The personnel of 330th SB, 6 officers and 154 other ranks (ORs) under the command of
Captain 'Harry' Fenner, a prewar
Special Reserve officer in the Cork RGA (SR), embarked aboard SS
Viper at
Southampton on 24 May 1917 and landed at
Le Havre next day. From Le Havre the men were sent by train and motor lorry to join 69th Heavy Artillery Group (HAG) at
La Clytte in Flanders, arriving on 5 June. Here the officers and ORs were split into small detachments, each of which was attached to a battery or headquarters (HQ) for their introduction to the front line (216th, 224th, 258th and 291st SBs and HQs 1st and 69th HAGs).
Flanders coast naval gun from the decommissioned warship HMS
Swiftsure being transported in Flanders in early 1917. Photograph by
Ernest Brooks. On 12 June Capt Fenner exchanged commands with
Major A.C. Tod (a prewar
Territorial Force (TF) officer While at the Siege Camp the battery had begun receiving stores to enable it to be equipped with four long range (up to 18,750 yd/17,140 m)
6-inch guns Mk XIX, rather than the 6-inch howitzers originally planned. On 29 August the gunners and stores were withdrawn and moved by stages to arrive at
Eecke on 1 September. This was behind the
Ypres Salient, where the
Third Ypres Offensive was raging. On 6 September a party left to draw the guns and equipment from the base at
Calais while the rest of the battery began preparing positions under orders of 10th HAG. The gun platforms arrived on 12 September and the guns were brought up by caterpillar tractors the following day. By 16 September these were emplaced, the sights fitted, and ammunition had arrived, with a 15-man detachment of the
British West Indies Regiment to assist in ammunition handling. The battery began visual
registration of its first target: the gasometer at
Zonnebeke. The battery officers took turns with those of the other batteries of 10th HAG in acting as forward observation officers (FOOs) in observation posts (OPs) such as 'Rectory OP' in a captured German
pillbox on Westhoek Ridge or 'China Wall' in another pillbox. On 17 September the battery fired 177 rounds of
high explosive (HE) and
shrapnel shells on roads and railways behind enemy lines. This 'isolating fire' was part of the preparation for the next phase of the offensive, the
Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, in which the battery supported
I ANZAC Corps. From noon on 17 to noon on 18 September the battery fired 271 rounds on the same tasks, and over the next 48 hours fired another 752 rounds, also firing a few shrapnel rounds at Zonnebeke gasometer to check its registration. The attack was launched at 05.40 on 20 September, and two Australian divisions of I ANZAC Corps advanced to the north of the Menin Road and captured the first part of Polygon Wood. Although hampered by a broken platform at No 1 gun, which had to be replaced by a strengthened one from the workshops, 330th SB continued some harassing fire (HF) tasks on road junctions and railways over the following days. From 23 September this firing was increased to 120 rounds per day and targets were expanded to include two German
kite balloon ground stations. The next stage of the offensive, the
Battle of Polygon Wood was launched at 05.50 on 26 September, with I ANZAC Corps seizing the remainder of Polygon Wood and advancing to the outskirts of Zonnebeke. In addition to its assigned tasks, 330th SB responded to calls to fire on two parties of enemy infantry estimated at 100- and 500-strong: the British artillery's response to such calls effectively broke up the anticipated German counter-attacks. 330th SB fired 213 rounds in the 24 hours to 18.00 on 26 September. In preparation for
Second Army's next 'bite-and-hold' attack (the
Battle of Broodseinde) 330th SB continued its HF fire on roads, including the approaches to
Moorslede beyond the
Passchendaele Ridge, and night tasks on the roads between Mispelaere Cabaret, Droogenbroodhoek Crossroads and Keiberg Crossroads. Mispelaere Cabaret was registered with the aid of a British observation balloon. The success of the preceding attacks meant that German positions were now at extreme range even for 330th SB's 6-inch guns. Large amounts of artillery had to be moved forward, and on 2 October, while two guns registered a new target at De Knoet Farm the other two were taken out of action and moved to a new position previously occupied by another battery. While these were being emplaced the new gun position was bombed by a hostile aircraft, and 11 gunners were wounded when a bomb fell between Nos 3 and 4 guns, setting light to ammunition; the other guns apparently joined this position later. Whereas the two previous attacks had been preceded by heavy bombardments, Broodseinde was a surprise, with only the normal HF and counter-battery (CB) artillery fire until the moment of the attack (06.00 on 4 October), when the whole weight of Second Army's artillery came down. 330th SB fired its isolation programme on Moorslede, the Zonnebeke road and Zonnebeke village in support of I ANZAC Corps, whose troops captured Broodseinde Ridge. Second Army attacked again on 9 October (the
