Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1986, . * Gen Sir Martin Farndale, ''History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base 1914–18'', Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1988, . * J.B.M. Frederick, ''Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978'', Vol II, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984, {{ISBN, 1-85117-009-X. * Frank House, ''A Short Record of 359th Siege Battery R.G.A.'', 44 Bedford Row, London WC1: H. Mohnes-Cross, no date. Siege batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery 1917 establishments in Wales Military units and formations in Cardiff Military units and formations in Glamorgan Military units and formations established in 1917 Military units and formations disestablished in 1919 Artillery units and formations of World War I