Battery History

10 Battery was originally formed in 1755 and was formed as the 3^rd Company Bombay Artillery.  At the time of formation the Battery was equipped with cannons, which were drawn by elephants.  The three main honour titles held by the Battery are:

Seringpatam - 1799           Assaye - 1803          Hyderabad - 1843

Seringpatam and Hyderabad are honour titles that have been given to two of the troops within the Battery and are still retained to this day.  Assaye is the main honour title for the Battery, hence the name 10 (Assaye) Battery.

The appellation Assaye is an honour title that carries with it the distinction of the white elephant crest on all the Batterys appointments.   Assaye itself is situated in India.  The British forces deployed in India at the time were commanded by a then young General Wellesley.  Who later became the Duke of Wellington and commanded the British Forces at the Battle of Waterloo.  

The Battle of Assaye took place on the 23^rd September 1803.  General Wellesley used his great judgment of the country and his troops, which enabled him to set the stage for a decisive battle. After going forward himself and carrying out a penetrating recce his plan was set.  Into battle they went and despite gaining surprise and forcing the Maharatta’s to change tack, the vast number of enemy soldiers led to a stubborn resistance and heavy causalities of 27% on the British side.  It is hard to see how the 3^rd Company was used in this battle, however the consensus leads towards a decentralized role as battalion guns.  In this role, they would have been used to cover battalion volleys, and to cover the flanks when the infantry were involved in hand to hand fighting.  The battle eventually turned out to be a decisive victory and saved India for the British.  Later in his career when asked of his greatest achievement, without hesitation General Wellesley replied “Assaye”.

Between 1843-1914, the Battery saw service in India, England and Ireland.  When the Battery deployed to Ireland it was mainly used for training militia units in the use of Artillery weapons.

In August 1914, the Battery deployed with the British Expedition Force to France.    Horlock used his powers of persuasion and once again returned to his gun, once more he was wounded, this time in the arm.

Since the Second World War the Battery has been involved in Air Defence, initially with 3.7-inch guns.  In the 50’s it became one of the first units in the British Army to be equipped with guided weapons the Thunderbird missile.  

In the early 70’s like many of the units in the British Army, the Battery found itself deployed in Northern Ireland.  The Battery conducted several tours of the province in the early 70’s.  

In 1978, the Battery again re-equipped this time with the Blowpipe missile, which was used in the Falklands campaign.  As you can see by the picture on the right, Blowpipe is fired off the shoulder and is a much smaller more compact system than the Thunderbird missile.  This made Air Defence more mobile and brought it closer to other units.

In 1985, the Battery updated its air defence capabilities and converted to the Javelin missile system.  Similar to the Blowpipe in that it could also be fired off the shoulder.  The major advantage was that the missile could be fired from the Lightweight Multiple Launcher.   This gave the operator a more stable platform to fire from.  By combining the use of the CVR(T) petrol Spartan and Javelin made this a highly mobile system.  

In 1993 the Battery moved to Thorney Island to form part of 47 Air Defence Regt RA with 31 HQ Battery, 21 Battery and 43 Battery.  Recently the Regt has added another Battery to its strength with the addition of a new Battery 25/170 Battery.

During the next six years the Battery has deployed to Northern Ireland in both the Urban and Rural role The Batterys role in NI was to assist the RUC in preventing terrorism. The Battery has deployed to the province as a Battery and more recently single troops have provided assistance to other RA regiments.  Members of the Battery have also deployed to Bosnia supporting other units.

More recently in 1999 the Battery deployed to Cyprus with the rest of the Regt as UN Peacekeepers.  Their role was to observe and patrol the Buffer Zone between the Greek Cypriots in the South and the Turkish Cypriots in the North.  This was done from observation towers and also by the use of foot and vehicle patrols.

As far as the near future goes the Regt and Battery has again re-equipped this time with the High Velocity Missile or HVM.  This again is a technological advance in air defence and will increase our mobility on the battlefield.  

Early in 2001 the Battery was heavily involved in OP Peninsula this involved members of the Battery assisting the Ministry of Agriculture for Farms and Fisheries (MAFF).  The Battery was deployed to the Stafford area assisting MAFF in the control of the Foot and Mouth disease.

No sooner had the Battery returned from OP Peninsula and most had taken their Easter leave during June, then the call came for support to OP Fresco in Merseyside.   Members of the Battery deployed to the Merseyside area to take up their positions on the Army Green Goddesses.  The Battery had previously been involved in OP Fresco in 98 when the Essex Fire fighters went on strike, so the task was nothing new to the older and bolder.

Unfortunately this is as far as the history goes at present.  I have contacted the Battery for more up to date information.  Watch this space!!