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{{About|the Pakistan Army unit|other regiments of the same name|20th Lancers (British Indian Army)|and|20 Lancers (India)}}
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name=20th Lancers (PUNJAB) (HAIDRI)
|abbreviation=
| image=20 Lancers.jpg
| image_size = 160
|caption=
|dates= 1922–1937; 1956 – Present
|country={{flag|Pakistan}} [[Pakistan]]
|allegiance=
|branch= {{army|Pakistan}}
|type= Armoured Regiment
|role=
|size= Regiment
|command_structure=
|equipment=

|Past Commanders=
|ceremonial_chief=
|colonel_of_the_regiment=
|notable_commanders=

|identification_symbol=
|identification_symbol_2=

|nickname=
|patron=
|motto=
|colors=
|march=
|mascot=
|battles=[[Indian Mutiny of 1857]] [[Bhutan War]] 1864–65 [[Second Afghan War]] 1878–80 [[First World War]] 1914–18 [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965]] [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]]
|anniversaries=
|decorations=
|battle_honours=Charasiah, Kabul 1879, Afghanistan 1878–80, Neuve Chapelle, France and Flanders 1914–15, Kut al Amara 1917, Sharqat, Mesopotamia 1916–18, Persia 1916–19, NW Frontier, India 1915, Sialkot 1965, Shakargarh 1971.<ref>Rodger, Alexander. (2003). ''Battle Honours of the British Empire and Commonwealth Land Forces 1662–1991''. Ramsbury: The Crowood Press.</ref>
}}

The '''20th Lancers''' is an armoured regiment of the [[Pakistan Army]].

As part of a reorganization of the [[British Indian Army]], the original 20th Lancers was formed in 1922 by the amalgamation of the [[14th Murray's Jat Lancers]] and the [[15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis)]].<ref name="Gaylor 1991">{{cite book|last=Gaylor|first=John|title=Sons of John Company: The Indian and Pakistan Armies 1903–91|publisher=Stroud: Spellmount|year=1991}}</ref>

The modern regiment was formed in 1956.

==Predecessor==
{{Main|20th Lancers (British Indian Army)}}
After the [[World War I|First World War]], the cavalry regiments of the [[British Indian Army]] were reduced in number from thirty-nine to twenty-one. Rather than being disbanded, the surplus units were amalgamated in pairs. This resulted in the renumbering and renaming of the entire cavalry line. The 20th Lancers was formed in 1922, after amalgamation of the [[14th Murray's Jat Lancers]] and the [[15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis)]] on 21 September 1920, at [[Sialkot]].

The 14th Murray's Jat Lancers was originally raised at [[Aligarh]] as the Jat Horse Yeomanry in 1857, during the [[Indian Mutiny]], and was composed entirely of Hindu [[Jat]]s.<ref name="Gaylor 1991"/> The 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis) was formed at [[Lahore]] in 1858 from [[Multani (caste)|Multani]] [[Pathans]], and had originally been raised in 1857 as The Multani Regiment of Cavalry.<ref name="Gaylor 1991"/><ref>Harris, RG, and Warner, C. (1979). ''Bengal Cavalry Regiments 1857–1914''. London: Osprey.</ref> The new 20th Lancers regiment formed by their amalgamation comprised one squadron each of Punjabi Muslims, [[Jat Sikhs]], and Hindu [[Jats]].

The uniform of the 20th Lancers was dark blue with scarlet facings. Its badge consisted of crossed silver lances bearing pennons, with a crown at the intersection above "XX" and a scroll below. In 1937, the 20th Lancers became the training regiment of the [[3rd Cavalry (India)|3rd Indian Cavalry Group]] at [[Lucknow]]. It was converted into a training centre in 1940, and transferred to India after [[Partition of India|Partition of India and Pakistan]].<ref name="Gaylor 1991"/><ref>Sandhu, Maj Gen GS. (1981). ''The Indian Cavalry: History of the Indian Armoured Corps till 1940''. New Delhi: Vision Books.</ref>
[[File:15 Lancers (Cureton's Multanis).jpg|thumb|right|An officer of the 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis). Watercolour by AC Lovett, 1910.]]

