Jat Regiment Explained

Unit Name:	Jat Regiment
Dates:	1795 – present^[1]
Allegiance:	India
Branch:
Type:	Line Infantry
Role:	Infantry
Size:	27 Battalions [21 Regular, 4 RR & 2 TA Bns]
Garrison:	Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
Garrison Label:	Regimental Centre
Motto:	Sangathan Va Veerta (Unity And Valour)
Colors:	Jat Balwan, Jai Bhagwan (The Jat is powerful, Victory to god!)
Colors Label:	War Cry
Decorations:	1 Victoria cross 2 George Cross 24 Battle honour 8 Maha Vir Chakra 3 Ashoka Chakra 13 Kirti Chakra 52 Shaurya Chakra 39 Vir Chakra 343Sena Medal
Anniversaries:	20 Nov
Colonel Of The Regiment:	Major General Rajesh Sethi, SM, VSM
Identification Symbol:	The insignia has a bugle indicating the Light Infantry antecedents of two of its battalions.
Identification Symbol Label:	Regimental Insignia

The Jat Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army, of which it is one of the longest-serving and most decorated regiments.^[2] The regiment has won 19 battle honours between 1839 and 1947,^[3] and post-independence it has won five battle honours, including 2 Victoria Cross, 2 George Cross, 8 Mahavir Chakra, 13 Kirti Chakra, 52 Shaurya Chakras, 39 Vir Chakras and 343Sena Medals.^[4] During its 200-year service history, the regiment has participated in various actions and operations in India and abroad, including the First and the Second World Wars. Numerous battalions of the Jat Regiment, including the 14th Murray's Jat Lancers, fought in the First World War.^[5]

History

The Regiment claims its origins from the Calcutta Native Militia that was raised in 1795,^[6] which later became an infantry battalion of the Bengal Army. The 14th Murray's Jat Lancers was formed in 1857.^[6] After 1860, there was a substantial increase in the recruitment of Jats into the British Indian Army. The Class Regiment(The Jats) was initially created in 1897 as infantry units from old battalions of the Bengal Army. In January 1922, at the time of the grouping of the Class Regiments of the Indian Army, the 9th Jat Regiment was formed by merging four active battalions and one training battalion into a single regiment.

The 1st Battalion was raised as the 22nd Bengal Native Infantry in 1803. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were raised in 1817 and 1823 respectively. All three battalions had distinguished records of service, including the winning of many honours during World War I.

Battle cry

The battle cry, adopted in 1955, in Hindi, is जाट बलवान, जय भगवान (IAST: Jāt Balwān, Jai Bhagwān) (The Jat is Powerful, Victory Be to God!).^[7]

Composition and recruitment

Soldiers of the Jat Regiment are recruited 89% from the Jat community and rest from other castes of North India.^{[8] [9] [10]}

• 21 Regular infantry battalions
• 4 Rashtriya Rifles battalions (5 RR, 34 RR, 45 RR and 61 RR)
• 2 Territorial Army battalions (114 and 151)

Regimental battalions

The Jat regiment has 21 regular battalions, 4 Rastriya Rifles battalions and 2 territorial army battalions, as of August 2020.^{[11] [12]}

