known as 'Madras' battalions. In 1796, the units were numbered 1st to 50th Madras Native Infantry. In 1891, the word 'Native' was dropped. The regiment has been through many campaigns with both the British Indian Army and the Indian Army. Many well-known British officers have commanded this regiment, among them Robert Clive. This regiment fought in the Carnatic wars, which were fought in South India. The elephant crest symbolises its gallantry in the Battle of Assaye under Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington. There after the British annexed the Indian sub-continent, largely with the help of the Madras Regiment sepoys. At its zenith in the 1800s, the regiment consisted of 52 battalions. The regiment saw many overseas deployments during this period – First Anglo-Burmese War, First China War of 1840-42, Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852-54, 1857 campaign in Lucknow and Central India, Second Anglo-Afghan War of 1879-80, Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885-87 and during the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. The coming of the British rule and merging of the Presidency armies into a British Indian Army led the erstwhile regiments to be reorganised. After conquest of India, the main perceived threat to British was from Russia. So, recruitment was re-oriented towards north Indians of Punjab and Nepal. This resulted in the British reducing the strength of the Madras Regiment, since the southern borders were relatively peaceful. As part of this change, seventeen Madras regiments, were converted into Punjab and Gorkha regiments between 1890 and 1903. They were renamed the 1st, 2nd and 8th Punjab and 1/7th and 1/10th Gorkha Rifles. By the time of World War I, the once large regiment was left with eight Carnatic Regiments, the 63rd, 73rd, 75th, 79th, 80th, 83rd, 86th and 88th. These battalions were with a reduced strength of 600 men, as they were intended to perform duties of garrison troops only. During 1917-18, eight additional battalions were raised. In 1922, the regiment was allotted one regiment each of Pioneers and Infantry. During the re-organisation of the Indian Army in 1922, the regiments were numbered according to their seniority. The 1st and 2nd Punjab Regiments, which ironically were raised from senior Madras Regiment battalions were given precedence and the regiment was renamed as 3rd Madras Regiment. Following the great war, nearly the whole of the regiment was disbanded between 1922 and 1928. What remained were four Indian Territorial Force (ITF) and one