[5] On 14 January 1915 the WO authorised Major Frederick Hall, MP for Dulwich, and the Mayor of Camberwell to raise a brigade of the Royal Field Artillery (RFA), to be numbered CLVI (156th).

[5][12][11][13] In July 1915 the 33rd Division began to assemble at Clipstone Camp, Nottinghamshire, but the artillery remained at Camberwell where four modern 18-pounder field guns arrived, together with the first 4.5-inch howitzer for CLXVII (H) Bde.

As the units he had raised began to move into the line, Lt-Col Hall handed over command of CLVI Bde to a permanent officer and returned to Parliament; he was later knighted (KBE) and awarded a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his efforts.

[19][20][21] The line held by the division was on the La Bassée front from 'Mad Point' to Givenchy, just north of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, scene of bitter fighting the previous autumn, but now considered a 'quiet' sector suitable for newly-arrived formations.

But Switch Trench was almost completely hidden from the artillery's Forward Observation Officers (FOOs) and the attack was a failure, the infantry returning to their starting positions.

Although there was a lull in the infantry fighting, the artillery duels continued with CB shoots, minor bombardments, and hundreds of shells were fired by day and night to 'search' the enemy's roads and dead ground.

On the morning of 18 August the 18-pounders laid a barrage on Wood Lane, and three times lifted to suggest an impending attack; the 4.5s then dropped back onto the trench in an effort to catch any enemy troops who had manned the parapet.

33rd Division launched its attack at 14.45, but 4th Battalion King's (Liverpool Regiment) on the left, despite following the barrage so closely as to have 'walked right into [it]', were stopped by German machine gun teams who had succeeded in maintaining themselves in No man's land, and it never reached Wood Lane.

This continued from 20 October to 13 November (the attack being postponed several times because of mud), with occasional bursts of fire to stop the wire being repaired, and bombardments of enemy communication trenches.

These obvious preparations drew heavy CB fire from the Germans, with thousands of gas shells arriving nightly on the battery positions, forcing the gunners to wear respirators while serving their guns.

They were pulled out of these positions for rest in mid-January 1917, then returned at the end of the month to take over yet another section from the French, this time straddling the River Somme with a 2,500 yards (2,300 m) gap filled with marshes between the two groups.

[5][55] For the forthcoming attack, 33rd DA was responsible for the zone immediately south of the River Scarpe, and after taking part in the preliminary bombardment was to advance in support of the assaulting infantry of 15th (Scottish) Division.

OPs were established in some tall factory chimneys on the east side of Arras (with telephone lines running through the town's sewers for protection from shellfire) and the first guns came into action on 30/31 March to begin wire-cutting.

Meanwhile two companies of 12th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, had continued on towards the Blue Line, but realising that they were now ahead of the resumed barrage, coolly took cover and let it pass over them, then followed close behind it.

[56][57][58] There was little fighting on 10 April, while the infantry reorganised and the artillery struggle out of the bog east of Railway Triangle back to the outskirts of Arras, then moved up towards Monchy-le-Preux along the Cambrai road, despite fearful congestion.

Here Fourth Army was intended to make an amphibious assault behind the enemy lines and advance up the coast in conjunction with the BEF's Flanders offensive (the Third Battle of Ypres).

33rd Divisional Artillery pulled back to its waggon lines on the night of 27/28 August and spent two days there, suffering serious casualties to the DAC from long-range guns, before marching south on 1 September to join Second Army.

However, casualties among the gunners from German CB fire were heavy, particularly in the minutes before Zero hour, and the guns had to be served at high intensity all day because of the slowness of the advance.

[89][90][91][92] 33rd Divisional Artillery was given a full month in a rest area near Boulogne to absorb raw reinforcements and reorganise gun detachments around the few remaining experienced gunners.

During March the Germans increased their CB and gas shelling and began trench raids, while 33rd DA practised 'counter-preparation' barrages to meet enemy attacks.

However, the guns began to be distributed in greater depth, with alternative positions prepared, in case the German attack was widened and Second Army found itself pushed back.

9th Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, of 21st Division were driven out of their support positions by gas shelling, and took up some disused trenches on Hill 44 just in front of CLVI Bde.

Their infantry achieved a partial breakthrough in front of Ridge Wood, but this was driven back by the British guns and an energetic counter-attack by 19th Bde of 33rd Division, which had just come in to the line.

[5][99][100] Some exchanges of fire continued, and Lt-Col Skinner was wounded and evacuated on 10 May, but the batteries could be withdrawn and by 18 May the whole of 33rd DA was assembled in a rest camp as part of II Corps' reserve.

In the afternoon 33rd DA's guns engaged moving targets, broke up counter-attacks, and laid on a further creeping barrage after dark as the infantry pushed forward to consolidate just short of the Hindenburg Line.

[109][110][111][112] Despite the failure at Villers-Guislain, the Battle of the St Quentin Canal was a resounding success, the Hindenburg Line was penetrated, and the enemy in front of 33rd Division began to withdraw.

The division probed forward, the artillery shelling strongpoints, and on 5 October the enemy line broke: by 16.00 CLVI Bde had completed a rough bridge over the canal and an hour later both brigades began to cross.

[119][120][121][122] By now both field brigades were seriously weakened by the flu outbreak, but after a short rest they went back into the line on 2 November for the attack through the Forêt de Mormal towards the River Sambre.

Zero hour was 05.00, and at 06.00 the heavy guns including 62nd Bde switched from CB work to firing at the ground ahead of the advancing infantry between the D-Q and Hindenburg lines and on Quéant and other localities.

Patrols found the villages of Haussy, Montrécourt and Saulzoir along the river were still strongly held, so an attack by 8th Battalion Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was quickly arranged for 18.30 that evening.