Unit	Raising location	Raising date	Remarks
Jat Regimental Centre	Calcutta	1795	Erstwhile The Calcutta Native Militia
1 Jat (LI)	Fatehgarh	1803	Now converted to 2 Mechanised Infantry Regiment
2 Jat	Bombay	29 October 1817	former 119th Infantry (The Mooltan Regiment)
3 Jat	Dinapur	23 June 1823	Former 10th Jats; Battle of Dograi
4 Jat	Bareilly	15 January 1962	Re-raising; Saviours of Fazilka
5 Jat	Varanasi	1 February 1941	Phillora Captors
6 Jat	Bareilly	1 February 1941
7 Jat	Bareilly	15 November 1962	Re-raising, former 11th Jat
8 Jat	Jabalpur	14 December 1941
9 Jat	Bareilly	1 January 1963	Re-raising
11 Jat	Bareilly	1 April 1964
12 Jat	Bareilly	6 February 1970
14 Jat	Bareilly	1 October 1963
15 Jat	Bareilly	15 May 1976	Re-raising
16 Jat	Bareilly	1 October 1964
17 Jat	Jabalpur	1 June 1966	Kargil
18 Jat	Secunderabad	1 October 1966
19 Jat	Bareilly	1 August 1980
20 Jat	Bareilly	27 February 1985
21 Jat	Bareilly	1 November 1987
22 Jat	Bareilly	1 December 2013	Jaguars
23 Jat	Bareilly	1 July 2016
24 Jat	Bareilly	1 September 2020
5 Rashtriya Rifles	Ranikhet	15 October 1990
34 Rashtriya Rifles	Bareilly	1 September 1994	Bravest of the Brave
45 Rashtriya Rifles	Bareilly	1 August 2001
61 Rashtriya Rifles	Bareilly	30 June 2004
114 Infantry Battalion (Territorial Army)	Dehradun	1 October 1960
151 Infantry Battalion (Territorial Army)	Muzaffarpur	18 January 2002

Gallantry awards

Battle honours

Pre-1947

• Nagpur & Afghanistan, 1839
• Ghuznee (Ghazni, Ali Masjid & Kandahar), 1842
• Cabool (Kabul), 1842
• Maharajpore, Sobraon, Mooltan, Goojrat (Gujarat), Punjab & China, 1858–59
• Kandahar 1880
• Burma 1885–87
• Afghanistan 1879–80
• China 1900
• La Bassée 1914
• Festubert 1914–15
• Shaiba, Ctesiphon, Khan al Baghdadi & Kut al Amara, 1915
• Neuve-Chapelle, France & Flanders, 1914–15
• Kut al Amara 1916
• Mesopotamia 1914–18
• North-West Frontier Province 1914–15 & 1917
• Afghanistan 1919
• Razabil & Burma, 1942–45
• Jitra, Kanglatongbi & Malaya, 1941–42
• Ninshigum, the Muars & North Africa, 1940–43

Post-1947

^[13]

• Zoji La & Rajauri, 1947
• Jammu and Kashmir 1947–48
• Phillora & Dograi 1965
• Jammu and Kashmir & East Pakistan 1971

Unit citations

When a unit is decorated for counter-insurgency operations, unit citations are given instead of battle or theatre honours.

• 4th battalion, Nagaland 1995
• 7th battalion, J&K 1997, J&K 2003 & Operation Rhino 2016
• 11th battalion, Operation Rakshak 2011
• 34th battalion Rashtriya Rifles, J&K 1997
• 17th battalion, Operation Vijay 1999
• 16th battalion, Operation Rakshak 2005 & 2011
• 21st battalion, Operation Rhino 2009
• 22nd Battalion (JAGUARS), Operation Rakshak 2018

Victoria Cross

• Risaldar Badlu Singh, 14th Murray's Jat Lancers attached to 29th Lancers (Deccan Horse), Palestine 1918.^[14]
• Havildar Abdul Hafiz, 9th Jat Regiment, Imphal 1944.^[15]

George Cross

• Lance Naik Islam-ud-Din, 9th Jat Regiment, Burma 1945
• Havildar Abdul Rahman, 9th Jat Regiment, Java 1946

Maha Vir Chakra

• Brig. (later Lt. Gen.) Joginder Singh Bakshi, 16 Jat, 1971^[16]
• Lt. Col. (later Brig.) Desmond Hayde, 3 Jat, Dograi 1965
• Maj. Asaram Tyagi, 3 Jat, 1965
• [Major (rank) [Ajit Singh, 5 Jat, Indo-China 1962 * [[Capt.]] Anuj Nayyar, 17 Jat, Kargil 1999
• Capt. Kapil Singh Thapa, 3 Jat, 1965
• Havldar Fateh Singh, 3 Jat, J&K 1948
• Naik Sis Pal, 2 jat, J&K 1948^[17]

