In January 1846 a Sikh force under Ranjodh Singh Majithia crossed the Sutlej to threaten Ludhiana and the British supply lines, and defeated a British column at Baddowal.
On 28 January 1846 Sir Harry Smith attacked Ranjodh Singh at Aliwal, on the Sutlej near Ludhiana. The British cavalry, including the 16th Lancers, broke through the Sikh squares, and the Sikhs were driven back across the river, losing many guns.
It was a clean British victory, celebrated in Britain, and it prepared the way for Sobraon.
The two Anglo-Sikh Wars
1845 – 1849- 1
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After Sobraon the Treaty of Lahore (March 1846) took the Jalandhar Doab and the hills, and Kashmir went to Gulab Singh. After Gujrat the Kingdom of Lahore was annexed, on 29 March 1849.
Same era
The British conquest: the Anglo-Sikh Wars
First battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War, fought at dusk among dust and scrub. The Sikh commanders, Lal Singh and Tej Singh, were later widely accused of betraying their own army.
So close that Hardinge prepared to burn his papers. Tej Singh withdrew when the exhausted British were at his mercy.
The Sikhs fought with their backs to the Sutlej, and the bridge of boats behind them broke. Sham Singh Attariwala died with his men.
A British cavalry charge on the Chenab ran into the Sikh guns and was repulsed.
The revolt at Multan that began the Second Anglo-Sikh War. A British shell blew up the fort's main magazine in December, and Mulraj surrendered in January 1849.
One of the bloodiest battles the British fought in India. The losses led to calls in London for Gough's dismissal.
Overwhelming British artillery broke the Sikh army. On 29 March 1849 Punjab was annexed and the boy Maharaja Duleep Singh deposed.
16th Lancers, Battle of Aliwal, 28 January 1846National Army Museum, London · photo Michael Angelo Hayes (Wikimedia Commons) ↗