A Brief History of
3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery

The Batteries of 3 RHA have existed since the Napoleonic Wars but the modern Regiment, 3^rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, was formed at Abassia Barracks, Cairo on the 27^th August 1938 from 3^rd Brigade Royal Horse Artillery.

The Regiment consisted of two Batteries,d/index.htmjand M/P, later reformed as D, J and M Batterys.

Throughout the desert campaigns of 1939 – 1943 and the North West European campaign of 1944 – 1945 Regiment supported 7^th Armoured Division “The Desert Rats”.  During the first campaign at the battle of Sidi Rezegh on the 21^st November 1941, 2Lt Ward’s Gun was awarded the Posthumous Victoria Cross for Conspicuous Gallantry, The Regiment commemorates this by wearing a red backing to the Cypher.

The regiment led the allied victory parade in Berlin in 1945 firing the victory salute.  In 1958 C Battery joined the Regiment from 5^th Heavy Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and M Battery was placed in suspended animation. 

After the Second World War the Regiment served in the UK, Western Germany, Aden, Egypt, Kenya, Hong Kong and Cyprus.  In 1975 M Battery was revived and in 1976 the Regiment completed its sixth tour in Northern Ireland.  On 1^st January 1978 at Devizes the Regiment was disbanded and the four Batterys became independent divisional anti-tank Batteries equipped with Swingfire. 

The Regiment was reformed in Paderborn, West Germany, from C, D and J (Sidi Rezegh) Batteries on the 1^st April 1984, and M Battery was once again placed in suspended animation.  Since then the Regiment has completed tours of duty in Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Bosnia. 

On the 1^st November 1993 in Alanbrooke Barracks, Topcliffe, N Battery (The Eagle Troop) joined the Regiment from 2^nd Regiment Royal Artillery and Headquarter Battery was amalgamated with reformed M Battery to form M Headquarter Battery. 

In August 1998 the Regiment moved from Topcliffe to Hohne, Germany.  After a short settling in period the Regiment, equipped with AS90 deployed on Op Palentine in Bosnia Herzegovina, the Regiment returned in July 1999. 

In November 1999 N Battery (The Eagle Troop) left the Regiment and amalgamated with L Battery, 1^st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery who are currently located in Assaye Barracks, Tidworth, Hampshire.

The new millennium has proved to be a very busy time for the regiment with a six month operational tour of Bosnia and Kosovo from December 2000 to June 2001.  The Regiment deployed to Iraq between March and July 2003 and returned from a six month United Nations tour of Cyprus in May 2004.