The Battle of Saragarhi was a last-stand battle fought before the Tirah Campaign between the British Raj and Afghan tribesmen. On 12 September 1897, an estimated 12,00024,000 Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen were seen near Gogra, at Samana Suk, and around Saragarhi, cutting off Fort Gulistan from Fort Lockhart. The Afghans attacked the outpost of Saragarhi where thousands of them swarmed and surrounded the fort, preparing to assault it. Led by Havildar

Ishar Singh Sardar Bahadur Ishar Singh VC, OBI (30 December 1895 – 2 December 1963) was a soldier in the British Indian Army and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British ...

, the 21 soldiers in the fort—all of whom were Jat Sikhs—refused to surrender and were wiped out in a last stand. The post was recaptured two days later by another British Indian contingent. All of the 21 soldiers involved in the battle were posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit, which was the highest gallantry award that an Indian soldier could receive at the time. The Indian Army's 4th battalion of the

Sikh Regiment The Sikh Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. Sikh regiment is the highest decorated regiment of the Indian Army and in 1979, the 1st battalion was the Commonwealth's most decorated battalion with 245 pre-independence and 82 ...

commemorates the battle every year on 12 September, as ''Saragarhi Day''.

Background

Saragarhi was a small village in the border district of Kohat, situated on the Samana Range, in present-day Pakistan. On 20 April 1894, the

36th Sikhs The 36th Sikhs was an infantry regiment in the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1887, when they were the 36th (Sikh) Bengal Infantry. Composed of Jat Sikhs, it was created by Colonel Jim Cooke and Captain H. R. Holmes. They h ...

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 ...

was created under the command of Colonel J. Cook,Pall, S. J. S. 2004. ''The Story of Valiant Sikhs''. Amritsar: B. Chattar Singh. . p. 98 entirely composed of Jat Sikhs. In August 1897, five companies of the 36th Sikhs under Lieutenant Colonel John Haughton were sent to the northwest frontier of British India (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and were stationed at Samana Hills, Kurag, Sangar, Sahtop Dhar, and Saragarhi. The British had partially succeeded in getting control of this volatile area, but tribal

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

continued to attack British personnel from time to time. Thus, a series of forts, originally built by

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

, the ruler of the Sikh Empire, were consolidated. Two of the forts were Fort Lockhart (on the Samana Range of the Hindu Kush mountains), and Fort Gulistan ( Sulaiman Range), situated a few miles apart. Fort Lockhart is located at . Due to the forts not being visible to each other, Saragarhi was created midway, as a heliographic communication post. The Saragarhi post, situated on a rocky ridge, consisted of a small block house with loop-holed ramparts and a signalling tower. A general uprising by the Afghans began there in 1897 and, between 27 August and 11 September, many vigorous efforts by Pashtuns to capture the forts were thwarted by the 36th Sikhs. In 1897, insurgent and inimical activities had increased, and on 3 and 9 September Afridi tribesmen, allied with the Afghans, attacked Fort Gulistan. Both the attacks were repulsed, and a relief column from Fort Lockhart, on its return trip, reinforced the signalling detachment positioned at Saragarhi, increasing its strength to three non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and eighteen other ranks (ORs).

The battle

Details of the Battle of Saragarhi are considered fairly accurate because

Sepoy ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...

Gurmukh Singh signalled events to Fort Lockhart by heliograph as they occurred. * Around 09:00, approximately 6,000–10,000 Afghans reach the signalling post at Saragarhi. * Sepoy Gurmukh Singh signals to Colonel Haughton, situated in Fort Lockhart, that they are under attack. * Haughton states he cannot send immediate help to Saragarhi. * The soldiers in Saragarhi decide to fight to the last to prevent the enemy from reaching the forts. * Sepoy Bhagwan Singh is the first soldier to be killed and Naik Lal Singh is seriously wounded. * Naik Lal Singh and Sepoy Jiwa Singh reportedly carry the body of Bhagwan Singh back to the inner layer of the post. * The Afghans break a portion of the wall of the picket. * Haughton signals that he has estimated that there are between 10,000 and 14,000 Pashtuns attacking Saragarhi. * The leaders of the Pashtun forces reportedly make promises to the soldiers to entice them to surrender. * Reportedly two determined attempts are made to rush open the gate, but are unsuccessful. * Later, the wall is breached. * Thereafter, some of the fiercest hand-to-hand fighting occurred. * Havildar Ishar Singh orders his men to fall back into the inner layer, whilst he remained to cover their retreat. After the inner layer was breached all but one of the defending soldiers were killed, along with many of the Pashtuns. * Sepoy Gurmukh Singh, who communicated the battle to Haughton as signalman, was the last surviving defender. His last message was to ask for permission to pick up his rifle. Upon receiving permission he packed up the heliograph and held the door of his signalling shed. He is stated to have killed 40 Afghans and the Pashtuns were forced to set fire to the post to kill him. As he was dying, Singh is said to have yelled repeatedly the Sikh battle cry " Bole So Nihal,

Sat Sri Akal Sat Sri Akaal (Gurumukhi ਸਤਿ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ, ) is a '' Jaikara'' (lit. ''Call of Victory'') now used, often, as a greeting by Punjabi Sikhs. It is the second half of the ''Sikh Clarion call'', given by the Tenth guru, Guru Gobind ...

