Battle of Najafgarh

The Sipai (Indian mercenary soldiers) of the Bengal Army of the British East India Company based in Meratha revolted against their British officers and marched to Delhi. With the arrival there, they joined the rebellious crowds in the city and the Sipai regiments, located near Delhi. May 11, 1857 the rebels seized the city, killing British officers and civilians. They proclaimed the restoration of the Mughal Empire . Emperor Bahadur Shah II reluctantly declared his support for the uprising. News about the restoration of the power of the emperor led many other regiments of sepoys and other irregular forces to join the uprising and go march to Delhi.

A small British army approached Delhi and took the ridge outside the city, where they were waiting for reinforcements, before being able to storm the city. The sipai and other forces periodically attacked the ridge, but were broken up and retreated back to Delhi. There was no general leadership among the insurgents, each sipaysky regiment refused to obey the orders of officers of other regiments. Although Bahadur Shah appointed his son Mirza Mogul to be the commander-in-chief of his armies, the new Generalissimo had no military experience and essentially had no influence on the events, as most of the sipahs simply ignored him.

On July 1, the Sipai regiments, who had raised uprisings in Bareilly, arrived at Delhi, along with 4,000 Muslim Gazi. They were headed by Bakht Khan, a veteran artillery officer of the East India Company. Bahadur Shah, pleased with the number of new arrivals (and treasures) that Bakht Khan brought with him and put him in the post of commander of the armies. Nevertheless, the officers of the rest of the seipai regiments envied his authority. On July 9, under the leadership of Bakht Khan, the rebels launched a massive attack on the British positions, but were rejected, although they were close to success. By the end of the month after the failure of the subsequent attacks, the criticism of Bakht Khan prompted Bahadur Shah to place a ten-person military committee at the head of the army, headed by Mirza Mogol ^[1] .

By the middle of August, the last significant reinforcements of the sepoys had reached Delhi, but a large number of the sepoys were disappointed by the constant military setbacks, squabbles among the commanders, insufficient supplies and deserted. Bakht Khan belatedly offered to attack the British position from the rear. According to the plan, a large detachment was to leave the city and go west, ostensibly to Jaipur , but then make a turn and cross the channel from the Jamna River, which defended the British rear through the bridge at Najafgarh ^[2] . On August 24, an army (8,000 sipahs with 13 guns coming from New Barrelli, Nasirabad and Nimuch to Delhi) left Delhi under heavy rain.

The same evening, the rebel army reached the canal across the Jumna River, but found that the bridge at Palam, through which they planned to cross the river, was already destroyed by the British. The rebels had foreseen this, within 24 hours they repaired the bridge, but during that day their troops got wet in the rain and remained without food (Delhi supply officers delivered only a small amount of supplies). On August 25, the Nimuch brigade of sepoys went to the forefront, moving along the edge of the swamp at Najafgarh ^[2] .

The attack, planned by Bakht Khan, was at least ten days late. On August 14, the Punjabi flying column of 4,200 British, Sikhs and Punjabis came to the British under the command of Brigadier General John Nicholson, who was well known as a strong-willed and steadfast soldier in comparison with the nervous and weakly characteristic Major General Archdale Wilson, commander of the forces, occupying the Delhi range.

On August 24, Baht Khan’s forces were seen coming out of Delhi and heading west. Nicholson received an order to intercept them and left the morning of August 25th. Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, the former chief magistrate of Delhi, who miraculously fled the city on May 11th, accompanied him as a guide. Despite heavy rain and flooding, Nicholson led his people on a quick march.

At 4.00 pm Metcalfe discovered the position of the Nimuch contingent. The main detachment with four guns took the caravanserai across the river. The remaining nine guns were placed between the building and the bridge near Palam. Most of the tortured rebels camped, pileing up weapons and ammunition ^[3] .

The insurgents' guns covered the bridge over the river, but Nicholson's troops ford the river upstream and lined up in two lines, British artillery bombarded the caravanserai. Nicholson gave the signal to the offensive and personally led the 61st Infantry Regiment and the 1st Bengal Rifle Regiment, they ran 180 m through the mud to storm the caravanserai. On the right flank of the British, the 2nd Punjab Infantry Regiment (Green Arrows) attacked the village of Najafgarh ^[4] .

During the retreat, the Nimuchsky rebel contingent suffered heavy losses from artillery fire, the rebels tried to cross or bypass the swamp. The survivors were rescued by the Nasirabad Brigade, which was advancing on the right flank of the British. The Punjab infantry lost its commander, but held positions until the 61st regiment came to help. However, Bakht Khan did not advance his Bareilly brigade and instead retreated to Delhi when the Nimuch contingent soldiers retreated through his positions ^[3] .

The British seized all the guns of Bakht Khan and inflicted heavy losses on the rebels. However, Nicholson was not aware of the presence of the Bareilly brigade at Palamas and was upset that the next day they could not continue the attack. He accused his friend John Lawrence of the Commissioner of Punjab "I had no information and even a conductor, I could not orient myself on the road" ^[5] .

The British gained the first clear success in the war with the rebels in the last two months. The hopes of the seps for the success of the uprising were more and more destroyed. Their defeat was due to poor command, leaving the soldier without food under monsoon rains, as well as quarrels between the commanders. Three days before the battle, the commanders of the Nymuch contingent (General Sudhari Singh and Major General Hira Singh) attempted to deny Baht Khan from command ^[6] . His refusal to come to their aid when they were attacked gave rise to further feuds.

• Dalrymple, William. The Last Mughal. - Viking Penguin, 2006. - ISBN 0-670-99925-3 .
• Edwardes, Michael. Battles of the Indian Mutiny. - Pan, 1963. - ISBN 0-330-02524-4 .