First World War

First World War information relevant to British India, including the involvement of the Indian Army and of Anglo Indians in the British Army. During the First World War compulsory service was deemed necessary and the Indian Defence Force Act was passed in 1917. European British men between the ages of 18 and 41 were subject to compulsory service within India. Thus men serving overseas were not sent as conscripts, but had voluntarily joined either the Indian Army, or the British Army.

General information

The Indian Divisions of 1914-1918 on 1914-1918.net

Anglo-Indians

“Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1914, brought immediate mobilization in India and by 1915, the British war drain produced hundreds of officer vacancies in the regular army which became accessible to Anglo-Indians for the first time since the East India Company's ban of 1791. Conscription was enforced systematically among the Anglo-Indians at odds with the experience of other Indian communities treated more leniently. (Abel:1988) By 1916, perhaps 8,000 Anglo-Indians had joined British units as in the case of the many "India-born" recruits accepted by the Dorset Regiment. Jhansi's Anglo-Indian Battery attached to the 77th Royal Field Artillery, had the largest concentration of Anglo-Indian conscripts and volunteers and earned a distinguished record in the Mesopotamian conflict. In total, 50-75% of the adult Anglo-Indian population saw active service although non-emergency enlistment in the British Army remained closed to them. (Dover:1937) Most were immediately sent abroad while others were employed by the sudden munitions and supply boom, for instance, at Kanpur where the army's leather processing centre had been located since after the Mutiny. (Thomas:1982)”

Temporary Commissions & Indian Army Reserve of Officers 1917-1921

IOR Ref - (L/Mil/9/435-623)

The First World War necessitated a reserve force of British Army officers for the Indian Army to supplement regular recruitment of cadets from Sandhurst, Wellington and Quetta. Temporary commissions were, therefore, granted to British Officers, NCOs and enlisted men of the required educational standard.

Fortunately, the individual names in this section are listed in searchable indexes on the National Archives a2a website. The full record will show birth details and army service.

In the same index volume, on the open shelves in the British Library, is a further typed list of about 2,500 names compiled from a card index relating to medal claims. This index gives rank, unit , date of release and post-release address.( It does not actually show medal entitlement)

Finally the volume contains an index of 815 British Army other ranks commissioned into the Indian Army during the First World War. Fuller reference is shown as WO339 (pieces 139092 -139906) – See National Archives Catalogue.

Fibis members can contact Fibis research should they wish to access further detail from these records. research@fibis.org

Egypt

See separate article Actions in Egypt 1914-15

Western Front

As the First World War progressed more troops were needed for the Western Front. To meet this demand trained soldiers from India were sent to reinforce the British Troops – particularly in France..

Many men who fell during these campaigns are honoured by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Amongst these are 4,742 soldiers from India whose names are recorded on the Neuve Chapelle Memorialin France. In 1964 these names were expanded to also commemorate 210 servicemen of India whose graves at Zehrensdorf Indian Cemetery in East Germany could not be maintained.

From December 1914 to February 1916 the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, Sussex UK was used as a hospital for troops from the Indian corps who had been wounded during WW1 in France and Flanders. This BBC news item contains photographic detail from the permanent exhibition opened in April 2010. It also contains further links to articles highlighting other ways in which the Indian troops of WW1 have been remembered in the Sussex area.

Mesopotamia

See also Norperforce

More information

• Mesopotamian Campaign Wikipedia
• Siege of Kut Wikipedia
• Mesopotamia 1914-1918.net
• "Iraq 1917 - A 90th Anniversary" by Dr D M Henderson 2007. The Scots at War Trust. A review of the war in Mesopotamia
• Titles of Indian Cavalry, Infantry and Pioneer Units who served in Mesopotamia 1914-1918 may be found on pages 402-404 (computer pages 463-465) of History Of The Great War: The Campaign In Mesopotamia 1914-1918 Volume IV by F J Moberly (refer Historical books online, below)

Railways

"Without the work of the Indian auxiliaries on the Mesopotamian railways – which supplied almost every requisite for fighting and for everyday living on campaign –the Allied forces would never have enjoyed the victory they achieved."

Major Frederick Cole and his unit from India built the railway from Basra to Baghdad in Iraq, then Mesopotamia. (Major Cole was Inspector of Railways in India from about 1915 to 1930).

Rail track was sent from India. “For Mesopotamia, we pull up existing lines.”

Trains were sent from India, including fourteen military trains in 1916. In 1918 the entire (locos, rolling stock, track, and all fixtures and fittings) Powayn Steam Tramway, in Bengal was sent for use on the Bushire Light Railway in Persia.

In Persia , "in 1915, at the time of the revolt of Tangestan, [British military] reinforcements were sent [to Busehr (Bushire, the main port)] in order to coun¬teract the moves of the German consul,… .On that occasion a narrow-gauge railway 37 miles long was constructed to link Busehr with Borazjan, on the way to Shiraz….At the same time a factory for constructing railroad equipment was established at Busehr. The evacuation of the town by the British in March 1919 put an end to these attempts".

The Iraq Railways and the Indian Railway Department were a Unit and Regiment of the Indian Army in Mesopotamia during World War 1 according to a soldier’s record on the CWGC. First World War medal card indexes (refer Online Records below) mention Mesopotamian Railways, Iraq Railways and Railways Baghdad as corps, with Mesopotamian Railways being mentioned more frequently, but it is not known by us to what extent these three differ. In addition, there are other railway units mentioned, which may be Mesopotamian based, but which could be in other theatres. Refer separate list.

