The Indian Army has its origins in the years after the
Indian Rebellion of 1857, often called the Indian Mutiny in British histories, when in 1858
the Crown took over direct rule of British India from the
East India Company. Before 1858, the precursor units of the Indian Army were units controlled by the Company and were paid for by their profits. These operated alongside units of the British Army, funded by the British government in
London. The three Presidency armies remained separate forces, each with its own
Commander-in-Chief. Overall operational control was exercised by the Commander-in-Chief of the
Bengal Army, who was formally the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies. From 1861, most of the officer manpower was pooled in the three Presidential Staff Corps. After the
Second Afghan War a
Commission of Enquiry recommended the abolition of the presidency armies. The
Ordnance,
Supply and Transport, and Pay branches were by then unified. The Punjab Frontier Force was under the direct control of the
Lieutenant-Governor of the
Punjab during peacetime until 1886, when it came under the Commander-in-Chief, India. The Hyderabad Contingent and other local corps remained under direct governmental control. Standing higher formations—
divisions and
brigades—were abandoned in 1889. No divisional staffs were maintained in peacetime, and troops were dispersed throughout the sub-continent, with internal security as their main function. In 1891 the three staff corps were merged into one
Indian Staff Corps. Two years later the
Madras and
Bombay armies lost their posts of Commander-in-Chief. In 1895, the Presidency Armies were abolished and the Indian Army created thereby was grouped into four
commands: Bengal, Madras (including
Burma), Bombay (including
Sind,
Quetta, and
Aden), and the Punjab (including the North-West Frontier and the Punjab Frontier Force). Each was under the command of a
lieutenant general, who answered directly to the C-in-C, India. The Presidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 by a notification of the Government of India through Army Department Order Number 981 dated 26 October 1894, unifying the three Presidency armies into a single Indian Army. The armies were amalgamated into four commands,
Northern,
Southern,
Eastern, and
Western. The Indian Army, like the Presidency armies, continued to provide armed support to the civil authorities, both in combating banditry and in case of riots and rebellion. One of the first external operations the new unified army faced was the 1899 to 1901
Boxer Rebellion in China. The
1st,
4th, and
14th Sikhs;
3rd Madras Native Infantry,
4th Goorkas,
22nd and
30th Bombay Native Infantry,
24th Punjab Infantry,
1st Madras Pioneers, No. 2 Company
Bombay Sappers, No. 3 Company
Madras Sappers, No. 4 Company
Bengal Sappers, and the
1st Bengal Lancers, among other Indian units, all served during the Rebellion. Numerous Indian soldiers earned the
China War Medal 1900 with the "Relief of Pekin" clasp for contributing to the
relief of Peking and the
International Legations from 10 June to 14 August 1900.
Kitchener reforms during the
Boxer Rebellion, China, 1900. The Kitchener reforms began in 1903 when
Lord Kitchener of
Khartoum, newly appointed
Commander-in-Chief, India, completed the unification of the three former Presidency
armies, and also the
Punjab Frontier Force, the
Hyderabad Contingent and other local forces, into one Indian Army. The principles underlying the reforms were that the defence of the
North-West Frontier against foreign aggression was the army's primary role and that all units were to have training and experience in that role on that frontier. Furthermore, the army's organisation should be the same in peace as in war, and maintaining
internal security was for the army a secondary role, in support of the
police. , in Beijing, 1900. Lord Kitchener found the army scattered across the country in
stations at
brigade or
regimental strength, and in effect, providing
garrisons for most of the major cities. The reformed Indian Army was to be stationed in operational
formations and concentrated in the north of the
subcontinent. The Commander-in-Chief's plan called for nine fighting
divisions grouped in two
corps commands on the main axes through the North-West Frontier. Five divisions were to be grouped on the
Lucknow–
Peshawar–
Khyber axis, and four divisions on the
Bombay–
Mhow–
Quetta axis. However, the cost of abandoning some thirty-four stations and building new ones in the proposed corps areas was considered prohibitive, and that aspect of the plan had to be modified. Under the compromise adopted in 1905, the four existing commands were reduced to three, and together with Army
Headquarters, arranged in ten standing divisions and four independent brigades. The commands comprised:
Northern Command, which consisted of the
1st (Peshawar) Division, the
2nd (Rawalpindi) Division, the
3rd (Lahore) Division, the
Kohat Brigade, the
Bannu Brigade, and the
Derajat Brigade;
Western Command, which consisted of the
4th (Quetta) Division, the
5th (Mhow) Division, the
6th (Poona) Division, and the
Aden Brigade, located in Aden in the Arabian Peninsula; and
Eastern Command, which consisted of the
7th (Meerut) Division and the
8th (Lucknow) Division. Army Headquarters retained the
9th (Secunderabad) Division and the
Burma Division under its direct control. The numbered divisions were organised so that on mobilisation they could deploy a complete
