History Rohit Daroch Saragarhi.The Forgotten Battle Scientific Essay Saragarhi The Forgotten Battle Remembered by : Rohit Daroch Electrical Engineering Department Indian Institute of Technology Delhi veryone is familiar with The Battle of Thermopylae that occurred around 480 B.C. E between the combined Greek forces and the Persian Army (majorly because of the fact that a blockbuster Hollywood movie “300” was made on the same) and praised the bravery and patriotism of the Greek soldiers who despite being heavily outnumbered neither retreated nor surrendered and died gloriously in the battlefield; but most of the common folk is not familiar with an even more striking account of bravery, where 21 Sikh soldiers gave up their lives in devotion to their duty, facing Figure 1: The map of the Northwest Frontier Province [2] the incredible odds against more than 10000 Afghan Tribesmen in The Battle of Saragarhi, which is The two forts, though just a few miles apart, were considered as one of the history’s greatest Last not in a visual line of sight due to geographical Stands as well as published by UNESCO under the reasons, hence a small heliograph communication top five stories of bravery mentioning it as one of post was built in Saragarhi which ensured the the most significant events of its kind in the world. survival and the defense of the two forts and the nearby region during emergency situations (A INTRODUCTION heliograph is a simple device used for sending Morse code using a mirror by catching and Saragarhi was a small village in the border reflecting the sunlight). district of Kohat, situated on the barren slopes of the Samana Range (presently in upper Pakistan) which The Saragarhi post, situated on a rocky ridge, happened to be the North-West Frontier Province consisted of a small block house with loop-holed under the British India. On 27th August 1897, five ramparts and a signaling tower. Earlier, on 3rd and companies of the 36th Sikh Regiment of the British 9th September 1897, the Afridi Tribes, allied with the Army (presently known as the 4th Battalion of Sikh Afghans, had tried to attack and capture Fort Regiment of the Indian Army) under the command Gulistan, but were repulsed by the arrival of of Lt. Col. John Haughton were stationed in the reinforcements from Fort Lockhart due to timely regions under Fort Lockhart (on the Samana Range communication of the situation from Saragarhi of the Hindu Kush mountains) and Fort Gulistan Communication Post. Unknown to the Sikhs, the (Sulaiman Range), situated a few miles apart. These Pathans had further planned a major attack on 12th two forts were originally built much before the September to destroy this vital post and block the British conquest of Punjab, by the previous ruler of communication between the two forts, hereby the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh in order to lowering the defenses of the two forts. repel the frequent attacks by the local Afghan tribes who were allied and supported by the Russians in order to get into British India. Saragarhi: The Forgotten Battle Page 2 THE BATTLE On the morning of 12th September 1897, the combined forces of Afghans and Orakzai tribesmen, numbering around 10000 to 12000 marched on to the Saragarhi Communication Post and ordered the Sikh Regiment to surrender. At that time, only 21 Sikh soldiers were present on the post (18 Sepoys, 1 Naik, 1 Lance Naik (i.e. twenty troops of Other Ranks) and 1 Havildar (i.e. one Non-Commissioned Officer)). A 19 year old Sepoy Gurmukh Singh, using the Heliograph device, signaled to Lt. Col. John Haughton present at Fort Lockhart about the situation and called for back-up (he was the one Figure 2: The ruins of the Saragarhi signal post, defended conveying all the events of the battle to Fort to the last by Havildar Ishar Singh and his 20 men of the Lockhart accurately using the Heliograph device; 36th Sikhs. Fort Lockhart is on the skyline, left center. [2] also the Saragarhi post was fairly visible from Fort Lockhart). However, due to the fact that the Fort As an aftermath, the Sikh soldiers were not able Lockhart was itself under siege from hordes of to see the incoming wave of tribesmen, moreover, Afghan tribesmen, no help was possible from the the Sikh soldiers were unable to fire through fort; hence, the Sikhs were signaled about the same extremely thick and dense smoke rising all around and ordered to hold position, sealing them to a sure them. However, one of the outside walls were death. The Afghans were willing to let the Sikh breached later, due to thinning of the Sikh defenses soldiers leave peacefully if they hand over their – no visibility