British Ammunition Allocation Codes to Artillery Batteries Pre Battle of the Somme

[Depotman]

QUERY – WHAT DO THE SHELL TYPES REFER TO?​

London Territorial Division Field Artillery Brigades – This table is based on the ammunition allocations for 282 FA Brigade in the build-up to 1 July 1916 and the Battle of the Somme.




The shell types ‘A’, AX’, ‘B’ and 'BX’ and Pdr’ have been simply lifted from Brigade War Diaries (TNA: WO 95/2941/2: 282nd Brigade RFA, War Diary.)

Those designated with an ‘A” are related to 18-pdrs and the designated ‘B’ and ‘Pdr’ to 4.5-inch howitzers.

It is however unknown what these codes, ‘A’, AX’, ‘B’, 'BX’ and ‘Pdr’ actually mean in relation to shell types, and any information as to what these codes stand for would be much appreciated.

Depotman

 

[Depotman]

Sorry, table now attached!

 

[Snufkin]

A is 18-pr Shrapnel, AX is 18-pr HE.

B is 4.5-inch Shrapnel, BX is 4.5-inch HE.

I do not know what Pdr is in the context of 4.5-inch ammunition issue, particularly given only three rounds were fired or issued on Day 2. (Code P is 6-inch howitzer HE, but it is meaningless if the Pdr definitely refers to 4.5-inch.) Can you post an image of the War Diary page that has the Pdr?

Pdr might indicate black powder fill but I have never seen that as a decode.

 

[Depotman]

A is 18-pr Shrapnel, AX is 18-pr HE.

B is 4.5-inch Shrapnel, BX is 4.5-inch HE.

I do not know what Pdr is in the context of 4.5-inch ammunition issue, particularly given only three rounds were fired or issued on Day 2. (Code P is 6-inch howitzer HE, but it is meaningless if the Pdr definitely refers to 4.5-inch.) Can you post an image of the War Diary page that has the Pdr?

Pdr might indicate black powder fill but I have never seen that as a decode.

Many thanks - I've also had other people stating that 'A' is Shrapnel and 'AX' is HE, but no-one so far has come up with a solution for 'Pdr' linked to 4.5-inch ammunition. I wonder what 'Pdr' is an abbreviation for? The only two I can think of are 'Powder' or 'Pounder' - any other ideas?

What sources do the 'A' and 'AX' abbreviations come from?

Depotman

 

[Snufkin]

Well the WD explicitly mentions "powder", so the presumption is that sometimes a few black powder filled shell were used for registration before embarking on Fire For Effect. One can only guess as to why they were needed - perhaps the smoke mixtures in the 4.5" HE were ineffective or defective.

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

I just wonder whether other artillery units used the same codes and if so perhaps some gave a decode as to the meanings. I do not know why they would be coded. I would be interested to know, as one of my great uncles was in 86 Bde RFA, at least for part of the war his unit used 4.5 Inch Howitzers. He was a soldier pre-war and was recalled to service at the start of WW1. His wife received a telegram on Armistice Day that notified her of his death, of influenza, on 5th November 1918.

 

[Depotman]

Well the WD explicitly mentions "powder", so the presumption is that sometimes a few black powder filled shell were used for registration before embarking on Fire For Effect. One can only guess as to why they were needed - perhaps the smoke mixtures in the 4.5" HE were ineffective or defective.

Thank-you very much for the scanned item - is this from a 'War Diary'? A thought, would 'powder' have meant a Lyddite (Picric acid) filled shell? Showing my lack of specific knowledge of early explosives!

 

[Snufkin]

The scanned part-page is from the 282 Brigade WD you quoted in your opening post.

"Powder" would not refer to lyddite, which was cast trinitrophenol (TNP or picric acid), and poured into the shell to form a solid lump. Picric powder (a mixture of crystalline TNP and potassium nitrate) was used for some time as the exploder for lyddite, but was not used as shell HE filling.

"Powder" might refer to use of a practice common shell. Filling was 10oz smoke composition around a 3 3/4oz black powder bursting charge, and fuzed No.82 T&P. Firing a practice shell at the enemy does seem unlikely, but it would at least provide a puff of smoke which might be helpful in initial registration.

 

[Snufkin]

A correction to previous - picric powder was a mixture of ammonium picrate (not TNP) and potassium nitrate.

As for 4.5-inch practice common shell, they were apparently available in France (not just kept for training in the UK), so a possible candidate for "Powder" shell.