infantry division, a
cavalry brigade, and a number of troops for internal security or local frontier defence. Permanent divisional commands were formed with an establishment of staff officers under a
major general. at a fort in the
North West Frontier, British India, 1909 After the reforms ended in 1909, the Indian Army was organised along British lines, although it was always behind in terms of equipment. An Indian Army division consisted of three brigades each of four battalions. Three of these battalions were of the Indian Army, and one British. The Indian battalions were often segregated, with companies of different tribes, castes or religions. One and a half million volunteers came forward from the estimated population of 315 million in the Indian subcontinent. Regimental battalions were not permanently allocated to particular divisions or brigades, but instead spent some years in one formation, and were then posted to another elsewhere. This rotating arrangement was intended both to provide all units with experience of
active service on the Frontier, and to prevent them becoming 'localised' in static regimental stations. In contrast, the divisional locations remained constant. at
Kohat, with their
regimental colours in 1905
Redesignating the regiments To emphasise that there was now only one Indian Army, and that all units were to be trained and deployed without regard for their regional origins, the regiments were renumbered into single sequences of cavalry,
artillery,
infantry of the line, and
Gurkha Rifles. Regimental designations were altered to remove all references to the former Presidential Armies. Where appropriate subsidiary titles recalling other identifying details were adopted. Thus the 2nd Bengal Lancers became the
2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse). The new order began with the Bengal regiments, followed by the Punjab Frontier Force, then the regiments of Madras, the Hyderabad Contingent, and Bombay. Wherever possible a significant digit was retained in the new number. Thus the 1st Sikh Infantry became the
51st Sikhs, the 1st Madras Pioneers became the
61st Pioneers, and the 1st Bombay Grenadiers became the
101st Grenadiers. The Gurkha Regiments had developed into their own Line of
rifle regiments since 1861. They were five of these until they were joined by the former 42nd, 43rd, & 44th Gurkha Regiments of the Bengal Army, who became the 6th, 7th, & 8th Gurkha Rifles. The numbers 42, 43, & 44 were allocated respectively to the
Deoli and
Erinpura Irregular Forces and the
Mhairwara Battalion from
Rajputana. . Illustration by Maj. A. C. Lovett, published 1911. , painted by Maj. A. C. Lovett. The regiment served in
France during the
1914 Winter Operations. The
mountain batteries had already lost their numbers two years earlier. Under the 1903 reforms they were renumbered with twenty added to their original numbers. The army had very little artillery (only 12 batteries of
mountain artillery), and
Royal Indian Artillery batteries were attached to the divisions. The
Indian Army Corps of Engineers was formed by the Group of
Madras,
Bengal and
Bombay Sappers in their respective presidencies. The
Corps of Guides composed of cavalry
squadrons and infantry
companies, was renamed the
Queen's Own Corps of Guides (Lumsden's) but stayed numberless. The new regimental numbering and namings were notified in
India Army Order 181, dated 2 October 1903. In 1903 the title of the
Indian Staff Corps was abolished, and thereafter officers were simply appointed to 'the Indian Army.' A
General Staff was then created to deal with overall military policy, supervision of training in peacetime, conduct of
operations in war, distribution of forces for internal security or external
deployment, plans for future operations and collecting
intelligence. Functions were divided along British lines into two branches; the
Adjutant-General, dealing with training, discipline, and personnel, and the
Quartermaster-General, dealing with supplies, accommodation, and communications. In 1906 a General Branch was established to deal with military policy, organisation and deployment,
mobilisation and war plans, and intelligence and the conduct of operations. The Chiefs of the staff branches answered to the
Chief of the General Staff, whose post was held by a
Lieutenant-General. To provide training for
staff officers, the
Indian Staff College was established in 1905, and permanently based at
Quetta from 1907. With no intermediate
chain of command, army headquarters was weighed down with minor administrative details. Divisional commanders were responsible not only for their active formations, but also for internal security and
volunteer troops within their respective areas. On mobilisation, divisional staffs took the field, leaving no-one to maintain the local administration.
Supporting services were insufficient, and many troops intended for the field force were not moved from their old stations into the areas of their new divisional command. These defects became clear during the
First World War, and lead to further reorganisation. The Indian Army Act 1911 legislated the replacement of the Indian Articles of War 1869. It was passed by the
Governor General. It was under aspects of this law that the Army charged defendants during the
Indian National Army Trials in 1945. It was replaced by the
"Indian Army Act, 1950" after partition and independence.
