| Ancient History | | | The epic history of Indian Army dates back to more than ten thousand chequered years. The two epics of ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’ constitute the fundamental framework around which the edifice of Indian Army is built. The massive epic war ‘Mahabharata’, fought at Kurukshetra in north-central India, has left indelible imprints on the Indian psyche. Fought relentlessly for eighteen days in quest of peace, the force level described in the Epic states 18 ‘Akshaunis’, seven with the ‘Pandavas’ and eleven with the ‘Kauravas’, amounting to nearly 400,000 assorted troops fighting on chariots, horses, elephants and foot soldiers.
| Though innumerable wars have been fought thereafter, almost all were in quest of universal peace and ‘dharma’. Recourse to arms was only taken when peace was threatened. In fact the word 'peace' forms the very core of Indian philosophy, which can most aptly be traced to one of India's ancient scriptures known as the ‘Yajurveda’. In it is stated in verse, the English translation of which reads - “May the sky be peaceful; may the atmosphere be peaceful; may the earth be peaceful; may eternal peace cometh upon us”.
| The archaeological history of India dates back to more than 2500 BC, when an urbanised civilisation known as the Indus Valley Civilisation flourished along the banks of River Indus, in the alluvial north - western plains. Similar findings like the coastal cities of Lothal and Dwarka came to light more recently along the coast of Gujarat. However, the Indus Valley Civilisation’s two urban centres at Mohenjodaro and Harappa gradually declined in the second millennium BC, and almost completely disintegrated around 1500 BC due to ecological reasons like drying up of rivers and drought. The coastal cities disintegrated due to massive floods.
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| | | | Due to the gradual extinction of such civilizations, the north-western invasion route through the Hindu Kush Mountains remained unguarded for centuries, and gradually many immigrant people and tribes managed to cross over for better economic prospects.
With many recent landmark findings refuting the invasion of Asian-European people, or the Aryans, into the Indian sub continent en masse, the military history of India dates back to 6th century BC, encompassing the period when some of the more belligerent forces like the Persians, Greeks, the Turks, Huns, Mongols and so on crossed over into the more fertile and alluvial plains of India from the north-western route. |  | Though scanty details are available of the early conflicts between the invading forces, but evidence shows that some of the invaders did manage to slowly overrun western India and consolidated their hold along the Indo - Gangetic plains, and in the process subdued numerous native tribal kingdoms through pitched battles. Their advance further south was generally halted by the jungle - covered Vindhya Mountains. Those apart, certain areas along the western coast and the Deccan plateau were hilly and sparse – unsuitable for the movements of considerable bodies of people. However, this vast area also lent itself favourably to resistance against invasion by loose fighting warriors, such as the Marathas who subsequently became a force to reckon with. The other major pre-condition of war in India was and continues to be the climate. Monsoon rains between June and September rendered movement of armies virtually impossible. The best season for campaigning was always October and November, when the corps were ripe, the herbage green and it was possible to live off the country. | |
| | | In between foreign invasions, wars in the north became a sport of kings and noblemen, and rarely become a national struggle for existence save when a new invader from the northwest entered the fray. The armies of the native tribes were made up mostly of foot-soldiers, later come to be known as the infantry. The bow and arrow were their principal weapons. Cavalry was non-existent as horses were scare. Around 537 BC Cyrus of Persia reached the region of modern Peshawar, and his successor Darius conquered part of north-western Punjab. Their invasions brought home to the Indians the importance and utility of cavalry, however Indian climate conditions were not conducive for the breeding of good horses, and therefore reserved for pulling the war chariots of kings and nobles. So chariots continued to be relied upon as the decisive weapon of war. Warriors were the most honoured and leading classes of society. Wars usually had limited objectives and were fought for the most part with far less savagery than elsewhere in the world. Rarely did the locals indulge in mass slaughter after a victory. Such chivalrous and rather ritualistic conduct of war made conquest by less punctilious invaders rather easy. | | | The first definitely recorded fact in Indian political history is the invasion by the Greeks under Alexander the Great during 327-6 BC. After crossing the Hindu Kush Mountains, Alexander captured the city of Taxila and defeated India’s King Porus at the battle of the Jhelum, or Hydespes as referred to by the Greeks. Chariots were still a considerable force in the army under Porus, these being made of wooden struts bound together with leather thongs, and drawn by two horses-each chariot with a driver and a bowman. Some heavier chariots had four horses and carried unto six men, of whom two were shield-bearers, two were archers and two were drivers who also functioned as javelin throwers during the melee. The chariots at the Jhelum battle did not fare well, getting stuck in the mud. King Porus himself had come to battle mounted on an elephant. Invaders like Alexander, who came to conquer India, appreciated and adopted local military customs, and even its civilian culture. New kingdoms and a few alliances were soon formed, but these proved to be woefully inadequate against yet more foreign invaders. |
| | | Wars were most prominent in the politics and literature of ancient India. Occasionally great kings like Chandragupta Maurya succeeded in subduing and unifying most of the people of India. Manuals of statecraft such as the ‘Arthsastra’ of Kautilya, relating to the period 300 BC to 100 AD, indicate the prominence of war as an instrument of state policy. The ‘Arthsastra’ is one of the most significant documents of military history ever to be written. It is an exhaustive treatise on the early concepts of government, law and war. Its military section cover the composition and structure of armies, the role and function of the arms and services, training concepts and methods, duties of various military functionaries, strategic and tactical concepts, defensive fortifications, leadership and management of large armies. Under Chandragupta Maurya, Central Asian invaders like the Huns, who in their days had razed and plundered a major portion of the known civilized world, were to stand checked. Chandragupta defeated the remnants of the Macedonians and established the first great dynasty, the Mauryan Empire. Chandragupta added to the extent of the empire, and he was the first to maintain a large, permanent standing army. Bindhusara expanded the empire and Ashoka brought the Mauryan Empire to the height of its power and glory.
