It consisted of volunteers from the Union Defence Force (UDF) and had the status of Imperial troops under British command, rather than independent South African units.

When it sailed from Cape Town on 28 August 1915 it was organised into five batteries:[1][2] The regiment landed at Plymouth on 15 September and went to Cooden Camp, Bexhill-on-Sea, for general training.

[a] Under War Office Instruction No 276 of 20 October 1915, they were to be equipped with tractor-drawn 6-inch howitzers and organised as follows:[2][4][5][6] (The brigades and batteries soon dropped their provincial subtitles and became simply 'South African'.)

[2][5][6][9][b] When the SAHA units arrived on the Western Front the policy within the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was to move batteries frequently between brigades, which were designated Heavy Artillery Groups (HAGs).

They returned in time for the First day on the Somme, when 73rd and 74th (SA) Btys supported the diversionary Attack on the Gommecourt Salient as part of 46th HAG.

74th (SA) Siege Bty supported the advance of the 1st South African Brigade at the start of the Arras Offensive, and then moved to Ypres.

At the end of August, 71st also went north to join the Ypres offensive, suffering badly from counter-battery (CB) fire in the later stages of the fighting.

[9] When the Germans launched their Spring Offensive in March 1918, 50th (SA) Bde was sent south to reinforce Third Army fighting round Arras.

[28] The South African Heavy Artillery Memorial, including 6-inch howitzers brought back from the Western Front, stands in Pretoria, another at the Johannesburg Zoo and a 3rd Gun in Port Elizabeth.