The Batteries
36th Regiment Royal Artillery
&
37th Regiment Royal Artillery
On this page we will try to tell you some of the History of the Batteries that have been associated
with 36th & 37th Regiment's Royal Artillery. I will try to find out as much as is possible about
each Battery and update this page as I progress.
Please Click Below
56 (Olpherts) Battery
Royal Artillery
56 (Olpherts) Special Weapons Battery has its origins in India as 5th Company
3rd Battalion Bengal Artillery formed on 2nd June 1786. It was frequently in action,
most notably during the siege of Pondichery in 1793, the Nepal war 1814 and the second
siege of Bhurtpore in 1805, the Nepal war 1814 and the second siege of Bhurtpore in 1825.
The Indian Mutiny of 1857 played a significant part in Battery history. During the first
relief of lucknow, Captain Olpherts or “Hellfire Jack” as he was known
(later General Sir William Olpherts) won the Victoria Cross for conspicuous gallantry; he
charged the enemy on horseback and captured two rebel guns which were pouring fire
onto the flanks of the advancing forces. To commemorate this distinction on 19th October
1966, the honour title “OLPHERTS” was awarded to 56 Battery Royal Artillery as the
direct descendants of Captain Olpherts Battery.
The First World War saw the Battery in action in places whose names have become
famous in the annals of the British Army, Mons - Hooge - Arras - Bethune -
Le Cateau - Cambrai and Le Bassee.
In the Second World War Olpherts was predominantly involved in Malta and Italy
as both a field and medium battery equipped with 25pdrs and 5.5in guns. It was
reformed on 1st April 1947 as an anti-aircraft battery, which it remained, serving with
both guns and guided weapons in 36 Regiment until 28th March 1968. The battery then
moved to 50 Missile Regiment Royal Artillery, changing role and taking on towed
8” Howitzers. In April 1972 Olpherts became self - propelled with the introduction of
M110 and moved to 27 Regiment Royal Artillery in Lippstadt on 2nd November 1972.
On the formation of 39 Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery in April 1982 Olpherts
moved to Paderborn to support 4th Armoured Division. On 1st November 1987 the Battery
was re-designated 56 (Olpherts) Special Weapons Battery and assumed its operational role of
nuclear support to 1st British Corps M109 regiments on 1st July 1988. The Battery lost its
role on 31 July 1992. It then amalgamated with Headquarter Battery 39 Heavy Regiment
to form 56 (Olpherts) Headquarter battery.
1857
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2nd Company, 3rd Battalion,
Bengal Artillery
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1889
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23 Field Battery formed from A Battery,
3rd Field Brigade.
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1901
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23 Battery became part of 40 Brigade RFA and served on the Western Front 1914 - 1918 with the 3rd Division.
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1920
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23 Battery in 12 Brigade RFA.
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1938
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23 Field Battery in 12th Field Regiment.
Served in Malta from April 1941,
and Eygpt March 1942.
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Nov 1943
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Converted to 252 Medium Battery
and served in Italy.
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1.1.1947
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Converted to 56 HAA Battery,
36 HAA Regiment.
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28.3.1968
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Left 36 Regiment for 50 Missile Regiment.
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2.11.1972
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Moves to 27 Medium Regiment.
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Feb 1993
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Moves to 39 Regiment.
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As far as I can assertain, this is the origin of 60 Battery. You will notice the frequent
re-numbering of many Batteries. The term "Brigade" was replaced by "Regiment".
1791
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60 Battery came into existence with the
East India Company
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60 Coast Battery
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19 Heavy Battery
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13 Battery
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8th Brigade
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1882
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4 Battery
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1st Brigade
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1889
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8 Company
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Eastern Division, RGA
at Aden
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1901
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Became 40 Company RGA
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Sierra Leone
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1904
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Moves to Dover
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1920
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L Battery RGA
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Dover
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1924
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24 Heavy Battery
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Dover
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1927
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19 Heavy Battery
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Bereheven
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April 1933
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Battery became part of 2 Heavy Brigade
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1938
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2 Coast Regiment
Regiment remained in the UK and
became 16 Coast Regiment in 1947
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Colchester
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1940
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19 Coast Battery
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2 Coast Regiment
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22.3.1946
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19 Coast Battery
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Disbanded
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1.1.1947
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60 Coast Battery
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16 Coast Regiment
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1.10.1948
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60 Heavy Anti- Aircraft Battery
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36 HAA Regiment, Malta
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1. 4.1959
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60 (GW) Anti-Aircraft Battery
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Shoeburyness
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17.3.1964 - 1.4.1968
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60 Heavy Air Defence Battery
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Suspended Animation
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60 Battery was put into Suspended Animation when 36 and 37 Regiments
amalgamated at Shoeburyness.
