Editing Third Battle of Panipat (section)

== Skirmishes before the battle ==

=== Afghan defeat at Kunjpura ===
{{Main|Battle of Kunjpura}}
With both sides poised for battle, maneuvering followed, with skirmishes between the two armies fought around [[Karnal]] and [[Kunjpura]]. Abdus Samad Khan, the [[faujdar]] of [[Sirhind-Fategarh|Sirhind]], had come to Kunjpura, on the banks of the [[Yamuna]] river 60 miles to the north of Delhi with a force of more than ten thousand and supplies for the Afghan force. Kunjpura was stormed by the Marathas who was running short of supplies. Aided by the musketeers under Ibrahim Gardi, the Marathas achieved a rather easy victory at [[Kunjpura]] against an army of around 15,000 Afghans posted there.<ref name="tss" /> Some of Abdali's best generals like [[Najabat Khan]] were killed.<ref name="Verma">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOnKoAEACAAJ |title = Third Battle of Panipat|isbn = 9788180903328|last1 = Verma|first1 = Abhas|year= 2013| publisher=Bharatiya Kala Prakashan }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Imperial gazetteer of India: provincial series|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-AO2AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA314|access-date=29 June 2013|year=1908|publisher=Supt. of Govt. Print.|pages=314–}}</ref> Abdus Samad Khan, the faujdar of Sirhind, was also killed during the battle.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Ganda |title=Ahmad Shah Durrani, father of modern Afghanistan |date=1959 |publisher=Asia Publishing house |pages=247 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5426/page/n267/mode/1up |access-date=19 November 2022}}</ref> [[Mian Qutb Shah]], who was responsible for beheading [[Dattaji Rao Scindia|Dattaji Shinde]] at the [[Battle of Barari Ghat]] was executed by the Marathas after their capture of Kunjpura.<ref name="Ahmad Shah durrani">{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Ganda |title=Ahmad Shah Durrani, father of modern Afghanistan |date=1959 |page=247 |publisher=Asia Publishing House, Bombay |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5426/page/n267/mode/1up}}</ref> Ahmad Shah was encamped on the left bank of the Yamuna River, which was swollen by rains, and was powerless to aid the garrison. The whole Afghan garrison was killed or enslaved.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Also see Syed Altaf Ali Brelvi, Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan|pages=108–09}}</ref> The massacre of the Kunjpura garrison, within sight of the Durrani camp, exasperated Abdali to such an extent that he ordered crossing of the river at all costs.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Lateef, S M. "History of the Punjab"|page=235}}</ref>

=== Afghans cross Yamuna and the Battles of Samalkha and Meerut ===

Ahmed Shah and his allies on 17 October 1760, broke up from [[Shahdara district|Shahdara]], marching south. Taking a calculated risk, Abdali plunged into the river, followed by his bodyguards and troops. Between 23 and 25 October they were able to cross at [[Baghpat]](a small town about 24 miles up the river), unopposed by the Marathas who were still preoccupied with the sacking of Kunjpura and visit to nearby [[Kurukshetra]]; an important Hindu pilgrimage destination.<ref name="tss" />

After the Marathas failed to prevent Abdali's forces from crossing the Yamuna River, they set up defensive works in the ground near [[Panipat]], thereby blocking his access back to Afghanistan, just as Abdali's forces blocked theirs to the south. However, on the afternoon of 26 October, Ahmad Shah's advance guard reached [[Samalkha]], about halfway between [[Sonepat]] and Panipat, where they encountered the vanguard of the Marathas. A fierce skirmish ensued, in which the Afghans lost 1000 men but drove the Marathas back to their main body, which kept retreating slowly for several days. This led to the partial encirclement of the Maratha army. In skirmishes that followed, [[Govind Pant Bundele]], with 10,000 light cavalry who weren't formally trained soldiers, was on a foraging mission with about 500 men. They were surprised by an Afghan force near [[Meerut]], and in the ensuing fight, Bundele was killed. This was followed by the loss of a contingent of 2,000 Maratha soldiers who had left [[Delhi]] to deliver money and rations to [[Panipat]]. This completed the encirclement, as Ahmad Shah had cut off the Maratha army's supply lines.<ref name = "csp">{{Cite book|title= An Account Of The Last Battle of Panipat |last1= Pundit|first1= Casi Raja|author-link1= |translator-last1= Brown|translator-first1= James| editor-last1 = Rawlinson| editor-first1 = Hugh George |url= https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.6002/ |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1926 |isbn= 9789385509544 }}</ref>

