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Cranston Fine Arts  Military Art and Artists 19th Century Military History 19th Century Regiments  Royal Field Artillery |
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Saving the Guns at Le Cateau by Terence Cuneo. Captain Reynold and drivers Luke and Drain saving the guns of 37th Battery from advancing German Infantry, all three were awarded the Victoria Cross. |
The Big Push - Passchendaele 1917 by Anthony Saunders. Swamped by mud amidst a desolate, shattered landscape, men and horses of the Royal Field Artillery drag their 18 pounder field-gun towards a new position on 15 November 1917, during the final days of the Battle of Passchendaele. Whilst the army continues its grim fight on the ground, overhead Sopwith Camels from 45 Squadron Royal Flying Corps tangle in an equally deadly duel with German Albatros fighters of Jasta 6. Flying the lead Sopwith Camel is the RFC Ace, 2nd Lt Kenneth Montgomery who scored the last of his 12 victories in this dogfight when he shot down the German Ace Leutnant Hans Ritter von Adam, the Commanding Officer of Jasta 6 with an impressive 21 victories to his name. To commemorate one of the most significant anniversaries in history, Anthony Saunders has created a powerful painting portraying the bleak sacrifice made by so many heroic young men. The names of the bitter battles they endured, however, still live on a hundred years later - Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Arras, Loos - and one of the most savage - Passchendaele. |
Captain Douglas Reynolds And Drivers Drain And Luke Winning The V.C. For Saving A Gun At Le Cateau. On August 26th 1914, the Royal Field Artillery did some magnificent rearguard work and saved the infantry from destruction. The guns were fought until the advancing German masses were right on the gunners and the guns had then to be abandoned. Captain Reynolds, of the 37th Battery, however, meant to save his guns if it were humanly possible, and he brought up two teams in the hope of bringing at least two guns away. The men of one team were shot down, but Captain Reynolds and Drivers Drain, Gobley and Luke limbered up one gun and started off. Gobley, driving the centre pair, was hit almost at once, and then Captain Reynolds showed great resource by riding alongside the unguided pair and keeping them in hand. |
Driver G. Smith Saving Panic Stricken Horses From A Burning Farm. During the terrible German bombardment of Ypres and neighbourhood in April and May, it was quite impossible to find safe quarters even for hospital installations. The artillery and transport horses were continually under fire and many crises occurred. On one occasion a barn in which several horses were stalled was set on fire by a shell. The plight of the terrified animals can well be imagined, but driver G. smith, of the 61st Battery R.F.A., proved himself a man for the moment, and, rushing into the burning building, drew them out into safety, for which action he received the D.C.M. |
Bombardier Dubois Repairing Telephone Wires In Gallipoli. Mending telephone wires is an important but often a very dangerous operation. On 6th August 1915, Bombardier O. C. Dubois, 460th (Howitzer) Battery, R.F.A., spent four hours at Cape Helles, going now here, now there to repair the wires wherever they were broken. He was under exceptionally heavy shellfire the whole time. For doing this work well and effectively and for the act illustrated on the following page he was awarded the D.C.M. |
Bombardier Cooper Digging Out Men Buried In A Gun Pit. During the heavy fighting near Ploegteert, in October 1914, a battery of the R.F.A. (Royal Field Artillery) behind the crest of a hill had the misfortune to be discovered by German artillery observers and subjected to a systematic shelling. In such circumstances the gunners had no option but to retire to their gun pits, rely on luck and hope for happier times. The occupants of one gun pit, however, were out of luck. A large shell scored all but a direct hit and buried them alive. Their plight was critical, when a young bombardier, Ernest George Cooper, sprang forward with a small party to dig them out. Two were quickly saved, but the third had six feet of earth above him and he was nearly dead before his rescue was affected. During this time the German howitzers had not ceased to devote their energies to the destruction of this battery. |
Second Lieutenant Robinson Conveying A Field Gun Across The YSER Canal Under Fire. During the operations south of Pilkem, between the 6th and 8th of July 1915, the British trenches were within sixty yards of a German sap, which had to be destroyed, with about thirty yards of thick wire entanglements, to clear the way for an infantry attack. With great coolness and enterprise. Second-Lieutenant Parr Aldous Robinson, of the 135th Battery Royal Field Artillery, conveyed under fire from the enemys guns an eighteen-pounder field gun across the Yser Canal on a raft. On being landed, it was removed to the British fire trenches, and in destroying the sap and entanglements, the gun was of great use in the way for a successful infantry attack. The conspicuous services of Second-Lieutenant Robinson were rewarded with the D.S.O. |
Trumpeter Waldon Bringing a Horse to the Firing Stations at Le Cateau Under Fire. During General Smith-Dorriens famous rearguard action at Le Cateau on August 26th 1914, Trumpeter S. F. G. Waldron, of the 37th Battery Royal Field Artillery, acted as communicating file between the captain commanding the artillery and the quartermaster-sergeant in charge of the wagon-teams and gun-limbers, two thousand yards behind the firing stations. Waldron courageously waited with a spare horse though shrapnel and high explosive shells were bursting all round him. Seeing the danger of his position, the officer at length ordered him to the rear. Though wounded, Waldron returned later in the day leading a horse, which was required at the front. His conspicuous coolness and courage were rewarded with the D.C.M. |
