British Indian Army
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- See Indian Army for the post-independence (and post-partition) army of the Republic of India.
The British Indian Army was the army in India in the time of the British Raj (1858–1947).[1][2][3] The Indian Army served both as a security force in India itself and, particularly during the World wars, in other theatres.
Between 1903 and 1947 the Army of India consisted of two separate entities: the Indian Army and the British Army in India. The former consisted of Indian Army regiments originating in India, while the latter were British Army regiments originating in the United Kingdom which were sent to India on a tour of duty.
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[edit] Organization
The Indian Army was formed after the Indian Mutiny in 1857 by the British when the crown took over direct rule from the British East India Company which had their own army units, paid for by their profits.
The army of the British East India Company recruited primarily from high-caste Hindus in Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. These troops had been predominant in the Indian Mutiny due to extremely crass and insensitive treatment by British officers.
Post-Mutiny recruitment switched to what the British called the "martial races," particularly Sikhs, Gurkhas, Pashtuns, Garhwalis, Mohyals, Punjabi Muslims and Dogras. Jats and Balochis also provided many soldiers.
The "Indian Army" is the name for the Indian Armed forces of India, and the meaning has changed over time:
| 1858–1894 | The Indian Army was a collective term for the armies of the three presidencies; the Bengal Army, Madras Army and Bombay Army. |
| 1895–1902 | The Indian Army meant the "army of the government of India" and included British and Indian (sepoy) units. |
| 1903–1947 | Lord Kitchener was appointed Commander-in-Chief, India between 1902 and 1909. He instituted large-scale reforms, including merging the three armies of the Presidencies into a unified force and forming higher level formations, eight army divisions, and brigading Indian and British units. Following Kitchener's reforms:
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[edit] Command
The officer commanding the Army of India was the Commander-in-Chief in India who reported to the civilian Governor-General of India. His command was known as India Command and his staff were based at GHQ India.
Indian Army postings were less prestigious than British Army positions, but the pay was significantly greater so that officers could live on their pay instead of having to have a private income. British officers in the Indian Army were expected to learn to speak the Indian languages of their men, who tended to be recruited from primarily Urdu speaking areas. Prominent British Indian army officers included:
- Claude Auchinleck
- William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood
- Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
- William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim
[edit] Rank system
The rank system for the Indian army, with analogous modern-day British ranks. No equivalent to the Junior Commissioned Officer exists in the modern-day Brigade of Gurkhas; a Queen's Gurkha Officer is of the same status as other commissioned officers in the British Army.
- Viceroy's Commissioned Officers
- Subedar Major or Risaldar-Major (Cavalry), (Major (Queens Gurkha Officer))
- Subedar or Risaldar (Cavalry), (Captain (Queens Gurkha Officer)
- Jemadar (Lieutenant (Queens Gurkha Officer))
- Non-Commissioned officers
- Company Havildar Major, (Company Sergeant Major)
- Company Quartermaster Havildar, (Company Quartermaster Sergeant)
- Havildar or Daffadar (Cavalry), (Sergeant)
- Naik or Lance Daffadar (Cavalry), (Corporal)
- Lance Naik (Lance Corporal)
[edit] Function
The main role of the Indian Army was seen as being defence of the North West Frontier against Russian invasion via Afghanistan, internal security, and expeditionary warfare in the Indian Ocean area. The British Indian Army had a strength of about 150,000 men on the eve of World War I in 1914.
During the days of British rule, the Indian Army proved a very useful adjunct to British forces not only in India but also in other places, particularly during the First and Second World Wars. Recruitment was entirely voluntary; about 1.3 million men served in the First World War, many on the Western Front and 2.5 million in the Second. Initially the soldiers and NCO's were Indian, with British officers but later Indian officers were promoted as part of Indianisation (see King's Commissioned Indian Officer). The Indian Military College at Dehradun was opened in 1932 to train Indian officers. The Indian Army comprised of 65% of Sikhs Officers and 20% of Infantry/foot soldiers.[citation needed]
[edit] Operational history
[edit] Sikh Wars
- First Anglo-Sikh War - 1845 to 1846
- Second Anglo-Sikh War - 1848 to 1849
[edit] Afghan Wars
The British Indian army took part in three Anglo-Afghan wars with the help of the Sikhs of Punjab.
- First Anglo-Afghan War - 1839 to 1842
- Second Anglo-Afghan War -1878 to 1881
- Third Anglo-Afghan War - 1919
See also: The Great Game and European influence in Afghanistan for a more detailed description.
[edit] Internal Security
The British Indian Army provided armed support to the civil authorities, both for combatting banditry and in case of riots and rebellion (the latter was a controversial measure not popular with officers).
[edit] North West Frontier
The main "conventional" warfare task of the Indian army was to prevent an invasion of India via Afghanistan. There was also a need to pacify warlike local people and prevent banditry. This involved numerous small scale actions. See North-West Frontier (military history) for more details.
