The 72nd Punjabis 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 ...

. They could trace their origins to 1759, when they were raised as the 16th Battalion Coast Sepoys.

History

The regiment's first battle was the

Battle of Sholinghur The Battle of Sholinghur was fought on 27 September 1781 at Sholinghur, West of Chennai (Madras), between forces of the Kingdom of Mysore led by Hyder Ali and East India Company forces led by General Eyre Coote. Haider Ali's forces were surpris ...

in 1781, during the

Second Anglo-Mysore War The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in ...

. They were next involved in the

Battle of Ava A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

during the

First Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War ( my, ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmese ...

. During the

Indian Mutiny of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

, they were stationed in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Their next action was during the

Third Burmese War The Third Anglo-Burmese War ( my, တတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် – မြန်မာစစ်, Tatiya Anggalip–Mran cac), also known as the Third Burma War, took place during 7–29 November 1885, with sporadic resistance conti ...

. With the defeat of King

Thibaw Min Thibaw Min, also Thebaw or Theebaw ( my, သီပေါ‌မင်း, ; 1 January 1859 – 19 December 1916) was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His re ...

, the regiment remained in Burma, being renamed the 2nd Burma Battalion in 1891. This transferral of six regiments of the Madras line to Burma Battalions was intended to provide permanent garrisons for the newly acquired territory. It was also part of a deliberate policy by General Sir Frederick Roberts to reduce the Madrasi element in the Indian Army and replace them with northern recruits from the Punjab. The title of the regiment subsequently underwent a number of changes but, as late as 1914, its regimental centre remained

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

. 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 ...

, they were deployed along the North West Frontier with the

1st (Peshawar) Division The 1st (Peshawar) Division was a Regular Division of the British Indian Army formed as a result of the Kitchener reforms of the Indian Army in 1903. During World War I, the Division remained in India for local defense, but was mobilized for a ...

to prevent incursions by the Afghan tribes, but they were later sent to Egypt and Palestine and took part in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign attached to the 75th Division. After World War I, the Indian government reformed the army, moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. In 1922, the 72nd Punjabis became the 3rd Battalion,

2nd Punjab Regiment The 2nd Punjab Regiment was a British Indian Army regiment from 1922 to the partition of India in 1947. The regiment was formed by the amalgamation of other regiments: *1st Battalion, from the 67th Punjabis The 67th Punjabis were an infantry ...

. 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

*16th Battalion Coast Sepoys - 1759 *13th Carnatic Battalion - 1769 *12th Carnatic Battalion - 1770 *12th Madras Battalion - 1784 *2nd Battalion, 8th Madras Native Infantry - 1796 *12th Madras Native Infantry - 1824 *2nd Burma Infantry - 1890 *12th Regiment (2nd Burma Battalion) Madras Infantry - 1891 *12th Burma Infantry - 1901 *72nd Punjabis - 1903

Composition

Recruited from Madrasis during its history prior to 1890, the regiment underwent substantial changes after that year. The senior Indian position of

subadar Subedar is a rank of junior commissioned officer in the Indian Army; a senior non-commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army, and formerly a Viceroy's commissioned officer in the British Indian Army. History ''Subedar'' or ''subadar'' was the ...

-major was filled by a Sikh and the Madrasi rank and file were replaced by Pathans, Punjabis, Mussalmans and Sikhs. In 1903 the 12th lost its status as a Madras/Burma Infantry unit and was formally designated as a Punjabi regiment (see above).

References

Sources

* * * * *Moberly, F.J. (1923). ''Official History of the War: Mesopotamia Campaign'', Imperial War Museum. British Indian Army infantry regiments Military history of the Madras Presidency Military units and formations established in 1759 Military units and formations disestablished in 1922 {{WWI-stub