73rd Carnatic Infantry

The 73rd Carnatic Infantry were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1776, when they were raised as the 13th Carnatic Battalion by drafts of men from the 4th, 7th and the 11th Carnatic Battalions.

The regiment's first action was in 1781, during the Battle of Sholinghur and the Battle of Seringapatam in the Second Anglo-Mysore War in 1781. They had to wait just over 100 years for their next action which was during the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885.

During World War I, they remained in India on training and internal security duties attached to the 9th (Secunderabad) Division.

After World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments.^[1] In 1922, the 73rd Carnatic Infantry became the 1st Battalion, 3rd Madras Regiment.^[2] After independence they were one of the regiments allocated to the Indian Army.^[3] Today the battalion is the 1st Battalion, Mechanised Infantry Regiment of the Indian Army.

Changes in designation

• 13th Carnatic Battalion - 1776
• 13th Madras Battalion - 1784
• 2nd Battalion, 3rd Madras Native Infantry - 1796
• 13th Madras Native Infantry - 1824
• 13th Madras Infantry - 1885
• 73rd Carnatic Infantry - 1903
• 1st Battalion, 3rd Madras Regiment - 1922
• 1st Battalion, the Madras Regiment - 1947
• 1st Battalion, the Mechanised Infantry Regiment - 1979

References

• Barthorp, Michael; Burn, Jeffrey (1979). Indian infantry regiments 1860-1914. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-85045-307-0. 
• Rinaldi, Richard A (2008). Order of Battle British Army 1914. Ravi Rikhye. ISBN 0-9776072-8-3. 
• Sharma, Gautam (1990). Valour and sacrifice: famous regiments of the Indian Army. Allied Publishers. ISBN 81-7023-140-X. 
• Sumner, Ian (2001). The Indian Army 1914-1947. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-196-6. 
• Moberly, F.J. (1923). Official History of the War: Mesopotamia Campaign, Imperial War Museum. ISBN 1-870423-30-5