Photographer: Unknown
Peking, China.
Soldiers of the Bombay Sappers and Miners prepare for duty in this photo taken by an anonymous photographer somewhere in Peking, China, in 1900.
Raised in 1780 to serve as the armed forces of the East India Company’s Bombay Presidency. The sappers in their long illustrious history served with distinction in both the World Wars, as a part of the British Indian army, as well in various other battlefields, in India and abroad, including: Afghanistan, Arabia, Iran and Somaliland. While in China they saw action during the boxer rebellion of 1899-1901 that culminated in the siege of the International Legation and subsequently resulted in the joint military intervention of seven countries.
Referred to by the British as the Indian Puttees for the turbans Indian soldiers wore at the time, all the sappers in the photo here hailed from the state of Maharashtra. The mule, an essential transport option for ferrying equipment for field tasks. Later also known as the Royal Bombay sappers, they are now, the Bombay Engineers of the Indian Army.