Records

• British Library APAC Catalogue reference , Official Publications A history of Mesopotamian railways during the War. Bombay, 1921 IOR/V/27/720/40 1921. Also available through the Integrated Catalogue.
• The National Archives catalogue reference War Diary of 2 Indian Railway Construction Battalion WO 95/5246. (Probably, but not definitely, a unit in Mesopotamia). A War Diary was a daily record of events kept by units in active service.

More information

• Armoured car on rails in Mesopotamia from Railways of Iraq
• The Railways of Mesopotamia by Richard Coke from The Railway Magazine April 1928 from fuchs-online.com.
• Baghdad Railway Wikipedia
• Iraqi Republic Railways Wikipedia
• Mesopotamian Transport Commission. Report of the Commission appointed by the Government of India... to enquire into questions connected with the organisation and administration of the Railway and River Transport in Mesopotamia. 1918 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Table of Contents is computer page 6. Refer Online books-Digital Library of India for more details about this site.

Online Records

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission Organisation that pays tribute to those members of Commonwealth forces who died in the two World Wars and who work towards preserving their memory. Contains free searchable database. Includes details of the Kirkee Memorial which commemorates more than 1,800 servicemen who died in India during the First World War, who are buried in civil and cantonment cemeteries in India and Pakistan where their graves can no longer be properly maintained.

• First World War medal card indexes Documents online at National Archives. Searching for a name is free. Copies of the records obtainable on a “pay as you go” basis. See also Abbreviations used in the World War One Medal Cards

• First World War records ancestry.co.uk contains many searchable records relating to First World War, including service records, medals indexes, pension records and rolls of honour. Searching is free but payment is required to view records.

Recommended reading

• Yeats-Brown, Francis Lives of a Bengal Lancer . An autobiographical account of a Bengal Lancer covering the period from 1905 until the end of the First World War. Describes his deployment in India, France and Mesopotamia. See review in FIBIS Biographies reading list
• Spencer, William First World War army service records : a guide for family historians The National Archives, 2008 See Review in FIBIS Military reading list

British Library holdings

• IOR/L/PS/20/H143 Roll of rewards and promotions of officers and men of the Indian Army and departments, and of Royal Artillery and Royal Engineer officers and men attached to Indian units, serving in the undermentioned forces:- France (A) East Africa, including Cameroons (B) Mesopotamia (D) Egypt, including Sudan (E) Gallipoli, including Salonica (G) Indian Frontier Indian area, including Aden, Perim, Somaliland, Gulf of Oman, and China Up to and including "London Gazette" dated 11th May 1917 and "Indian Gazette" dated 3rd February 1917 [?London: India Office, 8th edn, 1917]
• An account of the operations of the 18th (Indian) Division in Mesopotamia, December 1917 to December 1918, with the names of all the units which served with the division and a nominal roll of all the officers by Walter Edward Wilson-Johnston 1919.
• See also Indian Army

External links

• Battles of WWI involving British India Wikipedia
• The Great War Forum is a message board for the First World War . It has subcategories Middle East and North Africa and India where archived threads may be read. To place a post, reply to a post or search, you need to be a subscriber.
• Center for Indian Military History, an index of links to articles such as “British-Indian Army: Imperial Service Troops 1888-1918” and “Indian Infantry Regiments of World War I: 1st Brahmans through 30th Punjabis". The History page has some links about the Indian Army pre-1947 which do not appear in the index.
• The Mesopotamian front! As observed by LTC Davis, 1918 MilitaryPhotos.net
• Indian Volunteers in the Great War East African Campaign from the Western Front Association. The North-Western Railway Volunteers.The Calcutta Volunteer Battery. The Indian Volunteer Maxim Gun Company.
• "Battle of Tanga, German East Africa, 1914". Kenneth J Harvey, 2003. Master of Military Art and Science Theses from Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library. In November 1914, British Indian Expeditionary Force "B" conducted an amphibious assault on the Port of Tanga in German East Africa
• "British experience in Iraq from 1914-1926: what wisdom can the United States draw from its experience?" by Matthew W Williams,2004 from Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library
• Rudyard Kipling’s poem Mesopotamia from Steve Brown's site.
  • "Mesopotamia". An article about Kipling’s poem Mesopotamia from Kipling.org.uk
• The war service of the Sappers of the Indian Army, in the Western Front, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, Persia and East Africa is mentioned in The Military Engineer in India by Lt. Col. E.W.C Sandes 1933 which has been reprinted by Naval and Military Press. This may be bought from the FIBIS Shop through Amazon.co.uk. Also available at the British Library
• "Kut War Graves - Iraq" "Basra"

Historical books online

• History Of The Great War: The Campaign In Mesopotamia 1914-1918 Volumes I-IV by F J Moberly. 1923-1927 are available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. The Contents pages of Volume IV are computer pages 15-20. Refer Online books-Digital Library of India for more details about this site.
• A brief outline of the campaign in Mesopotamia, 1914-1918 by Roger Evans, 1926 Archive.org (You will need a Djvu plug-in, see our article Online books-Archive.org)
• "Progress in Mesopotamia" from The war illustrated album de luxe; the story of the great European war told by camera, pen and pencil Volume 9 The Fourth Year 1917-1918 ed by JA Hammerton 1918 Archive.org
• "Final Victories over the Turk" from The war illustrated album de luxe; the story of the great European war told by camera, pen and pencil Volume 10 the Last Phase ed by JA Hammerton 1919 Archive.org
• The war in the cradle of the world Mesopotamia by Eleanor Franklin Egan 1918. Archive.org The author was correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post. More details in "Writing "Mesopot": Eleanor Franklin Egan on the river to Baghdad, 1917" by David Hudson.
• "Letter from Sir Charles Monroe, C-in-C in India, dated Simla, August 15, 1917" regarding conditions in India from The First World War, 1914-1918, Volume II, page 110 by Charles Repington 1920 Archive.org