40th Regiment of Pathan Infantry

Known as 40th Pathans

Chronology

• 1858 raised as the Shahjehanpur Levy
• 1861 became the 40th Bengal Native Infantry
• 1864 became the 40th (Shahjehanpur) Bengal Native Infantry
• 1885 became the 40th (Shahjehanpur) Bengal Infantry
• 1890 became the 40th (Baluch) Bengal Infantry
• 1892 became the 40th (Pathan) Bengal Infantry
• 1901 became the 40th Pathan Infantry
• 1903 became the 40th Pathans
• 1922 amalgamated with the 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 24th Punjabis to become 5th Battalion 14th Punjab Regiment
• 1947 allocated to Pakistan on Partition and renamed the Punjab Regiment

Regimental histories

• The 40th Pathans In The Great War, published 1921, Lahore. Available at the Imperial War Museums. Also available in a reprint edition, which in turn is available as an online book on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3, see below.
• History of the 5th Battalion-Pathans-14th Punjab Regiment, formerly 40th Pathans-“the Forty Thieves.” by Major R. S. Waters. [With plates.] London 1936. Available at the British Library and the Imperial War Museums.

First World War service

The regiment served on the western front in France and Flanders during the First World War. On arrival at the front from Hong Kong in April 1915, the 40th Pathans took part in the 2nd Battle of Ypres, suffering 320 casualties on one day alone. Later that year they took part in the battles of Aubers Ridge and Loos before leaving in December for East Africa and the campaign against the German force commanded by Lettow-Vorbeck. The unit suffered a total of 800 casualties in the war, and a further 1,066 officers and men were invalided out of service due to sickness. At the end of the war in 1919 they saw service in the Third Afghan war.

External Links

• 40th Pathans British Empire website
  
• "The 40th Pathans in action in East Africa, January 1916 to February 1918" by Harry Fecitt, March 2015 html version, pdf gweaa.com
• 14th Punjab Regiment Wikipedia
• 14th Punjab Regiment, an extract from John Gaylor's book Sons Of John Company. Defence Journal Karachi August 1999, now archived.
• 14th Punjab Regiment Burma Star Association
• Pakistan: The Punjab Regiment to 1957 by Babur Mahmood September 1, 2002
 orbat.com, now archived.
• The 5th Battalion (Punjab Regiment) in Malaya in WW2. [5/14th Punjab Regiment] cofepow.org

Historical books online

• The 40th Pathans in the Great War is available in a reprint edition, which in turn is available as an online book on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3 (located in International/Military Books/Britain).
• Handbooks for the Indian Army: Pathans by Major R. T. I. Ridgway, 40th Pathans. 1910. Archive.org, mirror from Granth Sanjeevani Asiatic Society of Mumbai.