Regiments.Officers.Men.
K.W.K.W.
Royal Navy-1-2
Royal Artillery12610
39th Dorset1-14
Royal Munster Fusiliers-112
1st R. Dublin Fusiliers--13
2nd R. Dublins---1
Bengal sepoys--911
Madras sepoys--410

Condore, December 9, 1758.

Royal Munster Fusiliers.
Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

In the course of this year there was incessant fighting between our troops in Madras and the French and their allies; but the value of India was now becoming more thoroughly appreciated by the Cabinet, and a second regiment, then numbered the 79th, was sent out to Madras, under Colonel William Draper. The French, on their part, were not behindhand. The Count Lally and Admiral d'Ache arrived, with close on 3,000 French troops, and the British forts at Cuddalore and St. David were captured. Matters were looking serious indeed in Southern India, when Clive, still in Calcutta, determined to make a diversion. Eyre Coote, the Major of the 39th, who had shown such gallantry at Plassey, was in England busily employed in raising a regiment for service in India, and so was not available; but Clive detached Major Forde, of the 39th, with detachments of his own regiment and of the 1st Bengal Europeans (now the Munster Fusiliers), barely numbering 600 men, and some 2,000 sepoys, down the coast to Vizagapatam, which was being threatened by a French force, under Conflans. Despite the odds against him—for the French army outnumbered his by at least three to one—Forde pushed on, finally meeting Conflans near the mouth of the Godavery River.

Casualties at Condore.

Regiments.Officers.Men.
K.W.K.W.
Royal Munster Fusiliers (1st Bengal Europeans)141529

There has been a long-standing dispute as to whether this honour can be rightly claimed by the Dublin Fusiliers as the representatives of the Madras and Bombay regiments which were sent to assist Clive in 1757. It appears certain that the men from Madras and Bombay were incorporated with the Bengal European Regiment in April, 1758, and that none but Bengal troops accompanied Forde to Vizagapatam. The India Office has therefore given its decision in favour of the Munsters for both Condore and Masulipatam.

Masulipatam, April 8, 1759.

This honour is borne by the Royal Munster Fusiliers alone. In spite of many obstacles thrown in his way after the action of Condore by our native allies, Forde determined to follow up Conflans. It was not until March 6 that he arrived before Masulipatam, behind the fortifications of which the French were awaiting him. A fortnight was taken up in landing siege-guns from the fleet, which had followed the army down the coast, and a small number of bluejackets were disembarked to aid in the siege. On April 6 Forde learnt that a force of 40,000 natives, under Salabad Jung, was advancing to the relief of Conflans, and he determined on storming at once. His position was full of difficulty: in front a formidable work, with a garrison exceeding his own force in number, his land communications threatened by a Franco-native army 40,000 strong, and an empty treasure-chest. A weaker man would have taken advantage of the presence of the fleet, contented himself with his own marvellous success at Condore, and embarked his little army for Bengal. Not of such stuff was Forde, and fortunate for him and for England that he had with him men of like metal to himself. On April 8 Forde ordered the assault, and by nightfall Conflans, with 3,000 men, had unconditionally surrendered. Salabad Jung, the Viceroy of the Circars Province, now realizing that all power did not belong to the French, entered into a treaty with Forde, by which he ceded to the English eighty miles of coast-line, and entered into an agreement, not merely to dismiss all the French then in his service, but also never again to employ French troops or instructors. Forde was now free to return to Bengal, where his services were soon to be urgently needed.

Casualties incurred during the Operations at Masulipatam, ending with the Action of April 8, 1759.