Battle for Saragarhi
| date | September 12, 1897 |
|---|---|
| place | Samana Mountain Range, North-West Frontier Province, British India (now Pakistan ) |
| output | Military victory for Afridi and Orakzai ; Strategic victory for the British Indian Army |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Pashtuns of the Afridi and Orakzai |
|
| Commander | |
|
Havildar Ishar Singh † |
|
| Troop strength | |
| 10,000 | 21 of the 36th Sikhs Regiment |
| losses | |
|
180-200 dead |
21 dead (100%) |
The battle for Saragarhi was fought on September 12, 1897 between Pashtuns of the Afridi and Orakzai and the British Indian Army .
Saragarhi was a communications post in the Samana mountain range in British India , now Pakistan . It was built between the two forts Lockhart (old. Mastan) and Gulistan (old. Cavagnari) to enable heliograph communication.
On the morning of September 12, Saragarhi and its British-Indian contingent, consisting of 21 Sikhs from the 36th Sikh Regiment , were attacked by around 10,000 Pashtuns. The Sikhs, led by Ishar Singh, defended the post down to the last man against the overwhelming odds of the attackers.
In the media
The fight is the focus of the 2019 film Kesari .
procedure
Major AC Yate, himself involved in the subsequent Tirah campaign , describes the struggle for Saragarhi and the related events in "The Life of Lieut. Col. John Haughton," a memoire to the commander of the 36th Sikhs at the time the battle at Fort Lockhart, as listed below. The description is largely based on letters from Haughton to his wife on May 13-16. September 1897.
At around 9 a.m., several thousand Pashtuns gathered around Saragarhi. After the first unsuccessful attempts by the Afghans to overrun the post, they withdrew, but maintained the fire, while two of the attackers stayed behind to undetected the wall in the blind spot. At 12 noon, Saragarhi reported that a sepoy had been killed, a naik had been wounded, and three rifles had been destroyed by enemy bullets. Thereupon twelve men of the Royal Irish Regiment under the adjutant Lieutenant Munn from Fort Lockhart tried to fire at the attackers on Saragarhi from a distance. At around 3 p.m., Saragarhi reported that they were running out of ammunition. Shortly after 3 p.m. the first part of the wall fell. After the Afghans destroyed Saragarhi, some of the attackers stayed in Saragarhi and the rest moved on towards Fort Gulistan.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Issue: 26937; Page: 863 . In: The London Gazette , February 11, 1898. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
- ↑ The Tribune Online Edition: Of blood red in olive green , The Tribune . April 15, 2007. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
- ^ Tribune News Service: Battle of Saragarhi remembered , The Tribune . September 14, 2005. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d Jaisal Singh: The 21 Sikhs of Saragarhi , The Business Standard . September 13, 2014. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Major AC Yate: The Life of Lieut. Col. John Haughton . John Murray, London 1900 ( britishempire.co.uk [PDF; 7.3 MB ]).