After completing their 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.

[10][5][19][20] 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.

[23][24][25] 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.

During the night the gun pits were shelled with gas, but on 22 May the artillery duel began to swing towards the British, with fresh batteries brought in, despite their shortage of ammunition.

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.

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

However, orders arrived on 1 November for the division to transfer to the Macedonian front (Salonika), where the four-gun establishment was still in force, and the batteries reverted to their original organisation; the BAC was also reformed.

[5][20][48][53] 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.

[48][59] From Alexandria, 60th (2/2nd L) Division moved to the Suez Canal to join the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), where its units were reorganised (the BACs were absorbed into the DAC once more) and underwent training before crossing Sinai in early July 1917.

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

[48][62][63] 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.

The surprise attack began on 8 December without artillery support; once progress had been made the batteries were to move up and come under command of the brigade groups.

C (H) Battery, together with C (H)/CCCI 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.

Without artillery support the division failed to capture the Amman Citadel, and with its communications back to the Jordan threatened, the raiding force withdrew on 30–31 March.

CCCII Brigade came up in support, 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 division then went back to Alexandria where demobilisation began and units were gradually reduced to cadres, though still with some responsibility for internal security and seizing illegal arms.

By the time it arrived, the threats to the Persian oilfields had diminished with the British victory at El Alamein and the lack of German progress at the Battle of Stalingrad.

[88][96][97] This involved a move from Kirkuk via Palestine and Egypt to join X Corps of Eighth Army in Tunisia, covering approximately 3,200 miles (5,100 km) between 19 March and 19 April 1943.

[88][100] Over the next few days the division fought its way forward to extend the beachhead against strong German counter-attacks, and the divisional artillery was heavily engaged in defensive fire (DF) tasks.

[88][103] This brought the division to the Bernhardt Line, where 64th Fd Rgt lent support to the attack of 201st Guards Brigade up 'Bare Arse Ridge' on 6 November during the Battle of Monte Camino.

[88][111] On the night of 27/28 September 56th (L) Division attacked Savignano sul Rubicone on the Fiumicino river, supported by a 90-minute barrage fired by the heavily reinforced divisional artillery.

However, from December 1941, 47th (L) Division was no longer considered part of the field force and was placed on a lower establishment, though it remained in the static defences of the Hampshire and Dorset District.

[89][91] When 21st Army Group was formed in July 1943 to prepare for the Allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord), 117th Fd Rgt was assigned to I Corps as a self-propelled field artillery regiment, but it does not seem to have served in this role and remained with 47th (L) Division.

[135][136] In early 1945 Operation Goldflake began to transfer selected British and Canadian forces from the Italian Front to reinforce 21st Army Group for its final offensive into Germany.