Gunner Pond And Three Comrades Rescuing Horses From A Lane Swept By Shell-Fire. When on September 15th 1914, a hurricane of German shells burst over the British guns, stationed at a stone quarry on a hill near Vendresse, no cover could be found except by going to the bottom of the hill down a narrow lane. But a deadly fire swept the lane, and about forty horses, which were there, were in a terrible plight. Several of the men in charge of them had been killed. And the survivors were making desperate efforts to get the terrified animals away. On seeing their predicament, Gunner George Leonard Pond, of the 115th Battery Royal Field Artillery, and three others, bravely ran to the assistance of their comrades. Directed by an officer, who had gallantly remained on duty, though badly wounded they managed to get the horses under cover. The gallant conduct of Gunner-now Corporal-Pond all through the action was deservedly rewarded with the D.C.M. |
Gunner Pond And His Fellow Artillerymen Wheeling Guns To Cover Under Heavy Fire. Having removed the horses, Gunner Pond at once reported himself to one of the surviving officers, by whom he was told that all except two of his comrades had reached cover at the foot of the hill. He was then ordered to go back and tell a sergeant to collect men in order to withdraw the guns and wagons by hand. The right and left sections consisting of four guns and four ammunition wagons, were removed without anyone being hit, though every few seconds the men had to leave them and dash to cover to avoid bursting shells. Some of the wheels of the gun carriages and wagons of the centre section were damaged and they did not reach cover till the evening. |
Driver Brown Returning With wounded on horseback From The Firing Line. During an engagement in which guns had been withdrawn from action, Driver F. S. Brown, of the 80th battery Royal Field Artillery, gallantly took two horses up to the front, and waited there, under heavy fire, for the wounded, which were being dressed. As soon as they were ready, he brought them, seated on the horses, to safety. For his gallant conduct he was rewarded with the D.C.M. |
Bombardier Horlock laying his gun after having been twice wounded. On September 15th 1914, during the battle of the Aisne, Bombardier Ernest George Harlock, of the 113th Battery, Royal field Artillery, was twice wounded while his battery was in action under heavy shellfire near Vendresse. He perished, however, on each occasion in returning to lay his gun after his wound had been dressed. For his conspicuous gallantry, Bombardier, now Sergeant Horlock, was awarded the V.C. |
Sergeant Bostock attending to the wounded of a convoy of which he was in charge under heavy fire. While proceeding along a road a convoy of fourteen wagons was heavily shelled, some men being wounded and several horses killed and badly injured. Sergeant G Bostock, of the 1/2nd North Midland Brigade Ammunition Column, royal Field Artillery was in charge of the convoy, and with conspicuous coolness he at once attended to the wounded and extricated the injured horses Later he brought the convoy back in good order, and it was due to his fine example that a panic was prevented. He was awarded the D.C.M. |
Acting Sergeant Raynes putting his smoke helmet on Sergeant Ayres following the explosion of a gas shell. On October 11th 1915, Acting Sergeant John Crawshaw Raynes, of A Battery, the 7th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, went out under an intense fire at Fosse 7 de Bethune to assist Sergeant Ayres, who had been wounded. Having bandaged him, Sergeant Raynes returned to his gun, but shortly afterwards Cease fire was ordered. He thereupon went out with two gunners and carried Sergeant Ayres into a dugout. A gas shell burst at the mouth of the dugout, and Sergeant Raynes ran across the open for his smoke helmet, put it on Sergeant Ayres, and then, though he badly gassed, staggered back to serve his gun. He was awarded the V.C. for most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. |
Sergeant Ayres extricating a sub section of field artillery from a position in which it was suffering severe losses. On March 3rd 1915, during the operations on the Persian Gulf, an attempt was made by the British to reconnoitre the Turkish position west of Aswaz, on the Karun River. The enemy was found to be present in overwhelming numbers, a force of 12,000 men being opposed to the small British force of 1,000. The British undertook a retirement, but it was not carried out without heavy fighting. When the sub section of artillery, to which Sergeant G Ayres, of the 82nd Battery, royal Field Artillery, belonged was suffering casualties in men and horses he succeeded in extricating them under very difficult circumstances on several occasions. He was awarded the D.C.M. for conspicuous ability and gallantry. |
Major Warren removing cartridges from a blazing ammunition wagon at great ersonal risk. When one of his battery wagons had been set on fire by a shell near Croix Barbie, on September 16th 1915, and when both the wagon body and a cartridge were blazing, Major Robinson Warren, of the 73rd Battery, Royal field Artillery, removed the remainder of the ammunition at great personal risk. The enemy at the time were directing a heavy and accurate fire on the battery, and for his conspicuous gallantry Major Warren was awarded the D.S.O. |
Corporal F. W. Accelton Steadies The Horses To His Gun Carriage, And Brings The Gun Into Action. When a heavy shell blew from the saddle and wounded his horse, Corporal F. W. Accleton, of the Royal Field Artillery, held on to his horse, assisted the team, and brought the gun into action. For his conspicuous gallantry he was awarded the D.C.M. |
Corporal C. T. Jones And Two Men Driving The Enemy Of Their Trench By The Fire Of A Mortar. On December 20th 1914, the enemy entered the trench in which Corporal C. T. Jones, of the 28th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, was posted but he succeeded in driving them out by a well-directed fire from a trench mortar. Only two men assisted Corporal Jones, who was awarded the D.C.M. for his conspicuous gallantry,, and the enemy were throwing bombs. |
Royal Field Artillery by Richard Caton Woodville. (P) No text for this item |
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