00:00Dawn breaks on the 12th of September 1897
00:06in the small military outpost of Saragahi.
00:10As the men awake and the sun rises across the barren landscape
00:14they wash and go through their morning meditations,
00:17affix their turbans and begin their day.
00:21There is a growing feeling amongst the company.
00:24It is a feeling of uneasiness as there is a sense of something to come.
00:28The tribal populace are doing exactly what the British feared
00:31and have risen in full revolt over the course of 1897
00:35and are on the march preparing to raid British India.
00:38As the forts of Lockhart and Gulistan were in their path,
00:42the rebelling tribesmen had conducted several attacks on the forts
00:45over the course of the last two weeks with no success.
00:50All 21 men go about conducting their tasks.
00:56As the day wears on, the quiet of the thin mountain air is interrupted by a loud cry.
01:02There is a great mass moving on the horizon,
01:05shouts the Sikh soldier on the lookout post.
01:08Havildar Ishar Singh bellows orders as the men rush to the walls
01:13and take up defensive positions.
01:17Sepoy Gurmukh Singh sprints to his tower with the heliograph
01:21to provide communications via flashes of sunlight in Morse code.
01:25He flashes to Fort Lockhart.
01:27There's a mass on the horizon. Is it hostile?
01:31Yes, comes the worrying reply.
01:3414 standards are counted.
01:36At least 10,000 tribesmen are marching across the mountain plateau,
01:41bearing down on the little signalling post at Saragahi.
01:45Can you send help? the Sepoy asks.
01:49After a moment of tense delay,
01:52No, comes the fateful reply.
01:55They won't get there in time and they can't leave the fort unguarded.
02:00Gurmukh relays down the info and the others check their rifles,
02:04prepare the defences, stockpile ammo and barricade the gate to the post.
02:10Havildar Ishar Singh calls his signalling unit to gather around him.
02:14He addresses his men as the tension of impending doom grows in the men's hearts.
02:19Knowing that they can't flee the post lest they be cut down on the outside,
02:23Ishar calls on his men to stay and fight,
02:26to hold the position for as long as possible.
02:29Though the mood is tense due to the knowledge that death is almost certain,
02:33the men remain calm and collected,
02:35not giving in to disagreement, mutiny or desertion.
02:43Havildar Ishar Singh knew that his men would do their duty.
02:50Gurmukh Singh returns to his signalling tower and tells Fort Lockhart
02:54that they will hold the line as long as they can
02:57in order to buy as much time for the forts to call in reinforcements.
03:01Sepoy Gurmukh will remain in his tower throughout the action,
03:04signalling the day's events minute by minute
03:07to the 36th Sikhs' division leader,
03:09Lieutenant Colonel John Horton at Fort Lockhart.
03:13Lieutenant Colonel orders the events to be written down for the record.
03:20Trumpets blare and the sound of the mass of the tribes grows louder.
03:24Their banners flutter in the wind
03:26as they march to confront the signalling outpost at Saragahi.
03:31Ishar directs his Sikhs to man the ramparts.
03:34The men watch with guns tightly grasped
03:37as the tribesmen form up just outside of rifle range
03:40on the ground outside the post.
03:43There is a loud cry and a wave of fighters charge at the rampart.
03:47Rifles crack as the Sikhs begin to unload their guns into the crowded mass
03:52furiously bearing down now upon them.
03:54The mass of tribesmen rush forward to try and scale the walls
03:58while others attempt to suppress the garrison with small arms fire.
04:02The disciplined fire of the Sikh troops breaks the first wave of the tribesmen
04:06but they're like the sea, rolling back, reforming
04:09and then rushing back with even greater strength.
04:13The 20 rifles of the Sikh soldiers versus the 10,000 tribesmen.
04:19They reform and unleash a second wave attack on the outpost.
04:23Tribesmen fall one after another to the Sikhs' fire
04:26as the land in front of the walls fills with the dead.
04:31However this time a bullet from one of the rifles of the raging tribesmen
04:35finds its mark, striking Sikhoi Bhagwan Singh who falls on the spot.
04:40The first casualty among the desperate, heavily outnumbered defenders.
04:45Naik Lal Singh, though seriously wounded, with the help of a fellow Sepoy
04:49removes Bhagwan's body, placing it in the inner wall.
04:53Lal tries to return to the fight but collapses and is sadly left behind.
04:58Each Sikh lost is not only a severe decrease in a defender's manpower
05:02but the loss of a friend, a brother in their shared faith.
05:06The second wave of fighters continues to rush the post
05:09with some of them making it to the base of the wall.
05:11They attempt to scale the wall but the Sikhs force them down at bayonet point.
05:16Some of the tribesmen find a blind spot in the corner of the wall
05:19and manage to breach the outer defenses.
05:21The Sikhs however, having repelled the main assault, are ready.
05:25A fierce melee ensues.
05:27Knives and swords and bayonets and rifle butts
05:30crash together with a resounding clash as blood is drawn.
05:35The valiant Sikhs, though heavily outnumbered,
05:37kill all the enemies in the post and achieve a brief respite
05:41as the rest of the tribesmen regroup outside.
