Units
Brigade Division, Royal Canadian Field Artillery
Right Section, E Battery, Royal Canadian Field Artillery.
April May 1900, grouped around their two
12-pounder guns.
Although the men of the RCFA had been issued with
Stetson hats in
Canada, many took up the cork helmet during their service in South
Africa, creating a mixture of the two types of headwear in the
unit.
The brigade division of artillery in Canada's second contingent
grouped together three batteries. Each battery consisted of three
sections, each of two
12-pounder breech-loading guns.
The 12-pounders, however, were outranged by the Boers' field guns.
Despite this handicap, the Canadian gunners more than held their own
during operations in South Africa.
The batteries were designated "C", "D", and "E", to signal the
brigade division's link to the Permanent Force's "A" and "B" Batteries,
Royal Canadian Field Artillery. There was, in fact, a core of permanent
force artillery personnel in each battery. Additional members came from
militia field batteries. "C" and "D" Batteries' militia gunners came
from units in Ontario, and also from Winnipeg; "E" Battery's came from
units in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
"D" and "E" Batteries arrived in Cape Town in February 1900 and
participated in the suppression of the Boer rebellion in the western
Cape Colony. "C" Battery, on its arrival in March 1900, went north to
Rhodesia to join the Rhodesian Field Force, which then moved south to
the relief of besieged Mafeking.
The three batteries then continued to operate separately; even sections
within each battery often acted independently with different forces, in
some cases being detached for months at a time. The brigade division was
only reunited at the end of its tour of duty and return to Canada.
Although usually out of the limelight, the three batteries saw much
action. A section of "D" Battery particularly distinguished itself at
the battle of Leliefontein.