After mobilisation the 2nd London Division's artillery brigades moved to the country round Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Kings Langley in Hertfordshire to begin war training.

[13][16][24][25] At the end of October 1914 the 2nd London Division was chosen to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting on the Western Front and training was stepped up, despite bad weather and equipment shortages.

The attackers ran into devastating machine gun fire (there was no artillery barrage to suppress the defenders) and they found that the wire was inadequately cut and the breastworks barely touched.

A renewed bombardment was ordered from 06.15 to 07.00, but the artillery's forward observation officers (FOOs) were unable to locate the hidden German machine gun positions, which required a direct hit from an HE shell to be put out of action.

[28][29][30] Although 2nd London Division suffered few casualties at Aubers Ridge, its gunners had learned a sobering lesson about the impossibility of suppressing strong defences with inadequate guns and shells.

However, the tanks proved useless in the tangled tree stumps of High Wood, and the artillery could not bombard the German front line because No man's land was so narrow.

Casualties among the attacking infantry were extremely heavy, but they succeeded in capturing High Wood and the gun batteries began to move up in support, crossing deeply-cratered ground.

On 16 January 1917 a German attack was anticipated, and the divisional artillery, together with that of 23rd and 41st Divisions and the Corps and Army heavy guns, carried out an intense bombardment, which brought considerable enemy retaliation.

By 5 December the battery positions were becoming precarious, and A and D Btys were withdrawn to the Beaucamp Valley and brigade HQ moved back to a chalkpit east of Havrincourt Wood.

From now on the battle was constantly moving, and the British divisions began sending forward all-arms brigade groups including artillery batteries to clear strongholds and round up prisoners as they advanced.

The artillery was mostly engaged in suppressing troublesome German trench mortars (Minenwerfers) by firing short concentrated bombardments on specific sectors of the enemy line.

(It was not until 17 June 1917 that D (H) Bty was redesignated C (H)):[16][25][69][74] Entrainment of the artillery for the embarkation port of Marseilles began on 14 November and was a slow business due to lack of facilities: the drivers needed their wooden trench bridges to get their horses aboard the trains.

In early March the division began moving in bad weather to take over the line between Lake Doiran and the Vardar in preparation for the Allied Spring offensive.

The whole force moved forward with great secrecy over featureless desert under moonlight on 30/31 October, the Royal Engineers improving the track north of Wadi ed Sabe for the artillery, which was in position by 01.30.

[69][81][82] After a short rest at Huj, the division bivouacked at Gaza under heavy rain, then began a 42 miles (68 km) march through the mud to Junction Station, which it reached on 22 November.

It now entered the last stage of the Battle of Nebi Samwil, where the objectives were a tangle of hill slopes, with tracks so bad that it was impossible to bring up the guns until roads had been made for them.

Nebi Samwil had been captured by units of 75th Division, and the London battalions that relieved them came under fierce counter-attacks on 29 November; only the supporting British artillery fire allowed them to maintain their position.

C (H) Battery under Lt-Col Thatcher, together with C (H)/CCCII Bty, came up through Qalonye and supported 180th (2/5th London) Brigade's afternoon attack on the heights above Lifta; the hill was carried with great dash at the point of the bayonet.

A Pontoon bridge was built at Ghoraniyeh, and the reinforced division advanced as far as Amman, though the field artillery could not get forward in the wet conditions, even with double teams of horses.

CCCI Brigade crossed the river at Ghoraniyeh on 29 April, but while the mounted troops reached Es Salt the Londoners could not break through the Turkish positions in the foothills, and the raiding force was withdrawn on 4 May.

The fire of these guns held up the German advance for the whole day on 27 May (the Battle of the Ypres–Comines Canal), which ended with a bayonet charge by 2nd Bn Cameronians to stabilise the position for the night.

The division's 'silent' assault crossing (without artillery fire) on the night of 17/18 January 1944 using beach landing techniques was successful in establishing a firm bridgehead that was held against enemy counter-attacks with the support of the guns, but without further troops it was impossible to advance further.

After a period of rest and reorganisation, followed by internal security duties, in Palestine from July 1944 to February 1945, 5th Division was chosen for Operation Goldflake whereby troops from the Mediterranean theatre were transferred to reinforce 21st Army Group fighting in the final stages of the campaign in North West Europe.

[154][155] 52nd (6th London) Anti-Tank Regiment served in the occupation forces in Germany (British Army of the Rhine, BAOR) until RHQ and the four batteries were placed in suspended animation on 11 November 1946.

However, 62nd A/T Rgt left the division on 14 February 1943 and came under War Office Control as a mobile part of the field army, with its own Light Aid Detachment of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

[108][156][158][160][161] For the next year the regiment was engaged in a series of training exercises, at first in Scotland and later on the South Coast of England, with final rehearsal landings made at Slapton Sands and Studland Bay.

On the left at Putot-en-Bessin the Winnipegs were being overwhelmed by two Panzergrenadier battalions; at 20.30 the Canadian Scottish with some tanks made a counter-attack in which the four Achilles of K Trp advanced immediately behind the leading infantry companies.

[162][165] Of the two batteries in divisional reserve, 247 did not get ashore until the afternoon of D+1, when two of its troops were rushed up too late to take part in 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade's first action with 12th SS Panzer Division.

245 Battery had been even more delayed in landing, and after coming ashore on D+2 was transferred to the eastern sector to support 3rd British and 6th Airborne Division in the bridgehead across the River Orne, where it accounted for four German tanks.

[171] 49th (West Riding) Division was to attack towards Loenhout, and then unleash a mobile force to exploit the breakthrough and move up the main road to Wuustwezel in Operation Rebound.