The 87th 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 1798, when they were raised as the 1st Battalion, 14th Madras Native Infantry.
The regiments first action was in the
Battle of Mahidpur
The Battle of Mahidpur was fought during the Third Anglo-Maratha War between the Holkar faction of the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company at Mahidpur, a town in the Malwa region, on 21 December 1817.
On 21 December 1817, th ...
during the
Third Anglo-Maratha War
The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha te ...
. Their next battle were in the
Siege of Lucknow
The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief att ...
and the
Capture of Lucknow
The Capture of Lucknow (Hindi: लखनऊ का क़ब्ज़ा, ur, ) was a battle of Indian rebellion of 1857. The British recaptured the city of Lucknow which they had abandoned in the previous winter after the relief of a besieg ...
during 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 ...
. They were next sent into Burma to take part in the
Second 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 ...
in 1885. In January 1900 the regiment was posted in
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
.
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 spent much of the time guarding the
North West Frontier against incursions by Afghan tribesmen. They did send 1,400 men as reinforcements to other regiments and in 1917, were sent to take part in 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 World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. In 1922, the 87th Punjabis became the 5th 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 ...
. This regiment was 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- ...
after independence.
[Sharma, p.24]
Predecessor names
*1st Battalion, 14th Madras Native Infantry - 1798
*27th Madras Native Infantry - 1824
*27th Madras Infantry - 1885
*87th 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 1798
Military units and formations disestablished in 1922
Indian World War I regiments
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