As far as I can assertain, this is the Origin of 168 Battery. You will notice the frequent
re-numbering of many Batteries. The term "Brigade" was replaced by "Regiment".
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3 Battery
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10th Brigade
Suspended Animation
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1882
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6 Battery
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1st Brigade
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1894
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19 Company, Eastern Division RGA
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Gibraltar
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1901
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76 Company RGA
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Aden
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June 1924
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35 Heavy Battery
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Aden
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July 1927
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29 Heavy Battery
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Gibraltar
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26.6.1937
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19 Anti-Aircraft Battery
became part of 3 Coast Brigade
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Gibraltar
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1.6.1940 - 10.3.1941
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19 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery
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10.3.1943
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29 Heavy Battery
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Dec 1943 - Jan 1944
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168 Light Anti-Aircraft Battery
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56 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. Italy
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1.1.1947
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168 Light Anti-Aircraft Battery
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36 HAA Regiment, Malta
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1.10.1948
1.4.1959
1.1.1962
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168 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery
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36 Regiment
Malta, Shoeburyness
Suspended Animation
Disbanded
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168 Battery was put into Suspended Animation and later disbanded when the Regiment gave
up its Guns, and re-equipped with the Thunderbird 1 Missile.
171 ( The Broken Wheel) Battery became part of 37th Field Regiment in April 1947,
in June 1955 the Regiment amalgamated with 63rd HAA Regiment as 37th HAA Regiment.
The Battery remained with the Regiment whilst the Regiment served in Malta. When the
Regiment returned to the UK in September 1959 it was re-titled as 37th Guided Weapon Regiment
(Anti-Aircraft) in November 1959.
The Battery was placed into Suspended Animation in October 1959.
Here is the story of how this Battery received its Honour Title "The Broken Wheel".
This battery was raised as the 2nd Battery Reserve Battalion of the Bombay Artillery in the year
of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, and was shortly afterwards plunged into service which tested it
as no peace-time soldiering could have done.
The rebel held City of Delhi had been recaptured and the siege of Lucknow was about to be
completed when General Sir Hugh Rose was given the task of clearing a vast area in Central India
which was still infested with large forces of mutinous sepoys, disaffected irregular troops, and evilly
disposed persons seeking plunder whereever they could find it. They were inspired, and to a great
extent physically led, by a most re-doubtable Indian princess the Rani of Jhansi, and an equally
formidable rebel leader, one Tantia Topi. The Rani's implacable hatred of British rule was
accompanied by fiendish cruelty towards any Europeans who fell into her hands, but she was
at the same time a lady of dauntless courage and great resource.
These two leaders used the great fortresses which dominated Central India as the pivots
on which they manoeuvred and brought into the field forces which far outnumbered those
with which Sir Hugh could counter them. The short campaign in which he cleared the whole
area and signally defeated the rebel armies is a model of bold offensive action. Armed primarily
only with light guns and howitzers Sir Hugh's 2nd Brigade, supported by 2/Res Bn., Bombay
Artillery, was first flung against the hill fortress of Rahatgarh which it took after beating off a
relieving force. Joined by Sir Hugh's 1st Brigade, the whole force swept on to the fortress of
Jhansi which was held by 10,000 Native levies and 1,500 rebel sepoys under command of the Rani.
The City's fortified perimeter was 4 and a half miles in circumference with granite walls 20-30
feet high and 6-12 feet thick, and with the usual bastions covering the approaches. In one corner
was the Citadel, towering high above the city on a huge rock with inner defences of daunting strength.
To stand today on the plain south of the city, alongside the fine memorial to the Rani, and to look
up at this great fortress dominating the surrounding country makes it seem incredible that it could
have been taken by a force of a total strength of less than 2,000 men.
There were two small hills a few hundred yards from the city walls and on them the
breaching batteries were established, one of them manned by 2/Res Bn. By nightfall of the first
day of action practicable breaches had been made, but, before the assault could be made,
news came of the approach of a relieving force, 22,000 strong with 25 guns, under Tantia Topi.
Without the slightest hesitation Sir Hugh recalled the columns that were poised for the storm,
brought his guns out of action, and, with no more than 1,500 men, launched that tiny force in a head
on action attack on the rebel army. The audacity of this move, and the excellent support provided
by his guns, utterly routed Tantia Topi's army which was dispersed to the winds. Sir Hugh then
returned to his siege, the storming columns flung themselves through the breaches and the
fortress was captured. The Rani however, who had often been seen with her ladies in royal
apparel on the ramparts during the siege, was let down a precipice below the walls and
escaped with her adopted son.
