20th Duke of Cambridge ' s Own Infantry ( Brownlow ' s Punjabis ) The 20th Duke of Cambridge ’ s Own Infantry ( Brownlow ’ s Punjabis ) was a regiment of the British Indian Army . It was raised in 1857 , as the 8th Regiment of Punjab Infantry . It was designated as the 20th Duke of Cambridge ’ s Own Infantry ( Brownlow ’ s Punjabis ) in 1904 and became 2nd Battalion ( Duke of Cambridge ’ s Own ) 14th Punjab Regiment in 1922 . In 1947 , it was allocated to the Pakistan Army , where it continues to exist as 6th Battalion The Punjab Regiment . Early history . The regiment was raised at Nowshera on 1 August 1857 by Lieutenant Charles Henry Brownlow from drafts provided by 4th and 5th Punjab Infantry on the orders of John Lawrence , the British High Commissioner of the Punjab . It was one of several battalions raised by Lawrence to suppress the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857 . Brownlow , who became their first commanding officer , remained associated with the regiment for more than half a century ; becoming their Honorary Colonel in 1904 . He was made a Field Marshal in 1908 . The regiment ' s first overseas service came during the Second Opium War against China . Soon after landing there , it took part in the successful assault on Taku Forts on 21 August 1860 . The regiment then advanced with the rest of the British force , arriving at Peking ( Beijing ) in late September , which was captured on 6 October . In 1861 , the regiment was brought into the line as the 24th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry , replacing the previous 24th which had mutinied in 1857 . It was renumbered as the 20th Regiment later in the year . In 1863 , it took part in the Umbeyla Campaign on the North - West Frontier of India . During the fierce fighting at Crag Picquet in October and November , the 20th Punjabis retook the position , which had been captured by the tribesemen on 30 October . It then successfully defended the post from repeated attacks by the tribal forces . It was the first of many such engagements against the hostile Pashtun tribes of the Afghan frontier . In 1864 , the regiment , now designated as the 20th ( Punjab ) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry , took part in the Black Mountain Expedition , and in 1877 , it operated against the Jowaki Afridi s . Next year , the regiment advanced into the Khyber Pass to clear Afghan forces at Ali Masjid during the Second Afghan War , as part of the 1st Brigade of the Peshawar Field Force . Ali Masjid , an imposing fortress , was the first engagement of the war . After the capture of the fort , the Peshawar Field Force advanced into Afghanistan and captured Jalalabad . In 1882 , the regiment was dispatched to Egypt as part of an expeditionary force to suppress the revolt by Arabi Pasha against the Egyptian Government . In a surprise dawn attack on 13 September , the Egyptian forces at Tel - el - Kebir were completely routed by the British . The 20th Punjabis fought on the left flank of the Indian Brigade . In honour of their service in Egypt , the Duke of Cambridge was appointed as their honorary colonel in 1883 , and the regiment was retitled as the 20th ( Duke of Cambridge ' s Own ) ( Punjab ) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry . In 1891 , after the Mir of Hunza refused to guarantee safe Btitish passage through his state , the 20th Punjabis participated in Colonel Algernon Durand ' s expedition to Hunza . In 1897 , during a general uprising of Pashtun tribes , the regiment operated as part of the Mohmand Field Force . The regiment , under the command by Lieutenant - Colonel ( later Lieutenant - General ) JB Woon , fought in a fierce engagement against a force of about 6 , 000 Mohmand s at Shabkadr . In 1900 , the 20th Punjabis were sent to China to suppress the Boxer Rebellion . Subsequent to the reforms brought about in the Indian Army by Lord Kitchener , the regiment ' s designation was changed to 20th Duke of Cambridge ' s Own Punjabis in 1903 , and then 20th Duke of Cambridge ' s Own Infantry ( Brownlow ' s Punjabis ) in 1904 . During the First World War , the regiment saw active service in Mesopotamia and Palestine against the Ottoman Empire . On 16 October 1914 , the 20th Punjabis sailed for the Persian Gulf from Bombay as part of the 16th Indian Infantry Brigade of the Indian Expeditionary Force ' D ' . On 6 November , the regiment landed near the fort of Fao , and then advanced up the Shatt - al - Arab . On 11 November , the regiment was actively involved in repulsing a Turkish attack near Sanniyeh . The regiment then took part in the successful attack on the Ottoman force at Saihan on 15 November , and Zain on 19 November . After the Turks retreated northwards , the regiment took part in the capture of Basra , which was occupied on 23 November . In April 1915 , the regiment fought at the Battle of Shaiba , where the Turkish attempt to retake Basra was foiled . The 20th Punjabis subsequently took part in the British advance northwards , which led to the capture of Kut - al - Amara in September 1915 . For the next two years , the regiment remained engaged in a number of actions against the Turks including the Battle of Istabulat . After spending a few months in Egypt , it was dispatched to Palestine in March 1918 and took over trenches north of Jaffa . In May 1918 , it returned to India . Subsequent history . In 1921 - 22 , a major reorganization was undertaken in the British Indian Army leading to the formation of large infantry groups of four to six battalions . Among these was the 14th Punjab Regiment , formed by grouping the 20th Punjabis with the 19th , 21st , 22nd and 24th Punjabis , and the 40th Pathans . The battalion ' s new designation was 2nd Battalion ( Duke of Cambridge ' s Own ) 14th Punjab Regiment . During the Second World War , the battalion was part of the British garrison of Hong Kong , where it fiercely resisted the Japanese invasion in December 1941 . However , after heroically resisting the enemy for 18 days , the outnumbered British garrison was forced to surrender on 25 December . The battalion spent the rest of the war in Japanese captivity . It was re - raised in 1946 . In 1947 , the 14th Punjab Regiment was allocated to Pakistan Army . In 1956 , it was merged with the 1st , 15th and 16th Punjab Regiment s to form one large Punjab Regiment , and 2 / 14th Punjab was redesignated as 6 Punjab . In 1948 , the battalion fought in the war with India in Kashmir , while during the 1965 Indo - Pakistan War , it served in the Rann of Kutch , and then took part in Operation Grand Slam . In 1971 , it fought in East Pakistan .