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British Indian Army

Encyclopedia : B : BR : BRI : British Indian Army

See Indian Army for the post-independence (and post-partition) army of the Republic of India.
The Indian Army in the time of the British Raj (1857–1947).

Contents

Administrative name

The "Indian Army" is the name for the Indian Armed forces of India, and the meaning has changed over time:

1857–1894 The Indian Army meant the "army of the government of India" and included British and Indian (sepoy) units.
1895–1902 The Indian Army was a collective term for the armies of the presidencies; the Bengal Army, Madras Army and Bombay Army.
1903–1947 Following Kitchener's reforms:
  • The Indian Army was "the force recruited locally and permanently based in India, together with its expatriate British officers."[1]
  • The British Army in India consisted of British Army units posted to India for a tour of duty, and which would then be posted to other parts of the Empire or back to the UK.
  • The Army of India consisted of both the Indian Army and the British Army in India.

History

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.

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.

Indian army postings were popular and prestigious with British officers who learnt to speak Indian languages (primarily Urdu). Prominent British Indian army officers included:

Initially the army was organised into three presidencies; Madras, Bombay and Bengal. The army of the British East India company recruited predominantly 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, Garhwalis, Mohyals, Muslims and Dogras. Pathans and Beluchis also provided many Soldiers.

Rank System

The Rank system for the Indian army (with modern UK equivalents)

Kitchener's reforms

Lord Kitchener was appointed Commander in Chief India between 1902 and 1909. He instituted large scale reforms including merging the three armies of the Presidentsies into a unified force. Forming higher level formations, 8 army divisions and brigading Indian and British units. 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 Indian army had a strength of about 150,000 men on the eve of World War I in 1914.

These troops were provided by the semi-autonomous Princely States, about 21,000 were raised in Word War I, mainly Rajputs from Rajastan, such as the Bikaner Camel corps and Jodhpur Lances which had a prominent part in the Palestine campaign.

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)

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.

please see North-West Frontier (military history) for more detail

Afghan Wars

The British Indian army took part in three Anglo Afghan wars

See also: The Great Game and European influence in Afghanistan for a more detailed description

World War I

In World War I the Indian Army saw extensive service including: About 43,000 Indian soldiers were killed and 65,000 wounded during World War I

World War II

At the outbreak of World War 2 the Indian army numbered 205,000 men. Later during World War II the Indian Army became 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.

Indian soldiers won 30 Victoria Crosses during the Second World War. See List of Indian Victoria Cross recipients for details of these brave men

About 87,000 Indian soldiers lost their lives during this conflict

Particularly notable contributions of the Indian Army during that conflict were in the campaigns in:

See also the Indian National Army which was raised by the Japanese from Indian Prisoners of War captured in Malaya and Singapore in cooperation with Indian independence leader Subhash Chandra Bose and numbered up to 40,000 men. The Nazis also raised the Tiger Legion from Indian Prisoners of War captured by Germany. This unit never numbereed more than 2,000 men and was largely used for propoganda purposes.

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.

References

  1. Oxford History of the British Army
  2. Mason, Philip, A Matter of Honour: An Account of the Indian Army, its Officers and Men, Macmillan 1974
  3. [A bibliography]
  4. Alan J. Guy & Peter B. Boyden, Soldiers of the Raj, The Indian Army 1600-1947, 1997, National Army Museum Chelsea
  5. Richard Holmes, Sahib the British Soldier in India, 1750-1914

See also

External links

 

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