!" ("One will be blessed eternally, who says that God is the ultimate truth!").

Weapons

The weapons given and used by the Indian troops were of an older generation compared to the small arms issued to British troops. This was intentionally done after the Indian Mutiny of 1857 to prevent any further mutinies and uprisings from getting out of hand. The Afghans used the original and copy of Martini-Henry rifles. The Martini–Henry was copied on a large scale by North-West Frontier Province gunsmiths. The chief manufacturers were the Adam Khel Afridi, who lived around the

Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing pa ...

. The Khyber Pass gunsmiths first acquired examples of the various British service arms during nineteenth-century British military expeditions in the North-West Frontier, which they used to make copies.

Soldiers

The names of the 21 Sikh soldiers were: # Havildar Ishar Singh (regimental number 165) # Naik Lal Singh (332) # Lance Naik Chanda Singh (546) #

Sundar Singh (1321) # Sepoy Ramm Singh (287) # Sepoy Uttar Singh (492) # Sepoy Sahib Singh (182) # Sepoy Hira Singh (359) # Sepoy Daya Singh (687) # Sepoy Jivan Singh (760) # Sepoy Bhola Singh (791) # Sepoy Narayan Singh (834) # Sepoy Gurmukh Singh (814) # Sepoy Jivan Singh (871) # Sepoy Gurmukh Singh (1733) # Sepoy Ram Singh (163) # Sepoy Bhagwan Singh (1257) # Sepoy Bhagwan Singh (1265) # Sepoy Buta Singh (1556) # Sepoy Jivan Singh (1651) # Sepoy Nand Singh (1221)

Aftermath

Having destroyed Saragarhi, the Afghans turned their attention to Fort Gulistan, but they had been delayed too long, and reinforcements arrived there in the night of 13–14 September, before the fort could be captured. The Pashtuns later admitted that they had lost about 180 killedMajor General Jaswant Sing
Letter to H.M. Queen Elizabeth II
Institute of Sikh Studies (1999) - accessed 30 March 2008 and many more woundedSubramanian, L. M. (2006)

Bharat Rakshak. Accessed 21 April 2016. during the engagement against the 21 Sikh soldiers. Some 600 bodies are said to have been seen around the ruined post when the relief party arrived (however, the fort had been retaken, on 14 September, by the use of intensive artillery fire,"The Frontier War," ''Daily News'', London (16 Sep 1897) which may have caused some casualties). After it was retaken by the British, the burnt bricks of Saragarhi was used to make an obelisk for those fighters. The British also built gurdwaras at Amritsar and Ferozepur for them. The total casualties in the entire campaign, including the Battle of Saragarhi, numbered at around 4,800.

Commemoration

Commemorative tablet

The inscription of a commemorative tablet reads:

Order of Merit

The 21 Sikh non-commissioned officers and soldiers who died in the Battle of Saragarhi were from the Majha region of Punjab and were posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit, at that time the highest gallantry award which an Indian soldier could receive. The corresponding gallantry award was the Victoria Cross. The award is equivalent to today's Param Vir Chakra awarded by the President of India.

Remembrance and legacy

The battle has become iconic of eastern military civilisation, the British Empire's military history and Sikh history.Singh, Kanwaljit & Ahluwalia, H.S. ''Saragarhi Battalion: Ashes to Glory'', India, Lancer International (1987) The modern

of the Indian Army continues to commemorate the Battle of Saragarhi on 12 September each year as the Regimental Battle Honours Day. To commemorate the men, the British built two Saragarhi Gurdwaras: one in

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

, very close to the main entrance of the Golden Temple, and another in Firozpur Cantonment, in the district that most of the men hailed from. The epic poem "

Khalsa Bahadur Khalsa Bahadur is an epic poem written by Chuhar Singh describing the chivalry and sacrifice of Sikh soldiers at the Battle of Saragarhi. The poem is 55 pages long, written using the ''baint'' verse form, and written in the Punjabi language. It w ...

" is in memory of the Sikhs who died at Saragarhi.

In Indian schools

The Indian Armed Forces, in particular the Indian Army, has been pushing for the battle to be taught in India's schools. They would like the heroism demonstrated by the Indian soldiers to be taught as an inspiration to children. In 1999, various articles were printed regarding the matter in Punjab's longest-established newspaper, '' The Tribune'', such as: "the military action at Saragarhi is taught to students the world over and particularly to students in France." Although there seems to be no evidence for this claim (it is not, for example, on France's national school curriculum), the news was enough to provoke political debate, and the battle has been taught in schools in Punjab since 2000:

Saragarhi Day

Saragarhi Day is a Sikh military commemoration day celebrated on 12 September every year to commemorate the Battle of Saragarhi. Sikh military personnel and civilians commemorate the battle around the world every year on 12 September. All units of the

celebrate Saragarhi Day every year as the Regimental Battle Honours Day.