The Kalinga war proved to be the turning point of his life. Taking an abhorring to wars of conquest, Ashoka renounced the sword and took to Buddhism, which he spread far and wide through his disciples and emissaries. |
|  | It was during this period that war elephants made an appearance on battlefields and they continued to be used by Indian warriors, right unto the seventeenth century. Although the Mauryan standing army was based on infantry, it had a force of 30,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots and 9,000 elephants. The cavalry was well trained and was employed to attack from a flank, and for exploiting captured positions. During advance they protected the front, flanks and rear. In defence they were held in reserve and were used to harass the attacking forces and to pursue them when enemy offensive was defeated. The principal weapon used with the elephant was the bow and arrow, supplemented with javelins and spears. | |
|  | After peace was restored by the Mauryan Empire, the pacifist culture that accompanied the spread of Buddhism from India to Afghanistan, Tibet, Burma, China, Indo China, Japan right upto what is now known as the Indonesian archipelago, had a greater moral bias and preached non-violence. This kind of spiritual ‘conquest’ lacked any territorial cohesion and political unity to oppose concerted invasions from the vulnerable north-west. | | | | The Gupta Empire once again restored India its right place in the world and the period from 320-550 AD is referred as the ‘Golden Age’ of India. The most significant achievements of this period were in the fields of religion, education, mathematics, science, the arts, Vedic and Sanskrit literature and the theatre. After the Huns once again influenced for half a century, Harshavardhana managed to restore India’s glory and North India was reunited once again. By the year 1000 AD the Indian civilization became complacent, trade cum agriculture oriented and more conservative. All these weakness were exposed by the Islamic invaders. | | | Southern India remained shielded from the north, and the Cholas, between 985-1054 AD, projected their regional military migh. Naval ships sailed out from the Coromandal coast, along the eastern Indian peninsula to Sri Lanka and directly to the Malayan peninsula, Jawa, Sumatra and Borneo. Thereafter Chola Kings extended their hold further eastward to Thailand and Vietnam. These conquests were more trade - based, and reflected the spread of Hindu culture rather than conquest by the sword. In due course Indian arts, cultural and religious influences spread to these countries where they have survived till date.
Coming back to the north, the Turkish conquest of India developed in a definite pattern. It was a gradual process that began in the tenth century. Turks would begin by conducting raids across the frontier. These developed into invasions during which the nearest Indian King was defeated in pitched battle. The first conquest was used as a springboard for the next one. The process went on into the seventeenth century when the tribesmen of the thick Assam jungles halted the invading forces.
| Medieval Period |
| The first Turkish conqueror was Sultan Mahmud of Gazni (997-1030) who led as many as seventeenth invasions of India. It was he who took his forces across River Indus, the formidable barrier to the rich plains of the Hindustan, and eventually his sway extended to the Ganges. The second Turkish invader was Shahabuddin Ghori. In 1190, having advanced to Tarain near Delhi, his outnumbered Army was defeated by King Prithviraj. But Prithviraj did not follow up the victory and, after eighteen month Ghori was able to conquer the whole northern plain of India, thus establishing the Delhi Sultanate. As invaders of the earlier waves settled and became Indians, they in turn were swamped by other succeeding waves. This sequence of successive invasions and conquests went on uninterrupted for eight centuries. |  | The invading Turks were found to have had tremendous energy, alacrity and resilience. They also had faster mobility, being mounted on fast, tough Turkoman and Arabian horses. Their armies were in fact hordes of mounted archers functioning in the old and effective traditions of Parthians, Huns and Mongols. Their composite bow was as good a weapon as any of the defenders, but being good riders they used it to better effect.
The long period of anarchy following the invasion and plunder of northern India by Timur in 1392 AD attracted the attention of Babur, a king of Kabul who descendent upon India with his Mughal Army in 1525. Next year he defeated the Sultan of Delhi, Abraham Lodi at Panipat. He used cannons for the first in India. | | His dominions extended from Afghanistan to the frontiers of Bengal, and from the Himalayas to Gwalior in Central India. Babur laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire that was to be consolidated by this grandson – Akbar (1542 –1605).
Akbar is widely considered the greatest of the Mughal emperors. He took two decades to consolidate and bring parts of northern and central India into his realm. During his reign he reduced external military threats from the Afghans, solidified his rule by pursuing diplomacy with the powerful Rajputs, but his most lasting contributions were to the field of arts. He initiated a large collection of literature, including the Akbar-nama and the Ain-i-Akbari, and incorporated art from around the world into the Mughal collections. He also began a series of religious debates after which he founded his version of a common religion - the Din-i-Ilahi, or ‘Divine Faith’. |  | |  | It was during his reign that Maharana Pratap (1540- 1597), a Rajput ruler of Mewar, which was a state in north-western India, showed his mettle. The Maharana never accepted Akbar as ruler of India, and fought Akbar all his life. The two armies met at Haldighati, near Udaipur, on June 21, 1576. This battle, a historic event in the annals of Rajputana, lasted only four hours. In this short period Pratap's men essayed many brave exploits on the field. However, the numerical superiority of the Mughal army and their artillery began to tell. Seeing that the battle was lost, Pratap's generals prevailed upon him to flee so as to be able to fight another day. | | To facilitate Pratap's escape, one of his lieutenants donned Pratap's distinctive garments and took his place in the battlefield. He was soon killed. Meanwhile, riding his trusty albeit grievously wounded steed Chetak, Pratap made good his escape to the hills.
Next came into power the aesthetes Jhahangir and Shahjahan, leaving behind great monuments with the Taj Mahal being one of rare, outstanding beauty. After Shahjahan, however, the Mughal Empire had begun to crumble and various Princely States and smaller kingdoms began to assert themselves in various fields. | The last of the Mughals was Aurangzeb (1658-1707) who seized the throne by killing all his brothers and imprisoning his own father. During his fifty-year reign, the empire reached its utmost physical limit but also witnessed the unmistakable symptoms of decline. Mughal rule prevailed over India for 300 years, fusing the country in many diverse fields like the arts, craft, music, architecture, literature and culture.
The advent of gunpowder based firearms now changed the pattern of warfare, as did the deployment of soldiers. Incendiary substances had long been known in India but not been effectively used or developed. Rockets, for example, was an old Indian weapon and remained in use in the Mughal and Maratha Armies. Though gradually the technique of manufacture of guns greatly improved, the weakness of the invaders persisted in the tactical deployment of troops. |  | | In the Mughals' military scheme of things, cavalry and artillery came into prominence, and the infantry started wielding muskets and bows. Logistical trains, consisting of carts drawn by camels, oxen and even elephants were streamlined, thus ensuring a field army greater freedom of action, flexibility and sustainability.
Recruitment was based in the ‘mansabdari’ system, which entailed the raising of a large army for campaigns, but without incurring very heavy expenditure, by the central government in power. The Delhi Sultanate had coined this name for a system long prevalent in the subcontinent, but it was refined and reintroduced by the Mughals. The military peerage, the only aristocracy were graded according to mansabs (or military rank).
|  | Princely state contributions flowed in according to the mansab grade, commencing at upkeep and command of 10 to 40,000 troops of blood relatives. Inevitably, such a system bred a wide variation in training standards, loyalty, morale and uneven leadership calibre of the mansabdars.
The recruitment of cavalry followed the ‘Silidari’ system whereby the volunteer cavalry soldier provided his own horse and equipment in return for a grant from the Government. Even under Aurangzeb, the mansabdari and Silidari systems were fully stretched not only by the Mughal Emperor but also by some State Forces, particularly by the Maratha military genius and chieftain Chhatarapati Shivaji. He had thoroughly studied the strengths and weaknesses of the Mughals and tempered his diplomacy, military doctrine, organization and tactics to capitalize on the latter’s weakness.
| | Nevertheless, for internal empire - building and keeping outlying principalities in line, this system worked, but the later Mughals sold their inheritance over a period of time to the European trading firms, like the British East India Company, also known as John Company, and thus became weaker in all spheres including the military.
| Rise and Expansion of East India Company | | | The modern Indian Army dates back to the early sixteenth century when Europeans, like the French, Dutch, Portuguese and British, settled in India as traders. In 1600 the East India Company was formed to coordinate all British trading activities. The Mughal Empire, being at its zenith, did not consider these locally recruited and foreign military units to be any threat to its political, military and economic power.
