Page 30 - 1RHA 2024

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
nut Troop paused to conduct an urban warfare concentration, refreshing old skills and developing new ones. Making use of Sim-munition rounds in a close-quarters battle, the Battery was able to successfully clear the forces of 19RA that had occupied Little Folly Compound. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity the Chestnut Troop soon came to experience the challenges of urban operations as they pushed through the congested environ- ment and hail of paint rounds. The learning curve was steep but the experience a memorable one.
Moving to the direct fire area, the guns conducted modified indirect fire serials alongside direct fire training, to great effect by the number ones and GPO. Under the control of the GAC, GPO, the Gun Line Section Commanders and Number Ones engaged Salisbury Plain’s tank hulks with155mm HE and were keen behind the scenes to establish the best shot in the Battery. Linking up with L Battery’s FSTs, the Battery was the first to trial the Regiment’s newly devised data orders for a gun raid, planned by the Regimental 2ic and Adjt in Regimental Main HQ. Escorted by L Battery’s Warriors, the Battery executed the raid under radio silence. Delivering a sharp salvo against two targets, the action met the planned time on target. Engaging targets with no more orders than a gun program was a novel freedom enjoyed by the Gun Number Ones. This successful first trial of gun raid in the newly devised ‘SOC 18’ guise - and the Regiment’s first live gun raid in years - has enabled further refinements, working towards introducing SOC 18 to doctrine.
At the culmination of the exercise, the Battery practiced their quick action drills. Moving in column about the Plain, the guns would receive a call for fire whilst on the move, quickly firing onto their targets from their positions on the road. The sight of the three guns, near nose-to-tail, was impressive. Equally impressive was the shock waves of the muzzle blasts that rolled over the CPs. Hot on the tails of this, the Chestnut guns then defended their gun position against an infantry attack from the forces of
19RA, successfully concluding a demanding and novel exercise that proved to be a key training event before their 9 months in Estonia.
CYPHER WARRIOR
Ex CYPHER WARRIOR represented the most significant deploy- ment of 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery in over three years. 1RHA deployed a Regiment (-) onto Salisbury Plain, including four AS90 from The Chestnut Troop (on their final exercise in the UK), six 105mm Light Guns from E Battery, directed by the FSTs of E and L “Néry” Batterys all under the control of OHQ Battery’s HQ elements. This marked the first time E Battery would live fire on their new platform, having completed their conversion to L118 in the early Spring. The last time that the Battery had conducted missions on the L118 had been their deployment on Op HERRICK 18 in 2013.
The two Gun Batterys initially conducted danger close fire mis- sions, re-visiting live ‘close target engagements’ using ‘Special Burst Safety Distance’ for the first time on Salisbury Plain in many years. Under the control of FSTs from E and L Battery’s mounted in Warrior OPVs, E Bty and Chestnuts guns crept rounds to within 200m from the OPs. The FSTs reported the fire to be so close that the fragmentation was audibly ricocheting off their armoured vehicles. SOC 18 Artillery Raid was further tested, with Regimental Main HQ planning and executing a regimental gun raid, for the first time using the SOC format with multiple fire units along multiple routes. The raid was intended to practise the Regi- ment in massing fires in depth against brigade or divisional-level targets. This requires close co-ordination with the combat arms, as the raid progresses and extracts through their turf, requiring route clearance and protection. This time battery recce parties were escorted to firing positions right up against the FLOT, before extracting to their subsequent firing locations for the rest of the day. Once again, the raid - E Bty’s first - was a success, revealing
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