Fathul Mujahidin

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Fathul Mujahidin is a military manual that was written by Tippu Sultan, a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, considered the father of rocket artillery in battle for his use of iron-cased rocket artillery in defeating the British Army in the 1792 battle at Srirangapatna[1], one of the battles of the Third Anglo-Mysore War, which is considered a technological evolution in military history.

Tipu distributed copies of his military manual to all of his officers. [2] In the manual he defined 200 men to handle rockets within each of the Mysore cushoons, with 16 to 24 cushoons of infantry. The personnel handling the rockets were trained to define the launch angle to properly affect the curve at which the rocket would land. Tipu also defined in the manual a multiple rocket launcher (much like a musical organ) that would launch up to 10 rockets. Some of the rockets had blades in the front of the bamboo guiding rods, while others were designed as incendiary rockets.

Although the British Army had already been attacked with rockets in previous battles, it was in 1792 when they lost the battle, mainly due to the rocket artillery of about 2,000 rockets fired simultaneously at them, that the use of rocket artillery in battle was improved to the point that it affected the battle outcome. [3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Henty, G. A. (George Alfred) (1902). The Tiger of Mysore - A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib. 
  2. ^ Husine, Prof. M (1986). "Fathul Mujahidin in Sultan". Journal of the Tipu Sultan Research Institute and Museum vol.3. 
  3. ^ Beatson, Alexander (1800). A View of the Origin and Conduct of the War with Tippoo Sultaun. 

[edit] External links

Indian Troops Rout British. NASA. “The English confrontation with Indian rockets came in 1780 at the Battle of Guntur.”

The Tiger and The Thistle., focussing on Tipu Sultan and the Scots in India, 1760-1800