With supplies and stores dwindling, tensions started rising in the Maratha camp. Initially the Marathas had moved in almost 150 pieces of modern long-range, French-made artillery. With a range of several kilometres, these guns were some of the best of the time. The Marathas' plan was to lure the Afghan army to confront them while they had close artillery support.<ref name = "csp"/>

=== Preliminary moves ===
During the next two months of the [[siege]], constant skirmishes and duels took place between units from the two sides. In one of these [[Najib ad-Dawlah|Najib]] lost 3,000 of his Rohillas and was nearly killed himself. Facing a potential stalemate, Abdali decided to seek terms, which Bhau was willing to consider. However, Najib Khan delayed any chance of an agreement with an appeal on religious grounds and sowed doubt about whether the Marathas would honour any agreement.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Keene, H. G. (1887). Part I, Chapter VI: The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan.}}</ref>

After the Marathas moved from Kunjpura to Panipat, Diler Khan Marwat, with his father Alam Khan Marwat and a force of 2500 [[Pashtuns]], attacked and took control of Kunjpura, where there was a Maratha garrison of 700–800 soldiers. At that time Atai Khan Baluch, son of the Shah Wali Khan, the Wazir of Abdali, came from Afghanistan with 10,000 cavalry and cut off the supplies to the Marathas.<ref name="tss"/> The Marathas at Panipat were surrounded by Abdali in the south, Pashtun tribes ([[Yousufzai]], [[Afridi]], [[Khattak]]) in the east, Shuja, Atai Khan and others in the north and other Pashtun tribes ([[Gandapur]], [[Marwat]], [[Durrani]]s and [[Kakar]]s) in the west.<ref name="tss"/>
Unable to continue without supplies or wait for reinforcements from Pune any longer, Bhau decided to break the siege. His plan was to pulverise the enemy formations with cannon fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Afghans were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans broken, he would move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they were assured supplies.<ref name="tss"/>

=== Formations ===
[[File:Plan of the Battle of Paniput, 1761.jpg|alt=Plan of the Third Battle of Panipat based on Kashiraj Pandit's memoirs|thumb|Plan of the Third Battle of Panipat based on Kashi raja (Casi Raja) Pandit's account|left]]
With the Maratha chiefs pressurizing Sadashivrao Bhau, to go to battle rather than perish by starvation, on 13 January, the Marathas left their camp before dawn and marched south towards the Afghan camp in a desperate attempt to break the siege. The two armies came face-to-face around 8:00&nbsp;a.m.<ref name="tss"/>

The Maratha lines began a little to the north of [[Kala Amb]]. They had thus blocked the northward path of Abdali's troops and at the same time were blocked from heading south—in the direction of Delhi, where they could get badly needed supplies—by those same troops. Bhau, with the Peshwa's son and the royal guard (Huzurat), was in the centre. The left wing consisted of the ''Gardis'' under [[Ibrahim Khan Gardi|Ibrahim Khan]]. Holkar and Sindhia were on the extreme right.<ref name = "csp"/>

The Maratha line was formed up some 12&nbsp;km across, with the artillery in front, protected by infantry, pikemen, musketeers and bowmen. The cavalry was instructed to wait behind the artillery and bayonet-wielding musketeers, ready to be thrown in when control of the battlefield had been fully established. Behind this line was another ring of 30,000 young Maratha soldiers who were not battle-tested, and then the civilians. Many were ordinary men, women and children on their pilgrimage to Hindu holy places and shrines. Behind the civilians was yet another protective infantry line, of young, inexperienced soldiers.<ref name="tss"/>

On the other side the Afghans formed a somewhat similar line, a few metres to the south of today's Sanauli Road. Their left was being formed by Najib and their right by two brigades of troops. Their left centre was led by two Viziers, [[Shuja-ud-daulah]] with 3,000 soldiers and 50–60 cannons and Ahmad Shah's Vizier Shah Wali with a choice body of 19,000 mailed Afghan horsemen.<ref name = "csp"/> The right centre consisted of 15,000 [[Rohillas]] under [[Hafiz Rahmat]] and other chiefs of the Rohilla Pathans. Pasand Khan covered the left wing with 5,000 cavalry, Barkurdar Khan and Amir Beg covered the right with 3,000 Rohilla cavalry. Long-range musketeers were also present during the battle. In this order the army of Ahmed Shah moved forward, leaving him at his preferred post in the centre, which was now in the rear of the line, from where he could watch and direct the battle.<ref name="tss">{{Cite book|title=Panipat 1761 |author= Shejwalkar, Trimbak S. |author-link= Tryambak Shankar Shejwalkar |url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.126833 |publisher= Deccan College |location= Pune|language= mr, en |date= 1946 |isbn= 9788174346421}}</ref>