The 110th Mahratta Light Infantry were an infantry regiment of the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

. 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 The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Travancore, Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, Maratha Confederacy, and the Nizam of Hyderabad ...

and the Battle of Seedaseer and the Battle of Seringapatam in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. They were then used in the

punitive expedition A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a political entity or any group of people outside the borders of the punishing state or union. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong beha ...

in the Beni Boo Ali campaign in 1821, against the

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

in Eastern

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. The regiment was involved in the Siege of Kahun next during the

First Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War () was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession dispute between emir Dost Mohammad Khan ( Bara ...

. The annexation of the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

was next during the

Second Anglo-Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company which took place from 1848 to 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab region, Punjab and what sub ...

. Their next action was in China in the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...

. They returned to Afghanistan again to participate in the

Second Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the latter was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai ...

; their last conflict in the 19th century was the annexation of Burma in the

Second Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the Anglo-Burmese Wars, three wars fought between the Konbaung dynasty, Burmese Empire and British Empire during the 19th century. The war res ...

. In

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the regiment was attached to the 6th (Poona) Division in the

Mesopotamian campaign The Mesopotamian campaign or Mesopotamian front () was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the British Empire, with troops from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain, Australia and the vast major ...

. After a string of earlier successes, the 6th Division was delivered a setback at the Battle of Ctesiphon and forced to withdraw back to

Kut Kūt (), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare, Kut al-Imara, or Kut Al Amara is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad, and the capital of the Wasit Governorate. the estimated populatio ...

. The

Siege of Kut The siege of Kut Al Amara (7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916), also known as the first battle of Kut, was the besieging of an 8,000-strong British Army garrison in the town of Kut, south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army (1861–1922), Ottoman Ar ...

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 multibattalion regiments.Sumner p.15 In 1922, the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry became the 3rd Battalion 5th Mahratta Light Infantry. After independence they were one of the regiments allocated to the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

Predecessor names

*2nd Battalion, 5th (Travancore) Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry - 1797 *10th Bombay Native Infantry - 1818 *10th Bombay Native (Light) Infantry - 1871 *10th Regiment of Bombay (Light) Infantry - 1885 *10th Bombay Light Infantry - 1901 *10th Mahratta Light Infantry

References

Sources

* * * * *Moberly, F.J. (1923). ''Official History of the War: Mesopotamia Campaign'', Imperial War Museum. British Indian Army infantry regiments Military units and formations established in 1797 Military units and formations disestablished in 1922 Bombay Presidency {{mil-unit-stub