Who Do You Think You Are Magazine Forum

[Tuppy13]

Hi.

I have been searching for many years to find where 198 Heavy Battery R G A were during WW 1.
I have been told that 198 was disbanded and the men sent to other Battalions.

I have a photograph taken outside what looks like the front door of a large house.
There are 18 men in this photo - four seated and 14 standing and in front of them is a hand written notice stating ' All that was left of 198 Heavy Battery R G A '.
My Grandfather is in this photo and I would so like to know exactly where he served during the War.
He would not speak about his Service and all I know is that he was on the Somme.

I would like to obtain as much information as possible about his Service and 198 Heavy Battery.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Judy.

[phsvm]

Your best bet is to post on the Great War Forum - if they can't help you no one can!

https://www.greatwarforum.org/

[AdrianB38]

Your problem is that while infantry battalions were pretty constant in their identity during WW1, artillery batteries weren't. RFA batteries are bad enough but RGA batteries are worse. Both lots could be split and have guns sent to other batteries to bring them up to strength. But RGA batteries also swapped massively between their superior units which weren't even constant in their name. At one time, for instance, they might be allocated to Heavy Artillery Groups then it was Heavy Artillery Brigades. And I'm not even sure that they were all allocated to the same type of thing at the same time.

So far as I know, the only way to answer your question, if the guys in the Great War Forum can't, is to get to the National Archives at Kew and do a lot of digging. The first thing to look for would be the war diary of 198 Heavy Battery. Warning - 198 Siege Battery is a totally different unit. Do not confuse them. However, my suspicion is that not all battery level diaries survive. In that case, you need to look for the diary of the next level above - the whatever HAG, perhaps? Of course, the problem is that you don't know which HAG to look for, or even if it is a HAG. Whether there are alternative sources of those allocations, I've no idea. Worst case scenario is that you need to look through every single war diary to find movements out and in. Which is presumably why you haven't been able to progress this - no-one has done that yet.

And, of course, knowing what happened to the guns of that battery, doesn't mean that you know what happened to your GF. I am assuming, by the way, that you have looked for his papers but they don't survive.

Sorry but I think it's important that you understand the issues.

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