First World War inspects Indian troops attached to the
Royal Garrison Artillery at
Le Cateau, 2 December 1918 , France, on their way to fight the Germans during the First World War. The post card reads, "Gentlemen of India marching to chasten German hooligans"
machine gun section of
2nd Rajput Light Infantry in action in
Flanders, during the winter of 1914–15Prior to the outbreak of the
First World War, the strength of the British Indian Army was 215,000. Either in 1914 or before, a ninth division had been formed, the
9th (Secunderabad) Division. By November 1918, the Indian Army rose in size to 573,000 men. Before the war, the Indian government had decided that India could afford to provide two infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade in the event of a European war. Some 140,000 soldiers saw active service on the
Western Front in
France and
Belgium – 90,000 in the front-line Indian Corps, and some 50,000 in auxiliary battalions. They felt that any more would jeopardise national security. More than four divisions were eventually sent as
Indian Expeditionary Force A formed the
Indian Corps and the
Indian Cavalry Corps that arrived on the Western Front in 1914. The high number of officer casualties the corps suffered early on had an effect on its later performance. British officers that understood the language, customs, and psychology of their men could not be quickly replaced, and the alien environment of the Western Front had some effect on the soldiers. However, the feared unrest in India never happened, and while the Indian Corps was transferred to the
Middle East in 1915 India provided many more divisions for active service during the course of the war. Indians' first engagement was on the Western Front within a month of the start of the war, at the
First Battle of Ypres. In October/November 1914, the Baluchis of the
129th Duke of Connaught's Own, the first Indian contingent to be in contact with Germans at Hollebeke (and the only to inscribe 'Ypres 1914'), the sepoy
Khudadad Khan maintaining the position until gravely wounded became the first Indian to win a Victoria Cross (Indians were eligible from 1911). In November, after a retreat, a scout section of the 1st Battalion
39th Garhwal Rifles under the leadership of Naik
Darwan Singh Negi, then badly injured, reinvested lost trenches. For his gallantry he received the second VC. Nearly 700,000 troops then served in the Middle East, fighting against the Turks in the Mesopotamian campaign. There they were short of transportation for resupply and operated in extremely hot and dusty conditions. Led by Major General Sir Charles Townshend, they pushed on to capture Baghdad but they were repulsed by Ottoman forces. In the First World War the Indian Army saw extensive active service, including on the
Western Front, notably in the
Battle of Neuve Chapelle, participated in the
Battle of Gallipoli and
Sinai and Palestine Campaign. Furthermore, it fought in the
Siege of Kut of the
Mesopotamian Campaign, and campaigned in
East Africa, including the
Battle of Tanga. Participants from the Indian subcontinent won 13,000 medals, including 12 Victoria Crosses. By the end of the war a total of 47,746 Indians had been reported dead or missing; 65,126 were wounded. It was an all-volunteer force modelled after the British
Territorial Army. The European parallel to the ITF was the
Auxiliary Force (India). After the First World War the British started the process of
Indianisation, by which Indians were promoted into higher officer ranks. In a 1923 census, the British Indian Army consisted of 64,669 British-born soldiers and officers, with 187,432 Indian-born soldiers in comparison. Indian cadets were sent to study in Great Britain at the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and were given full commissions as
King's Commissioned Indian Officers. The KCIOs were equivalent in every way to British commissioned officers and had full authority over British troops (unlike VCOs). Some KCIOs were attached to British Army units for a part of their careers. In 1922, after wartime experience had shown that the maintenance of 130 separate single-battalion infantry regiments was unwieldy, a number of large (four to five battalion) regiments were created, and numerous cavalry regiments amalgamated. The
List of regiments of the Indian Army (1922) shows the reduced number of larger regiments. Until 1932 most Indian Army officers, both British and Indian, were trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, after that date the Indian officers increasingly received their training at the
Indian Military Academy in
Dehradun which was established that year.
