Ammunition column

An Ammunition Column consists of dedicated military vehicles carrying artillery and small arms ammunition for the combatant unit to which the column belongs, most noted as being the Artillery Brigade or a Divisional Artillery. Thus the Ammunition Columns of a division, formed of the brigades of field artillery, carry reserve ammunition for the guns, the machine guns of the infantry and the rifles of all arms. Generally speaking, the Brigade Ammunition Column of the Artillery Brigades furnishes ammunition for its own batteries and for one of the brigades of infantry, and each is supported by a Divisional Artillery.

From the start of World War One, as they were 'newly' established, BEF/Dominion 'Infantry’ Divisions came to be assigned a 'Divisional Artillery' of three Field Artillery Brigades and one (Field) Howitzer Brigade, each Brigade having four batteries and a ‘Brigade Ammunition Column’. The British Army Divisional Artillery pre WW1 included an additional Heavy 60-pounder Battery. A Cavalry Division had two Horse Artillery Brigades each with 12 × 13-pdr Guns. As warfare progressed and the tank was introduced the demands of ammunition supply to armoured formations called for the development of like structures.

Ammunition Columns, Brigade or Divisional, were officered and manned by the Royal Artillery and national equivalents. Intended for direct affiliation to their Brigades, and Divisions, they were additionally called upon to furnish ammunition to any unit requiring it during an action. The Officers and Gunners of the R.A. employed with an Ammunition Column were, as a matter of course, immediately available to replace casualties in the batteries. Working mostly at night, moving forward, the Brigade Ammunition Columns ammunition wagons were interchangeable with a Firing Batteries own ammunition wagons (one per gun), so full wagons could be easily 'dropped-off', being unhooked and taken away for reloading.

The Horse Artillery and Heavy Brigades of Artillery each had their own 'Brigade Ammunition Column (BAC)', organized in much the same way and performing similar duties. The Brigade Ammunition Column of the Heavy Brigade was divisible into three sections, so that the three batteries, if operating independently, have each a section at hand to replenish the ammunition expended. The Horse Artillery Brigade Ammunition Columns carried, besides S.A.A. for corps troops, other than artillery, the reserve of pom-pom ammunition. The Field Brigade Ammunition Column numbered 158 heads, commanded by a Captain, with three Lieutenants or Second-Lieutenants.

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