A homage paying ceremony at the Saragarhi Memorial in Ferozepur, honouring descendants of the soldiers, release of a special first day cover and an intra-city ‘Saragarhi march’ within Amritsar are among the events planned.
Chandigarh: The 125th anniversary of the epic Battle of Saragarhi, where 21 Sikh soldiers made their last stand against thousands of Pathans in the North-West Frontier Province, is being observed this month in a big way, with a 14-member delegation headed by a woman Major General from the United Kingdom attending the event.
A homage paying ceremony at the Saragarhi Memorial in Ferozepur, honouring descendants of the soldiers, release of a special first day cover and an intra-city ‘Saragarhi march’ within Amritsar are among the events planned.
The delegation from the UK is being led by Maj Gen Celia Jane Harvey, Deputy Commander Field Army. According to available information, she was commissioned into the Territorial Army section of the Women’s Royal Army Corps in 1987 and is the third female Major General in the British army and the first from the reserve forces.
Apart from Lt Col Wendy Faux, the second senior-most member who is also closely associated with the promotion of arts, all other officers and other ranks in the delegation, including women, are persons of Indian origin.
Fought on September 12, 1897, in the Tirah region of North-West Frontier Province then part of British India, the battle is one of eight stories of collective bravery published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The Battle of Saragarhi was a last-stand battle fought before the Tirah Campaign between the British Raj of pre-independence India and Afghan tribesmen. on September12, 1897.
An estimated 24,000 Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen had gathered for an attack near Gogra, at Samana Suk, and around Saragarhi, cutting off Fort Gulistan from Fort Lockhart.
The Afghans attacked the outpost of Saragarhi where thousands of them swarmed and surrounded the fort, preparing to assault it.
Led by Havildar Ishar Singh, the 21 soldiers in the fort—all of whom were Sikhs—refused to surrender and were wiped out in a last stand. The post was recaptured two days later by another British Indian contingent.
All the 21 soldiers involved in the battle were posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit, which was the highest gallantry award that an Indian soldier could receive at the time.
The Indian Army‘s 4th battalion of the Sikh Regiment commemorates the battle every year on 12 September, as Saragarhi Day.
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