#Indian Military

[greatworldwar2]

• Battle of Damascus

The Battle of Damascus was a battle between Allied Forced and Vichy French forced and was the final action of the Allied advance on Damascus in Syria during the Syria–Lebanon campaign in World War II.

On June 8th, 1941, troops of the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade Group had crossed the Syrian border from the British Mandate of Palestine to take Quneitra and Deraa with the objective of opening the way for the forces of the 1st Free French Division to advance along the roads from these towns to Damascus. This was one of four attacks planned for the campaign by the Allied commander, General Sir Henry Wilson. Gentforce had been under the temporary command of the commander of the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade, Brigadier Wilfrid Lloyd, since 12 June when Legentilhomme had been wounded. The plan called for the troops of 5th Indian Brigade to advance northwards from their positions at Artouz on the Quneitra–Damascus road across country west of the road towards Mezzeh. Mezzeh was a large village on a junction with the Beirut to Damascus road, some three miles west of Damascus itself. The brigade's supplies, ammunition and the anti-tank element would follow closely behind on the road proper. Meanwhile, the Free French forces would advance along the Kissoué – Damascus road to capture Qadim as a preliminary to entering the Syrian capital, some four miles further north. On June 18th, the Indian troops set out and skirmished their way north. They reached Mezzeh at 04:15. By 05:30, after an hour of fierce hand-to-hand fighting, Mezzeh was captured. However, there was a major problem: the equipment and anti-tank guns travelling up the main road had earlier got ahead of the infantry and run into a Vichy roadblock where most of the vehicles were knocked out. Furthermore, the planned advance by the Free French to Qadim had been delayed, allowing the Vichy defenders to concentrate on the Mezzeh action, putting intense pressure on the Allied position whilst thwarting any attempt to relieve them and bring in vitally needed anti-tank weapons.

On June 19th, Major General John Evetts, commander of the British 6th Infantry Division, arrived to relieve Lloyd and take control of the Allied forces east of Merdjayoun. With the losses suffered by the Indian brigade, he requested that the British 16th Infantry Brigade be detached from the 7th Australian Division and sent to his sector. Three Australian battalions were also detached to Evetts' command: the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion and the 2/3rd and 2/5th Infantry Battalions. By nightfall on 19 June, the Allied position at Mezzeh was desperate. Ammunition was running low, no food had been eaten for 24 hours, casualties were severe, and medical supplies were exhausted. During the night (when Vichy attacks were suspended), three men managed to reach Gentforce headquarters with the news of the position in Mezzeh. Early on June 20th, Brigadier Lloyd, having handed over to Evetts, resumed command of the 5th Indian Brigade and sent a force comprising two companies from the 3/1st Punjab Regiment, two companies of French Marines and a battery of artillery to fight its way through to Mezzeh. But they could not blast a way through and they progressed only slowly against determined opposition from French tanks. A Free French attack on Qadim the previous night had failed expensively, so that they were unable to exert pressure on Qadim that morning to draw Vichy forces away from Mezzeh. That night, however, the Free French with support from British anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns and an Australian machine-gun battalion, advanced against light Vichy defences and captured Qadim by the morning of the 21st.

Throughout the evening of June 20-21st, the Australians fought several actions, attacking a series of stone forts overlooking the Mezzeh and the Quneitra road. Elsewhere, a company of Australians attempted to move around the left flank of the Vichy defenders to cut the road running north-west to Beirut and establish a road block in the Barada Gorge. A see-sawing action took place amongst the forts, during which a force of 59 Australians was briefly captured, before a counter-attack early on June 21st freed them and retook the forts. Meanwhile, a 12-hour defensive action held the Barada Gorge to the west, turning back several French attacks that included tanks and armoured cars. During the morning of June 21st, the Australians consolidated their positions around the forts, and in the Barada Gorge and around 11:00, the Vichy French garrison in Damascus surrendered. By noon, the Allied forces were in Damascus and the Vichy forces were retreating west along the Beirut road. With the fall of Damascus, Gentforce accomplished its primary goal. Elsewhere, fighting around Merdjayoun continued until June 24th, when Allied forces eventually captured the town. The fighting between the Vichy forces and the Allies continued throughout the month. Further actions included fighting around Damour and the capture of Beirut.

[thebaffledcaptain]

Kanhoji Angre: the 18th-Century Maratha Admiral, Pseudo-Pirate, and All-Around Badass

So this post got more notes than I expected it to, so I figure I may as well follow through on my promise to make a post about him! You want to know about the aforementioned badass 18th-century Maratha navy admiral and pseudo-pirate who repeatedly fended off Western invasion in India? Then you shall. I wrote a paper about this guy, so here we go.

Let me introduce you to Kanhoji Angre. Information is scant on his early life and career—sources tend to disagree about his true origins and we don’t know a lot about his family status, but modern historians tend to trace his lineage to Tukoji Angre, his father, who distinguished himself in the early Maratha navy. We know Kanhoji was descended from a long line of Maratha mariners, which meant he fought in a number of naval raids and became acquainted with naval tactics as he grew up. As an adult, he began hiring out his own fleet to the Maratha navy itself, which, at the time, consisted only of numerous small ships and sought Angre’s heavier armament, which would become essentially the centerpiece of the naval force. In a sense he single-handedly built the Maratha navy into quite a formidable force, becoming Sarkhel, or admiral in 1698, and establishing numerous insurmountable forts along the coast.