Battle of Poelcappelle). In addition to its HF tasks 330th SB responded to calls from FOOs to fire on enemy lorries, a group of houses, and a group of enemy troops massing for a counter-attack, firing 280 rounds in the day. However, the weather had now broken, rain hampering the preparations for the attack (HE shells buried in the mud and had little effect) and I ANZAC Corps' attack only succeeded in capturing part of the first objective. The attack on 12 October (the
First Battle of Passchendaele) was badly affected by mud, the infantry attacks being made in frightful conditions and achieving little. 330th SB's contribution was 228 rounds fired on the Moorslede–Droogenbroodhoek road, enemy troops massing at the approaches to Moorslede village, a German HQ and a hostile battery. By now the Germans had increased their own CB efforts, and even without direct observation were able to inflict serious damage on the close-packed British gun lines near the Menin Road by means of 'area shoots'. From June to October the battery suffered a total of 4 killed and 19 wounded, including two officers wounded when the battery HQ dugout received a shell hit on 24 October. 330th. I ANZAC Corps did not take part in the attack on 26 October (the start of the
Second Battle of Passchendaele) but 10th HAG fired in support of the neighbouring
Canadian Corps, 330th SB carrying out isolation fire with a double allocation of ammunition. The Canadians reached the outskirts of Passchendaele itself on 30 October.
Winter 1917–8 On 1 November 73rd HAG took over command of 10th HAG's batteries, still under I ANZAC Corps' Heavy Artillery. As the Canadians fought their way into Passchendaele, 330th SB continued interdicting Moorslede and the Menin Road, and fired visually on enemy balloon sites. The offensive was closed down after the attack of 10 November, but the battery continued its harassing fire until mid-December. Wyndham Lewis had gone on leave on 25 October and had not returned, having secured a position as an official
War artist with the
Canadian War Records Office. Lewis was an abrasive character and did not get on with his fellow officers in 330th SB, whom he considered his social inferiors. Nor was he as conscientious in his duties as some of them, and there seems to have been no objection from the battery when he was posted away. This attachment did not last long. On 16 April 330th SB was relieved by 499th SB, which took over one gun and the two platforms, which 330th SB replaced from the Siege Park. The two steam tractors took the two condemned guns to be replaced at
III Corps' Ordnance Railhead, while the rest of the battery went to
Vers. It then marched by way of
Soues to
Fourth Army Artillery Collecting Area at
Morival to refit, where its remaining original gun was condemned for wear. The three replacement guns joined at Morival on 21 April. The battery was billeted at
Wanel 27–30 April, then went to
Pont-Remy station to entrain its guns (including a replacement from
XIX Corps) and caterpillars for
First Army. It detrained on 1 May at
Bruay, where it came under
XIII Corps' Heavy Artillery, being attached to 44th Bde, RGA. On 9 May it relieved 481st SB at
Verquigneul, south of
Béthune, Left Section exchanging its two guns for those of 481st already in position, Right Section moving in its own guns. The battery began firing from 11 May, its targets being enemy balloon sites and batteries, trains in
Illies station, and troops seen resting in an orchard. This established the routine over the following weeks. On 1 June the battery positions were shelled and casualties suffered, and on 3 June it came under the orders of 55th Bde, RGA. Fourth Army launched the
Allies' victorious
Hundred Days Offensive at the
Battle of Amiens on 8 August, but even before then the Germans had begun withdrawing from positions in front of Fifth Army that they had gained in the spring, which had been under continuous harassing fire since then. Fifth Army began advancing on 18 August. Without fighting any major battle, it gained by 6 September, and another 5 miles by 2 October. Thereafter the pursuit of the retreating Germans accelerated, with Fifth Army liberating
Lille on 17 October. When there was a pause at a defended river line, there was time to bring up heavier guns for CB and HF tasks (though care was taken to avoid shelling villages and towns where French civilians might be sheltering). However, although the lighter RGA brigades could play some part in the advance, the difficulties of moving up the heavier guns and ammunition over cratered roads and blown bridges meant that they had little role to play in the final weeks before the
Armistice with Germany came into force on 11 November.
Post-Armistice In the interim order of battle for the postwar RGA proposed in May 1919, 330th SB was to become
105th Bty, XXVII Brigade, RGA. However, this was rescinded after the
Treaty of Versailles was signed, and 330th SB was disbanded at
Dover on 21 June 1919. ==Notes==