A Battery (The Chestnut Troop) Royal Horse Artillery

A Battery (The Chestnut Troop) Royal Horse Artillery
Active 1 February 1793  present
Country United Kingdom
Branch Army
Type Artillery
Part of 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
Equipment AS-90
Battle honours Ubique
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Hew Dalrymple Ross

A Battery (The Chestnut Troop) Royal Horse Artillery is the senior Battery in the Royal Regiment of Artillery and is part of 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. The Chestnut Troop is currently based in Assaye Barracks in Tidworth Camp.

Current Role

The unit is currently equipped as a Close Support Artillery Battery, with the AS-90 Self-propelled gun.

History

Formation

1793 - A Troop Royal Horse Artillery was raised as The Chestnut Troop at Woolwich on 1 February 1793. Equipped with Chestnut horses from the start, Lord Wellington asked of the whereabouts of “The Chestnut Troop” during the Battle of Waterloo. This unofficial title stuck until Edward VII sanctioned, in Army Order 135, that the Battery be designated A Battery (The Chestnut Troop) Royal Horse Artillery. This honour title is unique as it is not associated with one particular incident, and affords "The Chestnut Troop" the privilege to be known as such outside the Royal Regiment of Artillery. As the senior Battery within the whole of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, it takes position at the Right of the Line on the parade.

A Troop was raised as the first fully self-contained and fully mounted unit equipped with six, six-pounder guns.

19th century

Until the turn of the 20th century the Troop served in both the UK and India, before serving in the South African War.

World War One

1914 – The outbreak of the First World War saw the Troop deployed to France. It served throughout the War, firing its last round at Orrs on 4 November 1918.

Interwar

Training with a 3.7 inch Mountain Howitzer c. 1938

In 1919 the Chestnut Troop was deployed in North West Persia as part of the Norperforce.[1] They were later deployment to Basra in 1921. In 1938 the Chestnut Troop became part of 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery which involved, at the outset, the formation of a Battery as a 12 gun composite Battery.

World War Two

Cold War

After the War the Troop served in Egypt, the UK and Germany. 1965 to 1967 – Aden

Recent and Current Conflicts

Northern Ireland

It completed four tours of Northern Ireland throughout the 1970s.

Persian Gulf War

Balkan Wars

Operation TELIC in Iraq

Cyprus

Operation HERRICK in Afghanistan

See also

References

  1. Cecil John Edmonds (2009), East and West of Zagros, Brill Academic Publishers, OCLC 593346009

Bibliography

External links

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