.
Mobilisation On the outbreak of
World War I the Lancashire & Cheshire RGA's organisation was as follows: • Nos 1–4 Companies at Drill Hall, 19 Low Hill, Liverpool • Nos 5 & 6 Companies at Drill Hall, River View Road,
Seacombe,
Wallasey • Nos 7 & 8 Companies at Barrow-in-Furness The companies were manning the following guns: • Mersey Garrison: 6 x 6-inch, 2 x 4.7-inch • Barrow Garrison: 2 x 6-inch On 31 August 1914, the formation of Reserve or 2nd Line units for each existing TF unit was authorised; each was prefixed '2/' to distinguish it from the 1st Line ('1/'). Initially these were formed from men who had not volunteered for overseas service, and the recruits who were flooding in. In 1915 Henry Behrend was re-commissioned from the TF Reserve as Lt-Col to command the 2nd Line unit of the L&C RGA.
Home Defence On 29 January 1915, No 7 Company, manning the
Walney Island Battery guarding the shipyards and airship sheds at Barrow, exchanged fire with the German
U-boat U-21. By October 1914, the campaign on the
Western Front was bogging down into
Trench warfare and there was an urgent need for batteries of siege artillery to be sent to France. The WO decided that the TF coastal gunners were well enough trained to take over many of the duties in the coastal defences, releasing Regular RGA gunners for service in the field. Soon the TF RGA companies that had volunteered for overseas service were also supplying trained gunners to RGA units serving overseas. Although complete defended ports units never went overseas, they did provide
cadres to form units from New Army ('
Kitchener's Army') volunteers for front line service. The L&C RGA is known to have supplied cadres for 39th and 95th Siege Btys in 1915 and 256th in 1916 (
see below). Other new siege batteries are recorded to have been raised in 1916 at 'Mersey' (161, 170, 197, 235, 297) and 'Liverpool' (204, 279, 314), and further batteries in early 1917 at the L&C RGA's Crosby Battery (358, 393, 401) and at Mersey (437). These were formed from later conscripts, but were presumably organised by the L&C RGA since there were no Regular RGA units present at these sites. This process meant a continual drain on the manpower of the defended ports units and in April 1917, the coastal defence companies of the RGA (TF) were reorganised. By this stage of the war, the L&C RGA serving in the Mersey and Barrow Defences of
Western Command consisted of 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/5, 2/1, 2/2, 2/3, 2/4, 2/5 and 2/7 Companies. These were reduced to just three companies, given a slightly higher establishment (five officers and 100 other ranks) and renumbered, abolishing the 1st and 2nd Line distinction: • 1/1 Company became No 1 Company • 1/3 Company became No 2 Company • 1/5 Company became No 4 Company In addition, three L&C companies (1/4, 2/6 and 2/8) had been transferred to the
Thames &
Medway Defences in
Eastern Command – much closer to possible German naval attacks – and these were combined with 1/2 and 2/2 Companies of the
Essex & Suffolk RGA to form Nos 1 and 2 Companies of the
Kent RGA. The TF was
demobilised in 1919 after the
Armistice with Germany.
39th Siege Battery This battery was formed at
Sheerness on 10 June 1915 with a cadre (including Capt G.G. Mallinson) provided by the L&C RGA. 39th Siege Bty was positioned north of
Ypres under
Second Army and spent the following months in the routine of registering likely targets with the aid of spotting aircraft and carrying out short bombardments of requested targets, while suffering a steady trickle of casualties from retaliatory fire. In June 1916 it was sent south to join
Fourth Army's preparations for the 'Big Push', the
Battle of the Somme. After participating in the seven-day bombardment, the battery fired a sequence of
barrages lifting from one predetermined line to the next in support of
III Corps' assault on
La Boisselle during the
First day on the Somme. Many of the heavy howitzer shells failed to explode. The attack was a failure. The battery continued to support the attacks on
Bazentin le Petit and
Pozières, then on
Le Sars,
Martinpuich,
High Wood and
Courcelette as the offensive continued through the summer and into the autumn. Captain Mallinson of the original L&CRGA cadre left the battery on 13 August 1917 to take command of 221st Siege Bty. Having been constantly switched from one heavy artillery group (HAG) to another, the RGA batteries now became subunits of permanent heavy brigades: 39th Siege Bty joined 30th Brigade and remained with it for the rest of the war. The
German Spring Offensive was launched at the end of March 1918, but it was not until 10 April that the fighting spread to Ypres. On that day 30th Bde's howitzers were called upon to support the hard-pressed troops south of the city. By 14 April Second Army was obliged to pull back from the Passchendaele Ridge to shorten its line and the guns were dragged back. From their new positions the guns carried out harassing fire (HF) and counter-preparation and disrupt the German attacks until they were forced back to the ramparts of Ypres itself on 26 April, with 39th Siege Bty back at Busseboom. The last German attack in the sector died out on 29 April. In May, 30th Bde was pulled out of the line for rest and training in GHQ Reserve. On 19 June 39th Siege Bty was back 'in action' north of
Arras. 30th Brigade was now under
First Army and remained with it until the end of the war.
95th Siege Battery This battery was formed at
Portsmouth on 16 December 1915 by a cadre of 3 officers and 78 other ranks (the equivalent of a TF Company) drawn from the L&C RGA. It went out to the Western Front in May 1916 equipped with four
9.2-inch howitzers and immediately joined Third Army to begin the bombardment for the disastrous
Attack on the Gommecourt Salient on the first day on the Somme. It switched to Fourth Army for the continuation of the Somme offensive, and then moved to First Army. It was with 50th HAG as part of the concentration of heavy guns for the
Battle of Vimy on 9 April 1917. Later it moved to Second Army's command for the
Battle of Messines and to Fifth Army for the Ypres offensive. In October 1917 the battery transferred to 90th HAG with
Third Army. It supported
IV Corps in the continuing operations of the
Battle of Cambrai. 90th HAG became 90th Bde in early 1918, and 95th Siege Bty remained with it for the rest of the war. In August 1917 the battery had been joined by a section of gunners from 419th Siege Bty, but it was not increased to six howitzers until January 1918. 95th Siege Battery was disbanded during 1919. The battery began its training under the supervision of the Commander, Royal Artillery, Mersey Defences, before moving to
Aldershot. It was equipped with four
Vickers Mark VI
8-inch howitzers and arrived on the Western Front on 6 February 1917. When the Germans launched their Spring Offensive 40th Bde was sent from GHQ Reserve to reinforce Third Army as it halted the German advance in front of Arras at the end of March. Trench warfare then set in once more, but at the end of July 40th Bde moved to join Fourth Army as it launched the Hundred Days Offensive with the
Battle of Amiens on 8 August. The batteries supported
Canadian Corps in that battle, and as the lighter howitzers moved up in the pursuit, the gunners of 256th Siege Bty took over and operated some captured German guns. 40th Brigade then supported French troops in the area before moving north to rejoin Canadian Corps in First Army for the
Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Switch Line. The battery was involved in the Battle of the Canal du Nord and a few subsequent operations, but after 18 October was left behind as the pursuit of the beaten Germans accelerated. Major Maas commanded the battery throughout its service, and during 1918 and 1919 often deputised as acting commander of 40th Brigade. 295th Siege Battery was disbanded during 1919. ==Interwar years==