Vir Chakra

• Brig. Umesh Singh Bawa, 17 Jat, Kargil 1999
• Lt. Col Raj Kumar Suri, 4 Jat, 1971 war^[18]
• Maj. Sukhpal Singh, 4 Jat, 1971 war ^[19]
• Maj. Harish Chandra Sharma, 4 Jat 1971 war^[20]
• Maj. Narain Singh, 4 Jat 1971 war^[21]
• Maj. Deepak Rampal, 17 Jat, Kargil 1999
• Havildar Kumar Singh Sogarwal, 17 Jat, Kargil 1999
• Havildar Shish Ram Gill, 8 Jat, Kargil 1999
• Lance Havildar Ganga Dhar, 4 JAT, 1971 ^[22]
• Sep Dharajit Singh Chahar, 4 Jat, 1988
• Sub (later Capt.) Pahlad Singh, 2 Jat, 1971 war

^[23]

• Sub Brijendra Singh, 4 Jat, 1971 war^[24]

Ashok Chakra

• Col Jojan Thomas, 45 Rashtriya Rifles^[25]
• Maj Dinesh Raghu Raman, 34 Rashtriya Rifles, PU 19 Jat,^[26]
• Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, 34 Rashtriya Rifles

Others

• The Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar – 2010 (Organisation Category) was awarded to 21st Battalion, the Jat Regiment.^[27]
• The launch of the 'Maujiram helpline' by the Jat Regiment Centre in June 2013.^[28]

Battles fought

• The Regiment saw a great deal of fighting in North Africa, Ethiopia, Burma, Malaya, Singapore, and Java-Sumatra. A large number of gallantry awards including a Victoria Cross and two George Crosses were won.
• Gates of Somnath temple

After the Battle of Kabul (1842), Governor General Lord Ellenborough had ordered Major General William Nott, who was commanding British-Indian forces, to recover a set of ornate gates known as the Somnath Gates, which had been looted from India by the Afghans and hung at the tomb of Sultan Mahmud II.^[29] A whole sepoy regiment, the 43rd Bengal Native Infantry—which later became the 6th Jat Light Infantry after the Indian Rebellion of 1857—was tasked with carrying the gates back to India.

• WW1
• WW2
• 1947 Indo-Pakistani War
• 1962 Sino-Indian War
• 1965 India-Pakistan War
  • Battle of Dograi

In 1965 India-Pakistan War, 3 soldiers from Jat regiment under Lt Col (now Brig Retd) Desmond Hayde on 1 September and then again on 21–22 September, crossed the Ichhogil Canal and in the Battle of Dograi captured Dograi right up to Batapore-Attocke Awan, advancing towards Lahore.

• 1971 India-Pakistan War
  • Battle of Beriwala Bridge^[30]
• Kargil War

In the 1999 Kargil War, five of the regiment's battalions took part. The regiment has also contributed battalions to UN missions in Korea and Congo. It was also involved in counter-insurgency operations that have kept the Indian Army busy ever since independence.^[31]

See also

• Dominance of Jats in military
• Dev Samhita
• 20th Lancers
• 9th Jat Regiment
• List of regiments of the Indian Army

Further reading

• War Services of the 9th Jat Regiment by Lieutenant Colonel W. L. Hailes details the military history of the Jat Regiment and of the Jat people between 1893 and 1937.

