A Battery (The Chestnut Troop) Royal Horse Artillery
Encyclopedia
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
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Self-propelled gun
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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 its 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.
Until the turn of the 20th century the Troop served in both the UK and India, before serving in the South African War.
1965 to 1967 - Aden
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the armoured field artillery role, and is equipped with the AS-90 self-propelled gun...
. The Chestnut Troop is currently based in Assaye
Assaye
Assaye is a small village in the Jalna district of the state of Maharashtra in western India. The village was the location of the Battle of Assaye in 1803, fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company....
Barracks in Tidworth
Tidworth
Tidworth is a town in south-east Wiltshire, England with a growing civilian population. Situated at the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain, it is approximately 10 miles west of Andover, 12 miles south of Marlborough, 24 miles south of Swindon, 15 miles north by north-east of Salisbury and 6 miles east...
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Current Role
The unit is currently equipped as a Close Support Artillery Battery, with the AS-90AS-90
The AS-90 is a lightly armoured self-propelled artillery piece used by the British Army. It was first delivered in 1993...
Self-propelled gun
Self-propelled gun
A self-propelled gun is form of self-propelled artillery, and in modern use is usually used to refer to artillery pieces such as howitzers....
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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 WaterlooBattle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
.
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 its 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.
1800’s
- 1798 - The Troop first saw action in the Irish Rebellion
- 1799 - Saw action in the Netherlands
- 1806 - Captain Hew RossHew Dalrymple RossField Marshal Sir Hew Dalrymple Ross, GCB GCTE was Master Gunner, St James's Park, the most senior Ceremonial Post in the Royal Artillery after the Sovereign.-Military career:...
assumed command of the Troop, which lasted for an unrivalled period of 19 years, through campaigns in Spain, Portugal, France and at Waterloo. Captain Ross went on to be knighted and become the first ever Gunner Field Marshal. - 1809 onwards - The Troop fought in the Peninsula War. Following its exploits in Portugal was a protracted period of peace
- 1855 to 1856 - Crimean WarCrimean WarThe Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
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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
In between the two World Wars the Troop saw a variety of service that included 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
- 1939 - World War Two saw the Troop deployed to France, serving until the evacuation from Dunkirk.
- 1940 - Thereafter the Battery was sent to Egypt as part of the Desert Rats.
- 1941 - Involved in the siege of Tobruck. The Battery was then reorganised to become The Chestnut Troop once again and served continuously in the Western Desert in
- 1942 - El Alamein.
- 1942 onwards - The Regiment was then re-equipped with 105mm SP guns before fighting in Italy for the rest of the war.
Cold War
After the War the Troop served in Egypt, the UK and Germany.1965 to 1967 - Aden
Persian Gulf War
- 1990 - Members of the Chestnut Troop deployed on Operation GRANBYOperation GranbyOperation Granby was the name given to the British military operations during the Gulf War. 53,462 troops were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations was £2.434 billion of which at least £2.049 billion was paid for by other nations such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia; £200...
to Iraq as A/B/E Battery. - 1992 - Battery moved to Assaye Barracks in Tidworth.
Balkan Wars
- 1996 - The Battery served in BosniaBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
as a part of IFORIFORThe Implementation Force was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename Operation Joint Endeavour. Its task was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for...
. - 1998 - The Battery served again in BosniaBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
as a part of IFORIFORThe Implementation Force was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename Operation Joint Endeavour. Its task was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for...
. - 2000 - The Battery served in BosniaBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
as a part of KFOR.
Operation TELIC in Iraq
- 2004 - In April The Chestnut Troop deployed to Basra as part of the 1 CHESHIRE Battle Group, and was tasked with developing the Iraqi Police ServiceIraqi PoliceThe Iraqi Police Service are the uniformed Territorial police force responsible for the enforcement of civil law within Iraq.The current organisation, structure and recruitment practice was guided by the Coalition Provisional Authority following the 2003 invasion of Iraq...
within the City. Changes after the transition of authority in late June saw the Battery consolidate in a single location as part of the 1 RHA Battle Group and tackle Provincial Police Departments. - 2007 - The Battery deployed to BasraBasraBasra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
on Operation Telic 10.
Cyprus
- 2005 - The Chestnut Troop deployed, as a Battery, to serve as United Nations Peacekeepers in the last divided capital City in the world, NicosiaNicosiaNicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
in CyprusCyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
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Operation HERRICK in Afghanistan
- 2009 - The Battery served in Sangin as part of 3 Rifles Battlegroup