Second World War in December 1941 of the
9th Royal Deccan Horse, on the road to
Meiktila, Burma, 29 March 1945. At the outbreak of the
Second World War, the Indian Army numbered 205,000 men and, as the war continued, this would rise to 2.5 million men to become the largest all–volunteer force in history. During this process, six corps would be raised; which consisted of the
Indian III Corps,
Indian IV Corps,
Indian XV Corps,
Indian XXI Corps (served with
Tenth Army in the Middle East in 1942),
Indian XXXIII Corps and
Indian XXXIV Corps. Furthermore, the
2nd,
4th,
5th,
6th,
7th,
8th,
9th,
10th,
11th,
12th,
14th,
17th,
19th,
20th,
21st,
23rd,
25th,
26th,
34th,
36th (later converted to an all-British formation), and
39th Indian Divisions were formed, as well as other forces. Additionally there were at one time or another four armoured divisions formed (the
31st,
32nd,
43rd, and
44th), and one airborne division, also designated the
44th. In matters of administration, weapons, training, and equipment, the Indian Army had considerable independence; for example, prior to the war the Indian Army adopted the
Vickers–Berthier (VB) light machine gun instead of the
Bren gun of the British Army, while continuing to manufacture and issue the older
SMLE No. 1 Mk III rifle during the Second World War, instead of the Lee–Enfield No.4 Mk I issued to the British Army from the middle of the war. Particularly notable contributions of the Indian Army during that conflict were the: • rides past cheering Indian troops, on his way to award Sepoy
Kamal Ram the
Victoria Cross, Italy, 26 July 1944
Mediterranean, Middle East and African theatres of World War II •
East African campaign •
North African campaign •
Operation Compass •
Operation Battleaxe •
Operation Crusader •
First Battle of El Alamein •
Second Battle of El Alamein •
Anglo-Iraqi War •
Syria-Lebanon campaign •
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran •
Italian campaign •
Battle of Monte Cassino •
Battle of Hong Kong •
Battle of Malaya •
Battle of Singapore •
Burma Campaign •
Battle of Kohima •
Battle of Imphal Over the course of the Second World War, about 87,000 Indian soldiers were killed. In this period, 31 Indians were awarded the
Victoria Cross (See: Indians in '
List of Victoria Cross Recipients by Nationality'). Out of the 252
Distinguished Service Orders awarded to the British Indian Army, at least 13 were awarded to native officers (See:
South Asian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order). 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
Subhas Chandra Bose led the 40,000-strong INA. From a total of about 55,000 Indians taken prisoner in Malaya and Singapore in February 1942, about 30,000 joined the INA, which fought Allied forces in the Burma Campaign. Others became guards at Japanese POW camps. The recruitment was the brainchild of Major
Fujiwara Iwaichi who mentions in his memoirs that Captain
Mohan Singh Deb, who surrendered after the
Battle of Jitra became the founder of the INA. about to go on patrol in
Burma, 1944.Some Indian Army personnel resisted recruitment and remained POWs. 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 the Second World War. About 6,000 of them survived until they were liberated by Australian or US forces, in 1943–45. 12 September 1946 the minister for external affairs in India,
Jawaharlal Nehru demanded in a letter to the Commander in Chief and Defence Secretary, that a large-scale reform should be implemented to improve the Indian Army.
Calcutta had been ravaged by large communal riots, but the British Indian Army was able to restore order. Nehru demanded with urgency, that the Indian Army should safeguard
India's new democracy. Nehru was a nationalist and opposed India's "divide and rule" policy. , 8 June 1946. As a result of the
Partition of India in 1947, the formations, units, assets, and indigenous personnel of the Indian Army were divided between the
Dominion of India and the
Dominion of Pakistan. As
Brian Lapping wrote, "By comparison with the two great provinces [Bengal & Punjab], partition of the army and the civil service was easy, though by any other standard, it was difficult, wasteful, and destructive. ... The men were transferred in their units. Regiments of Sikh and Hindu soldiers from the north-west frontier had to make their way through Muslim territory to get out of what was to be Pakistan." Also in 1947 a final agreement was signed regarding the
Gurkha regiments in the British Indian Army. Four Gurkha regiments, recruited from both eastern and western
Nepal, would join the
British Army. The remaining six Gurkha regiments of the British Indian Army joined the Dominion of India. During the transition period after partition, those Gurkha regiments that were in Pakistan, did their service, but were eventually moved back to India. The partition reduced the ethnic imbalance of the British Indian Army, which became the present-day
Indian Army. But, the partition resulted in more ethnic imbalance in the Pakistani military, mainly because the new nation state of Pakistan was formed by joining West Punjab, NWFP, East Bengal, Baluchistan, and Sind. The new
Pakistan Army was mainly made up of soldiers from two of these provinces. The
Bangladesh Army, which was created from the Pakistan Army on the independence of
Bangladesh, retain many British Indian Army traditions. For a number of reasons, the pensions paid to long-serving officers and men of the Army, whether in Britain or in India, were lower than those of the British Army, and the background to this was set out at some length by
Lord Middleton in the
House of Lords on 9 March 1949. He summed up the position for the pensions of widows and orphans as follows: ==Organisation==