The Royal Charter of East India Company was, ostensibly, to trade with India. The British saw India as a vast and unending source of fabulous treasures, and encouraged the Company to enlarge and diversify its operations while tightening its stranglehold on a tottering and decadent Mughal Empire. Since its trading interests needed to be protected, the Company decided raise local levies to protect their trading posts along the coast. These were soon raised on a war footing while European units sailed into India to oversee safety of their expanding trade and allied assets.
|  | The next 100 years saw more such foreigners coming to India, mainly because of the declining power of the Mughals, increasing friction and fighting between rival French and British trading firms and also between the Princely States to control the sub-continent. During the second half of the seventeenth century the Mughal Empire declined rapidly. It was hastened by Nadir Shah’s successful invasion and by the steady advance of Marathas from Deccan into northern India. The Marathas under Shivaji rose against the Muslim principality of Bijapur and established an independent principality there. In 1664 Shivaji captured the important Mughal port of Surat, made temporary peace with the | | Mughals but, after his subsequent arrest and dramatic escape from Aurangzeb’s prison, Shivaji renewed war and kept the Mughals at bay.
By 1674 he established an independent Maratha kingdom and expanded it for thirty years by resorting to guerrilla warfare. In all his operations Shivaji upheld the Hindu chivalric tradition in his treatment of defeated soldiers and non combatants. By the end of the century there were four major powers - the Maratha confederacy, the Afghan Empire of Ahmed Shah, the French end the British, all competing to take over the nearly extinct Mughal Empire. | In 1640 AD the British East India Company established its first fortified post -Fort Saint George near Madras which soon became its headquarters. Eleven years later, in 1651, they set up another post in Calcutta on the bank of River Hooghly which they later fortified, fearing Mughal threat, and named it Fort William. In 1662 the British received Bombay from the Portuguese. British troops arrived in Bombay in 1665, but it was only in 1668 when Bombay was formally handed over to the Company. Soon Bombay garrison was converted into a strong commercial cum military base comprising cavalry, artillery and infantry elements, which later became the Bombay European Regiment. However, local troops were raised as and when required.
|  | |  | The first authentic record of the existence of a sort of regular battalion in Indian soil dates back to the year 1741, when such a unit came into being for carrying out garrison duties in Bombay Castle. Seven years later Major Stringer Lawrence, ‘the father of the Indian Army’, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East India Company’s field forces in India with its headquarters at Fort St. David, 100 miles south of Madras township and only 12 miles from the then French town of Pondicherry. The war with France, which had temporarily ended in 1748, had brought about a substantial increase in the local enrolment of Indian troops, since neither France nor Britain could spare regular troops for India. In 1754, however, a considerable force of King’s troops was sent to India from England, but this again proved to be woefully inadequate to manage the Company’s military affairs in India, and local recruitment continued.
In 1757, the reorganisation of the Indian troops into regular, organised battalions was entrusted by Major Lawrence to Robert | | Clive. That year was also famous for the Battle of Plassey, which gradually reduced French influence and led to an expansion of the Company’s territories in India. With the expansion, the number of troops at its disposal, quite naturally, increased.
Thus came into creation the first regular Indian infantry battalions, each with an establishment of one British captain, two lieutenants, several British sergeants, 42 Indian non commissioned officers and 820 Indian ranks and file. Clive was the first British officer in India to have Indian troops fully equipped, at the expense of the East India Company, which was popularly known as ‘Sarkar’. He even dressed them with British ‘Red Coats’, hence the term ‘Lal Paltan’ came into being, which was locally used for such units. In 1759 Bombay Garrison’s Sepoy Companies were re-organized. In 1768 the first two regular Sepoy Battalions were formed, with a third in 1769 and a fourth in 1770.
| While a graduated albeit similar expansion was taking place in the other Presidencies as well, each now placed under respective Governors who subsequently rose in rank and power to become Governor Generals, by the middle of the century a Commander-in-Chief was provided to the Governors for coordination of military activities. Major Stringer Lawrence filled this post with great verve. This was the first move to integrate the military assets of the three Presidencies in a coordinated manner.
In 1784-85 full military powers, including the power to appoint the Commander-in-Chief, were retained by the Board of |  | | | Directors, which meant the British Government. For the Governor-General, a formal Army Headquarters was created with the Commander-in-Chief as head. To assist him were two Principal Staff Officers, namely the Quartermaster General and the Adjutant General. By1790 the total strength of the combined British-Indian Army was 80,000 all ranks. The beginning of eighteenth century also saw the rise of Sikhs in Punjab and the Rajputs of Rajputana. The French also established a new base at Calicut in addition to their existing bases at Surat, Pondicherry, Muslipatam, Chandernagar, Balasore and Kasim Bazar. The first invasion by Ahmed Shah in 1774 was halted at Sirhind by a combine Mughal cum Rajput force and the invaders were forced to retreat to Afghanistan. |  | Having established themselves substantially by now, the Europeans started increasing their influence with the princely States and often resorted to war and intrigue against them. Native soldiers were also raised by them to fight against each other and for taking sides in local wars. During the first, Carnatic War (1744-48) hostilities ensued between the British and the French. The French seized the main British base at Madras after a fierce encounter. The Nawab, who had allied himself with the British, arrived near Madras with a large army. In the battle of St. Thome the French detachment of 230 European and 730 native soldiers attacked and routed a force of 10,000 of the Nawab’s troops near Madras. Commanded by Dupleix, the French tried unsuccessfully for 18 months to take the British base near Madras, but had to raise the | | siege following the arrival of British reinforcements. In1748 the British tried to take Pondicherry, defended by Dupleix, but were forced to withdraw. After the Treaty in Europe, the French returned Madras to the British.
