Army of the Pure: A history of Sikhs in warfare and military.

Rutgers Sikh Student Association

• Since the dawn of the Khalsa, an army of the pure founded on Sikhi principals, in 1699 Sikhs have always found themselves surrounded by war and warfare. From then on to know Sikhs have taken it as a blessing and kept fighting, taking part of whatever war or battle came on. Sikhs have played a key role in many international scale battles and have shown been shown as some of the greatest warriors to do so.

Brief history of the Mughal Invasion

• Babur Shah and his disowned tribe started the invasion of India in 1526 under a Mughal flag.

• By 1700 the Mughal Tribes turned into an Empire and had most of India under their reign.

• They sieged 1.2 million square miles of land and ruled over 150 million people.

• The initial invasion was done by battles and wars, but the later was all done by bribes and assassinations.

Military Presence under the Guruship

Guru Hargobind Sahib

• On May 30th 1606 Guru Arjan Dev ji was executed under the then Mughal leader Jhangir.

• After accepting Guruship stated that all Sikhs should be physically and mentally strong to be able to defend themselves and the weak.

• Made sure that his men where armed and made it a point to instill the martial art Shastar Vidhya.

• After getting creating an army, the Guru saw many skirmishes with the Mughals often leading to a high death count on both sides.

• Overall militarized, armed, and strengthened the Sikh movement.

Guru Har Rai

• After accepting Guruship continued the Military tradition.

• Under the Guru’s rule the Sikh soldiers went from a few men to an Army

• Used the Mughal Civil war to their advantage and made helpful allies.

• Held a strong army for Guru Tegh Bahadur to take over.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji

Early Life

• Accepted the Guruship at the age of 9• From a young life loved to play military and war

strategy games• Taught Horsemanship and Shastar Vidhya from

Rajputs• Constructed a fort a Paonta• Saw first conflict at Battle of Bhangani which the

Guru ultimately won and then marched His army to the steps of Anandpur (then Chakk Nanaki)

Forming of the Khalsa• After a few wins at Anandpur the Guru secured his position in defending

it.• On March 30th, 1699 he called all of his followers and any others to come

join him at Anandpur Sahib.• He unsheathed his sword and pulled out his Kirpan asking which one of

his followers would give him their head. 5 volunteers one by one came up and offered themselves.

• Those 5 volunteers in turn became the Panj Pyare, the first 5 Singhs and the first of the Khalsa, The army of the pure.

• Among many things they where dictated to always give their lives in turn for others and always defend the weak and the poor.

• Hundreds of volunteers stood up and created an army to battle the Mughal opposition, who at the time where persecuting and killing in the name in the name of radical Isalm.

Mughal-Sikh wars

• After the form of the Khalsa the Hill Raja’s of Sivalik tried to take over Anandpur and take the control of Dhoaba over from the Guru.

• After fighting many war they lost every time.• This is when the Hill Rajas went to the Mughals and asked for

an alliance to rid themselves of a common enemy.• This is when Aurangzeb, with the help of his governor of

Punjab Wazir Khan, launched a campaign against Anandpur. • When the first wave of soldiers where sent in they where easily

defeated so Wazir decided to send all his troops to surround the Anadpur district and lock in Guru Gobind Singh’s Khalsa army.

Mughal-Sikh Wars: Chamkaur • The Guru evacuated Anandpur with his army and took refuge in

Chamkaur in a small fortified villa with about 40 of his soldiers and a stockpile of weapons.

• Once Wazir Khan found out he sent all of his troops there. The rough estimate was about 100,000.

• But the Guru was smart in his choice of fort. Only one side could be attacked and there was only a few ways to get in. The opponents where flanked but the Guru’s Khalsa was heavily outnumbered.

• Using tactics like flanking archery and overall courage they managed to take down 30 – 50,000 solders before all but the Guru and 2 guards died, this included the Guru’s two eldest sons.

Mughal-Sikh Wars: Muktsar

• After escaping Chamkaur the Guru and all of his soldiers that he could find held up a strategic hill position.

• There was a lake at the top of the mound and thorn bushes surrounding the area, It was also a funnel so only a few solders saw combat at a time. This over all kept the Khalsa fresh to pick off Mughals while they weared and tired out.

• The Khalsa lost a lot of men but over all it was their victory

• A big part of this victory comes from the Sikhs now being equipped with Flintlock Muskets

Guru Gobind Singh Ji

• After the Battle of Muktsar the Guru made good contacts with the new Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah.

• Wazir feeling uneasy about this sent assassins to kill the Guru.

