The 90th Punjabis were an infantry

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of the British Indian Army. The regiment was raised in 1799 as a battalion of Madras Native Infantry. It was designated as the 90th Punjabis in 1903 and became 2nd Battalion

8th Punjab Regiment The 8th Punjab Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. It was transferred to Pakistan Army on Partition of India in 1947 and merged with the Baluch Regiment in 1956. History Madras Infantry The 8th Punjab Regimen ...

in 1922. In 1947, it was allocated to Pakistan Army, where it continues to exist as 2nd Battalion of The

Baloch Regiment The Baloch Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Pakistan Army. The modern regiment was formed in May 1956 by the merger of 8th Punjab and Bahawalpur Regiments with the Baluch Regiment. Since then, further raisings have brought the strength of ...

.Ahmad, Lt Col RN. (2010). ''Battle Honours of the Baloch Regiment''. Abbottabad: The Baloch Regimental Centre.

Early history

The battalion was raised in 1799 at

Masulipatam Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar, is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the mandal headquarte ...

as the Masulipatam Battalion by Captain TK Crewe and was known as ''Crewe ki Paltan'' (Crewe's Battalion). In 1800, it was designated as the 2nd Battalion 15th Regiment, and in 1824, as the 30th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry. The battalion was composed mostly of

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Tamils The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...

and

Telugus Telugu people ( te, తెలుగువారు, Teluguvāru), or Telugus, or Telugu vaaru, are the largest of the four major Dravidian ethnolinguistic groups in terms of population. Telugus are native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh ...

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

. In 1817-19, it took part in 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 ter ...

, and in 1824, it was dispatched to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, where it fought in the

First Anglo-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 Burmes ...

. It returned to Burma in 1852 to participate in 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 ...

. During the Great

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 ...

, it operated in Central India. The regiment also served 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 the

Third Anglo-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 ...

of 1885-87.Ahmad, Maj RN, and Ahmed, Maj Gen Rafiuddin. (2006). ''Unfaded Glory: The 8th Punjab Regiment 1798-1956''. Abbottabad: The Baloch Regimental Centre.Wilson, Lt Col WJ. (1882-88). ''History of the Madras Army''. Madras: The Government Press. In 1892, the 30th Madras Infantry was reconstituted with Punjabi Muslims, Sikhs,

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

s &

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...

s, and permanently based in Burma. Its new designation was 30th Regiment (5th Burma Battalion) of Madras Infantry. In 1901, its title was changed to 30th Burma Infantry. The Burma Battalions were special units raised to police the new territories acquired in the

and pacify the rebellious hill tribes inhabiting the frontier regions of Burma. Between 1892 and 1894, the regiment operated in the

Chin Hills The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in Chin State, northwestern Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into India's Manipur state. Geography The highest peak in the Chin Hills is Khonu Msung, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State, whic ...

against recalcitrant hill tribes.

90th 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, all former Madras units had 60 added to their numbers. Consequently, the regiment's designation was changed to 90th Punjabis, the latter part reflecting the new class composition of the regiment, which it had acquired in 1892. In 1910, the Burma Battalions were delocalized from Burma and in 1911, the regiment moved to Nasirabad in India, where it was stationed on the outbreak of

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 ...

During the First World War, the 90th Punjabis served 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 ...

, where they arrived in January 1915, as part of the 12th Indian Brigade. After serving in the Persian Arabistan with the 12th Indian Division, the regiment moved to the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...

Front in July. For the rest of the war, it operated on the Euphrates Line with 15th Indian Division and fought with great distinction in the Battle of Nasiriyah, the action of As Sahilan, the Second Battle of Ramadi and the action of Khan Baghdadi. During the war, the 90th Punjabis suffered 452 casualties including 158 killed and were awarded a number of gallantry awards. Soon after returning home, the regiment was again called out to serve in the

Third Afghan War The Third Anglo-Afghan War; fa, جنگ سوم افغان-انگلیس), also known as the Third Afghan War, the British-Afghan War of 1919, or in Afghanistan as the War of Independence, began on 6 May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan inv ...

in 1919. In 1918, 90th Punjabis raised a second battalion, which saw service in the Third Afghan War and took part in operations in

Waziristan Waziristan (Pashto and ur, , "land of the Wazir") is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziristan which are now districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Waziristan covers some . ...

in 1920-21. The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1922.

Subsequent History

After the First World War, the 90th Punjabis were grouped with the 91st and

92nd Punjabis The 92nd Punjabis were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment was raised in 1800 as a battalion of Madras Native Infantry. It was designated as the 92nd Punjabis in 1903 and became 4th Battalion (Prince of Wales's Own) 8th P ...

93rd Burma Infantry The 93rd Burma Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment was raised in 1800 as a battalion of Madras Native Infantry. It was designated as the 93rd Burma Infantry in 1903 and became the 5th (Burma) Battalion 8th Pu ...

and the two battalions of 89th Punjabis to form the 8th Punjab Regiment in 1922. The 90th Punjabis became the 2nd Battalion of the new 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 opposi ...

, 2/8th Punjab returned to their old hunting grounds of Burma, where once again, they fought with great gallantry in the Burma Campaign. In 1947, the 8th Punjab Regiment was allocated to Pakistan Army. In 1956, it was merged with the Baluch Regiment and 2/8th Punjab was redesignated as 2 Baluch (now 2 Baloch). During the

Indo-Pakistani Wars Since the Partition of India, Partition of British India in 1947 and subsequent creation of the dominions of Dominion of India, India and Dominion of Pakistan, Pakistan, the two countries have been involved in a number of wars, conflicts, and m ...

of 1965 and 1971, the battalion distinguished itself on the

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

and

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 ...

Fronts. The unit actively took part in Operation Al-Mizan in South Waziristan district (part of erstwhile FATA). The unit also performed border security duties along Afghan border in Upper Dir and Chitral from 2016-19. Currently the unit is in Pakistan administered Azad Jammu Kashmir.

Genealogy

*1799 - Masulipatam Battalion Madras Native Infantry Shwedagon pagoda

*1800 - 2nd Battalion 15th Regiment Madras Native Infantry *1824 - 30th Regiment Madras Native Infantry *1885 - 30th Regiment Madras Infantry *1892 - 30th Regiment (5th Burma Battalion) Madras Infantry *1901 - 30th Burma Infantry *1903 - 90th Punjabis *1918 - 1st Battalion 90th Punjabis or 1/90th Punjabis *1922 - 2nd Battalion 8th Punjab Regiment or 2/8th Punjab *1956 - 2nd Battalion The Baluch Regiment or 2 Baluch *1991 - 2nd Battalion The Baloch Regiment 2 Baloch

Early history

90th Punjabis

Subsequent History

Genealogy

References

Further reading

See also