9 (Plassey) Battery Royal Artillery is an

air defence Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

battery of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

that serves with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

's 12th Regiment Royal Artillery. It is stationed at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island,

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

. The battery was originally formed as the first unit of the Bengal Artillery, raised in 1749 as part of the

Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

's Army. Its original name was 1 Company, Bengal Artillery, and it was stationed in Fort William in Calcutta. It was still manning the fort when the Nawab of Bengal attacked it. The majority of the battery subsequently died as prisoners of the Nawab in the now infamous

Black Hole of Calcutta The Black Hole of Calcutta was a dungeon in Fort William, West Bengal, Fort William, Calcutta, measuring , in which troops of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawabs of Bengal, Nawab of Bengal, held British Prisoner of war, prisoners of war on the night ...

incident. Soon after the battery saw action in the

Battle of Plassey The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company, under the leadership of Robert Clive, over the Nawab of Bengal and his French Indies Company, French allies on 23 June 1757. The victory was made possible by the de ...

as part of the force led by Sir Clive of India on 23 June 1757. It was the battery's heroic actions at this battle which later earned it the honour title 'Plassey'. On 19 February 1862 all the artillery of the East India Company was transferred to the

, and the battery became 1 Battery, 24 Brigade. In 1876 the battery moved to England and suffered an eclectic 6 years, changing its role and name many times. In 1882 it returned to what it knew and was posted to Burma, fighting in the Third Burma War. In 1889 it finally settled as 2 Mountain Battery, a title it would retain for the next fifty years. It finally became 9 (Plassey) Battery on 19 March 1947.

History

Early history

The capture of Madras by the French in 1746 brought home to the Honourable East Indian Company the error of omitting artillery from its regular forces. So on 17 June 1748, the Court of Directors of the Company authorised the formation of three artillery companies in Bengal, Bombay and Madras. These orders took some months to reach India and did not become effective until 1749. The first Bengal Artillery unit was raised in 1749. It was originally titled 1 Company, Bengal Artillery and was quartered in Fort William, Calcutta. The early records of the Battery were destroyed in the sacking of Calcutta in 1749, so the details are limited. However, it is known that the Battery was commanded by Capt Witherington and consisted of 5 other officers, 4 sergeant-bombardiers, 4 corporals, 100 gunners and 2 drummers. The company, much as like today, was double-hatted; as well as carrying out the normal artillery duties it also performed engineering and labouring tasks. Fort William was established to protect the Honourable East India Company's growing trade interests in Bengal. The fort provided protection from the French and was a base from which to colonise the remainder of Bengal. The Nawab of Bengal, Suraj Ud Doulah was unimpressed with the British military buildup and saw it as a direct threat to his rule in the province. He ordered an immediate halt to the fort's military enhancements; however, the Company did not heed his instruction and continued their enhancements. The stand off came to a head in June 1756 when he laid siege to the fort. The garrison commander organised an escape from the fort leaving behind a small military force to hold back the Nawab of Bengal's army, until reinforcements could arrive. The remaining force was commanded by John Zephaniah Howell and was quickly depleted by casualties and deserters. This resulted in the defence becoming untenable. On 20 June 1756 Fort William was in the hands of the Nawab. On capturing the fort the Nawab's Army took 146 prisoners. They were all housed in a 14 by 20 ft room which was later to become known as the ‘Black Hole of Calcutta.’ During the night 123 people died, including 45 members of our original Battery. The remnants of the Battery escaped to Fulta and joined a detachment of Madras Artillery commanded by Lieutenant William Jennings, part of the relief force of 230 Europeans led by Major Kilpatrick. Further reinforcements arrived at Fulta from Madras in December 1756 under the command of Sir Robert Clive. The Battery was equipped with 14 guns, most of which were 6-pounders. Under the command of the recently promoted Capt Jennings, they were involved in the battles against the Nawab's Army at Budge-Budge on 29 December and the capture of the Hoogli River on 10 January 1757. The Nawab then tried to counter-attack and assaulted Calcutta in February 1757, unfortunately for him, the attempt failed. Therefore, he was forced to make peace, but on terms advantageous to the Company.

Battle of Plassey

First World War

The battery fought during the first world war as 2nd Mountain Battery Royal Artillery spending most of the war fighting in the Salonika Campaign in the area of

Lake Doiran Doiran Lake (, ''Dojransko Ezero''; , ''Límni Dhoïráni''), also spelled Dojran Lake is a lake with an area of shared between North Macedonia () and Greece (). To the west is the city of Nov Dojran (Нов Дојран), to the east the vill ...

Post World War Two

On arrival in Germany, 12th Regiment was converted to the

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

role as part of 6th Armoured Division and the battery was re-equipped with Bofors guns (initially with the L/60 variant, later L/70). It spent most of the 1950s and 1960s in Germany, though from 1963 to 1966 it was at Tampin, Malaya (at the time of the

confrontation Confrontation is an element of conflict wherein parties confront one another, directly engaging one another in the course of a dispute between them. A confrontation can be at any scale, between any number of people, between entire nations or cu ...

). From 25 November 1971 to 17 March 1972 it undertook the first of nine roulement tours to Northern Ireland ( Operation Banner) in the

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

role, either with 12th Regiment or separately. A Rapier missile speeds towards its target during a live firing

It moved to Rapier Barracks, Kirton-in-Lindsay in August 1972. From July 1973, 9 (Plassey) Battery of the regiment began trials with the

Rapier A rapier () is a type of sword originally used in Spain (known as ' -) and Italy (known as '' spada da lato a striscia''). The name designates a sword with a straight, slender and sharply pointed two-edged long blade wielded in one hand. It wa ...

anti-aircraft missile and by September 1975 the regiment was back in Germany fully equipped with the new system. It returned to Rapier Barracks in May 1981 and was there when the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

broke out. 9 Battery was dispatched to the South Atlantic to take part in the conflict. It was back in Germany in January 1985, by now equipped with Tracked Rapier. From there, it deployed to the Gulf in January 1991 to take part in the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. It returned to England in 2009 and has been based at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island,

since then.

Current status

Under

Army 2020 Army 2020 is the restructuring of the British Army in the early and mid-2010s, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. The plan, as its name suggested, was intended to be completed by 2020, though most of its reorganisations ...

plans, 12th Regiment was reorganised. It is equipped with Starstreak

Surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

s mounted on Stormer armoured vehicles.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links

* * * {{cite web , url=http://british-army-units1945on.co.uk/royal-artillery/12th-regiment-ra.html , title=12th Regiment RA , publisher=British Army units from 1945 on , access-date=29 December 2015 , first=A. , last=Young Royal Artillery batteries 1838 establishments in British India Honourable East India Company regiments