N Battery (The Eagle Troop) Royal Horse Artillery

N Battery (The Eagle Troop) Royal Horse Artillery is a Tactical Group Battery of 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. They are currently based in Albemarle Barracks in Northumberland and equipped with the 105 mm Light Gun.[1] The battery is commonly known as a Tactical Group Battery and provides the artillery support to a light role Brigade Formation Reconnaissance Regiment.

N Battery (The Eagle Troop) Royal Horse Artillery
Active11 November 1811  present
Country United Kingdom
Allegiance Hon East India Coy (till 1858)
 United Kingdom (post 1858)
BranchBombay Army (till 1895)
 British Army
TypeArtillery
RoleLight Role Tac Bty
Part of3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
AnniversariesHyderabad Day 24 March
Battle honoursUbique

Current role

N Battery (The Eagle Troop) are currently serving as the fifth Tactical Group within 3 RHA and supports 4th Infantry Brigade. They recently deployed as part of J (Sidi Rezegh) Battery, alongside 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery to Afghanistan.

Battery structure

N Battery are known as a Tactical Group Battery and they consist of approximately 40 personnel:

  • Battery Commanders Tac Group
  • FST Party 1
  • FST Party 2
  • FST Party 3
  • Joint Fires Cell

History

Formation

1st Troop Bombay Horse Artillery was formed in Seroor, on 11 November 1811.

19th century

In 1842 Sir Charles Napier was sent to Hyderabad with a treaty that was never to be accepted by the Amirs of Sindh. The Amirs attacked the British Residency, and Napier decided this was cause for war, and attacked a force of 22,000 Baluchis with just 2,800 British Soldiers. This resulted in:

  • 1843 - The Battle for Miani. The British line held, and 6 guns from the Troop supported a charge. Hyderabad was occupied in February 1843.

The battery was awarded its honour title following Sir Charles Napier's march to the Indus River. The troop were supporting the Cheshire Regiment, with the enemy in an entrenched position. The way artillery was deployed, forced the enemy to its left flank, which allowed the Cheshire Regiment to advance and distract the enemy. A surrender followed quickly and the Governor-General of India, the Lord Ellenborough, declared that the battery should, 'bear the eagle'.

In 1858, the East India Company dissolved, and the battery became part of the British Army. The battery was renamed five times between 1862, until it was finally named N Battery Royal Horse Artillery in 1889.

World War One

  • 1914 - The battery deployed to France on the outbreak of War.
  • 1915 - The battery fired its guns in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. The failure of this battle was later credited to the lack of artillery shells in Shell Crisis of 1915.
  • 1916 - The battery fought in the Battle of the Somme
  • 1917 - N Battery RHA claimed the highest number of shells fired in one month by a single battery. The six guns fired 115,360 rounds in August 1917 in support of the Canadian Corps. The battery also fought in the Battle of Cambrai (1917) and at Hailles.
  • 1918 - The battery continued to fight until the Armistice in November 1918.
  • 1920 - The battery bore the coffin of the Unknown Soldier to Westminster Abbey.

World War Two

The battery served in Greece and the Western Desert, and in 1942 regained its identity and joined 6th Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery.

Cold War

Recent and Current Conflicts

Northern Ireland

Balkan wars

The battery served in the Balkans.

Operation TELIC in Iraq

Operation HERRICK in Afghanistan

  • 2006 - OP HERRICK 8
  • 2010 - OP HERRICK 13
  • 2013 - OP HERRICK 19

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Clarke, W.G. (1993). Horse Gunners: The Royal Horse Artillery, 200 Years of Panache and Professionalism. Woolwich: The Royal Artillery Institution. ISBN 09520762-0-9.
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