62nd Punjabis The 62nd Punjabis was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army . It was raised in 1759 as the 3rd Battalion of Coast Sepoys , and formed part of the Madras Army . It was designated as the 62nd Punjabis in 1903 and became 1st Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment in 1922 . In 1947 , it was allocated to the Pakistan Army , where it continues to exist as 1st Battalion The Punjab Regiment . It is the senior - most surviving infantry battalion of the British Indian Army Early History . The regiment had its antecedents in the old Madras Army of the British East India Company , which was largely responsible for the British conquest of south and central India . It was raised at Madras in September 1759 , as the 3rd Battalion of Coast Sepoys from existing companies of sepoys that had been raised a year earlier . The men were mostly enlisted from South India and consisted of Muslims and Hindus . The regiment was actively engaged in the wars against the French , Mysore and the Marathas . Their first major engagement was the decisive Battle of Wandiwash in 1760 , which ended French colonial ambitions in India . This was followed by forty years of constant warfare against the Sultans of Mysore , and then the Marathas chieftains . In the Second Maratha War of 1803 - 05 , the regiment fought in the Battle of Assaye under General Arthur Wellesley , the future Duke of Wellington . Its performance at Assaye was much appreciated and it was permitted to display the word " Assaye " with the device of an elephant on their colours and appointments . It was again engaged against the Marathas during the Third Maratha War of 1817 - 19 , which decisively broke the Maratha power in India . In 1840 , the regiment took part in the First Anglo - Chinese War , where it again performed well and as a reward , was authorized to bear a golden dragon wearing the imperial crown upon its regimental colours . In the latter part of the 19th century , the regiment did not see much action , although it saw active service in Burma . In 1902 , the regiment , now designated as the 2nd Madras Infantry , was reconstituted with Punjabi Muslims , Sikhs and Rajput s . Next year , as a result of the reforms brought about in the Indian Army by Lord Kitchener , all Madras units had 60 added to their numbers , and the regiment ' s designation was changed to 62nd Punjabis . During the First World War , the 62nd Punjabis were sent to Egypt as part of the 10th Indian Division to protect the Suez Canal . The regiment played a major role in repulsing the Turkish offensive of 1915 . After operating in the British colony of Aden later that year , they arrived in Mesopotamia on 31 December 1915 . Here , they were engaged in fierce fighting on the Tigris Front , as the British made desperate efforts to raise the Siege of Kut al Amara , and later , during the British advance northwards . The regiment took part in the Battles of Hanna , Dujaila Redoubt and the Hai Salient . After serving on the Persian frontier for the rest of the war , the regiment returned to India in 1920 . It suffered a total of 840 casualties during the war . Captain Claude Auchinleck , later Field Marshal and the last Commander - in - Chief of the British Indian Army , served with the 62nd Punjabis in Egypt and Mesopotamia . Subsequent History . After the First World War , the 62nd Punjabis were grouped with the 66th , 76th , 82nd and 84th Punjabis , and the 1st Brahmans to form the 1st Punjab Regiment in 1922 . The battalion was redesignated as 1st Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment . During the Second World War , 1 / 1st Punjab initially served in Iraq and then moved to North Africa in November 1941 to join the 5th Indian Division , only to take part in the British withdrawal following Rommel ' s offensive in January 1942 . The battalion was converted into motorized infantry and deployed at Ruweisat Ridge , where in July , it took part in halting Rommel ' s final offensive in North Africa at El Alamein by the Eighth Army led by General Claude Auchinleck . It then participated in the British counter - attack in October , which turned the tide of war in North Africa . In October 1943 , 1 / 1st Punjab arrived in Burma , where it fought in the Second Arakan Campaign and took part in the Reconquest of Burma . It fought in the Battles of Kohima , Tiddim Road and numerous actions in the Irrawaddy Basin until the final Allied victory in August 1945 . It then served in the Dutch East Indies as part of the Allied occupation forces . In 1947 , 1 / 1st Punjab was allocated to Pakistan Army . During the 1948 Kashmir War with India , it served at Chakothi . In 1956 , the 1st Punjab Regiment was merged with the 14th , 15th and 16th Punjab Regiment s to form one large Punjab Regiment , and 1 / 1st Punjab was redesignated as 1 Punjab . During the 1965 Indo - Pakistan War , the battalion fought in the Battle of Chawinda , while in the 1971 war , it served in the Rajasthan Sector .