• The assassin stabbed the Guru right below his heart, The Guru awoke and used his Kirpan to kill him but after a couple of days passed away himself.

The Sikh Empire

Banda Singh Bahadur

• “I will tell you, whenever men become so corrupt and wicked as to relinquish the path of equity and to abandon themselves to all kinds of excesses, then the Providence never fails to raise up a scourge like me to chastise a race so depraved; When the tyrants oppress their subjects to the limit, then God sends men like me on this earth to mete out his punishment to them.“

Banda Singh Bahadur

• Born a Dorga Rajput guru Gobind Singh seeing his bravery baptized him into Sikhi and gave him the name Banda Singh Bahadur.

• After the Guru’s death he mobilized his forces and organized a mass movement taking over modern day Harayana.

• Defeated Wazir Khan’s army with peasant army armed with nothing more than a few muskets, swords, bows, and spears taking over Punjab.

Mughal-Sikh Wars: Chhappar Chiri• Wazir Khan allied with the surrounding Rajas and governers to finally

defeat the Khalsa.• He amassed an army of 25,000 with many musketeers, cavalry,

howda(elephants), and raiders.• Banda Singh managed to get up an army of 30-40,000 armed with spears,

swords, bows, and a few matchlock muskets.• As the battle went on Banda Singh made many decisive moves as to find

and take out the generals and take out the cavalry first to create confusion.• Overall the Khalsa defeated the Mughal Army and captured Wazir Khan

alive.• After a tribunal meeting they hung him.• This Decisive battle won the Khalsa Dal(the then created start of the Sikh

Empire) Punjab, Haryana, and Sirhand.

Baba Deep Singh

Nawab Kapur Singh

Nawab Kapur Singh

• After Banda Singh was finally captured he was executed.

• Sikhs now with a bounty on their head went into hiding. Kapur led a group to raid treasuries and secure funds for weaponry.

• The Sikhs decided it was time to create a government and chose Kapur Singh as the First Nawab(ruler)

• He created peace between the Mughal and Sikhs and finally launched a government uniting all the Sikh misls(groups) together under a unified kingdom.

Baba Deep Singh

• Baba Deep Singh took in Nawab as one of the Panj Pyaree and baptized him.

• Headed the Veteran movement and fought many battles against Afghanis and ghazis under the Sikh Kingdom

• Came out of retirement to revenge the destruction of Anandpur Sahib

Jassa Singh Ramgarhia

Jassa Singh Ramgarhia

• Fought under Nawab Kapur Singh• After Kapur singh’s death Lead the Ramgarhia

Misl to capture Lahore• Fought in the Inter-Misl civil wars to divide

land.• Managed to unify most of the Misls again and

lead the way to Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Sikh Empire.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Pre-Maharaja

• Ranjit Singh suffered from Smallpox a a kid and lost his left eye.

• At the age of 18 he took over the Sukerchakia Misl

• With the Help of Jassa Singh unified the Misls • Was elected the Maharaja of the first Sikh

Empire in 1801

Rule

• Drove the Afgans out of Punjan and took over Pashtun lands early on. Later conquering Peshwar, Jammu, and Kashmir finally ending the 1000+ year rule of Mughals in the area.

• Created the first Secular rule allowing all religions to exist within his borders and appointing non-Sikhs in his court.

• Stretched the empire from far-west China to northern Tibet, As far south as to border Dehli and Afganistan(the first ever to do so).

• His advisors included French, American, and an Irish General all to ensure military prominince.

Hari Singh Nalwa

• One of Maharaja’s greatest generals. Most famously noted for killing a lion with nothing but his sword.

• Was the first general ever to concur and defeat the afgans on their own land. He managed to stretch the Sikh empire to the western border of Afganistan.

• Was noted by an English paper as the best general in history and if he had the same supplies as any British general the Sikh empire would of extended far into Europe.

Anglo-Sikh Wars

The Beginning

• After the Death of Ranjit Singh, His kingdom was split between the Sikh Sindhs and the Hindu Drogas, much a civil war, murders, riots, and assassinations caused mass panic and confusion all perpetuated by an outside force.

• The East India British saw this as a perfect opportunity to finally start their invasion of Punjab.

• They slowly started to annex southern cities starting with Sind

• Finally they started to move troops into place.

First Anglo-Sikh War• Relations broke and the British marched to Ferozepur with British,

Rajput, Bengali, and many more troops.• The Sikhs crossed the Sutlej with Punjabi, Pashtu, and Kashmiri forces.• When the forces met in Ferozpur a full scale war broke out, Tej Singh

the commander of the Sikh army positioned his men to hold until death.

