2nd Australian Siege Battery in World War I

Abstract

This collection is an overview, mostly from contemporary records, of the 55th Siege Artillery Battery of the Australian 36th Heavy Artillery Group in England and France from 1915-1919. It includes references to Sydney Hamilton Welch, the collator’s father, who served in France with the 36th Australian Heavy Artillery Group (55th Siege Battery-2nd Australian Siege Battery) and with the 36th Heavy Artillery Training Depot in England. After returning to Australia in 1919 Sydney Welch continued in the Australian Army from 1920 until he retired in 1951 after a total of 37 years service. The 36th Heavy Artillery Group was the first Australian Army fighting unit to enter France and the first to suffer battle casualties. Unlike the units that served in Gallipoli or those that served elsewhere in World War I the story of the 36th Heavy Artillery Group and its two core units, the 54th Siege Battery and the 55th Siege Battery, is almost unknown. The HAG group was made up of permanent soldiers of the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery who manned the various coastal defence sites around Australia. It is largely lost to Australians because the 36th Heavy Artillery Group and the two siege batteries were attached to the heavy artillery of the British Army and operated as part of the total British artillery effort rather than in direct support of Australian troops. When serving as distinctive Australian units, the two batteries were referred to as 1st and 2nd Siege Batteries. When serving with the British Royal Garrison Artillery units, they received British numbering as the 54th and 55th Siege Batteries. The latter identification has been used in this collection. No personal diaries of World War I Australian heavy gunners have yet been identified in publicly accessible archives. The official War Diaries of 55 Battery for 1915-1916 appear lost but those for subsequent years (1917-1919) are held at the Australian War Memorial (AWM). The 1916-1919 War Diaries of the 36th Heavy Artillery Group are also by the AWM. Both sets of War Diaries are reproduced in full, with minor adjustments to make them more comprehensible to general readers. The collection includes other material obtained through Internet searches, including photographs, maps, etc.