In 1749, Ahmed Shah’s second invasion was a combined raid and reconnaissance in force which led him to believe that he could conquer Punjab and Kashmir. The Dutch exploitation was finally eliminated in 1759 in the battle of Wandiwash, and Portugal’s control was confined to their occupation of Goa, Daman and Diu. Despite formal peace between France and Britain, hostilities between the two continued through their involvement in Indian conflicts. During the Second Carnatic War, the British, under Sir Robert Clive with 500 soldiers and three guns, captured Arcot so as to relieve pressure on a small English garrison at Trichinapolly. They took advantage of native rivalries in an almost continual warfare. The British East India Company had a remarkable organization. It built up its own Army, composed of European adventurers and native troops, under English Commanders. Further military influence was exercised in 1754 by an English regular regiment, the 39 Foot, (later the Dorsetshire Regiment) at Madras, which became the backbone of the British military operations in India. Many of its officers and men were later transferred to the Company’s service. The French under Dupliex and its native allies, however, controlled a great part of Southern India. In Bengal, after Siraj-ud-Daula had seized Calcutta in 1756, Clive recaptured it next year in January. On I March He took Chandernagar from the French so as to clear his line of communication before pursuing Siraj-ud-Daula. Clive found him entrenched near Plassey, north of Calcutta, with 50,000 troops and 53 guns. In 1789, Tippu attacked Tranvancore and starting the Third Mysore War. With 1,100 European and 2,100 native troops, Clive launched a masterly operation and won the decisive and historic battle of Plassey. This gave the British suzerainty over Bengal, Bihar and Orrisa and made them overlords of the vast territory. The British advanced westward, along the Gangetic plain, and occupied areas upto Allahabad to further consolidate the territories they had acquired. In the south, from 1766 to 1769, Haider Ali fought the British in what came to be known as the First Mysore War, and later conclude a treaty with the East India Company. However, not getting any help in his war with the Marathas, Haider Ali joined the French. He attacked and cut to pieces a small British Force at Perambakam in the Carnatik (modern Karnataka) in 1780, sparking off the Second Mysore War which swept unto the gates of Madras. With 8,000 men sent by sea from Bengal, Sir Eyre Coote attacked and defeated Haider Ali in the battle of Porto Novo on 1 June 1781, thus saving Madras.
In August and September that year, Hider Ali was defeated at Paliburg and Sholingurh. In 1783, owing to the withdrawal of French aid and death of Haider Ali, his son Tippu Sultan succeeded the | throne and made peace. In this war the British invaded Mysore, stormed the fortress at Bangalore and drove Tippu into Seringapatam where he was besieged. Tippu made peace in 1792 by ceding half of his dominion to the British. In 1796 the Madras Army consisted of two European Infantry regiments, four native Cavalry regiments, two Artillery battalions, each of five artillery companies, and 15 ‘lascar’ (voluntary tribal) companies and eleven Native Infantry regiments, each of two battalions. Between 1796 and 1824 the Native Infantry was raised to 25 regiments of two battalions each. In 1806 two regiments were disbanded because of the mutiny at Vallore. |  | |  | In 1803 Colonel James Skinner raised a regiment of Irregular Horse from Scindia’s Army and pressed it into Company service. In 1815 three Gorkha battalions were raised as Bengal local battalions, of which only one survived. This became 1st Gorkha Rifles. The British conquest of India thus progressed, as did trade, under the joint efforts of the British Crown and East India Company. Resistance by Native States increased as they received French support, particularly the Marathas in the south who had large armies of well-equipped French-trained soldiers.
This led to the Deccan campaign of 1803 under Wellesley, in which Pune and Ahmednagar were captured by the British to support their ally, the Peshwa. Advancing further south the British defeated the Marathas in the Battle of Argaon and stormed Gwalior on 15 December to end the campaign. | |
| | While peace prevailed for more than a decade, matters came to alarming proportions when the Maratha chieftains lent tacit support of the outlawed Pindari chieftains, which led to the Third Maratha War from 1817 to 1818. While the British took on the Pindaris head-on, clashes took place between the Marathas and British forces at Nagpur and Kirkee, which ended with the surrender of the Marathas in June 1818. It marked the end of Maratha political power. |  | | In the north, during three years of warfare between 1799-1802, Maharaja Ranjit Singh united the Sikhs to control most of Punjab. Growing friction between the British and the Maharaja was settled by an agreement at Amritsar in 1809, by which Sutluj was accepted as the boundary between the Sikh territories and those the British had seized from the Marathas. |  | Turning to the west, Ranjit Singh conquered the whole of Punjab from the Afghans and local princes. Consolidating his land with the help of French and Italian offices, he developed the most powerful and affective native Army in India. He also conquered Kashmir in 1819. His able general Gulab Singh, who was given the ‘Jagir’ or Kingdom of Jammu to rule in 1822, went on to expand his empire. One of his trustworthy and daring generals Zorawar Singh, with a modest force comprising 5000 Dogras and loyal Ladakhis, ventured into battle in 1841. After subduing Ladakh and Baltistan he conquered large tracts of Tibet upto Mount Kailash, on the banks of Lake Mansorover, and areas as close as 24 miles off Nepal and the Kumaon hills before making the supreme sacrifice. Braving stiff opposition, extreme cold weather conditions and rugged, snow covered mountainous ranges of over 5000 metres, his daring exploits earned him the name of the ‘Mountain Fox’. | | In November 1814, while Ranjit Singh was expanding and consolidating his territories, expeditionary forces from British Indian Army were sent to Nepal to stop Gorkha raids into northern India. The ferocity of the Gorkhas repulsed the initial attempts but General Orchterlony campaigned systematically to penetrate the Kathmandu valley and forced peace on the Gorkhas after the battle of the Manlaun in 1816. Ever since, the Gorkhas have been at peace with India and its youth have been joining the Indian Army regularly, albeit on a voluntary basis. Since the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839, friction between the British and Sikhs in the Punjab increased and led to the First Sikh War (1845-46). A Sikh Army of 20,000 crossed the Sutlej and attacked the British at Mudki in December 1845 but were repulsed with heavy losses. In February, having crossed the Sutluj, the British defeated the Sikhs, inflicting heavy casualties. The final coup came in the form of two winter campaigns fought against the Sikhs, with its capital at Lahore, between 1846 and 1849. |  | |  | The battles of Sobraon, on the banks of River Sutlej, and thereafter Chillianwalla were decisive in linking up the Gangetic and Indus basins. With the treaty of Lahore in 1846, Punjab became a British protectorate. The remaining Sikh Empire was thereafter bifurcated into Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, with Gulab Singh became the virtual ruler of entire Jammu and Kashmir. Thus, by about 1850 the British had overcome all contenders to power and had achieved a territorial definition of India, never achieved before, and which invited a clearer unified identity. The introduction of telegraph and the beginning of the constriction of the railway, also added to this growing sense of awareness.
