36th Sikhs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

36th Sikhs
File:Group photograph of men of the 36th Sikhs taken in 1897.jpg
Group photograph of men of the 36th Sikhs taken in 1897
Active1887-1922
CountryIndian Empire
BranchArmy
TypeInfantry
Part ofBengal Army (to 1895)
Bengal Command
UniformScarlet; faced yellow
EngagementsPunjab Frontier
Samana
Tirah

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.[1] They had one other change in title in 1901, when they became the 36th Sikh Infantry. They finally became the 36th Sikhs in 1903, after the Kitchener reforms of the Indian Army. During this time they fought an action in 1897, in defence of the Samana Ridge against a huge army of Pathans in the Battle of Saragarhi.[2] To honour the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to India they took part in the Rawalpindi Parade 1905. During World War I they were stationed as part of the Garrison of Tianjin in China and took part in the Siege of Tsingtao.

File:British, Indian and Japanese soldiers in Tsingtao (Qingdao), China, 1914.jpg
A detachment of the 36th Sikhs along with the 2nd Battalion, The South Wales Borderers, sent to assist the Japanese in capturing Germany's naval base at Tsingtao (Qingdao) in China, 1914.

After World War I the Indian government reformed the army again moving from single battalion regiment to multi battalion regiments.[3] The 36th Sikhs became the 4th Battalion 11th Sikh Regiment. After independence this was one of the regiments allocated to the new Indian Army.

[edit | edit source]

The 36th Sikhs and the Battle of Saragarhi are dramatized in the Indian Hindi-language movie Kesari, released in 2019.

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ Sumner p.15

Sources

[edit | edit source]
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).