• The battle was decided out by artillery, the British had more, they blew the bridge behind the Sikhs and marched an attack. With Tej Singh now deserted and no where to go the Sikhs held a last stand and perished.

• The Sikhs had all 5000 men killed or wounded, the British won the battle but suffered a greater casualty of 4000+ men injured and 2000+ killed.

Treaty of Lahore

• On March 9 1846 the Sikhs and British signed the Treaty of Lahore and a few others to take Punjab but keep power to Duleep Singh, the only son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who wasn’t influenced by any other powers because of his young age.

Maharaja Duleep Singh

Going into the Second War

• The Khalsa still existed and where abandoning court and post to create a rebellion army for a last stand.

• Once the British realized this they started to move troops around but because of the hot weather had trouble.

• Finally they took the City of Multan and caused the Brittish to attack.

Second Anglo-Sikh War

• The British sent the Bombay Army against the Sikhs that included a large cavalry. They managed to repel the attack back and retreated.

• The Sikhs had an ally that the British didn’t know about. The Afghan's. They sent in horsemen to back them up and finally where on the offensive.

• Finally when the Sikh army attacked a vital fort and saw 3,500 Afghan Cavalry arrive the fort garrison surrendered

Battle of Chillianwala

• A strategic battle in the Sikh Favor The sikhs went to capture artillery.

• As the battle waged the Sikhs where surrounded but used hteir position to an advantage the british guns could not get the, but they could attack them fine.

• Finally when the British flag was destroyed the britts fled and left the artillery to be captured.

Battle of Gujrat

• With reinforcements coming in the Sikhs held a last stand here.

• The Britts surrounded Gujrat where the Army was holding down.

• They surrounded the are with over 100 arteliry and fired while attacking. All the Sikh troops gave their lives and ended up surrendering.

• The Ghazi Afghans managed to escape but the British got to them later.

Aftermath

• All of Punjab was annexed.• The Sikhs where given high positions in the

British East India Company.• Duleep Singh and his family kept their royal

positions.• The Martial Art of Shastar Vidhya now banned

was replaced by a shorter for “Gatka” giving the Sikhs the status as a Martial Race.

British East India Sikhs

Sikh Regiment

Sikh Regiment

• The British created the Sikh Regiment in August 1, 1846.

• Since then the Sikhs have been used n every major to minor scale skirmish by the British and revered as the greatest asset to their army.

• Known for their fierce war cry: Jo Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal.

• Given the Coveted Red Turban to wear into combat, a step above the normal sepoy blue cap.

Indian Rebellion of 1857

• First battle of the Sikh Regiment merely a year after its formation.

• It was the bigest battle and struggle for freedom for Indian troops. The last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II led the attack.

• Since the Sikh regiment already had a mutual hatred for the Mughals the gladly attacked the fortifications in Dehli.

• Taking it over they moved to Rajasthan, another hatred since the Hindu Rajput helped take down the Sikh Empire a quick battle defeated the Rajput.

Siege of Lucknow

• Lucknow a then free state controlled by Oudh was under the British eye.

• They sent in Sikh soldiers under a few generals.• 8000 Sikh troops with in a few weeks managed to

disband and defeat an army of 30,000.• It was said one they ran out of bullets they would

withdraw their kirpans and bayonets and charge in.

Battle of Saraghari

Battle of Saraghari

• One of the greatest last stands in history.• Saraghari was an outpost in northwest Pakistan that was vital

for getting into India.• 21 Sikh soldiers noted at least 10,000 Afgahan Pashtuns

marching towards the base and got the message out to homefront.

• Knowing they had to stall time they held the fort using little ammunition they had for the day, when finally running out of ammunition chagring the battlefield with their Kirpans.

• When the British arived they defeated the Pashtuns and saw that the Sikhs managed to take out 600 men on their own.

• It is a national holiday now in honer of the Sikh Regiment.

World War 1

Outbreak of war

• The british join the allies in ww1 on Aug. 4, 1914

• Doing so caused the Sikh Regiment to be enrolled as well.

• 100,000 Sikhs volunteered and served in the war

Feats

• A group of sikhs captured where thought to be Muslim and where sent to turkey, they ended up killing the turks they where sent to and returned the british front

• Fighting from the Suez Canal to Turkey they where called the Black Lions for their relentless attacks.

• Known to always wield their swords in combat and carry In the Sri guru Granth Sahib to battle

Battle of Neuve Chapelle

• The Sikh regiment was told to invade and drive out the German force in the french village of Neuve Chapelle.