[edit] World War I
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War, the strength of the British Indian Army was at 155,000. By November 1918, the Indian Army rose in size to 573,000 men.[1] In World War I the Indian Army saw extensive service including:
- Western Front
- Battle of Gallipoli
- Sinai and Palestine Campaign
- Mesopotamian Campaign, Siege of Kut
- East Africa, including the Battle of Tanga
About 43,000 Indian soldiers were killed and 65,000 wounded during World War I.
Also serving in World War I were so-called "Imperial Service troops," provided by the semi-autonomous Princely States. About 21,000 were raised in World War I, mainly consisting of Sikhs of Punjab and Rajputs from Rajputana (such as the Bikaner Camel Corps and Jodhpur Lances). These forces played a prominent role in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
[edit] World War II
At the outbreak of World War II, the Indian army numbered 205,000 men. Later on during World War II the Indian Army would become the largest all-volunteer force in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in size. These forces included tank, artillery and airborne forces. On October 18, 1941 the 151st Parachute Battalion was formed from soldiers serving in the Indian Army. Later this unit was joined by the 152nd (Indian) and 153rd (Gurkha) Parachute Battalion.
Particularly notable contributions of the Indian Army during that conflict were the:
- East African campaign
- North African campaign
- Middle East Campaign
- Battle of Malaya
- Battle of Singapore
- Burma Campaign
- Italian campaign
About 87,000 Indian soldiers lost their lives during this conflict. Indian soldiers won 30 Victoria Crosses during the Second World War. (See: Indian Victoria Cross recipients.)
The Germans and Japanese were relatively successful in recruiting combat forces from Indian prisoners of war. These forces were known as the Tiger Legion and the Indian National Army (INA). Indian nationalist leader Subhash Chandra Bose led the 40,000-strong INA. From a total of about 40,000 Indians taken prisoner in Malaya and Singapore in February 1942, about 30,000 joined the INA,[5] which fought Allied forces in the Burma Campaign. Others became guards at Japanese POW camps. However, many Indian Army personnel resisted recruitment and remained POWs. The recruitment was the brainchild of Major Fujiwara Iwaichi (post war a Lieutenant General in the Japanese Defence Force) who mentions in his memmoirs that Captain Mohan Singh Deb, who surrenderd after the fall of Jitra became the founder of the INA. Jack Edwards notes that during his time in Singapore that majority of those who went over to the INA appeared to be Sikhs, but that other Sikhs, many other Indians "and of course the Gurkhas remain loyal [to the British and their oath] rather than accept the manifest advantages of joining the INA".[6]
An unknown number captured in Malaya and Singapore were taken to Japanese-occupied areas of New Guinea as forced labour. Many of these men suffered severe hardships and brutality, similar to that experienced by other prisoners of Japan during World War II. About 6,000 of them survived until they were liberated by Australian or U.S. forces, in 1943-45.[5]
[edit] Post World War II
Following the war, the British formations that had been part of the Army of India were withdrawn. Upon independence the British Indian Army was split: most units went to the Indian Army, four Gurkha regiments were transferred to the British Army (they formed the Brigade of Gurkhas and were stationed in Malaya) and the remainder of the army went to the Pakistan Army. Soon after the Partition of India, both the newly formed armies fought each other in the First Kashmir War from 1947 - '48 and would the start of a bitter rivalry that lasts to this day.
[edit] See also
- List of Regiments of the British Indian Army (1903)
- List of regiments of the British Indian Army (1922)
- Commander-in-Chief, India
[edit] External links
- Indian Army: History:British Era on the Indian Army website
- The Indian Army website history page: British Era
- http://www.atra.mod.uk/atra/rmas/tour/iamr.htm
- 1914 Order of Battle
- Royal Engineers Museum Indian Sappers (1740-1947)
- Royal Engineers Museum The Corps in the Second World War (1939-45)- Indian Engineers in the Western Desert, Italian and Burma Campaigns
- Royal Engineers Museum Biography of Lord Kitchener
- Stand at East - Mark Tully in a series of BBC audio programmes on the pre-independence Indian Army
[edit] Further reading
- Mason, Philip, A Matter of Honour: An Account of the Indian Army, its Officers and Men, Macmillan 1974
- A bibliography
- Alan J. Guy & Peter B. Boyden, Soldiers of the Raj, The Indian Army 1600-1947, 1997, National Army Museum Chelsea
- Richard Holmes, Sahib the British Soldier in India, 1750-1914
- Jon Latimer, Burma: The Forgotten War, London: John Murray, 2004.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Peter Duckers The British Indian Army 1860-1914 Pub: Shire Books, ISBN 978-0-7478-0550-2
- ^ Indian Army: History "the total strength of the British-Indian Army was 90,000"
- ^ Brig (Retd) Noor A Husain The Role of Muslims Martial Races of Today's Pakistan in British-Indian Army in World War-II
- ^ Oxford History of the British Army
- ^ a b Peter Stanley "Great in adversity": Indian prisoners of war in New Guinea website of the Australian War Memorial
- ^ Edwards, Jack; Banzai you Bastards; (first edition 1990), Paperback 1994,ISBN 0285-631780, Page 28
