- Fathul Mujahidin
Fathul Mujahidin is a military manual that was written by
Tippu Sultan , a ruler of theKingdom of Mysore , considered the father ofrocket artillery inbattle for his use of iron-cased rocket artillery in defeating theBritish Army in the1792 battle atSrirangapatna cite book
title=The Tiger of Mysore - A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib
last=Henty
first=G. A. (George Alfred)
date=1902] , one of the battles of theThird Anglo-Mysore War , which is considered a technological evolution inmilitary history .Tipu distributed copies of his military manual to all of his officers. cite journal
title=Fathul Mujahidin in Sultan
last=Husine
first=Prof. M
journal=Journal of the Tipu Sultan Research Institute and Museum
volume=vol.3
year=1986] In the manual he defined 200 men to handle rockets within each of theMysore cushoons , with 16 to 24 cushoons ofinfantry . The personnel handling the rockets were trained to define the launch angle to properly affect the curve at which the rocket would land. Tipu also defined in the manual a multiple rocket launcher (much like a musical organ) that would launch up to 10 rockets. Some of the rockets had blades in the front of the bamboo guiding rods, while others were designed asincendiary rocket s.Although the
British Army had already been attacked with rockets in previous battles, it was in 1792 when they lost the battle, mainly due to the rocket artillery of about 2,000 rockets fired simultaneously at them, that the use of rocket artillery in battle was improved to the point that it affected the battle outcome. cite book
title=A View of the Origin and Conduct of the War with Tippoo Sultaun
last=Beatson
first=Alexander
date=1800]References
External links
cite web
title=Indian Troops Rout British
url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/11.html
publisher=NASA
quote=The English confrontation with Indian rockets came in 1780 at the Battle of Guntur.cite web
title=The Tiger and The Thistle
url=http://www.tigerandthistle.net, focussing on Tipu Sultan and the Scots in India, 1760-1800
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