#60513 Gunner Albert James Langford
Y BATTERY, ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY
SERVING WITH THE ROYAL HORSE Artillery approaching the end of October was a 24-year-old gunner named Albert Langford. From London, Albert had joined the artillery in 1910, but left the army after three years’ service. He had been working as a driver and as soon as war was declared, as a reservist he was called back up and initially served with a battery of the Royal Field Artillery. After being wounded at the end of the 1st Battle of Ypres in November 1914, Albert served in the Mediterranean before being routed into Y Battery on the Western Front.
The Royal Horse Artillery operated light guns that could be moved about quickly in support of the cavalry. Albert had played his part in the preliminary bombardment on the Somme at the end of June by joining in his battery’s efforts at cutting the enemy barbed wire. They had then been moved back up to the Ypres Salient, but by 22nd October Albert was back on the Somme and just to the north of Delville Wood.
So hard was it now to move guns in the shambolic conditions on the Somme, that gunners were known to just go up and assume command of the ones that were there as opposed to try and moving their own across the saturated ground. Mud made even basic work vastly more difficult. With the German air services on the ascendancy too, the effectiveness of aeroplanes sent to help range the enemy artillery made life even harder. Among the benefits of this improvement on the German’s part was better results in counter-battery work at this point, and so the likes of Albert Langford would likely be under a deafening barrage of enemy shells as they tried to work themselves. Albert and the rest of Y Battery moved into action and took over gun positions in mid-October, covering the 12th Division’s infantry in front of them.
There they were when rain began cascading down on the 18th and all their efforts to support the troops in front of them were in vain. As the gun pits and the men’s shelters filled up with water and the gunners slid about in deep mud trying to keep up their rate of fire the following day, their German counterparts tortured them with shellfire all afternoon and into the night. The downpour finally ceased on the 20th and Albert and his fellow gunners spent two days on their normal work in fine, but chilly weather, shelling targets by zone as a frost began setting in.
On the 22nd the intensity of the enemy’s counter-battery work increased again. The whole valley was shelled by heavy artillery, although the Germans managed to miss anything of consequence aside from a pile of ammunition to the rear, which promptly exploded. As late afternoon approached though, Y Battery was attempting to clear away from its position when a single shell landed in among the men and went off. Eight were killed by the blast, including Albert Langford, and ten more were wounded. The devastated remains of all of those killed were collected, including Albert, and laid to rest in one grave at Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, plot E.30.
Artillerymen attempt to move their gun in muddy conditions. (Authors’ collection)