Centenary commemoration of ‘Battle of Haifa’ held
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Centenary commemoration of ‘Battle of Haifa’ held

September 24, 2018

Mysuru: The centenary commemoration of the ‘Battle of Haifa’ was held last evening at Rajendra Kalamandira on Ramanuja Road in city. The event was held to make the people of Mysuru aware about this forgotten history.

The battle between the joint Ottoman and German forces and the regiment comprising Jodhpur Lancers, Hyderabad Lancers and Mysore Lancers for 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade was among the historic combats in the records of Mysore kingdom. The ‘fiercest battle’ in the city of Haifa in Israel culminated on Sept.23, 1918.

At the centenary commemoration, member of erstwhile royal family of Mysore, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar demanded setting up of a memorial of Haifa War in Mysuru.  

“A memorial or a museum is needed to commemorate Mysore Lancers, who played a crucial role along with Jodhpur Lancers and Hyderabad Lancers in the battle against the Ottoman Turks (armed with modern artillery and machine guns) during World War I, for the liberation of Haifa, the third largest city in Israel.”

Yaduveer said that Lancers were soldiers of a cavalry regiment, armed with lances — a long weapon similar to a spear, with a wooden shaft and a pointed steel head. These were used by horsemen. Lancers were the personal bodyguards of the then Maharaja Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and most of them belonged to Urs families.

“Indian soldiers, including Mysore Lancers, were armed only with lances and swords while the Turks were armed with artillery and guns. Soldiers from Mysore along with Jodhpur and Hyderabad Lancers fought and liberated the Israeli city of Haifa,” he said.

Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha recalled the contribution of Mysore Lancers worldwide. “The bravery of Lancers who fought with lances and swords against their rivals who were armed with modern weapons was for all to see at Haifa and this has to be remembered by each Mysurean,”   he opined.

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Representatives of a few families of the Mysore Lancers who took part in the Haifa war were honoured on the occasion. T.V. Nagaprasanna Raje Urs, grandson of Risaldar A. Lingaraj Urs (who had taken part in the war), Chinnamamba Desa Raje Urs, relative of Col. J. Desa Raje Urs, Jayanthi H.N. Urs and Manjula Urs, relatives of  Col. B.P. Krishne Urs, Imtiaz Ahmed, relative of Lt. Col. Abdul Gaffar, Yashomathi, relative of Sirdar Bahadur Chamaraja Urs were felicitated.

Chamarajanagar MP R. Dhruvanarayan, Secretary of Haifa Centenary Celebration Committee M.S. Harish Shenoy and others participated. Sheethal was the master  of ceremony.

Indian soldiers remembered

At another event that was held in city recently, over 300 distinguished guests gathered at the Bahá’í House of Worship to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Haifa.

The event recalled the role of Jodhpur Lancers and Mysore Lancers in ensuring the safety of Abdul-Baha, the son of the Founder of the Baha’i Faith (Baha’u’llah) who was a resident of Haifa at that time and whose life had been threatened by the Turkish Commander-in-Chief.

The event was jointly organised by Bahá’í community of India, Gaj Singhji II of Marwar-Jodhpur and Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar.   

Gaj Singhji recalled the tradition of Jodhpur Lancers and said this epic battle was considered to be not only the last successful cavalry charge in the history of warfare, but also possibly the finest of all during First World War.  Nazneen Rowhani, representative of the Bahá’í community of India, Maya Kadosh, Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of Israel, New Delhi, Col. (retd.) Bhawani Singh and others were present.

4 COMMENTS ON THIS POST To “Centenary commemoration of ‘Battle of Haifa’ held”

  1. RAJA CHANDRA says:

    @ Representatives of a few families of the Mysore Lancers who took part in the Haifa war were honoured on the occasion. T.V. Nagaprasanna Raje Urs, grandson of Risaldar A. Lingaraj Urs (who had taken part in the war)……….

    It is a bit funny ! When the first sentence clearly states that the families of Mysore Lancers who took part in the Haifa War were honoured where is the need for a further statement in the parenthesis in the next sentence ?

    Further those honoured were not necessarily part of Haifa war which only took place on 23-9-18 ! Mysore Lancers and Mysore Transport corps fought at many fronts in Middle East from 1914-1918. In fact Risaldar A. Lingaraj Urs quoted above was sadly killed in action at Aleppo on the 26th October 1918 during the final phase of the operations in Palestine.

    .

    • Ram Tripathy says:

      yea, that is funny.

      True. That’s funny.

      1. Should we be celebrating the victory of the occupant forces of Britain who were aggressively and illegally ruling India? We all know to what extent Britain plundered India for 200 plus years.
      2. The same British Army was responsible for martyrdom of scores of Indian freedom aspirants. Should we be celebrating the success of this army?
      3. The British army had special units comprising brave Indian clans and tribes. These were used in this expedition to achieve the expansionist policy of Britain. Should we be happily entertaining ourselves when precious Indian blood was used by the aggressor – Britain?
      4. We have presently good relations with Turkey, Germany and Austria. Surely they would not be viewing news reports of Indian soldiers killing the combined forces. With the propagation being spread, it looks like Indian soldiers were responsible in defeating the combined forces and inflicting great losses to them.
      5. Finally, why should we Indians (Hindus) fall into a trap of a faith that has its base in present day Israel by celebrating the event as day of liberation of their imprisoned leader Abbas Effendi?

  2. RAJA CHANDRA says:

    @ At another event that was held in city recently, over 300 distinguished guests gathered at the Bahá’í House of Worship to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Haifa…..

    This is even more funnier ! No such event took place in Mysore. The quoted event actually took place at Bahai Temple in New Delhi on Sept 16 !

  3. Ram Tripathy says:

    1. Should we be celebrating the victory of the occupant forces of Britain who were aggressively and illegally ruling India? We all know to what extent Britain plundered India for 200 plus years.
    2. The same British Army was responsible for martyrdom of scores of Indian freedom aspirants. Should we be celebrating the success of this army?
    3. The British army had special units comprising brave Indian clans and tribes. These were used in this expedition to achieve the expansionist policy of Britain. Should we be happily entertaining ourselves when precious Indian blood was used by the aggressor – Britain?
    4. We have presently good relations with Turkey, Germany and Austria. Surely they would not be viewing news reports of Indian soldiers killing the combined forces. With the propagation being spread, it looks like Indian soldiers were responsible in defeating the combined forces and inflicting great losses to them.
    5. Finally, why should we Indians (Hindus) fall into a trap of a faith that has its base in present day Israel by celebrating the event as day of liberation of their imprisoned leader Abbas Effendi?

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