British soldiers walk through Amritsar surveying the damage caused by rioting

Two British Raj soldiers walk through and inspect the damage caused by the 1947 riots in Amritsar. The soldiers, a Major and a Private belong to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, a regiment which has a long history in India dating all the way back to 1854 on their first deployment, where they helped suppress the Rebellion of 1857. The two battalions of the regiment spent a lot of time in India on and off from this period onwards, with the first battalion remaining in India till Independence. Source

The destruction in Amritsar is extensive, with the rubble almost reminding us of a post-war Europe. This area was identified as “Chowk Bijli Wala” in Amritsar by this article, which attaches a photo of the place in the present day.

Source caption

British Maj. T.J. Monaghan, left, and Pvt. H. Farabrother of the Inniskilling Regiment of Northern Ireland, walk through the wreckage of the Punjab suburb of Amritsar, India, March 18, 1947. Large sections of the suburb were reduced to shambles during recent rioting. (AP Photo) Mar 18, 1947 5:30 AM