The Pembroke Royal Garrison Artillery was a part-time unit of the British Army that defended the coast of West Wales during both world wars. Although it never saw action in its coastal defence role, it manned a number of siege batteries of heavy howitzers for service on the Western Front and Italian Front in World War I.
Volunteer precursors
The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle and Artillery Volunteer Corps (RVCs and AVCs) composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need. Two AVCs were formed in Pembrokeshire in West Wales: 1st (Tenby) Pembrokeshire AVC, formed 6 January 1860, attached to 1st Administrative Battalion, Pembrokeshire RVCs, from September 1862; disbanded December 1870 2nd (Pembroke Dock) Pembrokeshire AVC formed 6 May 1864 from 2nd (Pembroke Dock) Pembrokeshire RVC with 2 Btys, attached to 1st Pembrokeshire RVC; redesignated 1st Pembrokeshire AVC ca July 1880; attached to the Pembroke Artillery Militia from 1881
The 1st Pembrokeshire formed part of the Welsh Division, Royal Artillery, from 1882, but was disbanded by November 1885, and there were no other Volunteer artillery units in Pembrokeshire until 1910.
Territorial Force
In 1910, the Glamorgan and Pembroke Royal Garrison Artillery, which had been reorganised in the new Territorial Force (TF) two years earlier, was broken up into separate Glamorganshire and Pembrokeshire units. The resulting Pembroke Royal Garrison Artillery had the following organisation: Headquarters at the Drill Hall, Charles Street, Milford Haven No 1 Company at Milford Haven No 2 Company at Wogan Terrace, Saundersfoot, with a drill station at Tenby No 3 Company at Heol Emrys, Fishguard
It was designated as a Defended Ports unit in Western Coast Defences, which was based at Pembroke Dock and included the Regulars of Nos 44 and 57 Companies, Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). Together, these units were responsible for manning the following guns defending the anchorage at Milford Haven: 4 x 9.2-inch 6 x 6-inch 8 x 12-pounder Quick-Firer
World War I
Mobilisation
The Pembroke RGA mobilised in August 1914 in Western Coast Defences under the command of Major T.W. Price of No 1 Company. On the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service and on 15 August 1914, the War Office (WO) issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate brigades, companies and batteries were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.
By October 1914, the campaign on the Western Front was bogging down into Trench warfare and there was an urgent need for batteries of Siege artillery to be sent to France. The WO decided that the TF coastal gunners were well enough trained to take over many of the duties in the coastal defences, releasing Regular RGA gunners for service in the field, and 1st line RGA companies that had volunteered for overseas service had been authorised to increase their strength by 50 per cent.
Although complete defended ports units never went overseas, they did supply trained gunners to RGA units serving overseas. They also provided cadres to form complete new units for front line service, thus the siege batteries formed in late 1915–early 1916 were a mixture of Regular and TF gunners from the RGA coast establishments with new recruits. Three of the siege batteries formed at Pembroke Dock in 1915–16 had cadres provided by the Pembroke RGA (68th, 114th and 171st), two others by the Glamorgan RGA (96th and 121st), while a number of others (88th, 113th, 137th, 146th, 160th, 188th, 203rd, 219th, 250th, 262nd, 292nd and 306th) may have included trained men from the Pembroke and/or Glamorgan RGAs among the regulars and recruits, although the War Office or Army Council Instructions did not specifically order this.
68th Siege Battery, RGA
68th Siege Battery was formed under War Office Instruction 144 of 9 October 1915 from one company of the Pembroke RGA (TF) with equal numbers of men from the Regular RGA. The battery left the UK on 31 March 1916 and landed at Le Havre on 1 April to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). It took over four obsolescent 6-inch 30 cwt howitzers from 28th Siege Bty and joined VI Corps' Heavy Artillery.