B Battery, Royal Horse Artillery is a Close Support Battery of 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. It is currently based in Purvis Lines in Larkhill Camp.
History
Formation Following the French Revolution in 1789, an uneasy truce between England and France collapsed when, on 1 February 1793, Napoléon declared war on England. On the same day, by Royal Warrant of King George III, A Troop (now A Battery The Chestnut Troop) and B Troop (now B Battery) were raised at Woolwich. The Battery flag 'The Chequerboard' was created to distinguish the Battery from other batteries on the gun line. The date of when the flag was first used is unknown.
Irish Rebellion of 1798 The troops' first deployment came when it supplied two guns to a composite troop in response to the Irish Rebellion of 1798. The first battle came at the Battle of New Ross on 5 June 1798 which was later recognised as one of the hardest contests of the rebellion. The guns were later present at the final encounter of the rebellion at the Battle of Vinegar Hill.
Peninsular War B Troop departed from Woolwich Wharf on 23 September 1808 and arrived in Corunna on 8 November. The Troop first saw action in Spain against Napoleon's armies when supporting 15th Hussars, at the Battle of Sahagun. The troop also later took part in the Battle of Corunna, where both of these battles are now the names of troops within the Battery.
England and Reduction, 1809 - 1819 This period was one of inactivity for B Troop. The Troop had been severely tested in the Peninsular Campaign and saw no more active service from the Napoleonic Wars. In 1813, the first Rocket Troop was formed from a cadre of B Troop and on 28 February 1819, it was decided to reduce B Troop RHA as part of a reduction of size of the British Army following the Waterloo Campaign.
Crimean War In the Crimean War during the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855), B Troop, Royal Horse Artillery was re-formed on 1 May 1855, and landed in the Crimea peninsular one month later. However, by this stage the war was well under way with the siege of Sebastopol already commenced. There is no record of B Troop being directly engaged.
The Boxer Rebellion, 1900 In 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, the Battery was the only Horse Artillery unit present. During the Battery's time in China, it did not encounter much resistance however, it was forced to travel hundreds of miles over almost impassable terrain. Unfortunately there is very little documented history from the Battery's activity during this period. Most of the Battery's most interesting and unusual pieces of silver originate from this campaign.
First World War At the beginning of the war, B Battery was still in India however quickly returned to England in 1914. It became the senior Battery in the famous 29th Division and 1915 was perhaps the greatest in B Battery's history since the Peninsula Campaign. In April 1915, the Right Section of B Battery was the first Horse Artillery unit ashore during the Gallipoli landings. During the battle, the battery fired more ammunition from their 18-pounder guns than any other battery, and when the Allied forces pulled out, B Battery was the final Battery to leave the peninsula. In 1916, the Battery was almost continually in action during the Somme Offensive. In 1917, the Battery moved to support the Allied offensives at Arras, the Third Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Passchendaele.
Between the World Wars Between 1919 and 1921, the Battery was sent to Egypt and Palestine. It then returned to England until 1932 when it redeployed again to Egypt and Palestine to perform police duties during the British Mandate of Palestine and the Arab-Jewish terrorist campaign which later led to the Great Revolt.
Mechanisation, 1936
The last time the Battery officially paraded with horses was for the funeral of its commander, Major McKay, in Cairo on 14 June 1937. In 1936, B Battery became mechanised and ‘Dragon’ tractors towing 3.7 inch howitzers replaced the 13-pounder guns and horses. At this time, B Battery formed part of 1st Brigade RHA and supported the 1st Cavalry Brigade station in Egypt whose task was to defend the country's railways. In 1938, B and O Batteries, and A and E Batteries, were merged to form two six gun Batteries forming the A/E Battery and B/O Battery. 1st Brigade RHA was shortly after renamed 1st Regiment RHA.
Second World War In 1939, the battery moved to France, where they were equipped with the 25-pounder gun, towed by the Morris Quad. In June 1940, with the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division, it suffered severe losses at St Valery. After reforming in England in late 1940, B Battery departed for the Middle East, as part of the Desert Rats. It fought in all the major battles in the Middle East Theatre of Operations. Most significantly, during the Siege of Tobruk the Battery was in constant action. The Battery also fought notably at Derna, the First Battle of El Alamein, Alam el Halfa and the Second Battle of El Alamein. It was at Alam el Halfa that the battery supported 133 Infantry Brigade firing onto the 21. Panzer Division, knocking out or damaging some 30 German tanks. Sometime between 1942 and 1945 the battery was retrained on the 105 mm Priest and were involved in the Battles for the Gothic Line and River Po in Italy.