05:45As the men recover from the melee,
05:47they tend to the wounded and briefly mourn their fallen fellows
05:51during the short lull in the action.
05:53They hear shouts outside the walls.
05:55The leaders of the tribes are calling on the remaining Sikhs to surrender
05:59with the promise of their safety, offering bribes of wealth and status.
06:04If only they just abandon the position, but no man even considers the offer.
06:09They are determined to fight to the death here and now.
06:14As the afternoon sun beats down upon the dusty ground,
06:17smoke begins to fill the air.
06:19The attacking tribesmen have set fire to the brush around the post
06:22and surrounding landscape.
06:24The Sikhs look out trying to make out the shape of their foes
06:27through the thick grey smoke.
06:29Then the signal man shouts.
06:31The neighbouring fort has flashed a dire warning.
06:34From their position on the hill, the fort has spotted a large mass of tribesmen
06:38coming out of the smoke to a blind approach on the side of the signalling station.
06:42They've breached the first wall.
06:44As Havilde Ishar Singh orders some of his men to defend the breach,
06:48the enraged fighters rush at the gate, breaking it now.
06:51Another brutal melee starts.
06:53The Sikhs prove their tenacity as tribesmen after tribesmen
06:57fall to the cold steel of the valiant Sikhs.
07:00Though the enemy suffers heavy losses, the numbers begin to take their toll.
07:05Each Sikh soldier of the signalling post sells his life dearly,
07:09slaying dozens for each defender that falls.
07:12As the enemy floods inside the outer wall,
07:15troops and dozens of tribesmen fall for each Sikh death.
07:19The situation though becomes dire for the defenders.
07:22Ishar is hoping to prolong the fight for the sake of buying time for the forts.
07:27He orders his remaining men to fall back to the inner wall.
07:31In order to cover his men's withdrawal behind the second wall,
07:34the gallant Havildar, who was seriously wounded and was profusely bleeding,
07:39bellows a piercing battle cry and charges with sword and pistol in hand
07:44at the stunned Afghans.
07:46For a few valiant seconds, he cuts down attacker after attacker
07:51but then is overwhelmed and his blood stains the rock.
07:57His attack has meant that fewer than a dozen Sikhs
08:00have formed a second defensive line on the inner wall.
08:04The Sikhs fire into the crowd.
08:06The density of the numbers of the attackers ensures that
08:09each shot almost certainly strikes down a tribesman.
08:12The gate is slammed over and over again by the fiercely determined warriors
08:16and falls down with a resounding crash.
08:19Knowing that the end is near,
08:21the few remaining Sikhs rush to meet the charging attackers.
08:25A final bout of bloody hand-to-hand combat begins.
08:29The Sikhs fight harder than they ever have before,
08:32but one by one the tribesmen strike them down
08:35in exchange for more of their own dead.
08:38There is only one Sikh defending soldier left,
08:42Sepoy Gurmukh Singh in his signaling tower.
08:45Gurmukh had throughout the fight never left his post
08:48and had signaled the details of the fighting to Fort Lockhart.
08:52He sends out one final message.
08:55Permission to take up my rifle, he signals to the fort.
09:01Granted, is the reply.
09:04The brave Sepoy calmly and neatly packs up his heliographic equipment
09:08and picks up his gun as the tribesmen begin to break down the door.
09:14Through telescopes, Lieutenant Colonel Horton at Fort Lockhart
09:18watches as the door to the tower is broken in and the room is filled.
09:23For a moment they cheer as he kills one tribesman,
09:26then another and then 18 more for a total of 20.
09:32The tribal fighters fled the room in terror.
09:35There is a brief pause as the colonel looks on with awe,
09:38but suddenly his sight is clouded by smoke.
09:41The tribesmen have lit the tower on fire,
09:43deciding to burn Sepoy Gurmukh rather than face his blade one more time.
09:48At ease with his fate, Gurmukh sits down and yells the Sikh battle cry.
10:01Victory belongs to those who recite the name of God with a true heart.
10:05He yells over and over until, at last, he too dies.
10:10The stand is over, the post falls.
10:13The valiant 21 Sikhs had lasted for 6 hours.
10:16In this time, the forts manage to call in reinforcements and prepare their defences.
10:21The next day the reinforcements arrive and force the tribesmen out of Saragahi
10:26and the surrounding area.
10:29The sacrifice of the Sikhs means the forts are saved.
10:33When British troops entered Saragahi, they found the bodies of 21 Sikhs
10:38and according to some reports over 600 tribesmen.
10:42For the actions on the 12th of September 1897,
10:46all 21 Sikh warriors are posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit,
10:51at that time the highest award for gallantry for British Indian soldiers.
10:55The first time in history that each and every member of a unit
10:59won the gallantry award for a single battle.
11:03Queen Victoria said,
11:05It is no exaggeration to record that the armies which possess the valiant Sikhs
11:10cannot face defeat in war.
11:13The 21 Sikhs cemented their place in history by fighting one of the greatest
11:17and epic last stands ever.
11:19The valiant 21 are remembered every year
11:23by the Indian Army's 4th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment
11:26who commemorate the battle on the 12th of September as Saragahi Day.
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