==Reformation==
On 20 June 1956, the 20th Lancers was re-raised by the Pakistan Army as a reconnaissance regiment of the [[Pakistan Armoured Corps]]. Upon formation, it was equipped with [[M24 Chaffee]] light tanks.<ref name="Nath2009">{{cite book|last=Nath|first=Ashok|title=Izzat: Historical records and iconography of Indian cavalry regiments, 1750–2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGQeQwAACAAJ|year=2009|publisher=Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research, United Service Institution of India|isbn=978-81-902097-7-9|pages=731–732}}</ref> The same year, the Indian Army also raised an armoured regiment, the [[20 Lancers (India)|20 Lancers]], as the successor of the pre-independence 20th Lancers.

Major Syed Azmat Ali Bokhari was given responsibility for raising the 20th Lancers for the Armoured Corps. Major Bokhari also commanded a squadron of the regiment during the 1965 war against India, serving on the Sialkot front. The regiment's original badge was retained when it was re-raised in 1956, with the exception of the crown.{{Cn|date=April 2020}}

==Operations==
During the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965]], the regiment, equipped with [[M36 tank destroyer|M36B2]] [[tank destroyer]]s, served under the [[15th Infantry Division (Pakistan)|15th Infantry Division]] in the [[Sialkot]] Sector. The regiment took part in the defence of the Sialkot Cantonment and Dallowali Railway Station, losing fifteen men. For its role in this action, the regiment was awarded the [[battle honour]] "Sialkot 1965".<ref name="Nath2009"/><ref name="Sabre & Lance">''The Sabre & Lance: Journal of the Pakistan Armoured Corps''. (1997). Nowshera: The School of Armour & Mechanised Warfare.</ref>

During the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]], the 20th Lancers was part of the [[8th Infantry Division (Pakistan)|8th Infantry Division]] in the Shakargarh-Zafarwal Sector, and formed part of a delaying force tasked with preventing an intrusion of Indian forces between Deg Nadi and River Bein for 48 hours. The regiment held up the invading Indian divisions for two weeks against repeated attacks, with the loss of sixteen men. The 20th Lancers was subsequently awarded the battle honour "Shakargarh 1971". [[Sawar Muhammad Hussain|Sowar Muhammad Hussain]] was awarded a posthumous [[Nishan-i-Haider]] for outstanding gallantry, the only occasion on which this award was won by the Armoured Corps.<ref name="Nath2009"/><ref name="Sabre & Lance"/>

==Affiliations & Alliances==
{{flag icon|Pakistan}} The [[Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)|Punjab Regiment]]

In 1990, the 20th Lancers was given permission to add the suffix ''Haidri'' to its title. It was also affiliated with the [[Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)|Punjab Regiment]], as a mark of recognition of the battlefield camaraderie between the 13th Battalion, Punjab Regiment and the 20th Lancers in Shakargarh in 1971. The 20th Lancers now bears the extended title of 20th Lancers (Haidri) (Punjab).<ref name="Nath2009"/>

==References & Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*''15th Lancers (Cureton’s Multanis) 1858–1908''. (1910). Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing.
*Cardew, FG. (1903). ''A Sketch of the Services of the Bengal Native Army to the Year 1895''. Calcutta: Military Department.
*Gaylor, John (1991). ''Sons of John Company: The Indian and Pakistan Armies 1903–1991.'' Stroud: Spellmount Publishers Ltd. {{ISBN|978-0-946771-98-1}}
*Harris, RG, and Warner, C. (1979). ''Bengal Cavalry Regiments 1857–1914''. London: Osprey Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-85045-308-9}}.
*Kempton, C (1996). ''A Register of Titles of the Units of the H.E.I.C. & Indian Armies 1666–1947.'' Bristol: British Empire & Commonwealth Museum. {{ISBN|978-0-9530174-0-9}}
*Sandhu, Maj Gen GS. (1981). ''The Indian Cavalry: History of the Indian Armoured Corps till 1940''. New Delhi: Vision Books.

{{Pakistan Armoured Corps}}
{{British Indian Army Cavalry Regiments 1903 - 1946}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}

[[Category:British Indian Army cavalry regiments]]
[[Category:Armoured regiments of Pakistan]]
[[Category:1922 establishments in British India]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1922]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1937]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1956]]

20th Lancers Pakistan - Revision history

Bot at 14:54, 1 December 2022