Battle of Saragarhi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An automated process has detected links on this page on the local or global blacklist. If the links are appropriate you
may request whitelisting by following these instructions; otherwise consider removing or replacing them with more appropriate
links.
List of blacklisted links:[show]
Coordinates:

3333N 7056E

Battle of Saragarhi

Part of Tirah Campaign War

Date
Location
Result

12 September 1897
Tirah, North-West Frontier Province, British
India (modern day Pakistan)
Afghan Pashtun lost battle, British
Indianstrategic victory

Belligerents

British India

Pashtuns (Afghans)

Commanders and leaders

Havildar Ishar Singh

Commander in
chief/GeneralGul Badshah

Units involved

36th Sikhs of British Indian

Afridis and Orakzais

Army

Strength

21[1]

10,000[2][3]

Casualties and losses

21 killed (100%)[1]

180 killed (Afghan claim)[4]

~450 killed[5] (British Indian
estimates)*

Many wounded[6] (number

unknown)

600 Afghan bodies were found at the battlefield.

Some of these were killed by the artillery fire from the
British Indian relief party that recaptured the fort.[7][8]

The map of the battle site

The Battle of Saragarhi was fought before the Tirah Campaign on 12 September 1897 between
twenty-one Sikhs of the 36th Sikhs (now the 4th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment) of British India,
defending an army post, and 10,000 Afghan and Orakzai tribesmen. The battle occurred in
the North-West Frontier Province, which formed part of British India. It is now named the KhyberPakhtunkhwa and is part ofPakistan.
The contingent of the twenty-one Sikhs from the 36th Sikhs was led by Havildar Ishar Singh. They all
chose to fight to the death. It is considered by some military historians as one of history's great laststands. Sikh military personnel and Sikh civilians commemorate the battle every year on 12
September, as Saragarhi Day as the battle was given the honour of a regimental holiday.
[9]

[10]

Contents
[hide]

1 Situation

2 The Battle
o

2.1 Commemorative tablet

2.2 Order of Merit

3 Remembrance and legacy

o

3.1 In Indian schools

3.2 Saragarhi Day

3.3 Saragarhi Day in the UK

3.4 Saragarhi Challenge Cup

3.5 Saragarhi and Thermopylae

4 Further reading

5 References

6 External links

Situation[edit]
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable
sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

Saragarhi was a small village in the border district of Kohat, situated on the Samana Range, in
present day Pakistan. On 20 April 1894, the36th Sikh Regiment of the British Army was created,
under the command of Colonel J. Cook. In August 1897, five companies of the 36th Sikhs under Lt.
Col. John Haughton, were sent to the North West Frontier Province (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa),
stationed at Samana Hills, Kurag, Sangar, Sahtop Dhar and Saragarhi.
[11]

The British had partially succeeded in getting control of this volatile area, however
tribal Pashtuns attacked British personnel from time to time. Thus a series of forts, originally built by
Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Ruler of the Sikh Empire, were consolidated. Two of the forts were Fort
Lockhart, (on the Samana Range of the Hindu Kush mountains), and Fort Gulistan (Sulaiman
Range), situated a few miles apart. Due to the forts not being visible to each other, Saragarhi was
created midway, as a heliographic communication post. The Saragarhi post, situated on a rocky
ridge, consisted of a small block house with loop-holed ramparts and a signalling tower.
A general uprising by the Afghans began there in 1897, and between 27 August - 11 September,
many vigorous efforts by Pashtuns to capture the forts were thwarted by 36th Sikh regiment. In
1897, insurgent and inimical activities had increased, and on 3 and 9 September Afridi tribes, with
allegiance to Afghans, attacked Fort Gulistan. Both the attacks were repulsed, and a relief column
from Fort Lockhart, on its return trip, reinforced the signalling detachment positioned at Saragarhi,
increasing its strength to one Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) and twenty troops of Other Ranks
(ORs).
On 12 September 1897, 10,000 Pashtuns attacked the signalling post at Saragarhi, so that
communication would be lost between the two forts.

The Battle[edit]

Members of the 11th Sikh Regiment in 1860

Details of the Battle of Saragarhi are considered fairly accurate, due to Gurmukh Singh signalling
events to Fort Lockhart by heliograph as they occurred.
[12]

[11]

Around 9:00am, around 10,000 Afghans reach the signaling post at Saragarhi.
Sardar Gurmukh Singh signals to Col. Haughton, situated in Fort Lockhart, that they are
under attack.

Colonel Haughton states he cannot send immediate help to Saragarhi.

The soldiers decide to fight to the last to prevent the enemy from reaching the forts.

Bhagwan Singh becomes the first injured and Lal Singh is seriously wounded.

Soldiers Lal Singh and Jiwa Singh reportedly carry the dead body of Bhagwan Singh back to
the inner layer of the post.
The enemy breaks a portion of the wall of the picket.

Colonel Haughton signals that he has estimated between 10,000 and 14,000 Pashtuns
attacking Saragarhi.

The leaders of the Afghan forces reportedly make promises to the soldiers to entice them to
surrender.

Reportedly two determined attempts are made to rush open the gate, but are unsuccessful.

Later, the wall is breached.

Thereafter, some of the fiercest hand-to-hand fighting occurs.

In an act of outstanding bravery, Ishar Singh orders his men to fall back into the inner layer,
whilst he remains to fight. However, this is breached and all but one of the defending soldiers
are killed, along with many of the Pashtuns.

Gurmukh Singh, who communicated the battle with Col. Haughton, was the last Sikh
defender. He is stated to have killed 20 Afghans, the Pashtuns having to set fire to the post to kill
him. As he was dying he was said to have yelled repeatedly the Sikh battle-cry "Bole So Nihal,
Sat Sri Akal" (Shout Aloud in Ecstasy! True is the Great Timeless One). "Akal," meaning
Immortal, beyond death, the Supreme Creator God unbound by time and non-temporal.

