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The history of N Battery
begins on 11th November 1811 where, at Seroor, the 1st Troop Bombay
Horse Artillery was formed.
British reverses in Afghanistan and increasing troubles in Baluchistan
later led to deterioration in relations to the point where British
troops were coming under attack from Baluchi marauders and it was
decided that Sind should be annexed.
In 1842, Sir Charles Napier was sent to Hyderabad with a new treaty that
was so stringent that it was never going to be accepted by the amirs of
Sind. In response, on 15th February 1843, the British Residency was
attacked. To Napier, this was cause for war and, eager to strike first
with a telling blow, he attacked an army of some 22,000 Baluchis with
the 2,800 men (including the guns of 1st Troop) at his disposal.
The armies met at Miani on 17th February 1843 when the Baluchis
attempted a series of charges at the British line. Under intense
pressure and overwhelming numbers, the
British line held firm, allowing Napier to turn the Baluchi’s flank by a
charge from the 9th Bengal and Scinde Horse, supported by the 6 guns of
the Troop. It was estimated that the Baluchi losses ran to a figure
above 5,000 and the British had lost but 256 men. The following day
many of the amirs surrendered, allowing occupation of Hyderabad by 20th
February 1843.
The Battle of Hyderabad
On 24th March 1843, N Battery’s most notable action, for which it was
awarded the honour title The Eagle Troop, was awarded. After the
British victory at Miani, General Sir Charles Napier continued his
advance to the Indus River. The Battery, under the command of Major J T
Leslie, marched a gruelling 10 miles with Napier’s force to meet in
battle with the amirs. The Troop was supporting the 22nd Regiment (now
the Cheshire Regiment). The enemies were in a complex, entrenched
position with a watercourse to the flank and a series of ravines and
watercourses to the front.
At 0900 hrs the Troop opened fire on the enemy position, it used a
number of positions in the advance, firing only a small number of rounds
at each before moving forward until it reached a position where it could
achieve fires across the entire front of the position. The artillery
forced the enemy to its left flank, which allowed the 22nd Regiment to
advance which distracted the enemy. At this moment, the Troop drove
their light guns across the obstacles and forwards around the enemy’s
left flank.
Following this, a surrender followed quickly, the enemy had lost 8,000
men to the British 267 and the British controlled the province of
Scinde. Due to the action of the Troop, the Governor General of India
declared that the Battery should hereafter, upon its appointments, bear
the eagle and appointed it the title ‘The 1st’ or ‘Leslie’s Troop RHA.
ChangingTimes
In 1858 the East India Company dissolved and the 1st Troop Bombay Horse
Artillery
became part of the British Army. Between 1862 and 1889, the Troop was
renamed a total
of 5 times. In 1862 it became A Battery, 4 Brigade RHA, then A Battery,
E Brigade RHA in 1864, then C Battery D Brigade RHA in 1871, H Battery B
Brigade RHA in 1877 and then finally N Battery RHA in 1889.
In 1901 N Battery had the honour of bearing the coffin of Queen
Victoria.
At the outbreak of the First World War, N Battery deployed to France and
fought in many actions, including the battles of Neuve Chappelle, the
Somme, Cambrai and Hailles. N Battery claimed the highest number of
rounds fired in one month by one Battery when in August 1917, the six
guns fired 115,360 rounds in support of the Canadian Corps. N Battery
remained in the thick of the fighting until the signing of the
Armistice.
In 1920, N Battery had the honour of bearing the coffin of the Unknown
Warrior to Westminster Abbey and the Coronation of King Edward VII.
On 18th October 1926, N Battery was awarded the honour title “The Eagle
Troop” by authority 20/Arty/A.G.6 (a) 4544.
On 11th May 1938, N Battery became mechanised and was amalgamated with L
(Néry) Battery RHA to form l Battery within 2 RHA. It was as l Battery
that it returned to France in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World
War as part of the British
Expeditionary Force and fought in France until it was evacuated at
Dunkirk in 1940. The Battery later went on to serve in Greece and in
the Western Desert. In 1942, the Battery regained its separate identity
and joined 6 RHA with whom it served the rest of the war in the UK.
On 1st February 1958, the Battery ceased to be part of the RHA and
became retitled N Battery (The Eagle Troop) RA.
After completing a 3 year anti terrorism operation in Malaya the Battery
moved to Colchester in 1961 and became part of the Strategic Reserve.
It was while it was part of
the Strategic Reserve that the Battery was deployed as part of a wider
force to Cyprus to stop the fighting between the Turkish and Greek
Cypriots.
In September 1965 N Battery (The Eagle Troop) moved to Portsmouth
Barracks, Münster (Germany)
and stayed there until January 1968 when it moved back to Bernard
Castle, Yorkshire. In 1971 it returned to Germany this time to
Peninsula Barracks Hemer where it remained until 1977, during that time it
conducted three emergency tours of Northern Ireland. The Battery then
moved to Ubique Barracks, Dortmund for a short time before taking
position as the support Regiment at the Royal School of Artillery,
Larkhill.
The wheel then turned a full circle when the Battery returned to Münster
in 1982 to serve with 4th Brigade.
Disbandment
September 1993 saw the
disbandment of 2nd Regiment RA. with the batteries going to other
Units, N Battery (The Eagle Troop) joined 3rd Regiment Royal
Horse Artillery.
L Bty
N Bty O Bty
46 Bty HQ Bty
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105 Pack Howitzer |
2nd Regiment Royal Artillery
