30th (Howitzer) Brigade Royal Field Artillery

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XXX (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade [lower-alpha 1] of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

Royal Field Artillery unit of the British Army from 1899 to 1924

The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, and was re-amalgamated back into the Regiment proper, along with the Royal Garrison Artillery, in 1924. The Royal Field Artillery was the largest arm of the artillery. It was responsible for the medium calibre guns and howitzers deployed close to the front line and was reasonably mobile. It was organised into brigades, attached to divisions or higher formations.

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It was originally formed with 128th, 129th and 130th (Howitzer) Batteries, each equipped with 4.5" howitzers, and attached to 3rd Infantry Division. In August 1914, it mobilised and was sent to the Continent with the British Expeditionary Force, where it saw service with 3rd Division until broken up.

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was the British Army sent to the Western Front during the First World War. Planning for a British Expeditionary Force began with the Haldane reforms of the British Army carried out by the Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane following the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

In May 1916, the artillery brigades of infantry divisions were reorganised; the pure howitzer brigades were disbanded, and their batteries attached individually to field brigades, in order to produce mixed brigades of three field batteries and one howitzer battery. Accordingly, the brigade was broken up and the batteries dispersed; 128th to 29th Brigade, 129th to 42nd Brigade, and 130th to 40th Brigade.

XXIX Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XLII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XL Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

Notes

  1. ↑ The basic organic unit of the Royal Artillery was, and is, the Battery. [1] When grouped together they formed brigades, in the same way that infantry battalions or cavalry regiments were grouped together in brigades. At the outbreak of World War I, a field artillery brigade of headquarters (4 officers, 37 other ranks), three batteries (5 and 193 each), and a brigade ammunition column (4 and 154) [2] had a total strength just under 800 so was broadly comparable to an infantry battalion (just over 1,000) or a cavalry regiment (about 550). Like an infantry battalion, an artillery brigade was usually commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel. Artillery brigades were redesignated as regiments in 1938.

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XXVIII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XXVI Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XXVII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XLIII (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XLIV (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War. It joined the BEF in August 1914 before being broken up in May 1916. It was reformed as XLIV Brigade, Royal Field Artillery in early 1917, serving in Palestine and the Western Front before being disbanded after the end of the war.

XXXVII (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XII (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

I Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XXII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XXXIX Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

II Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XXIV Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XXXIV Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XXXII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

XXXV Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery which served in the First World War.

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References

  1. ↑ "The Royal Artillery". Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  2. ↑ Baker, Chris. "What was an artillery brigade?". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
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