saragarhi

THE BATTLE OF SARAGARHI

"Kesari" A movie starring  Akshay Kumar and Parineeti Chopra is not just a movie it is actually a true story where 21 Sikh soldiers fought with 10000 afghanis and won it.

REAL STORY 

In the 18th century when Britishers invaded India, they also had eyes to the countries near to India like Afghanistan so they attacked Afghanistan and in return afghanis too attacked Britishers which has created tension between the border of India and Afghanistan. The border was covered by the mountains where two forts were their fort Gulistan and fort Lockhart, Britishers have assigned their soldier on both of the forts. but since the forts were in the mountain area so, it was very difficult to communicate. that is why one more fort i.e, saragarhi was built between the ranges of two forts, 21 soldiers were assigned in saragarhi whose main work was to provide the signal to the other two forts Lockhart and Gulistan. since forts were in the mountains, it was impossible to use technologies like the phone so mirrors were used to provide the signal which is also called as heliography.
As a comparison to the other two forts the no. of soldiers were less in saragarhi. so afghani's decided to attack that fort. Saragarhi was not just a soft target but as it was the source of communication between another fort so it would have been a big win for them.
In the morning of 12 Sept 1897, 21 soldiers saw the coming of around 10000 soldiers so they sent a signal to the fort Lockhart as they required more soldiers. As it was impossible for 21 soldiers to survive in front of 10000 soldiers. but the Britishers required 7-8 hours to send that huge no. soldiers.
After knowing the situation, the leader of Sikh regiment "Havildar Ishar Singh" announced whether we are 21 and they are 10000 but we will fight till our last breath even knowing the fact that this battle is nothing but a suicide mission for them.

The important thing was that not all the soldiers were for a fight some were for cooking and few were for decoding the message still they prepared themselves for the war.
The Sikh soldiers had one advantage over afghanis that the fort was on the high mountain so they can easily catch the movement of the enemies. because of that, they killed so many enemies at the start of the war.
but this advantage lasted a few hours only, they were just not lacking in soldiers only but in bullets too which let succeeded afghanis in getting closer to the fort. initially afghanis tried 2 times to break the wall but they failed but at last, they broke the wall, entered the fort and killed many Sikh soldiers. now, the situation for the Sikh soldier was they didn't have any weapons and bullets but still they continued their fighting without any weapons and swords. 
afghanis succeeded in entering the fort still without any weapons Sikh soldiers fought and gave them a big fight for long hours. 
the Sikh soldiers were injured still they continued their fighting, afghanis burned so many soldiers alive but they were not able to burn their passion to fight till last breath.
In end, only one Sikh soldier was left who was at the peak of the fort for providing the signals.
It is written in the history books that he killed around 20 afghanis before being killed.
All 21 Sikh soldiers were killed at the end of the battle .but they fought almost for 7-8 hours and killed almost 600 afghanis and 1000's were found badly injured. British soldiers reached saragarhi and handled the situation afterword. Because of fighting for 7-8 hours afghanis were tired and many have left battleground neither they had anyone to guide nor any strategies to fight further.
Battle of saragarhi had gained so much attention and fame during those days and this battle also called as one of best last standing battle. The martyrs were honored by Indian order of merit which was the highest bravery award during those days.



                                                                                    
                                                                                          -by Payal Gupta and Abron Gupta