At the same time the five batteries of heavy artillery were assembled. In the German South-West campaign a Heavy Artillery Brigade, armed with 4.7 and 4-inch naval guns, had been formed at Cape Town, the _personnel_ being drawn from non-commissioned officers of the Royal Marine Artillery and from the various South African artillery regiments. In June 1915 this Brigade was disbanded, and in July, largely from the old Brigade, a regiment of heavy artillery was recruited for Europe. Only men of fine physique and of a standard height of 5 feet 8 inches were accepted, and the roll was closed when it reached a total of 600. The regiment contained five batteries, the 1st representing the Western Cape Province, the 2nd the Eastern Cape Province, the 3rd the Transvaal, the 4th Kimberley and the Diamond Fields, and the 5th Natal. Before they appeared on the fighting front the War Office decided that they should be rated as siege artillery, armed with 6-inch howitzers, and affiliated to the Royal Garrison Artillery. This involved each battery receiving an R.G.A. number. The 1st Battery became the 73rd Siege Battery, R.G.A., under the command of Major Brydon; the 2nd, the 74th, under Major Pickburn; the 3rd, the 71st, under Major Harrison; the 4th, the 72nd, under Major Alston; the 5th, the 75th, under Major Tripp.[4] The 1st South African Field Ambulance was mobilized at Potchefstroom during August, under Lieutenant-Colonel G. H. Usmar, S.A.M.C., and was attached to the Infantry Brigade. This was a departure from the usual practice, for a field ambulance is classed as divisional troops under the orders of the Assistant-Director of Medical Services in the division, and a new-formed brigade usually meets its field ambulance for the first time when it joins its division. The General Hospital mobilized at Wynberg, its _personnel_ being largely composed of volunteers from the staffs of No. 1 General Hospital, Wynberg, and No. 2 General Hospital, Maitland, and included representatives from all the provinces of the Union. It accompanied the Brigade to England, and provided the staff for the depot there, and for the South African Military Hospital at Richmond, as well as for No. 1 South African General Hospital in France.[5] [Sidenote: _Aug.-Oct. 1915._]