This status of Jammu and Kashmir under Gulab Singh was maintained till India attained independence in 1947, and the state permanently ceded to India following Pakistan’s invasion and attempted annexation of the state. In Rajputana, during the period 1825-26, the British invaded Bharatpur with a large force to settle a disputed succession. Hitherto considered impregnable, after a desperate conflict in January 1826 the town’s defences were assaulted a number of times by British forces which finally emerged triumphant, but the heroic fight put up by the defenders came as a stunning shock to the British, who suffered staggering casualties. | |
| In the Bengal Army, which formed part of the Bengal Presidency in 1824, the Native infantry battalions were separated into 68regiments and re-numbered according to their seniority. After the Sikh war, two Sikh infantry regiments were raised. In addition, a Frontier brigade consisting of a corps of guides, four regiments of Sikh infantry and the Punjab Frontier Force, comprising five regiments of irregular cavalry and five regiments of irregular infantry, were raised in 1846. In the Madras Army, coming under the Madras Presidency, there were eight cavalry regiments. 25 regiments of the native infantry were reorganized into 50 single-battalion regiments. Two more regiments were raised in1826 and in 1830 and Madras Rifle Corps was abolished. |  | | In the Bombay Army, now part of the Bombay Presidency, four regiment of irregular cavalry were raised between 1839and 1850; a camel corps was raised in 1843 and five infantry battalions were also raised. Bombay also had eight local corps battalions. The Hyderabad contingent, which remained a separate entity, comprised five cavalry and eight infantry battalions. | |
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| The Sepoy Revolt or First War of Independence | | | The British military power in India, at this time, comprised two elements – the Native Armies of the East India Company and fewer British Army units. The armed forces were controlled by the Governor General, an official of the company, appointed with the approval of the crown. In 1857, the three Presidency Armies of Bengal, Bombay and Madras consisted of 2, 33,000 Indian and 36,000 British troops, who were commanded by British officers. |  | By the middle of the century the whole of India had become, directly or indirectly, subject to British rule. The introduction of a uniform philosophy of jurisprudence, a common civil service and judiciary had generally been welcomed after the chaotic period following the Mughal period. But change had also bred certain reactions and created resentment. The attention of the British had shifted to the outlaying areas of Punjab and beyond, and they were taking their hold on heartland of Oudh and Bihar a little for granted. The bulk of the troops were recruited from this area, and this shifted attention was resented. | The British had grown over confident and complacent about the handling sensitive issues relating Bengal Army, and disaffection in it spread like wildfire. There had been rumours about forcible conversion to Christianity, a deep distrust in the introduction of cartridge having animal fat greasing and a general resentment to stoppage of allowances. The distrust and discontent had grown over some year and the British officer had been unmindful. | |  | Progressively, the trend of increasing British officers and NCOs control on Indian troops had grown, ignoring Indian sensitivity in the matter. Besides blocking avenues of promotion to deserving Indians, it bred an atmosphere of shifted honour and failing confidence.
The revolt first broke out in the Bengal Army garrison at Meerut on 10 May 1857, after some troops were disgraced and imprisoned. At a time when most British unit personnel were at church, the Indian soldiers released their imprisoned brethren and killed as many British officers, men and family members they could lay hands on. Before the British troops could retaliate, the rebels had fled. Towards the latter part of 1856 the upheaval was centred on Oudh, the principal recruiting area of Bengal Presidency, but later extended to include Delhi and southwards to Indore and Jabalpur. | | On reaching Delhi the next day, that is 11May, the rebels were joined by many more troops of the native garrison who, with the help of the city rabble, began to kill every European that they chanced upon. The British reaction was delayed, as most of the British unit was spending their summer in the nearby hill stations. The revolt soon spread to Lucknow and Kanpur where British male residents were murdered and their women and children imprisoned. From July 1857, however, the tide turned. The British organised their forces and rushed to the relief of Delhi, Lucknow and Kanpur. The siege and capture of Delhi cost the British in all 3,537 in killed and wounded. With the capture of the capital, the trust and belief of the people of India in the ultimate success of the uprising disappeared. After bitter fighting, particularly at Lucknow and Jhansi, their equally hard earned victory at Gwalior by June next year ended the revolt. The heroic tales of outstanding valour of Tantia Tope and the Rani of Jhansi are household lore throughout India today. Almost three-fourth of the Bengal Army was involved in the uprising. The British managed to control the spread of the uprising to the Madras and Bombay Army units. This control of spread was was carried out by other Indian troops who, only some years earlier had been the bitterest enemies of the British, that is the Sikhs, Gorkhas, troops of the Punjab Frontier Force and Punjabi Irregulars. The British were quite ruthless in the suppression of the uprising, and their brutalization lingered on against all Indian nationalist movements – as the event at Jalianwala Bagh in 1919 illustrates. While mopping-up operation continued, very harsh repressive measures were adopted by the British against the rebels and suspects. On 1 September that year the governance of India was transferred to the British Crown, ending the centaury-old rule of East India Company. | |
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| India Under the Crown | | | On 1 November1858, Queen Victoria assumed the governance of India. It was appreciated that the British could no longer function in India purely as a military power. They, therefore, concentrate on improving their system of administration and introducing social reforms. In spite of the large disbandment of ‘disloyal’ units, the British Army soon expanded to about 90,000 strong, and every garrison had one third British troops. The East India Company’s European regiments were transferred to the British Army, and artillery was transferred to the Royal Artillery, except for five mountain batteries of the Punjab irregular force, and four batteries of the Hyderabad contingent. Between 1860 and 1878, the Presidency Armies were not engaged in any major campaigns. However, there were many expeditions on the North-West Frontier; in Eastern India and the North-Eastern Frontier. There were some Indian troops employed in the war in China (1858-60), and in the Abyssinian War of 1867-68. There was also a contingent sent to Malta in 1878. |  |  | As a part of British Government’s policy, during the second half of the nineteenth century the Indian Army was assigned the responsibility and consequently was involved in a number of campaigns in the Far East, Burma and East Africa. These included the second China War (1857-60), North West Frontier (1861-1903), Second Afghan War (1878-80), Egypt (1882),Sudan (1884-85), the Third Burma War (1885-87) and soon after in British East Africa, Punjab Frontier (1897), China (1900) and Tibet (1904). The Indian Army won several battle honours in each of these campaigns. | | However, the focus of attention was increasingly being drawn towards the North-West Frontier, Afghanistan and Central Asia, fearing a Russian invasion of India from that direction. Britain was, therefore, psychologically and militarily drawn into the so called ‘Great Game’ rivalry with the Russians. As a result, between 1895-1898 the Indian Army was engaged in three major campaign in the North West Frontier, namely Chitral, Malakand and Tirah. In all these fronts they won great honours and accolades. |  |  | In 1895 the Presidency Armies were abolished and the process commenced of dividing Indian Army into four commands that is Punjab, which included North-West Frontier and Punjab Frontier Force; Bengal; Madras which included Burma, and Bombay which included Sind, Quetta and Aden. Certain units and local corps, however, remained directly under the Government of India. Incidentally, the Frontier Force and the general north-western orientation of the Punjab and Bombay Commands was a fallout of European imperial rivalry. As early as 1840, Britain was firmly resolved to check the expansion of Imperial Russia into South-Central Asia. | | | In addition, the Government of India also comprised the Civil Police; the Volunteer Force recruited from within the British and Anglo-Indian communities; the State Forces and Imperial Services Troops from the princely States. In November 1902, Lord Kitchener became Commander-in-Chief and immediately set to work on further reorganisation and redistribution of the Army in India. Since the recruitment pattern shifted further towards the north-central areas towards the end of 19 Century, in 1903 it again became necessary for Indian battalions to be given new names like Madrassis, Punjabis, Bengal Infantry (with the term ‘native’ dispensed with much earlier), Marathas, Rajputs, Sikhs, Jats, Garhwalis, Moplahs and so on, depending on their recruiting pattern. To cite an example, the initial five battalions of the Madras Presidency were further redesignated as ‘Punjabi’ battalions. By adding a numerical 60 to their Madras Infantry designation, these battalions then became 67, 69, 72, 74, and 87 ‘Punjabis’ respectively. A similar restructuring took place in the other Presidencies.
