The 23rd Sikh Pioneers were a regiment of the British Indian Army

British Indian Army

The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...

. They could trace their origins to 1857, when they were known as the 15th (Pioneer) Regiment of Punjab Infantry.
They took part in the Battle of Taku Forts (1858)

Battle of Taku Forts (1858)

The First Battle of Taku Forts on May 20, 1858 was an engagement of the Second Opium War. The British and French sent a squadron of gunboats, under Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, to attack China's Taku Forts. The battle ended as an allied success...

, the Battle of Taku Forts (1860)

Battle of Taku Forts (1860)

The Third Battle of Taku Forts was an engagement of the Second Opium War, part of the British and French 1860 expedition to China. It took place at the Taku Forts near Tanggu District , approximately 60 kilometers southeast of Tianjin City .-Background:The aim of the allied French-British...

 and the Battle of Palikao

Battle of Palikao

The Battle of Palikao was fought at the bridge of Palikao by Anglo-French forces against China during the Second Opium War on the morning of 21 September 1860...

 in the Second Opium War

Second Opium War

The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...

.This was followed by the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia

1868 Expedition to Abyssinia

The British 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia was a punitive expedition carried out by armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire...

 a punitive expedition carried out by the armed forces of the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

 against the Ethiopian Empire

Ethiopian Empire

The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia and Eritrea covers, and included in its peripheries Zeila, Djibouti, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia...

 and Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia

Tewodros II of Ethiopia

Tewodros II was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death....

.
They next took part in the Battle of Peiwar Kotal

Battle of Peiwar Kotal

The Battle of Peiwar Kotal was fought on November 28-29 1878 between British forces under Sir Frederick Roberts and Afghan forces under Karim Khan, during the opening stages of the Second Anglo-Afghan War...

,the Battle of Charasiab in the Second Afghan War in 1878.In 1903, they took part in the British expedition to Tibet

British expedition to Tibet

The British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, whose mission was to establish diplomatic relations and trade between the British Raj and Tibet...

 an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, seeking to prevent the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 from interfering in Tibetan affairs.

After World War I, the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. In 1922, the 23rd Sikh Pioneers now became the 1st Battalion, 3rd Sikh Pioneers

3rd Sikh Pioneers

The 3rd Sikh Pioneers was a regiment of the British Indian Army formed in 1922, when the Indian army moved from single battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments. The 3rd Sikh Pioneers were one of four Pioneer units in the 1922 reorganisation, including the 1st Madras Pioneers, 2nd Bombay...

, they were renamed again in 1929, as the Corps of Sikh Pioneers, which was disbanded in 1933. During the Second World War the regiment was reformed and named the Sikh Light Infantry

Sikh Light Infantry

The Sikh Light Infantry previously known as The Mazabhi and Ramdasia Sikh Regiment is an elite Regiment of the Indian Army. Its name was changed to the Sikh Light Infantry in 1944. The Sikh Light Infantry is the successor unit to the Mazhabi Sikh Pioneers 23rd, 32nd and 34th Sikh Pioneers...

. This regiment was allocated to the new Indian Army

Indian Army

The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...

after independence.

Previous names

• 23rd Bengal Native Infantry - 1861
• 23rd (Punjab) Bengal Native Infantry (Pioneers) - 1864
• 23rd (Punjab) Bengal Infantry (Pioneers) - 1885
• 23rd Punjab Pioneers - 1901