External links

• 6th Jat Light Infantry
• Jat Regiment on Bharat-Rakshak

Notes and References

1. http://www.india-defence.com/reports/2849 Army's Jat Regiment Best Marching Contingent in Republic Day 2007 and 2021 Parade | India Defence
2. http://www.india-defence.com/reports/2849. Army's Jat Regiment Best Marching Contingent in Republic Day 2007 Parade | India Defence
3. Web site: BHARAT RAKSHAK MONITOR: Volume 3(4) . 9 January 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110609131125/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE3-4/bajwa.html . 9 June 2011 . .
4. Cornwell. Richard. 28 February 2012. Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies. 6. 4. 10.5787/6-4-845. 2224-0020. 2 Anti-Tank Regiment, Saa -Tank and Anti-Tank in the Western Desert, 1940-1942 (Part Iv). free.
5. The Times History of the War: The Battlefield of Europe. Woodward & Van Slyke
6. Web site: The valiant Jat soldier – The Tribute. 26 November 2014.
7. Book: Raghavan, V.R.. Infantry in India. Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.. 1997. 8125904840. India. English.
8. Web site: The Official Home Page of the Indian Army . www.indianarmy.nic.in . 1 January 1980 . . 8 July 2023.
9. News: Sachdeva . Sujata Dutta . SUNDAY DEBATE: Should there be reservation in the Indian Army? . Times of India . 6 November 2005 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170217050126/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-that-matters/SUNDAY-DEBATE-Should-there-be-reservation-in-the-Indian-Army/articleshow/1285894.cms . 17 February 2017 . It recruits under two broad categories. The first comprises various regiments such as the Jat, Sikh, Garhwal and Kumaon Regiment. These are made up of soldiers with a similar background. For example, the Jat Regiment recruits only Jats, the Garhwal Regiment recruits only Garhwalis and so on. . live.
10. News: Mohan . Vijay . Jat Regiment raises new battalion . . 6 July 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200506041943/https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/nation/jat-regiment-raises-new-battalion-261887 . 6 May 2020 . The Jat Regiment, which draws its manpower primarily from the state of Haryana and its adjoining areas, ... . live.
11. Web site: REGIMENTAL HISTORY. 20 August 2021.
12. Web site: 24th battalion of Jat Regiment to be raised in Bareilly. The Times of India. 31 August 2020. 20 August 2021.
13. Web site: Official Website of Indian Army. 26 November 2014.
14. http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/india/medals/VC/1BSingh.html Risaldar Badlu Singh, VC
15. Web site: We Were There – Medals and Awards – Victoria Cross Winners . 13 March 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081002102633/http://www.wewerethere.defencedynamics.mod.uk/wewerethere_old/vcwin.html . 2 October 2008 . dead .
16. Web site: The Official Home Page of the Indian Army.
17. Captain Kapil Singh Thapa MVC | Honourpoint. 21 September 1965 .
18. Web site: RAJ KUMAR SURI Gallantry Awards . gallantryawards.gov.in . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190131101725/http://gallantryawards.gov.in/Awardee/raj-kumar-suri . 31 January 2019.
19. https://www.gallantryawards.gov.in/awardee/2391
20. Web site: HARISH CHANDRA SHARMA Gallantry Awards . gallantryawards.gov.in . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190131094657/http://gallantryawards.gov.in/Awardee/harish-chandra-sharma/ . 31 January 2019.
21. Web site: NARAIN SINGH Gallantry Awards . gallantryawards.gov.in . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190131101950/http://gallantryawards.gov.in/Awardee/narain-singh . 31 January 2019.
22. https://www.gallantryawards.gov.in/awardee/2835
23. Web site: DHARAJIT SINGH CHAHAR Gallantry Awards . gallantryawards.gov.in . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190131103503/http://gallantryawards.gov.in/Awardee/dharajit-singh-chahar/ . 31 January 2019.
24. Web site: 1971 war veteran felicitated.
25. Web site: JOJAN THOMAS Gallantry Awards . gallantryawards.gov.in . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170818160715/http://gallantryawards.gov.in/Awardee/jojan-thomas . 18 August 2017.
26. Web site: DINESH RAGHU RAMAN Gallantry Awards . gallantryawards.gov.in . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190218203517/http://gallantryawards.gov.in/Awardee/dinesh-raghu-raman . 18 February 2019.
27. News: Jat Regiment's battalion gets environment award. Press Trust of India. Business Standard India. 19 February 2014. 26 November 2014.
28. News: National helpline for soldiers, Army widows | India News . The Times of India. 2 February 2014 .
29. Dalrymple (2013), pp. 444–445
30. Web site: New Pakistan army chief's brother died in 1971 Battle of Majors in Fazilka. 1 December 2013. Indian Express.
31. Web site: India Military Guide.