And so the campaign continued. The fortresses of Kunch and Kalpi were taken, and finally Gwalior -
another gigantic hill fort which had been the Capital of the Mahratta prince Sindhia - fell to this
invincible army and peace was restored to Central India. Having started its life in this stirring way,
under a commander to whom nothing was impossible, 2/3 Bombay Artillery (as the unit became in 1859)
was absorbed, with the other European units of the Indian Artilleries, into the Royal Artillery after
the Mutiny. It then led a quiet life until it went to war again to win its Honour Title in the
Egyptian campaign of 1882.
This war followed an armed rising in which Europeans in Alexandria were massacred and to
counter which an expedition was launced underSir Garnet Wolseley's command. With it went N/2 RA
armed with 16 pounder RML guns, and, throughout the operations the loose sand of the desert
was to prove a serious obstruction to the movement of all wheeled vehicles and often prevented
the ammunition wagons from keeping up with the guns.
Landing at Ismailia the British force advanced towards the Nile delta, met and defeated the
Egyptian army at Kassassin, and finally confronted it in a well prepared and entrenched position
at Tel-el-Kebir. It was essential if the war was to be won quickly not merly to manoeuvre the
enemy out of that position but actually to crush him there for good.
It was decided to attack at dawn after an approach march by night. The latter difficult
operation was to be carried out by the two infantry and one cavalry divisions moving in line,
in an echelon from the left with all the seven field batteries, also in line, in an interval between
the two infantry divisions.The left hand infantry division arrived first at the enemy's entrenchments in
the half light and was met by a blaze of fire. Their attack was not at first completely successful but
with the aid of their supports they and the other division forced their way into the entrenchments
where hand to hand fighting continued.
Meanwhile the guns had been halted until there was enough light to see what was going on;
but, as dawn broke, they were ordered forward to come into action inside the entrenchments in
positions from which they could engage the defences in enfilade. N/2 galloped forward with the
rest and, in the words of an officer of the battery writing just after the battle, "All of a sudden the
smoke lifted like a curtain and we found ourselves close to a long line of entrenchments....
We at once went on and Major Branker found an angle in the line just in front where the ditch was
not so deep, so the right gun galloped straight at it. It went with a bump into the ditch, and stuck fast
on the face of the parapet, with most of the horses over; but a lot of 42nd rushed to our help,
and we lifted and shoved the gun over; but found one of the wheels smashed to pieces".
Though one of its guns had thus come to grief, since a gun with a broken wheel is a gun out of
action for the time being, N/2 brought its remaining guns into action inside the entrenchments and
engaged the rearward parts of the defences with effective shrapnel fire in enfilade at 1,000 yeard range.
The enemy, flaided both from the front and in flank, were broken up, the victory was complete,
and N/2 obtained its Honour Title of The Broken Wheel.
111 (Dragon) Battery
Royal Artillery
Dragon Battery was founded as G Company, the Madras Foot Artillery in 1806.
In 1840-41, it was then D Company, 3rd Battalion, Madras Artillery.
The Dragon Honour Titles are held by certain units which were previously part of the
Madras Artillery of the Honourable East India Company. They commemorate service in the
expedition to China in 1840-41, for which those units which took part were authorised to wear a
golden dragon wearing the Imperial Crown and the word China on their appointments.
The Battery was put into Suspended Animation on the 17th March 1984.
111 and 10 Batteries have had very similar histories in that they belonged to the same
parent Brigade / Regiment from 1900 until 1977.
As far as I can assertain, this is the Origin of 111 (Dragon) Battery.
You will notice the frequent re-numbering of many Batteries.
1806
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G Company
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Madras Foot Artillery
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1824-25
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Fought in the Burma War
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1840
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D Company, 3rd Battalion
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Madras Artillery
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1889
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Formed from O Battery / 2nd Brigade as
48 (Dragon) Field Battery
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March 1900
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Battery joins the newly formed
36 Brigade RFA. The Brigade served on the Western
Front between 1914 and 1919 as part of the
2nd Division.
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1914-18
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Western Front
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June 1924
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The 36 Brigade was renumbered as
26th Brigade and retained 48 Battery.
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May 1938
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26th Brigade was re-roled as
26th Anti-tank Regiment, still with 48 Battery.
Initially allocated to the 3rd Division at Bulford, the Regiment was in Malta at the outbreak of the war.
The Regiment stayed in Malta until Sept 1943 as a
Coast Defence Regiment.
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14.12.1940
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48 (Dragon) Mobile Coast Battery
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March 1941
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9/71 Defence Battery
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July 1941
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48 Defence Battery
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September 1943
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Re-roled as a Medium Regiment,
and 48 Battery became 48/71 Medium Battery.
