The Artillery Club salutes gunners of all ranks who have served Ireland with distinction, both at home and overseas, whilst maintaining exceptional operational readiness, unique legacy and solidarity, distinctive customs and traditions, valuable friendship and the bond of camaraderie, since the establishment of the Artillery Corps on 23 March, 1923 in Islandbridge, Dublin.
The Artillery, by our Special Commissioner, An tOglách, 16 June 1923
“I have been keenly interested in the Artillery ever since I had an 18 pounder as a travelling companion over the South of Ireland. Not that the gun in question was as pleasant a fellow wayfarer as it might have been. We had no limber in the accepted sense and had to tow it along behind a Lancia car and now and then it proved too much for the power of the latter – especially when climbing mountain sides.”
“It has always fascinated me to see one of these guns in action – the clean, swift, precise movement of the gun crew area about the most workmanlike thing in soldiering. A few days ago I saw them practising in the Fifteen Acres, that section of the Phoenix Park which had been more famous than any other portion of it for the past hundred years or more.”
“Of course they were not actually firing – these gunners of ours – but they were being put through the preliminary drill essential to good work in action. It was rather fine to see a battery sweeping over the grass, wheeling and circling, men and horses alike well worth looking at, all in the pink of physical fitness – and, then, at the command: “Halt! Action Rear!” to see in a twinkling the horses, unlimbered and moving off, leaving the gun ready for action and the crew in readiness behind the shields.”
“The Artillery unit of our army is very young yet, perhaps the youngest corps in service for it only came into existence in March last, but it is a lusty offspring and promises to develop into something of which we will be very proud in the near future.”
“It is small s yet both in the number of men and equipment but the best in both. In the case of the men the corps stipulates that Drivers shall be at least 5ft 4in in height and Gunners 5ft 8in. The men I saw in the Fifteen Acres were all long-service members of the Volunteers and they seemed to be taking to their new job as ducks to water,”
“Colonel P.A. Mulcahy, O/C Artillery, told me that they are anxious that men who join the Corps shall join for a longer period than is the customary at the moment in the other branches of the Army. In view of the special training that artillerymen have to go through it can be realised that at least five years’ service would not be too much to insist on. At the same time it must be clear that the artillery provides an ideal training for any young Irishman with a bent for soldiering. Recruits need not have a previous knowledge of artillery work provided they are anxious to learn and are willing to “soldier” in the most through going sense of the word.”
“At present the pay for the Artillery is the same as the corps pay in other units and will remain so until the Army Council passes additional corps pay.”
“In the case of officers young men of good education and good standing are welcome provided they are capable of being made into good artillerymen. They will have to submit to an entry examination which is by no means stiff, yet ensures a certain standard of education and mental alertness. It embraces General Knowledge, Mathematics, Geography, English Composition and a Report Page. The examinations held up to the present reveal a weakness in Mathematics amongst candidates. But it is purely non-technical examination.”
“Examinations will be held from time to time and the date of same will be duly notified in G.R.O. Officers from other units will be accepted only through examinations.”
“The training of the Corps is directly under Captain Caulfield, who is assisted by a capable staff of N.C.O.’s including a gunnery instructor and a rough-riding instructor.”
Link to Article from 1923: ‘The Artillery’ 1923 Vol.1 An t-Ógláċ (16 June 1923