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Rating: 
Summary: A Nice Summary
Review: British graduate student Dale Clarke has produced a nice summary of British artillery in the First World War in Osprey's New Vanguard #94; one can only hope that Osprey will follow-up with other volumes on French and German artillery of that period. In accordance with the New Vanguard format, Clarke's 48-page summary focuses on the guns themselves, rather than doctrine, tactics or artillery organization. Clarke uses the introductory section to outline the structure of British artillery - Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) and Royal Field Artillery (RFA) being designed for mobile warfare and Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) for static warfare. Clarke also outlines the development of "quick firing" artillery in the 1890s and the development of Territorial Forces after the Boer War. Artillery tactics were revolutionized with the introduction of "indirect fire" in 1906, but it took years before this was fully worked out. The British adoption of the modern 13-pounder and 18-pounder guns in 1904-1908 provided the field army with adequate medium guns at the start of the First World War, backed up by the 4.5" howitzer. Clarke also details the organization of divisional artillery down to battery level. One interesting defect of British artillery was that each battery commander could only call on fire from his own battery, which meant that massing fires was cumbersome. One of the most interesting aspects of this volume is Clarke's description of how in 1900 the British artillery, desperate to catch up to continental armies that were developing quick-firing artillery, decided to purchase a complete corps-set of modern 15-pounder guns from a German firm. The British army purchased enough guns, wagons, limbers and ammunition to equip the "Aldershot Corps" with German-supplied artillery, thereby saving 5-10 years of development. This large-scale purchase of modern military technology from a likely opponent is virtually unique in modern warfare. The bulk of this volume consists of a brief description of each of the British field pieces used in the First World War, ranging from obsolete 15-pounders to mountain guns. Clarke's decision to include some obsolete pieces, such as the handful of 2.95" mountain guns which "were acquired to defend coaling stations" seems wasteful of the limited space available. Some of the space wasted describing obsolete training weapons might have been better spent describing the larger 6-inch and 8-inch howitzers that dominated the Western Front from 1916 onward. Clarke does include some interesting observations, such as the adoption of the 4.7-inch field gun after the Boer War; although the weapon was inefficient and a more capable successor was in development, the British press extolled this inefficient weapon and pliable politicians approved massive purchases of the gun for the Territorials. There is a lesson in the 4.7-inch field gun about how some weapons acquire a life of their own, irrespective of battlefield performance. Color plates include: the BLC 15-pounder gun, a QF 15-pounder field gun; a 13-pounder gun; a QF 4.5-inch howitzer; a detailed plate of an 18-pounder field gun; horse teams for various guns; a 60-pounder and 4.7-inch gun; and three different types of mountain guns. Clarke usually provides the number of weapons produced for each type, as well as rounds fired. Technically, the British had decent medium artillery at the start of the war, but lacked the heavier guns needed for trench warfare until 1916-1917.
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