The 24th 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 ...
. It was raised in 1857, as the 11th Regiment of Punjab Infantry. It was designated as the 24th Punjabis in 1861 and became 4th Battalion
14th Punjab Regiment
The 14th Punjab Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. It was transferred to the Pakistan Army on independence in 1947, and amalgamated with the 1st, 15th and 16th Punjab Regiments in 1956, to form the Punjab Reg ...
in 1922. In 1947, it was allocated to the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
, where it continues to exist as 8th Battalion The
Punjab Regiment Punjab Regiment may refer to the following existing units:
*Punjab Regiment (India)
*Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)
From 1922 to 1947, the British Indian Army included 6 numbered Punjab Regiments:
*1st Punjab Regiment
* 2nd Punjab Regiment
*8th Punj ...
.
[Rizvi, Brig SHA. (1984). ''Veteran Campaigners – A History of the Punjab Regiment 1759-1981''. Lahore: Wajidalis.]
Early history
The regiment was raised on 5 June 1857, at Peshawar by Capt G N Kave during the upheaval of the
Indian Mutiny
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
, as the 16th Regiment of Punjab Infantry. The regiment participated in the
Second Afghan War
The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ps, د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the ...
of 1878-80 and after taking part in
Lord Roberts' 'Kabul to Kandahar' march, fought at the
Battle of Kandahar Battle of Kandahar may refer to:
* Battle of Kandahar (1880), the last major conflict of the Second Anglo-Afghan War
* Battle of Kandahar (2001), the fall of the city in 2001, signaling the end of organized Taliban control of Afghanistan
* Battl ...
on 1 September 1880. In 1897, during a general uprising of Pashtun tribes, the regiment was stationed at
Malakand. In July, the garrison was attacked by hostile tribesmen, who were repulsed after a fierce engagement. Lieutenant
Edmund Costello was awarded the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
for conspicuous gallantry during the action. In 1900, the regiment was sent to China to suppress the
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
.
24th Punjabis
Subsequent to the
reforms
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
brought about in the Indian Army by
Lord Kitchener in 1903, the regiment's designation was changed to 24th Punjabis.
During the
First World War
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 served in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and then in
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
, where it fought the Battles of
Shaiba
The Battle of Shaiba (12–14 April 1915) was a battle of World War I fought between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman forces, the latter trying to retake the city of Basra from the British.
Backgro ...
,
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon ( ; Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭 ''tyspwn'' or ''tysfwn''; fa, تیسفون; grc-gre, Κτησιφῶν, ; syr, ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢThomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modi ...
and the
Siege of Kut al Amara in 1915, where it was captured by the Turks. The 24th Punjabis returned to Mesopotamia in April 1917, after reforming, and fought in the
Battle of Khan Baghdadi. They later served in
Salonika
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
and the
Russian Transcaucasia
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
.
Subsequent history
In 1921–22, a major reorganization was undertaken in the British Indian Army, leading to the formation of large infantry groups of four to six battalions. Among these was the 14th Punjab Regiment, formed by grouping the 24th Punjabis with the
19th,
20th,
21st and
22nd Punjabis, and the
40th Pathans
The 40th Pathans were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1858 as the Shahjehanpur Levy. It was designated as the 40th Pathans in 1903 and became 5th Battalion (Pathans) 14th Punjab Regiment in 1922. In 1947, it was al ...
. The battalion's new designation was 4th Battalion 14th Punjab Regiment.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the battalion fought in the
Burma Campaign.
[Haig, Brodie. ''Fourteenth Punjab Regiment 1939-1945''. London: Lund Humphries.] In 1947, the 14th Punjab Regiment was allocated to Pakistan Army. In 1956, it was merged with the
1st,
15th and
16th Punjab Regiments to form one large
Punjab Regiment Punjab Regiment may refer to the following existing units:
*Punjab Regiment (India)
*Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)
From 1922 to 1947, the British Indian Army included 6 numbered Punjab Regiments:
*1st Punjab Regiment
* 2nd Punjab Regiment
*8th Punj ...
, and 4/14th Punjab was redesignated as 8 Punjab. In 1948, the battalion fought in the war with India in
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
, while during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War, it served in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
and Chhamb Sectors. In 1971, it fought in East Pakistan.
Genealogy
*1857 16th Regiment of Punjab Infantry
*1861 28th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry
*1861 24th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry
*1864 24th (Punjab) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry
*1885 24th (Punjab) Regiment of Bengal Infantry
*1901 24th Punjab Infantry
*1903 24th Punjabis
*1922 4th Battalion 14th Punjab Regiment
*1956 8th Battalion The Punjab Regiment
Prominent general officers
*Maj Gen Muhammad Mushtaq (DG Military Intelligence, GOC 11th Division, DG Rangers Sindh, GOC 21st Division)
*Gen Muhammad Shariff(Late),Jiont Chief of Staff Committee
*LtGen Muhammad Akam, VC UET Lahore
*MajGen Muhammad Arshad Ch (late)
*LtGen Syed Ather Ali, Comd 5 Corps, Def Secy
*LtGen Khalid Rabbani, Comd 11 Corps, Chairman AWT
*Maj Gen Khalid Zia, Designate GOC 33 Div
*Maj Gen Mumtaz Hussain, Designate GOC 7 Div
See also
*
14th Punjab Regiment
The 14th Punjab Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. It was transferred to the Pakistan Army on independence in 1947, and amalgamated with the 1st, 15th and 16th Punjab Regiments in 1956, to form the Punjab Reg ...
*
Punjab Regiment Punjab Regiment may refer to the following existing units:
*Punjab Regiment (India)
*Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)
From 1922 to 1947, the British Indian Army included 6 numbered Punjab Regiments:
*1st Punjab Regiment
* 2nd Punjab Regiment
*8th Punj ...
References
Further reading
*Haig, Brodie. ''Fourteenth Punjab Regiment 1939-1945''. London: Lund Humphries, n.d.
*Rizvi, Brig SHA. (1984). ''Veteran Campaigners – A History of the Punjab Regiment 1759-1981''. Lahore: Wajidalis.
*Cardew, Lt FG. (1903). ''A Sketch of the Services of the Bengal Native Army to the Year 1895''. Calcutta: Military Department.
*
*
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{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
British Indian Army infantry regiments
Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)
Indian World War I regiments
Military units and formations established in 1857
1857 establishments in India