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{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name=76th Punjabis
| image=Badge of 76th Punjabis.jpg
| image_size = 170
|caption=
|dates=1903–1922
|country={{flag|British India}}
|branch=Army
|type=Infantry
|size=2 Battalions
|command_structure=
|garrison=
|ceremonial_chief=
|ceremonial_chief_label=
|colonel_of_the_regiment=Major General Henry S Elton
|nickname=Lane ki Paltan
|motto=
|colors=Red; faced emerald green<ref>Sumner, Ian. (2001). ''The Indian Army 1914–47''. Osprey.</ref>
|colors_label=Uniform
|march=
|mascot=
|battles=[[Siege of Pondicherry (1778)|Pondicherry]] 1778 [[Second Anglo-Mysore War|Second Mysore War]] 1780–84 [[Third Anglo-Mysore War|Third Mysore War]] 1789–92 [[Fourth Anglo-Mysore War|Fourth Mysore War]] 1798–99 [[First Anglo-Burmese War|First Burma War]] 1824–26 [[Third Anglo-Burmese War|Third Burma War]] 1885–87 [[First World War]] 1914–18 [[Third Afghan War]] 1919<ref name="Qureshi 1958">Qureshi, Maj MI. (1958). ''The First Punjabis: History of the First Punjab Regiment 1759–1956''. Aldershot: Gale & Polden.</ref>
|notable_commanders=
|anniversaries=
}}
The '''76th Punjabis''' was an infantry regiment of the [[British Indian Army]]. It was raised by Captain Thomas Lane at [[Trichonopoly]] on 16 December 1776, as the 16th Carnatic Battalion. It was designated as the 76th Punjabis in 1903 and became the 3rd Battalion [[1st Punjab Regiment]] in 1922. In 1947, it was allocated to the [[Pakistan Army]], where it continues to exist as '''3rd Battalion [[Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)|The Punjab Regiment]]'''.<ref name="Qureshi 1958"/>

==Early history==
The regiment had its antecedents in the old [[Madras Army]] of the British [[East India Company]], which was largely responsible for the British conquest of south and central [[India]]. It was raised by Captain Thomas Lane at [[Trichonopoly]] on 16 December 1776, as the 16th Carnatic Battalion. The regiment's first action was in 1778, when it took part in the capture of the French enclave of [[Pondicherry]]. During the next twenty years, the regiment was engaged in [[Anglo-Mysore Wars|constant warfare against the Sultans of Mysore]], fighting in the Battles of [[Battle of Pollilur|Pollilur]], [[Battle of Porto Novo|Porto Novo]], [[Battle of Sholinghur|Sholinghur]] and [[Battle of Seringapatam|Seringapatam]]. In the nineteenth century, it fought in the [[First Anglo-Burmese War|First]] and [[Third Anglo-Burmese War]]s.<ref name="Qureshi 1958"/>

==76th Punjabis==
In 1903, the regiment, now designated as the 16th Madras Infantry, was reconstituted with Punjabi Muslims, [[Sikh]]s and Hindu [[Jat]]s. As a result of the [[Kitchener Reforms|reforms]] brought about in the Indian Army by [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]], all Madras units had 60 added to their numbers, and the regiment's designation was changed to 76th Punjabis. On the outbreak of the [[First World War]] in 1914, the 76th Punjabis were dispatched to [[Egypt]] to protect the [[Suez Canal]]. In March 1915, they arrived in [[Mesopotamian Campaign|Mesopotamia]] to join the [[12th Indian Division]]. After taking part in the Battle of Shaiba, where the Turkish counter-attack was repulsed, the regiment participated in the operations in [[Persia]]n Arabistan. In June and July, the 76th Punjabis took part in the operations along the [[River Euphrates]], which led to the capture of [[Nasiriyah]]. In August, the regiment joined Major General [[Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend|Charles Townshend]]'s [[6th (Poona) Division|6th Indian Division]] in its advance towards [[Baghdad]]. It fought in the [[Battle of Ctesiphon (1915)|Battle of Ctesiphon]] and then retired towards [[Kut al Amara]], where it was besieged by the Turks with the rest of the 6th Division. The regiment resolutely resisted all Turkish attempts to overwhelm the defences of Kut al Amara, suffering 171 casualties during the 150 days long siege. But after the failure of the British to relieve them, the starving garrison of Kut was forced to surrender on 29 April 1916. The 76th Punjabis became prisoners of war and suffered terrible privations during their long captivity. Out of the 341 officers men present with the regiment at the commencement of the siege in December 1915, 72 died during the siege, while another 101 died during the captivity. The 76th Punjabis were re-formed on 1 January 1917 and moved to [[Chaman]] on the North West Frontier. On 16 October 1917, the regiment raised a second battalion at [[Nasirabad, Ajmer|Nasirabad]]. In December 1918, 208 Kut prisoners returned to the battalion after their release from Turkish captivity. The 1st Battalion 76th Punjabis took part in the [[Third Afghan War]] of 1919, while the 2nd Battalion served in [[Waziristan]] during 1919–20. It was disbanded in 1922.<ref name="Qureshi 1958"/><ref>''A Brief History of the 3rd Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment''. (1927). Aldershot: Gale & Polden.</ref>

