The 99th Deccan Infantry 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 1788, when they were raised as the 1st Battalion of the Ellichpur Brigade for the

Princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

. Until 1853, the regiment was part of the Nizam of Hydrabad's Army then after signing of a treaty with the then Governor General of India, The Nizam's Contingent was renamed as the Hyderabad Contingent and became part of the regular Indian Army. The regiment fought 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 ...

. They then participated in the Siege of Nowah and the later Capture of Nowah. 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 ...

the regiment served on the North West Frontier in operations against the

Mahsuds The Mahsud or Mehsood ( ps, محسود), also spelled Maseed ( ps, ماسيد), is a Karlani Pashtun tribe inhabiting mostly the South Waziristan Agency in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, now merged within Khyb ...

around

Sarwakai Serwekai ( ps, سروکۍ) is a town, tehsil, and subdivision of South Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Serwekai is one of the three subdivisions of South Waziristan, along with Ladha and Wanna. The subdivision o ...

. Then in April 1917, they were sent to serve 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 ...

. They were attached to the Euphrates Defence Force, which was charged with lines-of-communication duties along the

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

. Although not at the front fighting the Turks, they did participate in operations against hostile Arabs, including two punitive expeditions from

Nasiriyeh Nasiriyah ( ar, ٱلنَّاصِرِيَّة; BGN: ''An Nāşirīyah''; also spelled ''Nassiriya'' or ''Nasiriya'') is a city in Iraq. It is on the lower Euphrates, about south-southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. ...

in March 1918. In June 1918, the battalion again saw action around hostile Arabs around Rumaithah. 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 99th Deccan Infantry became the 5th Battalion,

19th Hyderabad Regiment The 19th Hyderabad Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed at the time of reforms of the Indian Army after the First World War, when it moved from single-battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments. The reg ...

. 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.

Predecessor names

*2nd Battalion of the Ellichpur Brigade - 1788 *8th Regiment of Infantry, Nizam's Army - 1826 *6th Infantry, Hyderabad Contingent - 1854 *98th Deccan Infantry - 1903

References

Notes Bibliography * *Moberly, F.J. (1923). ''Official History of the War: Mesopotamia Campaign'', Imperial War Museum. * * * British Indian Army infantry regiments Military units and formations established in 1788 Military units and formations disestablished in 1922 Military history of the Madras Presidency Indian World War I regiments 1788 establishments in British India {{India-mil-stub