Images : IA during the Raj

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Am sharing some images & facts I came across recently. Some not so familiar some not seen before.

Sharing for the viewing pleasure of those inclined.

Pictures by curtsey of Dr. Pesho Kotwal, New York - Historical text by Phil Masters, Canada

The Indian Army during World War I contributed a number of divisions and independent brigades to the European, Mediterranean and the Middle East theatres of war in World War I.One million Indian troops would serve overseas, of whom 62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded. In total 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war.

In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German Empire in German East Africa and on the Western Front. At the First Battle of Ypres, Khudadad Khan became the first Indian to be awarded a Victoria Cross.

Indian divisions were also sent to Egypt, Gallipoli and nearly 700,000 served in Mesopotamia against the Ottoman Empire. While some divisions were sent overseas others had to remain in India guarding the North West Frontier and on internal security and training duties.

Football match 1903..( RACE COURSE MURREE).

Circa 1919

In 1914, the Indian Army was the largest volunteer army in the world with a total strength of 240,000 men and by November 1918 it contained 548,311 men, being considered the Imperial Strategic Reserve.

It was regularly called upon to deal with incursions and raids on the North West Frontier and to provide garrison forces for the British Empire in Egypt, Singapore and China. This field force was divided into two armies: The Northern Army which stretched from the North-West Frontier to Bengal with five divisions and three brigades under command and the Southern Army which stretched from Baluchistan to southern India and it in turn had four divisions under command and two formations outside the subcontinent. The two armies contained 39 cavalry regiments, 138 infantry battalions (including 20 Gurkha), a joint cavalry-infantry unit the Corps of Guides, three sapper regiments and 12 mountain artillery batteries.

 

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Sikh Cavalry Officers, British India Army, attending Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee in 1873 in London, England.

5th Sikh in mardan,1895..after an operation in tirah valley



Before World War I, the Indian Army was deployed maintaining internal security and defending the North West Frontier against incursions from Afghanistan. These tasks did not end with the declaration of war. The divisions deployed along the frontier were the existing 1st (Peshawar) Division, the 2nd (Rawalpindi) Division, the 4th (Quetta) Division.

The only war-formed division to serve in India was the 16th Indian Division formed in 1916, it was also stationed on the North West Frontier. All these divisions were still in place and took part in the Third Afghan War at the end of World War I.

In supporting the war effort, India was left vulnerable to hostile action from Afghanistan. A Turco-German mission arrived in Kabul in October 1915, with obvious strategic purpose. Habibullah Khan abided by his treaty obligations and maintained Afghanistan's neutrality, in the face of internal opposition from factions keen to side with the Ottoman Sultan. Despite this, localised actions along the frontier still took place and included Operations in the Tochi (1914–15), Operations against the Mohmands, Bunerwals and Swatis (1915), Kalat Operations (1915–16), Mohmand Blockade (1916–17), Operations against the Mahsuds (1917) and Operations against the Marri and Khetran tribes (1918).

 

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a British officer with his family,1877,mooltan

Officers of the 2nd Batallion, Worcestershire Regiment, Waziristan, British India, 1940. The vehicle is a Crossley "Indian Pattern" armoured car. These were developed in the interwar period for internal security duties in Northern India, based on a Crossley truck chassis. Substantial British and Indian Army forces were occupied in internal security in India during WW2, as the possibility of insurgency (encouraged by the proximity of Japanese forces from 1942) was a substantial concerrn. "Indian Pattern" armoured cars remained in service until Indian and Pakistani independence in 1947. The model here (like most others) was reconditioned in 1939, in the course of which the worn-out Crossley chassis was replaced with a Chevrolet truck chassis.

 

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5th Sikh regt in mardan..1895..

On the North East Frontier between India and Burma punitive actions were carried out against the Kachins tribes between December 1914–February 1915, by the Burma Military Police supported by the 1/7th Gurkha Rifles and the 64th Pioneers. Between November 1917–March 1919, operations were carried out against the Kuki tribes by auxiliary units of the Assam Rifles and the Burma Military Police.

Five Indian soldiers near Miranshah, Tochi Valley, Waziristan, 1898

In 1901 oil had been discovered in commercial quantities at Masjid-e-Suleiman at the head of the Persian Gulf. At the start of the war in 1914, the privately owned Anglo-Persian Oil Companywhich owned the concessions for these fields was about to be bought by the British Government, primarily to fuel the British Fleet.

It soon became clear that the Ottoman Turkish Army was being mobilised and in August the Indian Government was instructed to prepare contingency plans to protect these strategic assets. The plans dictated that in the event of the Turkish Army coming out in support of the Germans, the Indian Army was to act to secure the oilfields. As a contingency, the Indian Expeditionary Force D under command of Lieutenant–General Sir Arthur Barrett sailed from Bombay on 16 October 1914 for Bahrain. They, together with Expeditionary Force A who had been hurriedly sent to Europe at the end of September in response to a request from the Imperial General Staff for men to support the war effort— became the first Indian elements committed to war outside of India.