Captain Norman Ramsay, Royal Horse Artillery, Galloping his Troop Through the French Army to Safety at the Battle of Fuentes d'Onoro, 1811
Its most famous[2][3] action during the Peninsular War occurred at the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro on 5 May 1811 when it was temporarily under the command of LieutenantNorman Ramsay.[lower-alpha 1] The troop was surrounded by French cavalry and cut off from the main force. With the guns limbered up and swords drawn, they charged through the surprised enemy horsemen thereby saving themselves from being captured.[5]
Armed with six 5+1⁄2-inch howitzers,[lower-alpha 2] it took part in the Hundred Days Campaign in 1815. Early in the Battle of Waterloo it was ordered to support the garrison at Hougoumont. Firing shrapnel over the heads of friendly troops, in 10 minutes it cleared a nearby wood of French tirailleurs, much to the satisfaction of Wellington and Frazer (commander of the horse artillery).[8] It then took part in the advance to Paris and joined the Army of Occupation.[3]
In commemoration of its performance in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo, the Honour Title "Bull's Troop" was officially granted to the battery on 13 October 1926.[9]
In the usual post-war reductions of the British Army, a number of troops of horse artillery were disbanded between 1815 and 1816, including D Troop (Beane's Troop) on 31 July 1816.[10] The remaining troops were then moved up to assume the next available letter[11] and the I Troop became H Troop on the same date.[1]
Victorian era
The next forty years were spent in peacetime routine. The troop was not one of the three sent to take part in the Crimean War,[12][lower-alpha 3] nor one of the three dispatched to India in 1858 to assist in the final operations to quell the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[13][lower-alpha 4] However, by 1 July 1859 it was in Madras when it was assigned to the Horse Brigade, Royal Artillery[14] along with all the existing horse artillery batteries of the Royal Artillery. This was an administrative, rather than tactical, formation.[15]
As a result of the Rebellion, the British Crown took direct control of India from the East India Company on 1 November 1858 under the provisions of the Government of India Act 1858. The Presidency armies transferred to the direct authority of the British Crown and its European units were transferred to the British Army. Henceforth artillery, the mutineers most effective arm, was to be the sole preserve of the British Army (with the exception of certain Mountain Artillery batteries). On 19 February 1862, the Horse Brigade RA became the 1st Horse Brigade RA and the Bengal, Madras and Bombay horse artillery formed the 2nd to 5th Horse Brigades.[16][lower-alpha 5]
The 1st Brigade with 10 batteries was much larger than the other four (with four to seven batteries each). Therefore, a reorganization of the Horse Artillery on 13 April 1864 saw 1st Brigade split as A and B Brigades.[17][lower-alpha 6] The battery was moved to B Brigade, and as battery designations were tied to the brigade the battery was assigned to, it was redesignated as D Battery, B Brigade (or D/B Battery in short).[1] The battery was at Aldershot at this time.[18]
From 1866, the term "Royal Horse Artillery" appeared in Army List[19] hence the battery was designated D Battery, B Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery from about this time. Another reorganization on 14 April 1877 saw the number of brigades reduced to three (of 10 batteries each); the battery–at Meerut[20]–joined A Brigade and became I Battery, A Brigade.[21] The number of brigades was further reduced to two (of 13 batteries each) in 1882 without effecting the designation of the battery[22] by which time it was at Woolwich.[23]
The brigade system was finally abolished on 1 July 1889. Henceforth, batteries were designated in a single alphabetical sequence in order of seniority from date of formation[24] and the battery took on its final designation as I Battery, Royal Horse Artillery.[1]
The brigade system was reintroduced on 1 March 1901, this time as tactical formations, and the battery was assigned to the VIII Brigade-Division, RHA (redesignated as VII Brigade, RHA on 1 October 1906) along with L Battery.[26] In 1903, it was stationed at Secunderabad[27] and in 1905 it took part in the Rawalpindi Parade.[28]
Photo showing 13 pounder gun team galloping into action.