Of course, the turn of the 18th century also coincided with growing European colonial intentions in India, and Angre’s presence is well-documented in East India Company records as a nuisance, a pirate, and a warlord in different capacities. To the English, he was a formidable pirate, a scourge to European ships on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, and a menace to the Company, who suffered significant losses at his hand. Their interactions would eventually escalate into full-on military altercations, and the Company would go as far as to seek allyship with the Portuguese and the Viceroy of Goa, but Angre would remain undefeated throughout his lifetime, which consisted of many other interactions with various Western powers. He was arguably the most powerful maritime figure on the Indian coast by the time he died, but the European primary sources tend to play that down as far as they can for obvious reasons.

But I know you’re wondering—was he, then, a pirate? Well, it depends on who you ask. While Kanhoji Angre did, in certain ways, engage in actions that could be considered piracy from an English perspective, he still operated by a clear code of conduct. One account from 1716 tells of an interaction during which Angre detained an East India Company ship to determine whether they had a pass from the governor of Bombay, with whom he was bound to a nonaggression agreement, but otherwise did them no harm when he discovered they did. On the other hand, that same account quickly makes sure to mention how Angre would pursue vessels from Madras and Calcutta, the governments of which he had no agreements with. In the words of Patricia Risso in her excellent article about the topic, Angre “did not share the English legal definition of maritime violence,” which led to the inevitable branding of him as a pirate by the British, despite the fact that he did operate legally in accordance with those with whom he had such legal agreements. Whether this makes him a pirate or not is ultimately a matter of perspective, but in my humble opinion it certainly does not make him less cool.

Regardless of his status as a pirate or a military leader, Kanhoji Angre is a fascinating, highly overlooked, and pretty damn awesome figure in maritime history, and it’s a shame we don’t have more information on him. If you’re interested in more of the primary source material, I’d recommend checking out Clement Downing’s A Compendious History of the Indian Wars: With an Account of the Rise, Progress, Strength, and Forces of Angria the Pyrate, published in 1737 (free on Google Books!), for one such English perspective, which is the source I based my initial paper on. This is mostly my excuse to infodump about a guy I think history Tumblr would love, and who stands to be appreciated more for being an interesting dude and an all-around badass.

[masonjarhead]

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

Indian Nirbhay cruise missile in flight.

Meme by u/NeurodiverseTurtle

[indizombie]

A 2021 study, entitled ‘Prevalence of trauma among young adults exposed to stressful events of armed conflicts in South Asia: Experiences from Kashmir’, revealed that “the prevalence of trauma was 100% in both males and females”. An overwhelming majority of people reported “feeling stressed” (97.3%), while most were also affected by “fear of search operations, crackdowns or curfews” (89.2%); “witnessing a protestor being part of it” (88.3%); “a family member, relative or friend being hit with a bullet, pellet, or any other explosive” (76.5%); and “exposure to violent media portrayals” (74.3%).

Tabeenah Anjum, ‘Covid Adds To Woes Of Students In Turmoil-hit Kashmir’, Countercurrents

[manasastuff-blog]

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[defencestar]

Theatre Commands: India Parliament's lower house clears Inter-Services Organisation Bill

Theatre Commands: India Parliament's lower house clears Inter-Services Organisation Bill #India #defence #defense #military #army #navy #airforce #defencenews #news #defenceblog #ISOBill2023 #LokSabha #RajyaSabha #Law

ISO Bill 2023 for Theatre Commands: The lower house of Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha, Friday cleared the Inter-Services Organisation (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023 that seeks to empower the Commander-in-Chief and Officer-in Command of Inter-Services Organisations with all disciplinary and administrative powers with respect to personnel serving in or attached to such…

[drmullaadamali]

कुछ याद उन्हें भी कर लो, जो लौट के घर न आये

[theworldofwars]

Officers of the 2nd Kings Shropshire Light Infantry with skulls excavated during the construction of trenches and dugouts at the ancient Greek site of Amphipolis, 1916.

[bantarleton]

The Battle of Bushy Run by Robert Griffing.

On August 5 1763, near the Bushy Run Way Station, Henry Bouquet and his 400 men, many of them Scottish highlanders, were ambushed in the wilderness by various Native American tribes including the Delaware, Shawnee, Mingo, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, and Mohicans. The first day of the battle ended in a decisive victory for the Native American tribes, but on August 6, Bouquet devised a strategic plan that led to a British victory. Following the Battle of Bushy Run, Bouquet went on to provide successful assistance to the besieged Fort Pitt. From the Bushy Run Battlefield Museum.

[manasastuff-blog]

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Call: 7799799221

Website: www.manasadefenceacademy.com

#KargilVijayDiwas#HeroicHistory#IndianArmy#Patriotism#BraveSoldiers#KargilWar#NationalPride#TributeToHeroes#IndianHeroes#VictoryDay#trending#viral#manasadefenceacademy

[nocternalrandomness]

IAF arriving at RAF Waddington in an IL-78 for Cobra Warrior '23

[mapsontheweb]

Power balance in the Indian Ocean