The Madras Regiment

Hingora Tar, December 1971

By 16 December 1971, 18 Madras had advanced across the desert of Sind to Hingora Tar, about two kilometres from Umarkot. It came under heavy shelling as it dug in. Captain Shankar Shankhapan Walkar, the battalion's mortar officer, went between the rifle companies coordinating defensive fire. Shell splinters hit him twice and he refused evacuation.

The shelling carried on through the night. Early on 17 December, Pakistani troops attacked two company positions. Walkar, still wounded, led from the front in close combat and shot at least four attackers before they withdrew. He was fatally wounded and received the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously. His battalion also earned two Vir Chakras and four Sena Medals in the operation. The fighting stopped with the ceasefire that day.

Lawrence's Levies

In 1748, the East India Company hired Major Stringer Lawrence, a veteran of Spain, Flanders and the Scottish Highlands, to take charge of the defence of Cuddalore. He drilled irregular Madras Levies into disciplined companies and, in 1758, formed them into two battalions. That is the raising date usually listed, although other units carry older roots. 9 Madras began in 1704 at Padmanabhapuram as a Nair bodyguard to the Maharajah of Travancore and came into the regiment after Independence.

The Madras battalions fought through the wars of southern India and beyond. Sholinghur, on 27 September 1781, was a British victory over Hyder Ali under Eyre Coote, one of the honours since listed as repugnant by the Indian Army because it was won against Indians. At Assaye in 1803, five battalions earned the right to the elephant that is still on the regimental crest, standing on a pair of Malabar swords.

Thoubal, 1891

One of the two Victoria Crosses listed for the regiment came in Manipur. In March 1891 a revolt there killed the British resident, James Quinton, and other British officers. Lieutenant Charles Grant of the 12th Madras Native Infantry was on the border at Tamu, about 55 miles away. He learned of it in late March and marched with 80 Punjabi and Gurkha soldiers. He reached Thoubal, about 15 miles from Imphal, on 31 March, took the place and dug in.

When the Manipuris advanced in force on 1 April, he went out with about 40 men to meet them. His party held for nine days against repeated attacks and turned down offers of truce, losing one man killed and four wounded, Grant among them. He withdrew on orders on 9 April. His citation appeared in the London Gazette on 26 May 1891. The other Victoria Cross went to Captain Herbert Clogstoun of the 19th Madras Native Infantry.

Disbanded, Then Revived

After the First World War nearly the whole regiment was disbanded. Between 1922 and 1928 it shrank to four Indian Territorial Force battalions and a University Training Corps battalion. In 1941 the Governor of Madras, Sir Arthur Hope, led the effort to bring it back. The Territorial battalions became regular units and a training centre opened at Madukkarai in July 1942. It moved to Wellington in February 1947. The centre traces its own history to 36 Madras Battalion, raised at Tanjore in 1794.

The regiment adopted its motto, from Bhagavad Gita 3:35, on 8 June 1955. Its war cry, roughly "O brave Madrassi, hit and kill", was adopted at the 1969 Battalion Commanders' Conference and is said to derive from the Nair army of Travancore. Recruits come mainly from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. 1 Madras also became the first infantry battalion in the Army equipped with an armoured personnel carrier, and it left in 1979 to become 1 Mechanised Infantry.

Lalial and the Basantar

16 Madras crossed the Basantar River and a minefield under fire in December 1971 and held a bridgehead on the far bank, in the Shakargarh sector. It beat off counterattacks through the night of 15 December and a tank-supported assault at dawn. The commanding officer, Lt Col Ved Prakash Ghai, commissioned in 1954, moved around the forward companies under fire. An artillery shell badly wounded him on his way back to his headquarters. He went on directing the battle until he died. He received the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously.

On 16 December at Lalial, Havildar Thomas Philipose took over after his platoon commander and several others were wounded. With 15 men he attacked and captured the position, and when the counterattack came he charged with fixed bayonets. He was hit and kept going. He too received the Maha Vir Chakra, and survived the war. The battalion's total for Basantar was two Maha Vir Chakras, five Vir Chakras, two Sena Medals and six Mentions-in-Despatches, with the battle honour Basantar. Philipose died on 9 June 2018.

At a glance

• Raised: 1758
• Regimental centre: Wellington, Tamil Nadu
• Motto: Swadharme Nidhanam Shreyaha (It is glory to die doing one's duty)
• War cry: Veera Madrassi, Adi Kollu, Adi Kollu