President's Bodyguard (India) - Operational History

Operational History

PBG first saw action in 1773-74 when it was deployed against Sanyasis – a band that ravaged the countryside in the guise of mendicants. Its next campaign was against Rohillas in April 1774 in the battle of St. George where Rohillas were defeated completely. The unit was also present during the 3rd Mysore War (1790–92) against Tipu Sultan. During this campaign, it successfully thwarted an assassination attempt on the life of Governor General Lord Cornwallis. In 1801, a detachment consisted of 1 Native officer & 26 other ranks went to Egypt to ride the horses of experimental horse artillery. It marched for 120 miles in the desert in the height of summer. All their horses died & they had to place the guns on camels. They never saw action in Egypt as Alexandria had capitulated by the time, they arrived there.

But all these campaigns did not bring any Battle Honour to GGBG. They earned their first Battle Honour ‘Java' in 1811 during the conquest of the island. At present PBG has the unique distinction of being the only surviving unit to carry this honour. In 1824, a detachment volunteered to sail over kaala paani (Black War, at that time, Hindu soldiers would refrain from sailing over sea for the fear of losing their caste) to take part in the first Burmese War and earned their second Battle Honour ‘Ava'. Body Guards received their third Battle Honour ‘Maharajpore' for the battle of Maharajpore in 1843 when British intervened in the battle for the succession that erupted in Gwalior after the death of Maharaja Scindia.

PBG fought all the main battles of the First Sikh War & earned four Battle honours. During the 1857 mutiny, Lord Canning himself asked the officers and other ranks to serve without arms as a precautionary measures, which they did in good faith and later, they escorted Lord Canning to the grand Darbar at Allahabad where on 1 Nov 1858, it was proclaimed that India will be governed by the Crown and title of Viceroy was conferred on the Governor General.

During the WW1, Lord Harding offered the Body Guards as Divisional Cavalry for the Meerut Division, which was going to France. But it was decided that the best use of the Body Guards would be working as trainers for raw remounts of cavalry & artillery. Thus for the entire period of the WW1, GGBG worked as remount training center. However, a detachment of the unit was sent to France as a reinforcement of 3rd Skinner's Horse. During the World War 2, for a brief period of time, GGBG served as 44th Division Reconnaissance Squadron.

Independence came with partition of the nation and armed forces were also divided in 2:1 ratio between India and Pakistan. GGBG was no exception, so Muslim elements of the unit went to Pakistan & Sikhs and Rajput elements stayed with India. The title of the Body Guard remained GGBG till 26 January 1950 when India became Republic & GGBG became President's Body Guard. The first commandant of the regiment was Lt. Col. Thakur Govind Singh and his adjutant was Shibzada Yakub Singh, who decided to join Pakistan Army. After the division of other assets of the regiment, when it came to gold plated buggy of the Viceroy, both India & Pakistan wanted it. To decide the fate of the buggy, Col. Singh & Sahibzada Yakub Singh tossed a coin & India got the buggy.

After the independence, PBG saw action in all the major wars. It rendered yeoman service in the capitol & helped reinstating confidence in general public. In 1962 Indo-China war, PBG armoured cars were the first one to be airlifted to Chusul. It participated in Operation Ablaze in 1965 indo-Pak war. The regiment served in Siachin glacier where it has been serving till date. A detachment of the regiment was a part of the Indian Peacekeeping Forces to Sri Lanka during 1988-89 & Indian contingents to UN Peace Keeping Forces to Somalia, Angola and Sierra Leone.