Lord Kitchner completed the unification of Indian Army, which had begun in1895. Further reorganisation to include a centralised command and control was resorted to in 1903. The four commands were reduced to two, that is Northern Army and Southern Army, and all infantry regiments after re-numbering were grouped into brigades and divisions placed under permanent commanders with staff. There existed 39 Cavalry regiments and 129 Infantry battalions of which Bengal comprised 48, Punjab nine, Madras 33, Hyderabad six and Bombay 30. Later five of the original Madras battalions were disbanded and 15 were converted to Punjabis.
By 1908 the Northern Army comprised five divisions and three brigades; Southern Army of four divisions in addition to the Burma Division, and the Aden Brigade. This made a field army of 1,52,000, including nine divisions, eight cavalry brigades and Internal Security troops of over 80,000. In 1903 an expedition under Colonel Younghusband was sent to Tibet to force the Dalai Lama to negotiate a treaty to stabilise the northern frontier of India. When the Tibetans refused to negotiate, the force marched to Lhasa and reached there after some severe engagements. A treaty of trade and friendship was signed on 7 September 1904 which ensured better and more secure relations with Tibet. | |
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| World War-1 and Post War Reforms |
| On 28 June 1914 the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir apparent to the Austrian Empire, at Sarajevo in Bosnia was the main cause of World War-1 (1914-18). Tension between the major European power had, however, been growing for some time, fuelled mainly by Germany’s ambition to be the major power in Europe and as a competitor to Britain in Commerce and trade. This had led to the formation of two power blocks in Europe, the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria and Hungary; and the Triple Entente of England, French and Russia. Few would have imagined that the pistol shots in Sarajevo would lead to a brutal four year war and would draw in most of the world. Last of all did the Indian Army expect to be pulled out of fighting Pathans to fighting Germans and the Turks. Britain entered the war on 4 Aug 1914 by sending an expeditionary force of for divisions to fight alongside the French. At this time the only regular forces available to the British were their own army and Indian Army. The Indian Army fought in all the major theatres where Britain was engaged. The Germans war plans had called for the early defeat of the France by a sweeping menoeuvre through Belgium and northern French. A combination of mistakes by the Germans and dogged Allied |  | resistance thwarted this offensive. Successive efforts by each side to outflank the other led to what came to be called the ‘Race to the sea’; eventually leading to a nearly unbroken line of defences from the North sea to the Alps. The war now degenerated into a series of effort to frontally break through the enemy defences. Artillery, the machine gun and barbed wire made these efforts costly in manpower and casualties suffered were on a scale not imagined nor catered for. The small regulatory peacetime British Army was soon hard pressed and Britain called on the only other trained manpower readily available, the Indian Army. | | During World War-I, 1, 40,000 Indian Army troops were deployed on various fronts oversees. Trench warfare was entirely new to the Indian soldier. These trenches were continuous deep ditches, damp and muddy and prone to collapse under heavy bombardment, a complete contrast to the dry hills and scrub of the North-West Frontier. Though initially they moved into the theatres of war ill trained and ill-equipped, they rose to various challenges with dexterity and fervour, to be fully equipped and trained in due course. While the newly raised I Indian Corps comprising two Infantry Divisions, that is 3 (Lahore) and 7 (Meerut) along with the 4 (Secundrabad) Cavalry Brigade was deployed in France, operations in Mesopotamia and German East Africa were, in the beginning, entrusted to Indian Army aided by troops of Princely States. The first major battle in which Indian troops took part was the First Battle of Ypres, a small market town in Flanders bordering present day Belgium. Troops of the Indian Corps were fully committed there and suffered heavy causalities, as in the case of Festubert in December 1914 and at Loos in September 1915. |  | |  | In this theatre, apart from Ypres, Festubert and Loos, many Indian units also earned laurels at La Basse, Givenchy, Aubers, Armenties, Neuve Chapelle and Somme. It was in these battles that two Indian soldiers-Khudadad Khan and GS Negi earned the coveted Victoria Cross for their valour. In November 1915 the Indian Corps was withdrawn from France and sent to Egypt. The cavalry brigade, however, remained on the western front and took part in the battles of Somme in 1916 and Cambrai in 1917. In the Middle East, units of Indian Army and many of the Princely States were deployed for the defence of Suez Canal and for operations in Gallipoli, Persia, Mesopotamia, Palestine and East Africa. On the Mesopotamia front Indian troops, who were earlier rushed to Bahrain to protect oil refineries, were regrouped to launch an invasion on southern Mesopotamia in October 1914. The local Turkish garrison was driven back, and Basra was captured by the Indian Army in November 1914. They then advanced to Kut-el-Amara and beyond to Ctesiphon, but subsequently withdraw to Kut and put up a stiff resistance there under very difficult conditions till it fell to the Turks. It was, however, recaptured in 1916 and was followed by the capture of Baghdad and Ramadi. Some of the troops remained in Iraq upto 1920. | | In Egypt and East Africa Indian Army troops were deployed throughout the war for the defence of Suez Canal, operations in Gallipoli and for various campaigns in Africa including that of Kilimanjaro. At the Palestine and Syrian fronts they participated in the battles of Jerusalem, Gaza, Megido, Sharon and Hafia. At the Persian front, where Indian troops were deployed throughout the war, they again performed splendidly. At the outset of the war Russian troops had occupied most of northern Persia, despite their declaration of neutrality. When Turkey entered the war Indian troops were deployed in the north-western coast of Persian Gulf so as to protect British oil interests, contain the Russians and to obtain a base for operations in Mesopotamia. In all these fronts Indian Army troops performed splendidly, much to the surprise of Allied forces and chagrin of opposing forces, and the long list if honours and awards bestowed on Indian units and individuals prove this point.
