A

BRIEF HISTORY

OF THE

 MAHRATTA LIGHT INFANTRY

  COMPILED

BY

MAJOR J.S. BARR

 1945

FOREWORD

CHAPTER 1
The Regiment and the Men of the Regiment

CHAPTER II
The Regular Battalions of the Regiment

CHAPTER III
The Regiment in the War 1939-45
Africa and the Middle East

CHAPTER IV
The Regiment in the War of 1939-45
Italy

CHAPTER V
The Regiment in the War of 1939-45
Assam and Burma

CHAPTER VI
Service In India

CHAPTER VII
The Regimental Centre, Belgaum 1939-45

CHAPTER VIII
The Glory and The Price

CHAPTER IX
Battle Honours of the Regiment

CONCLUSION

  PRINTED BY

G. CLARIDGE AND CO., LTD.,

FRERE ROAD, FORT

BOMBAY.

FOREWORD

 THIS little publication cannot, and does not, claim to be the full and detailed History of The Mahratta Light Infantry that the long and glorious story of the Regiment,  born of the gallantry and steadfast devotion to duty of men of Maharashtra over a period of close upon one hundred and eighty years, so richly deserves. 

Today the story of the Regiment is written large by its many Battalions on the battlefields of Europe, Africa, and of East Asia and the final tale of its deeds is not yet told. For that more complete History which we hope will one day be written we must await an author with abler pen, and having perhaps more ample leisure to collect the greater fund of fact and narrative become available with the return of peace to the far continents of our world. 

The object of the author in preparing the following necessarily incomplete and, it is feared, very inadequate story is to provide a ready means whereby officers newly come to the Mahratta Light Infantry, and having little leisure to read deeply, may acquire at least a passing knowledge of the Regiment in which they have the honour to serve. 

Acknowledgment is due by the author for the information afforded him by perusal of the following publications—” History of the Bombay Army” by Lieut.-Colonel Sir Patrick Cadell, C.S.I., V.D., “India’s Army” by Major Donovan Jackson, and “Kali Panchwin” by Colonel Sir Reginald Hennell—by study of War Diaries of various Battalions to which he had access, and from personal conversations with brother officers of the Regiment. 

JAMES S. BARR, Major

The Mahratta Light Infantry.

 BELGAUM, September, 1945.