Artillery Regiments
An Illustrated History of the Embroidered Silk Postcards is the standard reference book on embroidered silk postcards. It contains references to over 2600 different cards with over 270 illustrations. The section on Artillery Regiment lists 27 cards. The cards listed below are additional cards discovered since the book was published. The latest additions are shown in RED.
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly known as the Royal Artillery (RA), consisted of two separate regiments: the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). The RFA was the largest unit, armed with mobile 18 pounder guns and howitzers at the start of World War 1. The RGA was static and manned 60 pounder and heavier guns in prepared positions.
The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was a smaller and a more senior regiment that supported the Cavalry in the field. The RHA had lighter 13 pound guns and every man in the troop was mounted, to be mobile enough to keep up with the Cavalry.
Over 200 Artillery Regiment cards have been recorded, because there are four different units within the definition of Artillery Regiments. The RFA has over 100 cards as it was the largest regiment, although the same design was often used with different captions for each regiment. As the smallest unit, all Royal Horse Artillery cards are rare. The significance to the individual soldier within a regiment is reflected by the fact that cards with the Royal Artillery caption are less available, and not many designs are known.
Images of a representative selection of cards are shown beneath the listings.
Information and images on this site are © Ian Collins 2021.
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The Royal Artillery RA GREETINGS FROM
The Royal Field Artillery RFA 1915
RFA OUR HEARTS ARE FULL OF CONFIDENCE
RFA I AM THINKING OF YOU
RFA REMEMBER FROM FRANCE
RFA TO MY DEAR BROTHER
RFA TO MY DEAR MOTHER
RFA TO MY DEAR SISTER
RFA MERRY CHRISTMAS
The Royal Garrison Artillery RGA (with space to insert photograph)
RGA MISPAH
RGA SOUVENIR FROM FRANCE
Images of six cards for Artillery Regiments which use the same embroidered design with different captions. The card without a caption is very rare. The Shropshire Royal Horse Artillery card is extremely rare; no other copy has ever been seen.
It is possible to collect "sets" of cards with the same image for Artillery Regiments and at least 14 sets are known. If cards are missing, it is always the RHA and RA card that is impossible to find, and they were probably never produced.
Another set of Artillery Regiment cards in the vertical format. The last two are variations on the same basic design.
A further set of Artillery Regiment cards. These are based on the design of the French 75mm field gun, a quick-firing field artillery piece that was was fitted with a pneumatic recoil system and considered to be the first modern artillery piece. The caption on the first card reads: SAUVEUR de la FRANCE. LE 75, and summarises the French attitude to the importance of the gun.
