The South African Heavy Artillery (SAHA) was a regiment formed in 1915 as part of the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force to serve under British command during World War I. It never fought as a single formation, but contributed a number of batteries and brigades to the Royal Garrison Artillery that fought on the Western Front from 1916 until the Armistice.
Background
The South African Union Defence Act of 1914 forbade the deployment of South African troops outside of its national borders and immediate surrounding territories. After the suppression of the Maritz rebellion and the successful conclusion of the South West Africa campaign at the beginning of World War I, the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force (SAOEF) was created in July 1915 to support the British Empire during the continuing war. It consisted of volunteers from the Union Defence Force (UDF) and had the status of Imperial troops under British command, rather than independent South African units.
South African Heavy Artillery Regiment
A heavy artillery brigade armed with 4.7-inch and 4-inch naval guns had served in the South West Africa campaign. It had been formed at Cape Town from volunteers from various UDF artillery regiments (including the Cape Garrison Artillery and the Durban Garrison Artillery) with a nucleus of officers and non-commissioned officers from the Royal Marine Artillery. This brigade reached a strength of 60 officers and 1000 men but was disbanded in July 1915 at the conclusion of the campaign, and shortly afterwards a 600-strong regiment of heavy artillery was formed for the SAOEF, largely from ex-members of the earlier brigade. When it sailed from Cape Town on 28 August 1915 it was organised into five batteries: No 1 (Western Cape Province) Battery, SAHA No 2 (Eastern Cape Province) Battery, SAHA No 3 (Transvaal) Battery, SAHA No 4 (Kimberley and the Diamond Districts) Battery, SAHA No 5 (Province of Natal) Battery, SAHA
Organisation and training
The regiment landed at Plymouth on 15 September and went to Cooden Camp, Bexhill-on-Sea, for general training. The British War Office decided to equip the SAHA as siege artillery attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). Although numbered as RGA units, the batteries retained their SAHA cap badges and national identity. Under War Office Instruction No 276 of 20 October 1915, they were to be equipped with tractor-drawn 6-inch howitzers and organised as follows: Northern and Central South Africa Siege Brigade, RGA 71st (Transvaal) Siege Battery, RGA 72nd (Central and Diamond) Siege Battery, RGA Cape Province Siege Brigade, RGA 73rd (Cape Peninsula) Siege Battery, RGA 74th (Eastern and Port Elizabeth) Siege Battery, RGA Unbrigaded 75th (Natal) Siege Battery, RGA (The brigades and batteries soon dropped their provincial subtitles and became simply 'South African'.)
The batteries went to the RGA training camp at Lydd in December where they were introduced to modern heavy guns, but did gun drill on 9.45-inch Skoda howitzers from the Second Boer War and their actual field firing with 8-inch rifled muzzle-loading howitzers dating from 1879. Other units under training at Lydd at this time included 69th and 76th Siege Btys.
On completion of training, each of the batteries was equipped with four 6-inch howitzers of the latest 26-cwt pattern. Mobilisation then began: the Northern and Central Brigade mobilised at Woolwich on 8 March 1916 as 44th (South African) Siege Brigade, RGA, and 71st (SA) Siege Bty at Fort Fareham on 6 April. They embarked at Southampton on 15 April and landed at Le Havre next day, followed by 72nd (SA) Siege Bty on 21 April. 75th (SA) Siege Bty arrived on 23 April, and 72nd and 73rd on 30 April. The Cape Province Siege Brigade did not mobilise until 30 April, when it became 50th (South African) Siege Brigade, RGA. It arrived in France in June, when it was assigned two British RGA batteries.
Reinforcements
Immediately the first five batteries had begun mobilising, an additional 6-inch howitzer siege battery was formed on 3 April 1916 from the remaining SAHA details at Bexhill. This was 125th (SA) Siege Bty, which went to the Western Front in July.