300 Years of 15 Punjab Regiment

After my last post about the Indian Regiment that helped squash the first war of Indian Independence, let us talk about another one. The Punjab Regiment has been doing it for much more the 150 year of the Sikh Regiment. In fact the India Post released a stamp commemorating the 300 years of the establishment of the Punjab Regiment. This regiment has the dubious honour of receiving battle honours for crushing the Indian war of independence at Lucknow.

But if the India Post could find it in their heart to forgive the regiment, then who are we to harbour any ill feelings. The Punjab regiment is naturally one of the oldest regiment in the Indian Army. One of the interesting things about the Punjab regiment is that it was one of the first regiments to volunteer for service abroad over sea & land. As a result not only is their motto, "By land & sea", but also its crest also has a ship built in it. This is probably one of the only infantry regiments with a ship on it.

The 15 Punjab was raised on Baishaki Day of 1705 by Baba Alla Singh, the founder of patiala state. Apart from being the oldest infantry in the Indian army, they are also the second most decorated. Of course if you consider that they are the oldest, that might not work out to a very good average rate of decorations per year! But then lives can' be calculated in averages I guess.


Source & further reading : Global Security ,

150 Years of the Sikh Regiment

While it is much rarer for the stamps to be released on particular squadrons of the Air Force, many regiments of the Army have had stamps released on their behalf. The one that we are going to talk about today is the stamp commemorating 150 years of the third batallion of the Sikh Regiment.

The Sikh regiment is probably one of the most decorated Regiments in the India army with 2 Param Vir Chakra, 14 mahavir chakras & 10 Victoria Crosses & 68 Vir Chakras. The sixth regiment came into existence on 1st Aug 1846. If you go back to my post on the first war of independence, you will probably realise that this regiment actually fought against India in India's war of Independence. It was with the help of the Sikh Regiment that the British were actually able to take back Delhi from the Indians.

India post has decided to demonstrate that it holds no grudges against the good chaps & released a stamp on them in 2006.

Any mention of the Sikh regiment would be incomplete without mention of the "Battle of Saraghari". Its an amazing story of valour in which 21 men fought of an army of more then 10,000 tribesmen till their death. In fact the UNESCO has described the Battle of Saragarhi as one of eight stories of collective bravery.

There is just one thing I would like to raise here. I agree that I come across as a cynic but why is it that the greatest moment of any group, be it a batallion, or a country comes across when all of its members die? Maybe one day in 1968, a platoon of Sikh infantry lost its way & ended having a drink with another pakistani platoon. Why couldn't that be its finest moment?

Sources & Further reading : Wiki, Bharat Rakshak , Saraghari in Wiki .