The 69th Punjabis were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1759, when they were raised as the 10th Battalion Coast Sepoys. The regiment's first engagement was during the

Carnatic Wars The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century in India's coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. Three Carnatic Wars were fought between 1744 and 1763. The conflicts involved n ...

, this was followed by service during the Battle of Sholinghur in 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 ...

and 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 Angl ...

. They also took part in the annexation of

Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon langua ...

during the

Second Anglo-Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( my, ဒုတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် မြန်မာ စစ် ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese Empire and British Em ...

. The Battalion was awarded the Galley Badge in 1839 for 'readiness always evinced' for proceeding on foreign service, which was then considered a taboo in India. The Galley is now the crest of the Indian Punjab Regiment. The Battalion was also given the Battle Cry - Khushki Wuh Tarri which is Persian for 'By Land and Sea'. The Indianised version of this motto 'Sthal Wuh Jal' is now the Battle Cry of the Indian Punjab Regiment. In early 1900 the regiment was stationed at

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. 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 served in the Middle East on the Suez Canal and in the Gallipoli Campaign after which they were sent to the Western Front in 1915. After World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. In 1922, the 69th Punjabis became the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment. 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- ...

.Sharma, p.28 Gen KM Cariappa, OBE, the first Indian Commander in Chief, decided that the four senior most Infantry Battalions of the Army should form the Brigade of the Guards, and thus 2/2 Punjab was converted to the First Battalion Brigade of the Guards (2 PUNJAB) in 1951. The Battalion has the distinction of being the most senior Infantry Battalion of the Indian Army.

Predecessor names

*10th Battalion Coast Sepoys - 1759 *10th Carnatic Battalion - 1769 *9th Carnatic Battalion - 1770 *9th Madras Battalion - 1784 *1st Battalion, 9th Madras Native Infantry - 1796 *9th Madras Native Infantry - 1824 *9th Madras Infantry - 1885 *69th Punjabis - 1903

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