The 104th Wellesley's Rifles 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 1775, when they were raised as the 5th Battalion, Bombay Sepoys and presently its designation is 3 Guards (1 Rajputana Rifles) of Indian Army. The regiments first action was during the Mysore Campaign in the

Third Anglo-Mysore War The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Anglo- ...

. This was followed by their participation in the Battle of Seringapatam in the

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore against the British East India Company and the Hyderabad Deccan in 1798–99. This was the final conflict of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British captured ...

. They were next called to serve in the Beni Boo Ali campaign in 1821, against the

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

in Eastern

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

region. Returning to India they took part in the Siege of Multan during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. They were next involved in the Anglo-Persian War in 1856, followed the next year by the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 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 ...

taking part in the Central India Campaign. Twenty years were to pass until their next action in the Battle of Kandahar during the Second Afghan War. They were also in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

during the Sudan Campaign. 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 in the 6th (Poona) Division during 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 ...

. After a string of early successes particularly during the

Battle of Es Sinn The Battle of Es Sinn was a World War I military engagement between Anglo-Indian and Ottoman forces. It took place on 28 September 1915, during the Mesopotamian Campaign. The sides fought to determine control of the lower Tigres and Euphrates riv ...

, the 6th Division was defeated at the Battle of Ctesiphon in November 1915. Following this engagement, the division withdrew to

Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...

and

Siege of Kut The siege of Kut Al Amara (7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916), also known as the first battle of Kut, was the besieging of an 8,000 strong British Army garrison in the town of Kut, south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army. In 1915, its population ...

began. After a lengthy siege all they surrendered in April 1916. 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 104th Wellesley's Rifles became the 1st Battalion 6th Rajputana Rifles. 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

*5th Battalion, Bombay Sepoys - 1775 *9th Battalion, Bombay Sepoys - 1778 *2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry - 1796 *4th Bombay Native Infantry - 1824 *4th Bombay Infantry (or Rifle Corps) - 1885 *4th (1st Battalion Rifle Corps) Bombay Infantry - 1889 *4th Bombay Rifles - 1901 *104th Wellesley's Rifles - 1903

Successor Names

*1st Battalion 6th Rajputana Rifles-1921 *1st Battalion Rajputana Rifles-1945 *Allocated to India on Partition-1947 *3rd Battalion, Brigade of the Guards(1st Rajputana Rifles)-1949

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * https://www.amazon.in/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AO+B+E+M+C+Lieut+Colonel+F+H+James * * * * *Moberly, F.J. (1923). ''Official History of the War: Mesopotamia Campaign'', Imperial War Museum. {{ISBN, 1-870423-30-5 British Indian Army infantry regiments Bombay Presidency Military units and formations established in 1775