Egypt and Palestine, 1945-1951 After the war, the tremendous immigration of European Jews to the new state of Israel resulted in the re-occurrence of the 1936 Arab-Jewish fighting by the Arab resistance. In 1947, B Battery, as part of the 1st Armoured Division, returned to Palestine to assist the civil police in attempting to keep the peace. 1949 found the Battery in the Suez Canal Zone whilst equipped with 25 pounder self-propelled Sextons. The Battery later returned to England in 1951.
British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), 1952-1982 In 1952, B Battery moved to BAOR which was to become its base for 17 of the next 22 years. On arrival, the Battery was stationed in Munster and took on the NATO role of helping to maintain a balance of power in Europe. In 1955, the equipment changed from the Sexton to the American M44 155m self-propelled howitzers. B Battery was relocated from Munster to Hildesheim in 1958.
Aden and Radfan Campaign, 1965-1967 In 1965, after a short period of training with the Italian 105 mm Pack Howitzers at Netheravon, B Battery moved once again to the Middle East and remained in Aden until May 1967.
Northern Ireland and BAOR, 1969-1977
During this period there was an exciting series of roles for the Battery, ranging from urban international security tasks to ‘North-West Frontier’ style gunnery actions in the rugged Radfan Mountains during the Radfan Campaign. In 1967, B Battery moved to Colchester for three years with the Strategic Reserve. As well as exercising in the air portable role in many different countries, the Battery had a successful five-month tour in Belfast from October 1969 to March 1970. B Battery then returned to BAOR in 1970 where they were handed 105 mm self-propelled Abbots from 3rd Regiment RHA in Detmold and re-assumed the BAOR NATO role. Between September 1972 and 1977, B Battery completed three successful tours in various parts of Northern Ireland and was later moved to Topcliffe in North Yorkshire in February 1977. B Battery was equipped with the 5.5-inch gun as an interim measure before being equipped with the very latest 155 mm gun, the towed FH 70 howitzer in 1979.
105mm self-propelled Abbot, 1970-1977 and 1982-1992 B Battery became the Trials Battery after adopting the FH 70 howitzer and completed these trials in June 1979. Up until 1982, members of the Battery served in many parts of the world; on Exercise CRUSADER, in the Rhodesian Cease Fire Monitoring Force, in Hong Kong teaching gunnery to Ghurkas, on HMS Coventry, in Canada, in Kenya with the Green Howards, in Durham on MAC(P) duties covering the fireman's strike of November 1977 and in Belize, where two members of the Battery received Commander British Forces Commendations for their actions on the eve of the country's independence.
BAOR, Canada and Op GRANBY, 1982-1992
1982 saw B Battery return to BAOR and were stationed in Hohne Garrison with 22nd Armoured Brigade. The Battery supported the 9th/12th Lancers for the first few months and then 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. The period between 1982 and 1991 was spent on various exercises with some elements of the Battery deploying to Canada at least once a year. The 1st Battalion Welsh Guards replaced the Coldstream Guards in 1983 and in turn was replaced by The Scots Guards in 1988. In 1991, over half the Regiment deployed to the Gulf on Op GRANBY. B Battery went into suspended animation during the Gulf War and A/B/E Battery was formed. In September 1992, as part of 1st Regiment RHA’s arms plot move to the UK, B Battery moved into Assaye Barracks, Tidworth. Here the Battery were equipped with the L118 Light Gun, as an interim measure until the introduction of the AS90 155 mm self-propelled howitzer.
Falkland Islands and receipt of the AS90, 1992 In February 1993, Sahagun Troop deployed on Exercise SEA TROUT in the Falkland Islands. This was an exercise that occurred every two years and was designed to bring the Light Guns, which were stationed on the islands, out of light care and to be proof fired. This enabled the Troop to exercise in unfamiliar surroundings in extremely harsh weather conditions. In August 1993, along with the remainder of 1RHA, B Battery attended the RHA 200 parade at Woolwich, London and was observed by the Captain General, Queen Elizabeth II. Later, in the same month, the Battery took receipt of its first AS90s and a period of converting to this latest piece of Artillery culminated in a regimental exercise on Salisbury plain towards the end of the year. In 1994, the Battery attended the In-Service Reliability Demonstration (ISRD). This trial saw the AS90 brought into general service however soon after the ISRD, the Battery converted to the Light Gun and deployed on Exercise POND JUMP WEST in Wainwright, Canada in support of the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers (1RWF) Battle Group. On its return to the U.K., the Regiment was warned off for Operations in Northern Ireland. Despite four intensive months of Internal Security Training, the Regiment was stood down due to the ceasefire.
Balkans, 1996-2001