First Battle of Katwa

The First Battle of Katwa occurred between the Bengal Subah and Maratha Confederacy in 1744. The Marathas initially attacked and captured Katwa and Hooghly in Bengal. The Nawab of Bengal Alivardi Khan, using conscripted tribal and peasant levies from Birbhum, responded with a direct attack on the Maratha camp at Katwa from the rear in nightfall and the entire Maratha Army was evacuated out of Bengal on 17 September 1742, believing a much larger force had charged them. The Maratha commander Bhaskar Pant was trecherously killed.