The 116th Mahrattas were an infantry regiment of the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

. The regiment traces their origins to 1800, when they were raised as the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Native Infantry. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the regiment was attached to the 18th Indian Division for the

Mesopotamia Campaign The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, troops from Britain, Australia and the vast majority from British India, against the Central Po ...

. They were involved in the Actions at the Fat-ha Gorge and on the

Little Zab The Little Zab or Lower Zab (, ''al-Zāb al-Asfal''; or '; , ''Zâb-e Kuchak''; , ''Zāba Taḥtāya'') is a river that originates in Iran and joins the Tigris just south of Al Zab in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It is approximately long and dr ...

and the

Battle of Sharqat The Battle of Sharqat (October 23–30, 1918) was fought between the British and the Ottoman Empire in the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I, which became the last conflict between the belligerents before of the signing of the Armistice of Mud ...

in October 1918. After World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments.Sumner p.15 In 1922, the 116th Mahrattas became the 4th Battalion

5th Mahratta Light Infantry The 5th Mahratta Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1922, when the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. The regiment fought in World War ...

. After independence they were one of the regiments allocated to the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

Predecessor names

*2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry - 1800 *16th Bombay Native Infantry - 1824 *16th Bombay Infantry - 1885 *116th Mahrattas - 1903

References

Sources

* * * * * British Indian Army infantry regiments Bombay Presidency Military units and formations established in 1800 Military units and formations disestablished in 1922 {{WWI-stub