Sadashivrao Bhau - Third Battle of Panipat

Third Battle of Panipat

In January 1760, news reached the prime minister Nanasaheb Peshwa that Ahmad Shah Durrani had invaded and captured the Punjab region. The Peshwa was then at the zenith of his power having defeated the Nizam at Udgir. Bhausaheb led Nanasaheb's forces in recapturing Delhi in May 1760, a battle in which artillery units were crucial in destroying the fortifications of Durrani's forces. Bhau later moved North and captured the fortified village of Kunjpura with a blitzkrieg offensive that demolished the fort's ramparts with land mines and artillery shelling and an attack of cavalry and musketeer units. Durrani went on to lose Sirhind, Lahore and Kasur to Sikh forces, and Multan and Attock to Khokhar-Khatri Muslims. Both groups were supplied with munitions by the Maratha empire.

Before this, Durrani had formed an alliance against the Marathas with other Rohilla chieftains principally Najib-ul-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh Shuja-ud-Daula, Prince Bijay Singh of Jodhpur, and Kachawa Prince Madho Singh of Amber. The last two did not join him with their forces. Bhausaheb tried his best to strike diplomatic ties with Suraj Mal Jat of Bharatpur, Rajputs, Sikhs, Shuja-ud-Daula and Muslim leaders in North India. However, all the Muslims in North India including Shuja-ud-Daula(Nawab of Awadh) were persuaded by Abdali and Najib to join the Afghans in the name of religion and to save Islam. Rajputs supported Abdali as Marathas ruled most of North India, Marathas used to collect tribute from Rajputana, had a huge say in their internal and political matters. Rajputs wanted to keep the Marathas away from at least the Rajputana.

Durrani recruited Afghans displaced by the war, and by November 1760, Durrani having crossed the Yamuna at Gauripur had 45000 soldiers to block Maratha passage to the south. Durrani thereafter gtradually isolated the Marathas financially and cut off his supplies from Delhi.

Bhausaheb was responsible for adjusting the hit-and-run tactics used by the Maratha cavalry, ill-suited for the heavy materiel and numerous family members and camp followers that accompanied the army; to a more effective use of artillery and infantry. Though the changes resulted in several victories for the army, some of the Maratha generals (like Holkar) were unready to adopt the new strategy completely and pointed out that the new units of artillery and infantry were not compatible with the other forces in the army and that the generals were not adequately trained on the deployment of the new units. Despite reservations of his generals and a shortage of time and money, Bhau formed a unit consisting of 10,000 infantry and 50 artillery pieces.

Finally on 14 January 1761, the Marathas, who were on the verge of starvation made a bold effort to break the blockade and issued forth to battle. The attack on Durrani was fierce and his wazir was found sitting on the ground eating mud and telling his fleeing soldiers that Kabul is far off. The battle was in the favour of Marathas till about 2 pm in the afternoon, when a stray bullet hit Vishwasrao and Durrani managed to throw in ten thousand troops who had fled the battlefield along with fresh 500 slave troops that guarded him. Bhausaheb was surrounded along with Jankoji Scindia and Ibrahim Gardi, while Malhar Rao Holkar managed to slip away. Fighting to the last man, Bhausaheb perished in battle. Durrani had noted the huge number of non-combatants following Bhausaheb's army, and ordered an attack on their camp, slaughtering large numbers of civilians and soldiers' families. The resulting casualties and refugees fleeing to the Maratha camp caused overcrowding, supply shortages and shook the morale of Bhau's army, forcing him to turn his attention to safely transporting the civilians to Pune. In January 1761, Bhausaheb faced famine and was blocked reinforcement due to Durrani's control of key transportation routes.