Saragarhi Day in the UK

The first recorded public discourse on Saragarhi was delivered by

Viscount Slim Viscount Slim, of Yarralumla in the Capital Territory of Australia and of Bishopston in the City and County of Bristol, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1960 for Field Marshal Sir William Slim upon the end o ...

in 2001 when he delivered the annual ''Portraits of Courage'' lecture at the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

. This was hosted by the Maharaja Duleep Singh Centenary Trust. In May 2002,

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

( the future King Charles III) inaugurated the ''Jawans to Generals'' exhibition which featured a section on Saragarhi. The exhibition successfully toured the UK and was seen by over 100,000 visitors. Saragarhi was introduced back into the UK by writer and filmmaker Jay Singh Sohal and the British Army with the launch of the book ''Saragarhi: The Forgotten Battle'' in 2013 at Old College,

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

. It has since been commemorated each year on its battle honour day by the British Armed Forces. In 2014, the commemoration also took place at Sandhurst at the Indian Army Memorial Room. In 2015, it took place at the Honourable Artillery Company Museum in London, where was also due to take place in 2016. Various senior ministers and armed forces generals have paid tribute to Sikh service by mentioning the story of Saragarhi. In April 2016 the Defence Secretary Michael Fallon MP made mention as a special Vaisakhi event at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. In June 2016 the Chief of the General Staff Sir Nick Carter did the same at a special British Sikh Association dinner. In November 2020, Wolverhampton City Council approved plans for the erection of a 10 ft tall bronze statue commemorating the battle outside of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Wednesfield. The statue of Havildar Ishar Singh, paid for by donations from the local Sikh community totalling £100,000, was unveiled on 12 September 2021.

In popular culture

In September 2017, ''Saragarhi: The True Story'', a documentary by UK-based journalist-filmmaker Jay Singh-Sohal, was screened at the National Memorial Arboretum in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

to mark the 120th anniversary of the epic frontier battle. A TV series, ''

21 Sarfarosh - Saragarhi 1897 ''21 Sarfarosh - Saragarhi 1897'' is an Indian historical drama television series starring Mohit Raina, Prakhar Shukla and Mukul Dev. The show is based on the Battle of Saragarhi, fought between Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army and Pash ...

'' aired on

Discovery Jeet Investigation Discovery is an Indian television channel dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, broadcasting in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. The channel was launched by Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific on ...

from 12 February 2018 to 11 May 2018, starring Mohit Raina, Mukul Dev, and Balraj Singh Khehra. '' Kesari'' (2019) is a film directed by

Anurag Singh Anurag Singh may refer to: * Anurag Singh (cricketer, born 1975), Indian-born cricketer who played in English county cricket during the 1990s and 2000s * Anurag Singh (cricketer, born 1990), Indian cricketer for Madhya Pradesh *Anurag Singh (direct ...

, starring Akshay Kumar, that grossed over 100 crore worldwide in its opening weekend during the Holi festival. Two other Bollywood films based on the battle had been announced prior to ''Kesari'': * '' Sons of Sardaar: The Battle of Saragarhi''. In July 2016, Ajay Devgn shared a poster of the film, a sequel to ''

Son of Sardaar ''Son of Sardaar'' is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed by Ashwni Dhir. A remake of 2010 Telugu film ''Maryada Ramanna'' directed by S. S. Rajamouli, it featured Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha and Juhi Chawla ...

''. In August 2017, Devgn stated: "We are working on the script but it won’t happen for another two years because of the scale of the project." * '' Battle of Saragarhi''. In August 2016, Randeep Hooda shared the first look on his Twitter page. This film is to be directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, starring Hooda,

Vikramjeet Virk Vikramjeet Virk is an Indian actor who has worked in Telugu, Punjabi, Hindi and Malayalam language films. Early life Vikramjeet was born on 19 July 1984 to Sukhwant Singh Virk and Harjinder Kaur Virk in Tharwa Majra village, Karnal district, ...

, and

Danny Denzongpa Tshering Phintso "Danny" Denzongpa (born 25 February 1948) is an Indian actor, singer and film director who primarily works in Hindi films. He has acted in over 190 films since 1971. In 2003, Denzongpa was awarded the Padma Shree, India's fourt ...

. The film was shelved after the release of Kesari. Regarding speculation about many films being made about the battle, Hooda stated: "It is good because there were 21

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

heroes in that battle and each one of them deserved to have a movie made on them. So actually there should be 21 films made on them."

References

External links

* Luscombe, Stephen.
Tirah: Samana (1897)
" ''The British Empire''. Accessed 17 August 2020. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saragarhi 1897 in Asia Battles involving British India Battles involving the Sikhs British Indian history Conflicts in 1897 Last stands Military history of Afghanistan Military history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Military of British India September 1897 events Tirah campaign