When the war ended the Indian Army was once again reorganised to improve the system of command; achieve better balance between the fighting arms and services; to update arms and equipment and to develop a system of continuous reinforcement and expansion during war. The army was now divided into four commands that is Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern. In 1920 the Indian Territorial Force (ITF) was raised for home defence and garrison duties, while Auxiliary Forces (India AFs) continued to be in charge of internal security. | The British government, in June 1918, issued instructions for the selection of Indian cadets for entry into the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. The annual entry was to be ten in two batches of five each. At the same time a school to train Indian cadets for grant of temporary commissions was |  | | inaugurated on 1 December 1919, and 33 cadets were granted permanent Kings Commissions with effect from 17 July 1920. Field Marshal Cariappa was an illustrious member of the first batch of Indian Commissioned officers, and during subsequent years vacancies in these institutions also increased proportionately. World War I, however, had shown glaring deficiencies in the organization and administration of the army. Efforts to set these right now started in earnest. One of the greatest deficiencies had been in the system of recruit training and maintenance of reserves. This was sought to be set right by introducing a Regimental system. Therefore, in 1922 the large and unwieldy single-battalion groups were reorganised into various regiments under Lord Rawlinton of Trent, the then Commander - in- Chief, wherein four or five erstwhile battalions from a certain ethnic region of India were amalgamating into a Regiment, with the 10th becoming a Training Battalion. Each Regiment was given its own distinct dress code, badge, training centre, customs and traditions. Each Regiment was also allotted a number based on the seniority of its battalions since raising and, similarly, each battalion was given a sub-number. The Regiments thus created, seniority wise, were 1 Punjab, 2 Punjab, 3 Madras, 4 Grenadiers, 5 Maratha Light Infantry, 6 Rajputana Rifles, 7 Rajput, 8 Punjab, 9 Jat, 10 Baluch, 11 Sikh, 12 Frontier Force Regiment, 13 Frontier Force Rifles, 14 Punjab, 15 Punjab, 16 Punjab, 17 Dogra, 18 Garhwal, 19 Hyderabad, Assam, Gurkhas and so on. For instance, 3/2 Punjab represented the third battalion of the 2nd senior most Regiment of Indian Army – 2nd Punjab. However, the ten Gorkha Rifles regiments remained on two-battalion system, without any training battalion. As a result the existing 131 battalions were integrated into the newly created 19 Infantry Regiments. In the cavalry, the 39 pre-war cavalry regiments were reduced to 21, and the Silidar system was abolished. Separate Corps of Signals and Ordnance were raised as also a Veterinary Corps. An Artillery Depot was established and steps were taken to introduce mechanised transport. Thus in 1922 the modern Indian Army came into being in terms of Regiments and Corps.
With regards State Forces, prior to the inception of Indian Army based on the British model, most of the Princely States had their own armies to include infantry, artillery and cavalry units amongst other logistic units or sub units. While expanding their influence over India, the British augmented their own armies through local recruitment in order to effectively fight some of these very state armies who dared to oppose their advance. Noteworthy is the fact that state armies like those of Travancore, Cochin, Mysore, Kolhapur, Hyderabad, Berar, Indore, Baroda, Gwalior, Bhopal, Saurashtra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Faridkot, Patiala, Jind, Nabha, Kapurthala, Cooch Behar and also Kashmir, to name a few, were well-trained and very well organised. However, the British permitted a large number of these states to maintain their armies even after subduing them. With the establishment of the British power in most of India, the Indian States reconsolidated their armies with the implementation of the Subsidiary Alliance by Lord Wellesly, under which the Indian States were required to maintain forces for the use of the Imperial power. In some cases, where the States were unable to ensure regular finances for their forces, funds were provided or large tracts of land were ceded for their maintenance. Many of these State Force units and sub-units performed splendidly in a number of campaigns in India and overseas, particularly during the two World Wars. Soon after World War-1, frequent small operations were under taken to deal with the raiders and local tribesmen from across the North -West Frontier. The Indian Army, which looked for a period of peace, found it pitted against the Afghan Army which had crossed the border, and thus began the Third Afghan War. The Afghans were soon forced back across the border and the war came to an end on 8 August 1919. However, while the Afghans retreated, the tribes in Waziristan rose in revolt and were |  | joined by the Mashuds. A force designated the Derajat Column, consisting of two brigades, three batteries of mountain artillery and other attached troops, advanced into Mashud territory on 23 December 1919 and soon found themselves entrapped. The Mashuds were well armed; many had been with the Indian Army not too long ago and were in no mood to surrender. On the other hand the Indian troops were tired and looking forward to a period of peace. Most of the veterans had been demobilised and the new recruits still very raw. In four years of trench warfare, the army had forgotten the art of fighting in the North-West Frontier. | | The column initially met setbacks and suffered fairly heavy casualties. Over a period of time their weight began to tell, troops relearned lessons of frontier warfare and by 1921 the tribes sued for peace. After a period of relative quiet the Frontier again became restive in 1930. Riots in Peshawar led to an uprising by the Afridis but this was soon contained. In 1935 the Mohamands near Peshawar rose in revolt and a force of four brigades was sent to suppress them; among the Brigadiers were Alexander and Auchinleck, both destined for high rank in World War II. In 1936, the Fakir of Ipi gave a call for holy war and fighting against his followers continued into the 1940’s. The Indian Army was also called upon to send troops to Shanghai in 1926 and Burma in 1931. |  | |
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| Partition Pangs and Independence | | | After World War -11, as the Indian Army returned to barracks and took stock of the new situations, the Indian polity and its people strived hard for independence. Various meetings were held between the British Government in India and political leaders, and plans were chalked out for not just independence but also for the division of the sub continent on communal lines into two distinct countries - India and Pakistan. This theory did not have many takers, especially amongst those people likely to be displaced. As a result, during 1946-47 communal riots and violence of unprecedented proportions swept throughout India. | The partition came into effect on 15 August 1947, when India gained independence. Pakistan declared independence a day earlier. At the time of independence the old Indian Army stood divided between Pakistan and India. The active strength of the Army along with countrywide movable and immovable assets was shared under a complicated scheme, supervised by a British presence in the form of a Supreme Headquarters.
|  | Instead of large scale celebrations, riots and mass killing between Hindus and Muslims in Punjab and Bengal intensified. It also led to acute suffering and misery of the displaced people, apart from colossal loss of precious human lives and destruction of property due to communal riots and retribution.
The level of violence had reached civil war proportions and had to be contained rapidly. It was a grave price to pay for India’s independence, although the Armed Forces of both India and Pakistan provided yeoman service in arresting further bloodshed and ensuring smooth exchange of service personnel opting for either India or Pakistan.
