Army History Maharanjit Singh:
The Sikhs, natural born horsemen (or at least trained as such throughout childhood since Guru HarGobind's days) did not think much of infantry service. To say they looked down upon it would be an understatement. So the Maharajah recruited Purbias, mercenaries from the Gangetic made up of Punjabis, Muslims, Afghans, and later, Gurkhas, as well. These troops were soon tested during the short campaign against Ahmad Khan Sial of Jharig and the zamindars of Uchch during the winter of 1803-04.
Their success and the fact that the Maharajah himself regularly attended their training sessions, soon made the infantry an enviable service which Sikhs too started joining in large numbers. Ranjit Singh gave increased importance to artillery, which had, until his time, been limited to the use of zamburaks or swivel mounted guns on Camels or other animals only. He not only increased the number of guns, but undertook the casting of larger caliber guns as well as the manufacturing of ammunition on a large scale. The reorganization and training of his cavalry, however, waited until the induction of European officers into Sikh service, who as veterans of the Napoleonic Wars were looking to the well known Sikh ruler for their next chance to oppose the British aims in India.
The arrival of Jean Baptiste Ventura and Jean Francois Allard, two veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, at Lahore in 1822 was the starting point. Ranjit Singh gave them employment after considerable initial hesitation and elaborate verification. He charged them with the raising of a special corps of regular army, the FaujiKhas or FaujiA'in. General Ventura trained battalions of infantry and General Allard trained the cavalry. Artillery, its training, command, and ordnance were under Punjabi generals, Ilahi Bakhsh and Lahina Singh Majithia, until the arrival of a French officer, General Claude Auguste Court in 1827 and the American Colonel Alexander Gardner in 1832. Lahina Singh Majithia continued to head the armament workshops, and Dr. John Martin Honigberger, a Hungarian physician, was entrusted with the mixing of gunpowder.
The Sikhs, natural born horsemen (or at least trained as such throughout childhood since Guru HarGobind's days) did not think much of infantry service. To say they looked down upon it would be an understatement. So the Maharajah recruited Purbias, mercenaries from the Gangetic made up of Punjabis, Muslims, Afghans, and later, Gurkhas, as well. These troops were soon tested during the short campaign against Ahmad Khan Sial of Jharig and the zamindars of Uchch during the winter of 1803-04.
Their success and the fact that the Maharajah himself regularly attended their training sessions, soon made the infantry an enviable service which Sikhs too started joining in large numbers. Ranjit Singh gave increased importance to artillery, which had, until his time, been limited to the use of zamburaks or swivel mounted guns on Camels or other animals only. He not only increased the number of guns, but undertook the casting of larger caliber guns as well as the manufacturing of ammunition on a large scale. The reorganization and training of his cavalry, however, waited until the induction of European officers into Sikh service, who as veterans of the Napoleonic Wars were looking to the well known Sikh ruler for their next chance to oppose the British aims in India.
The arrival of Jean Baptiste Ventura and Jean Francois Allard, two veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, at Lahore in 1822 was the starting point. Ranjit Singh gave them employment after considerable initial hesitation and elaborate verification. He charged them with the raising of a special corps of regular army, the FaujiKhas or FaujiA'in. General Ventura trained battalions of infantry and General Allard trained the cavalry. Artillery, its training, command, and ordnance were under Punjabi generals, Ilahi Bakhsh and Lahina Singh Majithia, until the arrival of a French officer, General Claude Auguste Court in 1827 and the American Colonel Alexander Gardner in 1832. Lahina Singh Majithia continued to head the armament workshops, and Dr. John Martin Honigberger, a Hungarian physician, was entrusted with the mixing of gunpowder.
Army History Maharanjit Singh:
The Sikhs, natural born horsemen (or at least trained as such throughout childhood since Guru HarGobind's days) did not think much of infantry service. To say they looked down upon it would be an understatement. So the Maharajah recruited Purbias, mercenaries from the Gangetic made up of Punjabis, Muslims, Afghans, and later, Gurkhas, as well. These troops were soon tested during the short campaign against Ahmad Khan Sial of Jharig and the zamindars of Uchch during the winter of 1803-04.
Their success and the fact that the Maharajah himself regularly attended their training sessions, soon made the infantry an enviable service which Sikhs too started joining in large numbers. Ranjit Singh gave increased importance to artillery, which had, until his time, been limited to the use of zamburaks or swivel mounted guns on Camels or other animals only. He not only increased the number of guns, but undertook the casting of larger caliber guns as well as the manufacturing of ammunition on a large scale. The reorganization and training of his cavalry, however, waited until the induction of European officers into Sikh service, who as veterans of the Napoleonic Wars were looking to the well known Sikh ruler for their next chance to oppose the British aims in India.
The arrival of Jean Baptiste Ventura and Jean Francois Allard, two veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, at Lahore in 1822 was the starting point. Ranjit Singh gave them employment after considerable initial hesitation and elaborate verification. He charged them with the raising of a special corps of regular army, the FaujiKhas or FaujiA'in. General Ventura trained battalions of infantry and General Allard trained the cavalry. Artillery, its training, command, and ordnance were under Punjabi generals, Ilahi Bakhsh and Lahina Singh Majithia, until the arrival of a French officer, General Claude Auguste Court in 1827 and the American Colonel Alexander Gardner in 1832. Lahina Singh Majithia continued to head the armament workshops, and Dr. John Martin Honigberger, a Hungarian physician, was entrusted with the mixing of gunpowder.
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