and a loss of 10 Sikh soldiers. The British general, but no reply came from the Sikh leader of the Afghan Tribesmen again tried to lure soldiers, neither did they surrendered; they declared, the Sikh soldiers by making them promises of letting instead, to fight till their last man, until their last them go away safely if they laid down their weapons breath and prevent the afghans from advancing any and handed over their British officials, but the Sikh further towards any of the two forts. soldiers gave them no reply. This was accompanied by one of the fiercest hand to hand combat in At 9 a.m., the first attack began with hundreds of history, which finally lead to a loss of more Sikh Pathans riding towards the post firing towards the soldiers and about 1000 to 1500 Afghan tribesmen. heavily outnumbered Sikhs. The first line of attack was, however, repulsed due to the timely return fire The ammunition gradually finished by 2 p.m. and and presence of newly designed long range firing the Sikh soldiers had to continue on hand to hand rifles. The Pathans were now familiar with the firing combat against the heavy artillery firing of the power of the 21 Sikh soldiers; the second attack, Pathans. After the breach of outer wall, the leader of therefore, included thousands of Afghan soldiers the Sikh regiment, Havildar Ishar Singh, orders the mounted on horses accompanied with heavy artillery rest of the remaining soldiers to fall back behind the and gun-fire. Between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m., the inner walls of the post while he continued fighting Afghans made seven unsuccessful attempts of surrounded by hundreds of Pathans; finally dying as breaching into the small post. Two Sikh soldiers are a martyr from hundreds of bullets and saber slashes wounded while thousands of Pathans lay dead in the throughout his body. By the time the Afghans were battlefield, unable to reach near the walls of the post able to breach into the inner layers of the post, only due to extensive firing from the Sikh soldiers. four of the Sikh soldiers were left, along with the Finally when they were unable to enter in directly, additional soldier Gurmukh Singh on the nearby they set fire to the bushes surrounding the post in a mound providing up to date report of the situation hope of preventing the Sikh soldiers from aiming via Heliograph to Fort Lockhart. and firing. Already out of ammunition, the four soldiers kept on fighting with their swords, standing back to back facing the upcoming enemy. The soldiers at Fort Lockhart were in utter disbelief by the courage displayed by the Sikhs at Saragarhi and the stiff resistance they put up against thousands of Pathans, Saragarhi: The Forgotten Battle Page 3 which was in full view from the fort above. Finally, RECOGNITION at 3:30 p.m., Sepoy Gurmukh Singh transmitted the After the arrival of the relief party at the final message to Fort Lockhart: “MAIN GATE Saragarhi, they found the burnt bodies of the 21 Sikh BREACHED … DOWN TO ONE … REQUEST soldiers at the destroyed post of Saragarhi, along PERMISSION TO DISMOUNT AND JOIN THE with more than 5000 bodies of Afghan tribesmen. FIGHT …!” Orders came back: "PERMISSION This news, however, spread throughout the world GRANTED!" He disassembled his heliograph like a fire. The entire story of the battle and the device (and not throw it away in grief!) and picked names of all the 21 Sikh soldiers were called out at up his rifle. the British House of Commons in a symbolic roll call and were received a standing ovation by both the houses of the entire British Parliament along with Queen Victoria. Indian Order of Merit (IOM) was awarded to all of the 21 Sikhs, which was the highest award for bravery for any soldier under British Army, and was the only time in history when all of the soldiers participating in a battle were awarded with IOM. Moreover, their families were awarded with 500 rupees (a huge amount in 1897) and 50 Acres of land by the British. Despite the facts that the British praised and Figure 3: The burnt-out interior of Saragarhi where the bodies of 21 brave men of the 36th Sikhs were found on the recognized the bravery of the 21 Sikh soldiers who 14th September after the siege on 12th. [2] died for a greater victory and the UNESCO publishing this story among the top five significant The soldiers at Fort Lockhart could see him jumping events of the history, as well as much recognition off from the top-most point of signaling tower of the worldwide; our own country barely remembers this Saragarhi post right into the tribesmen line single event. This is worsened by the fact that this battle is handedly.