| The Punjab Boundary Force came into being for this thankless task. It had elements of the Armies of both countries spread thinly on the ground, and was hard put to contain the increasing levels of violence. This was to be the last time that the old Indian Army deployed jointly as one body. After six weeks of continuous violence, peace gradually returned. While consolidating the loosely federated Princely States and Indian Provinces into one homogeneous entity, some initial difficulties were encountered. Except for three, most of the 566 odd Princely States merged with India in accordance to the laid down directives. |  | | The three troublesome states were Junagadh (now in Gujarat), Hyderabad (now in Andhra Pradesh) and Jammu and Kashmir. While Junagarh remained indecisive, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir bought time to merge with India by signing a ‘Standstill Agreement’ valid for one year. To quell internal strife and facilitate smooth merger the Indian Army and police forces had to be employed in Junagadh and subsequently in Hyderabad, but much before Jammu and Kashmir could exercise its option, armed Pakistani frontier tribesmen along with Pakistan’s regular troops invaded the State in October 1947 with a view to annex it. |
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| Indo Pak War 1947-48 | | | Pakistani troops soon crossed over into Kashmir to precipitate an undeclared war with India. Before describing the war an understanding of the topography of the state may be necessary. The provincial subdivision of Kashmir followed geographical features. The lofty Pir Panjal range, running roughly east to west with heights varying from 2500 to 4500 metres, divides the valley from Jammu region. Further towards the east, running from north to south, lies the Great Himalayan Range comprising heights above 5000 metres, which divides Ladakh from both the Valley and Jammu region. |  |  | North of the Valley and Ladakh lie Gilgit, Hunza and Baltistan, also known as the Northern Territories. Mainland India was linked to the Valley by a fair-weather road from Pathankot, across the 2,700 metres high Banihal Pass to Srinagar. A mountainous trade route also existed between Manali (in present-day Himachal) and Leh, the district headquarters of Ladakh. Other major routes into the Valley as well as to the northern areas run through what is now Pakistan. The strategy employed by Pakistan to annex the state was ingenious. It was expected that before India reacted, possession of Jammu and Kashmir would constitute law. In this game plan Pakistan came within a whisker of success. With the Northern Territories overrun by 30 July 1947, by 26 October elements of the main columns were at Baramulla, 50 kilometres from Srinagar, raping and looting along the way. | The military set up in Jammu and Kashmir comprised of an Army HQ at Srinagar and four brigades. The Army HQ was headed by Brigadier Rajendra Singh, Chief of Staff of the J&K State Force. The four brigades were the Jammu Brigade, the Kashmir Brigade, the Mirpur Brigade and the Punch Brigade. These four brigades, between them had only eight infantry battalions. The State Force had no artillery or armour. This small force was charged with the responsibility of looking after the 500 kilometre long mountainous border from Gilgit to Suchetgarh. Troops were stretched all along this border in occupying posts in varying strengths. |  |  | The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir Hari Singh, son of Gulab Singh, had dilly dallied too long before his hands were forced by the Pakistani intruders. The tribal 'volunteers' along with Pakistani regulars had by then overrun large tracts of Jammu province and the Valley, which shared a porous border with Pakistan. It was when they had reached Badgaon, on the suburbs of Srinagar that the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession and put in a bid for India’s military assistance. The Indian Armed Forces reacted immediately after this act of accession, when an impromptu airlift operation was put together and an infantry battalion-1 Sikh-was flown to Srinagar. | | Thereafter an ad hoc brigade group built up on the initial battalion, and managed to first hold and thereafter defeat the intruding forces. The serpentine, fair weather road from Pathankot to Srinagar brought in convoys of reinforcements and limited supplies. The marauders were then hounded out of the Valley by a series of tactical engagements. Advancing to Muzaffarabad, the Indian Army came up against Pakistani regular troops as a body intermixed with Azad Kashmir battalions by May 1948, especially west of Uri and Tithwal. Till then the Pakistanis had committed their tribal groups with regulars. In the Jammu Region the garrison of Poonch remained under siege.
Ridding the main portions of Jammu province and the Valley of Pakistani presence took more than a year, and the entire operation ultimately took up more than 80,000 troops. Great acts of personal gallantry and collective bravery were shown in the Kashmir operations. Major Som Nath Sharma became the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra (PVC), India's highest award for valour equivalent to the Victoria Cross. Finding its forces withdrawing from Jammu and the Valley, Pakistan launched a fresh offensive through the Northern Territories commencing February 1948. A weak Jammu and Kashmir militia battalion put up a heroic stand and temporarily barred the enemy’s path at Skardu. The invading force split up here, with one group investing the town and the main body continuing advance to Kargil, and yet another heading into the Shyok river valley, a northern tributary of the Indus. Extreme winter conditions made it impossible for the Indian Army to immediately contest this fresh enemy offensive beyond the 3,500 metres Zojila Pass on the Great Himalayan Range. In the interim months Indian Army reinforced Leh with a regular battalion.
On 1 November 1948 an Indian brigade group supported by 7 Cavalry comprising Stuart tanks broke through Zojila Pass and relentlessly drove out the invaders from Ladakh district. Zojila was the highest point in the recorded history of warfare in which tanks had operated.
The besieged garrison of Punch was relieved on 23 November 1948, a full year after its siege, and a firm grip had been established by the Indian Army on some of the major portions of the State. Before the remaining areas occupied by Pakistan could be liberated by Indian troops, a cease fire came into effect on 1 January 1949. After bitter fighting lasting 14 months, UN mediation brought about an uneasy truce.
Under UN supervision, a negotiated Cease Fire Line was drawn up based on the actual holding of ground by India and Pakistan, pending future settlements. This serpentine line ran some 700 kilometres from Chhamb in the south, near the town of Akhnoor, to a map reference point known as NJ 9842 in Ladakh in the north. This point lay beyond the Shyok valley and rested on the lower slopes of Saltoro range, an offshoot of Karakoram Range. It was added that the Line thereafter ran northwards towards the glaciers, of which there existed a surfeit. Here lay the seeds of a future conflict between India and Pakistan, the battleground being the highest glacier region in the world. This war along with its political fallout holds enormous importance for Indian Army and the nation as a whole. Despite the accession of the state, a part of Kashmir, known as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, remains under the illegal control of Pakistan, and this has remained a contentious issue for India ever since, affecting subsequent Indo Pak relations. That apart, the Kashmir war gave the Indian Army its first experience of high altitude operations amidst snow, ice and extreme cold conditions. However, negative fallout of this token action against European presence was that the Indian polity and its people took it for granted that the Indian Army was in very good shape, and ignored its cries for expansion and modernization, the end result of which was acutely felt the following year in the wake of the Chinese aggression. | |
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| | The Goa Daman and Diu Operations | | | While the British and French left their colonial possessions in India gracefully, the Portuguese continued to hold on to their territories of Goa, Daman and Diu on India's western coast. Despite polite albeit repeated political and diplomatic reminders that the concept of European powers holding on to their overseas colonies was antiquated, Portugal refused to yield for a full 14 years after independence.
| After giving a final ultimatum to lay down arms and surrender to Indian authorities, and when this was not heeded to by the Portuguese, the Indian Government took recourse to limited military action. While Indian operations in Daman and Diu met with stiff resistance before these enclaves fell into Indian hands, the Goa operations were comparatively easier. The multi pronged Indian offensive launched by 17 Infantry Division, of Burma fame during World War-11, had a psychological impact on the defending forces, who realized the futility of offering prolonged resistance. The |  | defenders soon surrendered and Goa, Daman and Diu came into the Indian fold, thus ending a 400 year old Portuguese hold on these enclaves on Indian shore.
| However, negative fallout of this token action against European presence was that the Indian polity and its people took it for granted that the Indian Army was in very good shape, and ignored its cries for expansion and modernization, the end result of which was acutely felt the following year in the wake of the Chinese aggression. |  |
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