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26th Medium Regiment
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18.10.1943
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C (Dragon) Troop, 48/71 Medium Battery
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23.3.1946
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48 Field Battery
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26th Field Regiment
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January 1947
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26th Field Regiment became 37th Field Regiment, and
48 Battery became 111(Dragon) Battery.
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20.10.1948
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111( Dragon) Heavy Anti - Aircraft Battery
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37 HAA Regiment
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1.10.1959
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111(Dragon) GW Anti - Aircraft Battery
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37 GW (AA) Regiment
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1963
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111 (Dragon) Battery in Aden
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8 Months
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18.3.1964
1.4.1968
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111(Dragon) Heavy Air Defence Battery
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37 HAD Regiment
36 HAD Regiment
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1978
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111(Dragon) Air Defence Battery
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2nd Field Regiment
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17.3.1984
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111(Dragon) Air Defence Battery
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19 Field Regiment
Suspended Animation
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10 (Assaye) Battery
Royal Artillery
As far as I can assertain, this is the Origin of 10 (Assaye) Battery.
You will notice the frequent re-numbering of many Batteries.
1755
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3rd Company, Bombay Artillery
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1799
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Battle of Seringapataam
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23rd Sept 1803
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Battle of Assaye
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1843
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Battle of Hyderabad
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1843 - 1914
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Battery in service in India, England & Ireland
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1889
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Formed from H Battery / 2nd Brigade as
15 Field Battery
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March 1900
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Joined the newly formed 36 Brigade RFA.
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August 1914
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Battery deployed with the BEF to France.
The Brigade served on the Western Front between
1914 and 1919 as part of the 2nd Division.
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1918 - 1939
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The Battery re-roled on a number of occasions, ultimately forming a Coastal Battery.
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June 1924
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The 36 Brigade was renumbered as
26th Brigade and retained 15 Battery.
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May 1938
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26th Brigade was re-roled as
26th Anti-Tank Regiment, still with 15 Battery.
Initially allocated to the 3rd Division at Bulford,
the Regiment was in Malta from 1940-43.
The Regiment stayed in Malta until Sept 1943
as a Coast Defence Regiment.
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26th Anti-Tank Regiment
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3.9.1940
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15 Mobile Coastal Defence Battery
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14.12.1940
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15 Mobile Coast Battery
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September 1943
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Re-roled as a Medium Regiment, and 15 Battery became A Troop, 40 Medium Battery.
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26th Medium Regiment
Serving in Syria, Palestine and Italy.
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25.3.1946
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15 (Assaye) Battery
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26th Field Regiment
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January 1947
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26th Field Regiment became
37th Field Regiment, and 15 Battery became
10 (Assaye) Field Battery.
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20.10.1948
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10(Assaye) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery
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37 HAA Regiment
3.7 inch Guns
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1.10.1959
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10(Assaye) Guided Weapon (AA) Battery
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37 GW (AA) Regiment
Thunderbird 1
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18.3.1964
1.4.1968
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10 (Assaye) Heavy Air Defence Battery
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37 HAD Regiment
36 HAD Regiment
Thunderbird 2
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1978
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10(Assaye) Air Defence Battery
Became an Independent Battery within
45 Field Regiment at Hohne
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45 Field Regiment
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1993
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10(Assaye) Air Defence Battery
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47th Regiment
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10 (Assaye) Battery is still in operation with 47 Regiment Royal Artillery.
Before 1947, the numbers 10 and 111 were used by other Batteries which adopted different numbers in 1947.
10 Battery formed in 1889 and joined 17 Brigade RFA in 1900. It served with the 29th Division at Gallipoli in 1915,
and on the Western Front 1916-18. In World War 2, 10 Battery continued to serve with 17 Field Regiment.
It served in France in 1940 with 4th then 51st Divisions, and in Tunisia and Italy 1942-45 with the 78th Division.
In 1947 the 17th Field Regiment became 19th Field Regiment, and 10 Battery became 25 Battery.
25 Battery served with 19th Field Regiment until 1999, and is now with 47 Regiment.
111 Battery was formed in 1900 and served with the 6th Division on the Western Front 1914-1918.
After some changes of designation, 111 Battery served as part of 30th Field Regiment 1939-45.
As part of the 4th Infantry Division, it served in France 1940, Tunisia 1943, Italy 1944 and Greece 1945-46.
In 1947 30th Field Regiment became 38th Training Regiment, and 111 Battery became 193 Battery
which was disbanded in 1954.
Why the Royal Regiment keeps changing numbers of Batteries is a complicated story,
which I cannot begin to understand.
N.B. I would like to thank Colin Doran and Graham Watson for thier help in obtaining information concerning the Batteries.
Copyright: Keith Holderness 2001- 2019
All rights reserved
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