By the time the First World War broke out, the battery had been re-equipped with six quick-firing13 pounders[29] and was stationed at Aldershot, still assigned to VII Brigade with L Battery and attached to the 1st Cavalry Brigade.[30] On mobilization, it joined The Cavalry Division and served with it on the Western Front for the rest of the war.[31] In practice, the batteries were permanently assigned to the cavalry brigades from September 1914 onwards and the battery was attached to 1st Cavalry Brigade on 17 September.[32]
At the Armistice, it was still serving with 1st Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.[36]
Inter-war period
Still with the 1st Cavalry Division, it took part in the advance of the Second Army into Germany.[35] E Subsection[lower-alpha 8] was the first British gun to enter Germany, crossing the frontier at Poteau (between St. Vith and Malmedy and now in the Belgian province of Liège) at 9am on 1 December 1918.[38] It crossed the Rhine by 13 December.[35]
It transferred from Germany to IV Brigade, RHA at Newbridge and Kilkenny in May 1919.[39] IV Brigade survived the immediate post-war reductions in the strength of the RHA, but was dissolved in October 1921 and the batteries became independent: I Battery was posted to India.[40]
In October 1936, the battery returned to the United Kingdom where it joined II Brigade, RHA at Newport.[43] In 1938, field artillery brigades were reorganized from three six-gun batteries to two 12-gun batteries. Rather than disband existing batteries, they were instead linked in pairs. As a result, on 11 May, H Battery (from 8th Field Brigade) and I Battery were linked as H/I Battery, RHA.[44][lower-alpha 9] With effect from May 1938, brigades were redesignated as regiments and II Brigade became 2nd Regiment, RHA on 21 May.[46] By August 1939, the battery had been fully mechanized and equipped with 18/25 pounders.[42][lower-alpha 10]
Second World War
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the battery was still linked with H Battery as H/I Battery in 2nd Regiment, RHA. It remained with the 2nd RHA throughout the war.[46]
Initially part of the 1st Armoured Division in the United Kingdom, in October 1939 it moved to France, where the regiment was placed under direct command of General Headquarters, BEF.[48] It was still serving with the BEF when the Battle of France broke out in May 1940.[49] After evacuation from the continent, it joined the 2nd Armoured Division and was transferred to Egypt with the division in November and December 1940.[50] From January to May 1941 it took part in the Battle of Greece with the 1st Armoured Brigade.[51]
The experience of the BEF in 1940 showed the limitations of having artillery regiments formed with two 12-gun batteries: field regiments were intended to support an infantry brigade of three battalions (or armoured brigade of three regiments). This could not be managed without severe disruption to the regiment. As a result, field regiments were reorganised into three 8-gun batteries.[52] Surprisingly, it was not until April 1942 that H/I was unlinked.[46] At this point the battery was armed with eight 25 pounders.[53]
Other than a period from 1977 to 1984 when the battery (and the regiment) was rerolled as a field artillery unit and posted to the BAOR in Germany, it has been based in England, initially at Aldershot but latterly at Colchester.[61]
Under Army 2020 plans, 7 PARA RHA was reduced from five to three batteries; V Battery was placed in suspended animation[lower-alpha 11] in May 2013[63] and the headquarters battery–H Battery– was transferred to 1st RHA in August of the same year. As a consequence, I Battery was redesignated as the headquarters battery of the regiment as I Parachute HQ Battery (Bull's Troop).[64] It provides command and control for the regiment.[2]
↑ This was exceptional: other RHA batteries at Waterloo were armed with a combination of five 6-pounder guns and a single 5+1⁄2-inch howitzer or five 9-pounder guns and a single 5+1⁄2-inch howitzer.[6][7]
↑ 'Ball Cartridge Brigade', C Troop, and The Rocket Troop took part in the Crimean War, which today are designated as B, C, and O Batteries respectively.[12]
↑ D, E and F Troops were sent to India in 1858, which today are designated as E, D, and G Batteries respectively.[13]
↑ The 1st Brigade Bengal Horse Artillery became 2nd Horse Brigade RA, the Madras Horse Artillery became 3rd Horse Brigade RA, the Bombay Horse Artillery became 4th Horse Brigade RA and the 2nd Brigade Bengal Horse Artillery became 5th Horse Brigade RA. The 3rd Brigade Bengal Horse Artillery was split between 2nd and 5th Horse Brigades RA.[16]
1 2 A Subsection consisted of a single gun and limber drawn by six horses (with three drivers), eight gunners (riding on the limber or mounted on their own horses), and an ammunition wagon also drawn by six horses (with three drivers).[37] Two Subsections formed a Section and in a six gun battery these would be designated as Left, Centre and Right Sections.[29]
↑ "Suspended animation" means that the unit continues to exist but without any personnel or equipment assigned.[62]
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Clarke, W.G. (1993). Horse Gunners: The Royal Horse Artillery, 200 Years of Panache and Professionalism. Woolwich: The Royal Artillery Institution. ISBN09520762-0-9.
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