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Abbreviations

 

 

AA Artillery Adviser
BEF British Expeditionary Force
BGRA Brigadier-General, Royal Artillery (a Corps level officer)
BL breech-loading, true for all World War I guns, but normally used only for guns when shell and propellant charges were loaded separately in a two-step process.
CB counter-battery
CBSO Counter-Battery Staff Officer
CDS Central Distribution Section
CHA Commander, Heavy Artillery (a Corps level officer)
CRA Commander, Royal Artillery (a divisional level officer)
FAT Field Artillery Training
FS Company, FSC Flash Spotting Company
GAT Garrison Artillery Training
GHQ General Headquarters of the BEF
GOC General Officer Commanding
GOCRA General Officer Commanding, Royal Artillery (a Corps level officer)
HE high explosive
KBS Kite Balloon Squadron
MGO Master General of the Ordnance, the senior officer in charge of weapons and equipment procurement for the Royal Artillery
MGRA Major-General, Royal Artillery (Army- and GHQ-level officers)
PSC Passed Staff College; post-nominals for fully-trained staff officers
QF quick-firing, describing the first guns that had recoil mechanisms that returned the gun to its firing position after each round. As a result, guns could fire up to 20 rounds per minute, but only 8 rounds sustained because otherwise the barrels became dangerously overheated and were liable to fire shells before the breech was closed. QF guns revolutionized artillery around the turn of the twentieth century, but due to budget constraints the Territorial Force began the war with older guns modified into QFs.
RAF Royal Air Force (from 1 April, 1918)
RAHQ artillery headquarters of a Division
RE Royal Engineers
RFC Royal Flying Corps (until 1 April, 1918)
SR Section, SRS Sound Ranging Section
SS Stationery Services

 

"The Infantry cannot do with a gun less": The Place of the Artillery
in the British Expeditionary Force, 1914-1918