History of the Royal Artillery from the Indian Mutiny to the Great War

In the first two volumes of this history nothing was said of active service, although the Army was engaged in numerous wars in which the artillery played its part. The reason for this omission was that none of these campaigns, with the possible exception of S Africa, affected its development to a degree at all comparable with the influence exerted by the European wars of the period, or by the advance of science, as described in Volume II. Thus in the planning stage of this history, it was decided to treat the campaigns separately and this volume is the result. It is primarily concerned with those campaigns which have marked some real epoch in the life of the Regiment, or exerted some distinct influence on its development. During the period covered the artillerymen faced all sorts of weapons: slings, arrows, jezails, muskets, match-locks and spears but rarely did they have to face bursting shell. The wars in which the enemy also had recourse to artillery were to be studied with care, and in considering these the action of the artillery will be described in detail, with such comments that are called for to bring out the lessons to be learned. The object has been to concentrate on the role of the artillery without any discussions of political or or military factors that may have led to the outbreak of hostilities. The wars covered are shown by theatres: India, China, New Zealand and Canada, North & East Africa, West and South Africa and the South African War.. with the latter are a number of appendices giving such details as Units engaged and total strength; guns used; ammunition expended; distribution of units, 1901; command and staff appointments and medals and clasps.