South African Heavy Artillery

By Carl Hoehler: For further information please contact Carl

The History

HM King William IV granted the Royal Artillery the honour “Ubique Quo Fas et Gloria ducunt” on 10 July 1832. The possibly missing punctuation resulted in confusion, and in 1833 HM King William IV promulgated a second order confirming the honour as “Ubique” and “Quo Fas et Gloria ducunt” as a substitute for all past and future battle honours (the whole badge bearing these as the Battle Honour.

“Ubique” can mean “wherever”, ‘wheresoever”, “in any place whatever”, “anywhere”, or “everywhere” but it was indisputably selected for the meaning “everywhere”.

“Quo Fas et Gloria ducunt” is best translated as “Whither (to what place) right and Honour (glory) lead”. The older and more formal “Whither” is in the spirit of the original proclamation as does the use of “honour” for “Gloria”.

“Ubique” alone is not the full Honour which should be depicted in a badge together with “Quo Fas et Gloria ducunt” in the same way that the "Great Globe" on the Royal Marines badge and crest was chosen by HM King George IV in 1827 in place of the One Hundred and Nine Battle Honours “honourably earned” as a symbol of the Marines' successes in every quarter of the world and all other honours to be gained.

The South African Heavy Artillery (and the South African Field Artillery) received Battle Honours in conflict with the 1832 and 1833 decrees that

- Artillery regiments did not need Colours as their rallying point was the right-hand gun and King William IV had designated the guns as the "Colours", to be accorded much the same honour. The Royal Artillery has never carried Colours since to do so would be more of a battlefield hindrance than help

- That as the Royal Artillery was present in all battles and deserved most of the honours awarded to cavalry and infantry regiments, King William IV had awarded "Ubique" and “Quo fas et gloria ducunt”

- The original battle honour "Waterloo" would be carried in Army Lists for some time thereafter; troops and batteries had also been awarded separate quasi-battle honours, but these were considered defunct in 1833 and replaced in 1925 by a battery "honour title" system.

Why the Union Defence Force was eligible for British Battle Honours

It was only in 1926 that the Balfour Declaration recognized that the United Kingdom and the Dominions
"...are autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth."
With the Statute of Westminster in December 1931 the British Parliament renounced any legislative authority over dominion affairs except as specifically provided in dominion law (Wikipedia). It was only in the 1970s that the Government of South Africa amended the Defence Force Act to ‘force’ troops to serve outside South Africa

Firstly the South Africa fought the Great War as a Dominion and secondly the South African Heavy Artillery was rated as siege artillery within the Royal Garrison Artillery

The South African Heavy Artillery
The (old) Corps of South African Heavy Artillery was formed at Cape Town for service in German South-West Africa under Lt.-Col. J. M. Rose with a variety of animal drawn naval guns and howitzers. By June 1915 this Corps consisted of a Headquarters and three brigades. The (old) Corps was demobilized on 31st July 1915 and an Imperial Service unit - the (new) South African Heavy Artillery (Corps) – was raised for service in Europe. In March 1916 the South African Heavy Artillery was rated as siege artillery in the Royal Garrison Artillery and issued with FWD tractors and 6-in 26 cwt howitzers. The original batteries were renumbered as the 71st, 72nd and 75th (SA) Siege Batteries (44th Brigade RGA) and as the 73rd and 74th (SA) Siege Batteries (and in April 1916 the 125th (SA) Siege Battery) (50th Brigade RGA). These 4-gun batteries were later upgraded to 6-gun batteries by incorporating sections from the 496th (SA), 497th (SA) (March 1918) and 542nd (SA) Siege Batteries (May 1918).

The South African Heavy Artillery in France and Flanders.
The first five batteries arrived on the Western Front during April 1916 (125th July 1916) joining numerous independent Heavy Artillery Groups (HAGs) that were under Corps’ control. In December 1917 the first six siege batteries formed the 44th Heavy Artillery Group (71st, 73rd and 125th) and the 50th Heavy Artillery Group (72nd, 74th and 75th) and in January 1918 these Groups were renamed as the 44th and 50th (S.A.) Brigades each of which had one additional Royal Garrison Artillery battery.

As part of these HAGs the six batteries supported operations on The Somme in 1916 and early 1917. In June 1916 71st and 72nd supported the Canadians at Mount Sorrel near Ypres. During 1917 the operations were near Arras, Ypres and Cambrai. The British Expeditionary Force recovered from the shock of the german offensives in the Spring of 1918 and in August 1918 began the great offensive that won the war.

References

1 National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS) – National Archives Repository (public records of central government since 1910) – Governor-General Series (Short descriptions)

a) V 1528 R 49/896 YEAR 1922 Report of a committee on the selection of BATTLE HONOURS to be borne on the colours of regiments and corps.
b) V 1528 R 49/910 YEAR 1922 Copies of Army Order No. 338 of 1922 and Army Council Instruction No. 458 of 1922 relating to the award of BATTLE HONOURS.
c) V 1528 R 49/938 YEAR 1923 Selection of BATTLE HONOURS by regiment and corps from the report of the Battles Nomenclature Committee: Army Order No. 470 OF 1922 and Army Council Instruction No. 458 of 1922.
d) V 1529 R 49/982 YEAR 1924 List of decisions which have been reached by the Army Council concerning the award of BATTLE HONOURS to regiments and corps.
e) V 1530 R 49/1028 YEAR 1925 The list of BATTLE HONOURS awarded for the Great War.
f) V 1530 R 49/1038 YEAR 1925 BATTLE HONOURS claimed by units of military forces of Union of South Africa with schedule request for His Majesty’s approval.
g) V 1531 R 49/1055A YEAR 1926 The award of BATTLE HONOURS to units of Union of South Africa defence forces as approved by His Majesty.
h) V 1532 R 49/1086 YEAR 1927 Further claims by units of military forces of Union of South Africa.

2 South African National Defence Force Documentation Centre

a) World War 1 – WW1 Diverse Box 18

3 Secondary Sources

a) Colours And Honours In South Africa 1783 – 1948. Dr H H Curson
b) Battle Honours Of The British And Commonwealth Armies. Major Anthony H R Baker
c) Battle Honours of the British Empire and Commonwealth Land Forces 1662 – 1991. Alexander Rodger

4 Background / General History

a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration%2C_1926

The information on this page is as sent by the contributor and therefore may differ slightly from that on the main site.