3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the predecessor unit, see III Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery.

3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
Active27 August 1938 – present
but all the individual batteries except one have served since creation between 1793 & 1811
Country 
Second World War
Western Desert campaign
Tunisian campaign
Italian campaign
North West Europe campaign
Battle honoursUbique

3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery in the British Army. They are currently based at Albemarle Barracks, Northumberland, England.

The regiment is equipped with MLRS and provides Deep Fires to the 1st Deep Recce Strike Brigade Combat Team, 3rd (UK) Division.[2]

The regiment was constituted in 1939 out of existing batteries. Two of the batteries have served continuously since the 1790s. Two others have served continuously since their formation in the period 1805-1811 during the Napoleonic wars. M Battery, by contrast, has served continuously since 1993.

History

Formation

The basic organic unit of the

headquarters (four officers, 37 other ranks), three batteries (five and 193 each), and a brigade ammunition column (four and 154)[4] had a total strength just under 800 so was broadly comparable to an infantry battalion (just over 1,000) or a cavalry regiment (about 550). Like an infantry battalion, an artillery brigade was usually commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel. After May 1938, brigades were redesignated as regiments[5] and on 27 August 1938, III Brigade Royal Horse Artillery at Abbassia, Egypt was redesignated as 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery.[6][7]

Also in 1938, artillery brigades were reorganized from three six-gun batteries to two 12-gun batteries.

P Batteries were linked as M/P Battery on the same date.[11][12] This was the regiment's structure on formation but in the event the batteries were unlinked within months (in September 1939) and the regiment operated with four batteries.[13]

Second World War

British Victory Parade in Berlin: Salute fired by guns of the 3rd Royal Horse Artillery on the arrival of Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

By the outbreak of the

25 pounders after Sidi Rezegh,[24] and the batteries were redesignated as field artillery on 8 September 1942.[9][10][11]

The regiment left the 7th Support Group on 8 February 1942 (the day before it was reformed as the

7th Motor Brigade)[19] and was assigned directly to the 7th Armoured Division; it remained with the division for the rest of the war.[17] The regiment supported the 7th Armoured Division during the rest of the Western Desert campaign[20] taking part in the Battle of Gazala (26 June – 21 June 1942), the Defence of the El Alamein Line (1 – 27 July), the Battle of Alam el Halfa (30 August – 7 September), and the Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 4 November).[25][c] It then took part in the Tunisian campaign including the Battles of Medenine (6 March 1943), Mareth (16 – 23 March), Akarit (6 and 7 April), Enfidaville (19 – 29 April), and Tunis (5 – 12 May).[25]

The regiment was withdrawn to Libya to rest and refit thereby missing the

Normandy Landings
In 1945, the regiment led the Allied Victory parade in Berlin, and fired the Victory Salute.

Post War

After World War II the regiment served in the UK,

UNPROFOR to Bosnia

In 1998, the regiment moved to Caen Barracks,

7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats. They remained in Hohne until it closed in 2015.[29]

In December 2000 D Battery deployed as part of NATO's KFOR to Kosovo on Op Agricola.[30]

Under

L118 Light Guns. From 1 March 2015 to 1 July 2022, the 105th Regiment Royal Artillery was paired with this regiment.[31]

From 2020 to 2022, the Regiment deployed as part of the

Operation Cabrit (Poland and Estonia).[32]

Under the

1st Deep Recce Strike Brigade Combat Team (a merger of 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade and 1st Artillery Brigade) in 1 July 2022.[33] In March 2023,[34] the regiment re-roled to the Deep Fires role losing its L118 Light guns and replaced them with new M270 MLR Systems.[35] Two batteries (C & D) re-equipped with the M270, while J (Sidi Rezegh) Battery became the headquarters battery and M Battery was placed in suspended animation.[35] N Battery (Eagle Troop) joined 7 Parachute Regiment, RHA as N Parachute Battery (Eagle Troop).[35] On deployment, the regiment would be supported by a battery of the reserve 101st (Northumbrian) Regiment, RA.[36]

Batteries

The regiment consists of the following batteries:[37]

Equipment

D Battery, 3rd Royal Horse Artillery firing an AS-90 on exercise in the Czech Republic, 12 May 2009.

The regiment has been equipped with the following weapons during its existence:[38]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 3rd Royal Horse Artillery.

Notes

  1. ^ The experience of the BEF in 1940 showed the problem with this organisation: field artillery regiments were intended to support an infantry or armoured brigade of three battalions or regiments. This could not be managed without severe disruption to the regiment. As a result, field artillery regiments were reorganised into three 8-gun batteries.[8]
  2. 7th Support Group, also won a Victoria Cross in the same action.[22]
  3. 25 pounders.[26]

References

  1. ^ "Army – Question for Ministry of Defence". p. 1. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  2. ^ "3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery - British Army".
  3. ^ "The Royal Artillery". Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  4. ^ Baker, Chris. "What was an artillery brigade?". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  5. ^ Clarke 1993, p. 32
  6. ^ Clarke 1993, p. 131
  7. ^ a b "3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery". Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  8. ^ Forty 1998, p. 73
  9. ^ a b c Clarke 1993, p. 97
  10. ^ a b c Clarke 1993, p. 100
  11. ^ a b c Clarke 1993, p. 101
  12. ^ Clarke 1993, p. 104
  13. ^ a b Clarke 1993, p. 151
  14. ^ Joslen 1990, p. 470
  15. ^ Joslen 1990, p. 130
  16. ^ a b Clarke 1993, p. 37
  17. ^ a b Joslen 1990, p. 19
  18. ^ Clarke 1993, p. 51
  19. ^ a b Joslen 1990, p. 218
  20. ^ a b "M (Headquarters) Battery History". 3 RHA Past & Present Members Association. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  21. ^ "No. 35530". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 April 1942. p. 1741.
  22. ^ "No. 35442". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 January 1942. p. 545.
  23. ^ Clarke 1993, p. 155
  24. ^ Clarke 1993, p. 38
  25. ^ a b c Joslen 1990, p. 21
  26. ^ a b Joslen 1990, p. 569
  27. ^ a b Joslen 1990, p. 20
  28. ^ a b "3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery". British Army Units 1945 on. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  29. ^ "Caen Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  30. ^ "3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  31. ^ "Transforming the British Army - An Update July 2013" (PDF). Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). July 2013. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  32. ^ "Gunner Magazine Mar 22" (PDF).
  33. ^ "Future Soldier Guide" (PDF). United Kingdom Parliamentary Publishings. Ministry of Defence. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  34. ^ "3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery - Facebook page".
  35. ^ a b c "The Integrated Review and Future Soldier - RA Association". www.thegunners.org.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  36. ^ "The Gunner Magazine (online): December 2021" (PDF). The Gunners. Regimental Headquarters, Royal Regiment of Artillery. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  37. ^ "3 Regiment Royal Horse Artillery". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  38. ^ A. Young. "3rd Regiment RHA". British Army units from 1945 on. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  39. ^ Clarke 1993, p. 50

Bibliography

External links
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