110th Mahratta Light Infantry
Encyclopedia
The 110th Mahratta Light Infantry were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...

. The regiment traces their origins to 1797, when they were raised as the 2nd Battalion, 5th (Travancore) Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry.

The regiments first saw action during the Mysore wars being involved on the Third Anglo-Mysore War
Third Anglo-Mysore War
The Third Anglo-Mysore War was a war in South India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company and its allies, including the Mahratta Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad...

 and the Battle of Seedaseer
Battle of Seedaseer
The Battle of Seedaseer was a battle of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War on 6 March 1799 at Seedaseer , a hill and pass on the border of the Coorg and Mysore country seven miles from Piriyapatna and with a view almost as far as Seringapatam. A British force of 2,000 was surrounded by 18-20,000 men of...

 and the Battle of Seringapatam
Battle of Seringapatam
The Siege of Seringapatam was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam and storming the citadel. Tippu Sultan, Mysore's...

 in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a war in South India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company under the Earl of Mornington....

. They were then used in the punitive expedition in the Beni Boo Ali campaign in 1821, against the pirates in Eastern Arabia and the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

. The regiment was involved in the Siege of Kahun
Siege of Kahun
The Siege of Kahun was a siege of the isolated hilltop fort of Kahun during the First Anglo-Afghan War.-Course:A 300-man detachment from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Bombay Native Infantry, led by Captain Brown, marched on Kahun, then the Marri tribe's main stronghold, in order to support the Bombay...

 next during the First Afghan War. The annexation of the Punjab
Punjab (British India)
Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...

 was next during the Second Anglo-Sikh War
Second Anglo-Sikh War
The Second Anglo-Sikh War took place in 1848 and 1849, between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company. It resulted in the subjugation of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province by the East India Company.-Background...

. Their next action was in China in the Second Opium War
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...

. They returned to Afghanistan again to participate in the Second Afghan War, their last conflict in the 19th century was the annexation of Burma in the Second Burmese War. In World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 the regiment was attached to the 6th (Poona) Division
6th (Poona) Division
For the World War II formation see 6th Infantry Division The 6th Division was a division of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1903, following the Kitchener reforms of the Indian Army.-World War I:...

 in the Mesopotamian campaign
Mesopotamian Campaign
The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, mostly troops from the Indian Empire, and the Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.- Background :...

. After a string of earlier successes, the 6th Division was delivered a setback at the Battle of Ctesiphon
Battle of Ctesiphon (1915)
The Battle of Ctesiphon was fought in November 1915 by the British Empire and British India, against the Ottoman Empire, within the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I....

 and forced to withdrew back to Kut
Kut
Al-Kūt is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about 160 kilometres south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 374,000 people...

. The Siege of Kut
Siege of Kut
The siege of Kut Al Amara , was the besieging of 8,000 strong British-Indian garrison in the town of Kut, 100 miles south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army. Its known also as 1st Battle of Kut. In 1915, its population was around 6,500...

 began and after a lengthy siege surrendered in April 1916.

After World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. In 1922, the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry became the 3rd Battalion 5th Mahratta Light Infantry
5th Mahratta Light Infantry
The 5th Mahratta Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1922, whenthe Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. The regiment fought in World War II and raised 30 battalions...

. After independence they were one of the regiments allocated to the Indian Army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...

.

Predecessor names

  • 2nd Battalion, 5th (Travancore) Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry - 1797
  • 10th Bombay Native Infantry - 1824
  • 10th Bombay Native (Light) Infantry - 1871
  • 10th Regiment of Bombay (Light) Infantry - 1885
  • 10th Bombay Light Infantry - 1901
  • 10th Mahratta Light Infantry
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