Organisation of Horse Artillery Regiments.


The Horse artillery regiment provides direct artillery support to Cavalry regiments and consists of two batteries and a headquarters squadron.

Each battery consists of  3 guns, 3 caissons and 3 limbers together with  2 ammunition limbers each towing two ammunition caissons with 12 gunners and 3 mounted Sergeants with a mounted Captain in command supported by a mounted Lieutenant and mounted battery Sergeant Major. Each limber  has two quartermaster drivers giving 10 QM men commanded by a mounted QM Lieutenant supported by a QM Sergeant. The total strength of a battery is therefore 30 of which 7 are mounted.

The headquarters squadron has a Staff troop of 2 men commanded by a Sergeant, a Medical troop of 4 medics with a Surgeon Lieutenant supported by a Medic Sergeant and a Signals troop of 6 Signallers commanded by a Sergeant. The Quartermaster troop has 10 men with a Sergeant in command. The regiment's total QM contingent is under the overall command of a mounted QM Captain. The command troop, all of whom are mounted, has a Lieutenant Colonel as Regimental commander with a Major as second in command and Adjutant supported by a regimental Sergeant Major with two standard bearers carrying the national flag and the regimental flag. In addition, and reporting direct to the regimental commander, is a Fire Control section consisting of a mounted Captain and a Lieutenant, who are responsible for coordinating and directing the fire of the regiment. The total strength of the headquarters company is 35 of whom 8 are mounted, giving a total battalion strength of 95 of whom 22 are mounted. The foot soldiers are carried on the various regimental vehicles to ensure full mobility which is supported by the exclusive use of two wheeled vehicles only.

Apart from the vehicles in each battery, the regiment  also has 5 limbers each towing a light GS trailer with secondary towing of  a field kitchen, water tank trailer, signals trailer, observation trailer and a medical trailer.

The photo shows the guns on the left with gun crews in front,  ammunition vehicles in the centre with the command group in front and supporting vehicles on the right with the headquarters squadron in front.

The arm of service colour is pale green for Horse artillery. My armies have a total of 6 Horse artillery regiments.

Construction of Ammunition Caissons.

Caissons are used in all Artillery and Heavy Weapons battalions. Caissons are the link between limbers and the actual guns and provide a substantial supply of ammunition for immediate use. Additional ammunition is carried in the standard Ammunition wagon except in Horse Artillery regiments where reserve ammunition is carried in double caissons towed by limbers. This is in keeping with the philosophy that only two wheeled vehicles have the mobility needed in the Cavalry environment.. I am aware that the use of a caisson between the limber and the gun is not historically accurate as caissons are usually also towed by a limber however I just like the look of the three equipments together.
Construction is based on my standard box trailer described in posts on light GS wagons and utility trailers. The unique feature of caissons is the provision of a spare wheel and a towing hook. The towing hook is not fitted to second caissons in Horse Artillery regiments.

The above photo clearly shows the unique features of the caisson.