The 9th Jat Regiment was 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 cou ...

. It was formed in 1922, after the Indian government reformed the army, moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments.

World War II

The Regiment saw a great deal of fighting with the Jats showing their mettle in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

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 C. Wells, Joh ...

, Malaya,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, and

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

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. A large number of gallantry awards were won including a

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...

(by Jemadar

Abdul Hafiz ʻAbd al-Ḥafīẓ (ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الحفيظ) is a Muslim male given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Ḥafīẓ'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give ri ...

) and two

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...

es (by Islam-ud-Din and

Abdul Rahman Abd al-Rahman ( ar, عبد الرحمن, translit=ʿAbd al-Raḥmān or occasionally ; DMG ''ʿAbd ar-Raḥman''; also Abdul Rahman) is a male Arabic Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', '' ...

). At the end of the war the Regiment, in company with other regiments of the Indian Infantry, dropped the numeral 9 from its title and became simply the Jat Regiment. After independence it was allocated to the new

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

. The Regiment at independence had about 1/4th or 25% Muslims recruited from Panwar Rajput Muslims from around Rohtak and Hisar,

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

and from Muslim Jats in Montgomery and Okara in West Punjab, in all-Muslim companies of the 10th Jats and 6th Jat Light Infantry. The Muslim companies and platoons were merged into the Bahawalpur Regiment and the 130th Baluchis as the families of the soldiers moved to Pakistan upon partition. They were replaced by widened recruitment of Haryana Gujjars and Ahirs from around Rohtak and Gurgaon.

Formation

*1st Battalion ex

6th Jat Light Infantry The6th Jat Light Infantry were an infantry regiment of the Bengal Army, later of the united British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1803, when they were the 1st Battalion, 22nd Bengal Native Infantry. Over the years they were known ...

*2nd Battalion ex

119th Infantry (The Mooltan Regiment) The 119th Infantry (The Mooltan Regiment) was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment originated in 1817, when it was raised as the 1st Battalion, 10th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry. The regiment's first action was in ...

*3rd Battalion ex 10th Jats *4th Battalion ex

18th Infantry The 18th Infantry were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. Their origins trace back to 1795, when they were known as the Calcutta Native Militia. Over the years they were known by a number of different names, such as the Alipore Regim ...

*10th (Training) Battalion ex 2nd Battalion, 6th Jat Light Infantry

Formed in World War II

*7th Battalion *8th Battalion *9th Battalion *14th Battalion *15th Battalion Sharma, p160

References

Sources

* British Indian Army infantry regiments Military units and formations established in 1922 R R {{mil-unit-stub

World War II

Formation

Formed in World War II

See also

References

Sources