The
East Bengal Regiment ()is an
infantry regiment of the
Bangladesh Army.
History
The East Bengal Regiment was formed in
1948 following
Pakistan's creation from the
Partition of
British Raj in
South Asia. As part of the agreement, the
Muslim population of what was previously known as
British Empire in
South Asia were given their own state of
Pakistan, made up of
West Pakistan and
East Pakistan, which would be separate from the newly independent
India. The infantry of the new
Pakistan Army was made up exclusively of men from the main, west part of the country. As a consequence, it was necessary to raise a regiment in the east; so two
companies of
Bengali pioneers from the
Bihar Regiment were regimented into the
1st Battalion, East Bengal Regiment
Senior Tigers under Lieutenant Colonel Patterson as Commanding Officer (C.O.) and Major Abdul Waheed Choudhury as Officer Commanding (O.C.) Training Coy., the 2nd Battalion being formed soon after.
Between
1948 and
1965, a total of eight battalions were raised, with the 5th, 6th and 7th in
West Pakistan.
In March
1971, in response to a crackdown on locals in East Pakistan, the five battalions of the East Bengal Regiment mutinied and initiated the
Bangladesh War of Liberation. The East Bengal Regiment formed the core of the liberation forces, which became known as the
Bangladesh Forces. The structure and formation of the Bangladeshi Forces during the Liberation War of 1971 was determined at the Sector Commander's Conference that was...
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