• Once In they where told to attack once they heard their cover fire.

• Due to an error none came, instead of retreating they attacked the fortifications.

• Overall they lost 80% of their men that day but claimed victory over the 13 day battle.

• It is quite impossible that I should return alive. [But] don't be grieved at my death, because I shall die arms in hand, wearing the warrior's clothes. This is the most happy death that anyone can die.

World War 2

World War 2

• As the UK was once again forced into the war so was the Sikh Regiment.

• Despite Independence ringing on their ears they fought with the same valor as they would for their own land.

• The total number ended up being over 300,000 Sikhs that fought in WW2.

• Fighting everywhere from Afghanistan, to Germany, to France, Mesopotamia, and the most significant Burma.

Burma Campaign

• Burma, now under Japanese control, posed as a major threat to India.

• Naik Gian Singh was declared as The Lion of Burma, After his troops perished and he lost an arm he jumped foxhole to foxhole clearing the encampments, finally when he ran out of ammo he lobbed grenades taking out the whole unit

• This forced the Japanese to retreat and led to an over all capture.

Burma Campaign

• Another Sikh war hero from Burma was Karamjeet Singh Judge.

• During a bunker raid he single handedly directed a battalion of tanks using home telephone line to attack the bunkers, when he would see anti-tank units. He would lead a small a malita against it and continue the assult.

• During the raid 2 Japanese soldeirs saw him and within seconds he killed them.

• At the end with 3 bunkers left he took out a machine gun unit taking a shot right to the chest but finished the job.

European Campaign

• Hitler himself said to the Sikhs to leave the ranks and join him and he would give them India, the declined

• The consensus was they where fighting not for the crown, but for the Jews. Like their ancestors before and the Guru’s of their faith they would defend against religious persecution.

• The biggest push was in italy by the sikhs aiding in everything form air attacks to ground operations.

Aftermath

• In the last two World Wars 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded while fighting across 3 continents.

• In the years to 1945, 21 Indian Order of Merits and 14 Victoria Crosses where awarded to the Sikh Regiment.

Post-Independence

Post Independence

• After the British freed India Sikhs lead the charge in Military.

• While no Sikh lead the army until 2005 they have helped secure many Indian operations

• Under India the Sikh Regiment has earned 2 Param Vir Chakras, 2Ashoka Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, 14 Kirti Chakras, 64 Vir Chakras, 15 Shaurya Chakras, 75Sena Medals and 25 Vishisht Seva Medals and "Unit Citation" to 8th Battalion for their meritorious and gallant performance during the isolation of Tiger Hill in the Kargil Skirmish

Operation Vijay

Brig. Sagat Singh accepting Portugal’s surrender

Operation Vijay

• Goa in the 60’s was still under Portuguese rule.

• India tried peaceful talks but failed.• The Sikh regiment was sent in with a few

other troops and in the 2 day war in Dec. of 61 managed to annex Goa back into India.

• Less than 100 casulties on both sides made it a quick and easy operation.

Tiger Hill

• The costliest war of the Kargil war the Sikh and 2 other regiments where sent in.

• The hero of this battle was one Yogendra Singh Yadav• He single handedly offered to scale the cliff to secure

the ropes, halfway up he was fired upon. Not caring he continued to climb. When he reached the peak he lobbed a grenade into the enemy encampment while being hit 3 times. Then crawled into the next bunker and killed the three soldiers in there. Then with his troop marched into Tiger Hill and took it over.

Sikhs in Military outside of India.

Great Brittan

• A Sikh regiment is currently being issued in the UK. Prince Charles himself is looking to lead it.

• Sikhs have been in the UK military since the independence of India and have been serving in all the wars since then for them

• Currently two Sikhs have been given the honer to be the Queens guard.

USA

• United states has along history of Sikhs in the military with showings of Singh’s in ww2, Vietnam, Korea, and more recently Iraq and Afghanistan.

• In 1979 Sekhon joined the US Army and now is the one of the only 2 Sikh Colonel.

• In 1986 Ravi Singh was the first allowed ot do basic training with his Turban.

Currently, after two decades Simranpreet Singh Lamba is the newest Sikh to cross Basic with a Turban. Religious freedom was granted and allowed him to do so.

Conclusion

• Since the Age of the Gurus to now Sikhs have served in military operations with the upmost honor and service.

• Known for their valor everyone from the British to the Russians to the Americans have accepted their service as soldiers and will continue to do so as long as the Sikh military motto stand: Nischay Kar Apni Jeet Karon (Resolve and Win).