Battle of Saragarhi - Myths and Facts
In 1897, during low intensity fighting with Afghan and Pathan people, what was initially described as a "very gallant" if futile 'resistance' of 21 Sikh sipahis against 'wild-spirited' Afridi and Orakzai Pathans, was carefully cultivated into an elaborate myth. The soldiers, who had all died, were said to have faced odds of 10,000 Afghans and had slain at least 180 of them, posthumous medals were awarded, each sikh regiment was ordered to honour 12th September as 'Saragrahi day' and a plaque was erected at the holiest of sikh shrines inside the walls of golden temple complex.
The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the Two World Wars: Between Self and ... - Gajendra Singh - Google Books
Colonial masters of India fabricated such story to boost the motivation of their desi troops . The fact is, 21 sikh soldiers at saragarhi, all of them got killed along with the destruction of fort they were defending. It was never determined how many tribesmen attacked saragarhi, they couldnt be 10000, as claimed, as Afridis and Orakzais never had this much numerical strength. According to to 1951 census of Pakistan ,the entire population of FATA was 1,332,005 i.e 1.3 million. In 1897, it would be around be 3 or 4 lakh. Now according to 1998 census of Pakistan, combined Orakzai agency and khyber agency make 25% of total population of FATA. If population of FATA in 1879 was 4 lakh, then the entire combined population of Orakzai and khyber agencies would be 1 lakh. Lets say 50% of them were females, so male population would be 50 thousands. It means out of 50 thousands male kids, young, middle-aged and old ones, ten thousands were busy surrounding a small fort on a hill. Take into account the fact that not every young male is a fighter in tribal areas, and exclude the kids and old ones. moreover considerable number of Afridis and shinwaris were in khyber rifles. Also some sections/sub-tribes of Afridis and Orakzais were not hostile to British raj and and were cooperative with British and remained neutral in the 1897 revolt..
British used to exaggerate the numbers of their enemies and hide their losses. The Pashtun uprising which took place in 1897, was all over the tribal areas and many parts of NWFP. It seems ridiculous that Afridis and Orakzais would waste their supposed thousands of lives on a small fort, we are talking about insurgency which covered the regions from swat to Quetta.. The loss of 181 Afghans killed by the artillery fire above from hilltop of saragrahi seems believable then 4800 claimed by sikhs, Pashtuns were masters of guerrilla warfare, particularly afridis who were more into sniping and ambushing enemy in small pockets than dashing at heavily armed fortified or armored enemy in thousands. Mehsuds were even more formidable in guerrilla warfare , they were actually able to defeat British army in 1919, inflicting 2500 losses on them. british retreated from waziristan, in some cases mehsuds even engaged gurkhas in hand to hand combat and inflicted heavier losses on them. British tried again in 1921-24, saw defeat again. At last royal air force only operation was conducted in 1925, mehsud villages were indiscriminately bombarded day and night for two moths, without sending ground forces......then mehsuds were defeated
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