Having destroyed Saragarhi, the Afghans turned their attention to Fort Gulistan, but they had been
delayed too long, and reinforcements arrived there in the night of 1314 September, before the fort
could be conquered. The Pashtuns later admitted that they had lost about 180 killed and many
more wounded during the engagement against the 21 Sikh soldiers, but some 600 bodies are said
to have been seen around the ruined post when the relief party arrived (however, the fort had been
retaken, on 14 September, by the use of intensive artillery fire, which may have caused many
[1]

[4]

[6]

[8]

[7]

casualties). The total casualties in the entire campaign, including the Battle of Saragarhi, numbered
at around 4,800.

Commemorative tablet[edit]
The tablet (pictured right), inscription reads;

"The Government of India have caused this tablet to be erected to the memory of the twenty one non-commissioned of

Order of Merit[edit]

All the 21 Sikh non-commissioned officers and soldiers of other ranks who laid down their lives in the
Battle of Saragarhi were posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit, the highest gallantry
award of that time, which an Indian soldier could receive by the hands of the British crown, the
corresponding gallantry award being Victoria Cross. This award is equivalent to today'sParam Vir
Chakra awarded by the President of India.
The names of the 21 recipients of the gallantry award are:
1. Havildar Ishar Singh (regimental number 165 )
[13]

2. Naik Lal Singh (332)

3. Naik Chanda Singh (546)
4. Lance Naik Sundar Singh (1321)
5. Lance Naik Ram Singh (287)
6. Lance Naik Uttar Singh (492)
7. Lance Naik Sahib Singh (182)
8. Sepoy Hira Singh (359)
9. Sepoy Daya Singh (687)
10.Sepoy Jivan Singh (760)
11. Sepoy Bhola Singh (791)
12.Sepoy Narayan Singh (834)
13.Sepoy Gurmukh Singh (814)
14.Sepoy Jivan Singh (871)
15.Sepoy Gurmukh Singh (1733)

16.Sepoy Ram Singh (163)

17.Sepoy Bhagwan Singh (1257)
18.Sepoy Bhagwan Singh (1265)
19.Sepoy Buta Singh (1556)
20.Sepoy Jivan Singh (1651)
21.Sepoy Nand Singh (1221)

Remembrance and legacy[edit]

The epic poem "Khalsa Bahadur" is in memory of the Sikhs who died at Sargarhi.

[14]

The battle has become iconic of eastern military civilization, British empire military history and Sikh
history. The modern Sikh Regiment continues to celebrate the day of the Battle of Saragarhi each
12 September as the Regimental Battle Honours Day. To commemorate the men the British built
two Saragarhi Gurudwaras: one in Amritsar very close to the main entrance of the Golden Temple,
and another in Ferozepur Cantonment, which was the district that most of the men hailed from.
[15]

In Indian schools[edit]
The Indian military, in particular the Indian Army have been pushing for the battle to be taught in
India's schools. They want it taught due to the heroism shown by the Indian soldiers to acts as
inspiration for young children in the field of bravery. There were articles like these, printed in the
Punjab's longest-established newspaper, The Tribune in 1999: "the military action at Saragarhi is
taught to students the world over and particularly to students in France." Although there seems to
be no evidence for this claim (it is not, for example, on France's national school curriculum ) the
news was enough to provoke political debate, and the battle has been taught in schools in the
Punjab since 2000:
[16]

[17]

The decision to include the battle story in the school curriculum was taken last year during a public rally presided over

[18]

Saragarhi Day[edit]
Saragarhi Day

Official name

Saragarhi Day

Observed by

India[3] (also observed by Sikhsworldwide)

Type

national & international

Significance

Honors the 21 military Sikh soldiers who died at the Battle of Saragarhi

Observances

Parades, school history projects, government buildings

Date

12 September (or nearest weekday)

Related to

Remembrance Day

Saragarhi Day, is a Sikh military commemoration day celebrated on 12 September every year to
commemorate The Battle of Saragarhi. Sikhmilitary personnel and Sikh non-military people
commemorate the battle around the World every year on 12 September. All units of the Sikh
Regiment celebrate Saragarhi Day every year as the Regimental Battle Honours Day.
[3]

Saragarhi Memorial Gurudwara (temple) was built in memory of the 21 Sikh soldiers that fought at
The Battle of Saragarhi.
[19]

Saragarhi Day in the UK[edit]

Saragarhi was commemorated by the British Armed Forces in the UK for the first time at Royal
Military Academy Sandhurst in November 2013.
Saragarhi Day was marked on the battle honour day on 12 September 2014 at Sandhurst.

Saragarhi Challenge Cup[edit]

The British and Indian armies polo teams commemorated the battle in 2010, by holding the
Saragarhi Challenge and raising money for the British Asian Trust. The competition was only held
once again in 2011.
[9]

Saragarhi and Thermopylae[edit]

The battle has frequently been compared to the Battle of Thermopylae, where a small Greek force
faced a large Persian army of Xerxes (480 BC).
[15]

The comparison is made because of the overwhelming odds faced by a tiny defending force in each
case, and the defenders' brave stand to their deaths, as well as the extremely disproportionate
number of fatalities caused to the attacking force.
It is important
to note that during the Battle of Saragarhi, the British did not manage to get a
relief unit there until after the 21 had fought to their deaths. At Thermopylae, the 300 Spartans and
their allies also stayed after their lines had been outflanked, to fight to their deaths.
[clarification needed]