Battle of Kup

The Battle of Kup (part of the Vadda Ghalughara, meaning "greater massacre") was fought on 5 February 1762, between the Afghan forces of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Sikhs, under the command of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Charat Singh. Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Afghan forces reached Malerkotla, west of Sirhind. Different sources give various estimates on how many sikhs were present. According to Tom Landsford, nearly 30,000 Sikh men, women, children, and elderly laid encamped. According to Narendra Sinha, 40,000 Sikhs were present. According to Hari Ram Gupta, 50,000 Sikh soldiers laid encamped at Kup while 5,000 non combatants laid encamped at Pind Garma. Abdali's forces outnumbered the Sikhs in hand-to-hand combat and the Sikhs couldn't use their usual tactics of hit and run, but had to engage in battle while protecting the civilians at the same time. With surprise attack, the Sikhs threw a human ring around civilians as protection and fought the battle killing several thousand Afghans. Abdali was able to break the ring and carried out a full scale massacre of the Sikh civilians. Ahmad Shah's forces killed several thousand Sikhs, and the surviving Sikhs fled to Barnala. According to various different estimates, as many as 5,000 to 30,000 Sikh men, women, elderly and children were killed in what is known as the second Sikh genocide (Vadda Ghalughara).