==Subsequent History==
In 1922, the 76th Punjabis were grouped with the [[62nd Punjabis|62nd]], [[66th Punjabis|66th]], [[82nd Punjabis|82nd]] and [[84th Punjabis]], and the [[1st Brahmans]] to form the 1st Punjab Regiment, and were redesignated as 3rd Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment. On the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], 3/1st Punjab was dispatched to [[North African Campaign|North Africa]] in September 1939. In December 1940, the battalion fought in the [[Battle of Sidi Barani]] against the invading Italians. It then fought in [[East African Campaign (World War II)|Eritrea]] and [[Syria-Lebanon Campaign|Syria]], before returning to North Africa to take part in a gallant attack on Libyan Omar on 30 November 1941. The battalion arrived in [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italy]] in March 1944, where it remained engaged in intense fighting until the final Allied victory in 1945. The battalion suffered 1651 casualties during the war, including four Commanding Officers, who fell leading their men in battle.<ref name="Qureshi 1958"/> In 1947, the 1st Punjab Regiment was allocated to Pakistan Army. In 1956, it was merged with the [[14th Punjab Regiment|14th]], [[15th Punjab Regiment|15th]] and [[16th Punjab Regiment]]s to form one large [[Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)|Punjab Regiment]], and 3/1st Punjab was redesignated as 3 Punjab. During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War, the battalion fought at Jassar in the [[Sialkot]] Sector, while in the 1971 war, it took part in capture of the Indian fortress of Qaisar-i-Hind in the [[Hussainiwala]] Sector.<ref>Rizvi, Brig SHA. (1984). ''Veteran Campaigners – A History of the Punjab Regiment 1759–1981''. Lahore: Wajidalis.</ref>[[File:3rd Bn 1st Punjab Regt in the Libyan Desrt, 1942.jpg|thumb|right|3/1st Punjab in the Libyan Desert, 1942.|300px]]

==Genealogy==
*1776 16th Carnatic Battalion
*1784 16th Madras Battalion
*1796 2nd Battalion 5th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry
*1824 16th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry
*1885 16th Regiment of Madras Infantry
*1901 16th Madras Infantry
*1903 76th Punjabis
*1917 1st Battalion 76th Punjabis
*1922 3rd Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment
*1956 3rd Battalion The Punjab Regiment

==See also==
*[[1st Punjab Regiment]]
*[[Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)|Punjab Regiment]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Qureshi, Maj MI. (1958). ''The First Punjabis: History of the First Punjab Regiment 1759–1956''. Aldershot: Gale & Polden.
*''A Brief History of the 3rd Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment''. (1927). Aldershot: Gale & Polden.
*Wilson, Lt Col WJ. (1882–88). ''History of the Madras Army''. Madras: The Government Press.
*Phythian-Adams, Lt Col EG. (1943). ''Madras Infantry 1748–1943''. Madras: The Government Press.
*Rizvi, Brig SHA. (1984). ''Veteran Campaigners – A History of the Punjab Regiment 1759–1981''. Lahore: Wajidalis.
*{{cite book|last=Barthorp|first=Michael|last2=Burn|first2=Jeffrey|year=1979|title=Indian infantry regiments 1860–1914|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=0-85045-307-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Sumner|first=Ian|title=The Indian Army 1914-1947|year=2001|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=1-84176-196-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Gaylor|first=John|title=Sons of John Company: The Indian and Pakistan Armies 1903–91|publisher=Spellmount|year=1991|isbn=978-0-946771-98-1}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}

[[Category:British Indian Army infantry regiments]]
[[Category:Punjab Regiment (Pakistan)]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1776]]
[[Category:1776 establishments in the British Empire]]

76th Punjabis - Revision history

Bot at 12:56, 19 April 2022