North West Frontier Campaigns

North West Frontier Campaigns
1849-1947
Chronological list of Wars and Campaigns
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Location:
Combatants:
East India Company and British Army	North West Frontier tribes
Result: Suppression of border incursions
Medals: India General Service medal 1854 India Medal 1895-1902
Links:
Category: Category:North West Frontier Campaigns

Summary

From 1849 when the East India Company annexed the Punjab it became necessary to prevent incursion by the frontier Pakhtun tribes. Successive punitive expeditions subdued particular areas until further outrages occurred. Control of the region depended to a large extent on the Punjab Frontier Force recruited from local tribesmen commanded by British officers.

North West Frontier Expeditions

For a list of campaigns in order see

• Chronological list of North West Frontier Campaigns

British Library holdings

The following books are available at the British Library. Books available online, refer below, are not listed.

• Operations against the Orakzai tribe on the Miranzai frontier under the command of Brigadier-General Sir W.S.A. Lockhart, K.C.B., C.S.I., in 1891 compiled from official sources (under the orders of the Quarter-Master General in India) by A.H. Mason. 1891
• Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Volume 2. North-West Frontier Tribes between the Kabul and Gumal Rivers by Intelligence Branch Army Headquarters India 1908
• Official History of operations on the N.-W. Frontier of India, 1920-35 by General Staff Army Headquarters, India 1945. Available through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop
• Official History of operations on the N.W. Frontier of India, 1936-37 by General Staff Army Headquarters, India 1943. Available through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop

India Office Records

India Office Records include

• Collection 391 North West Frontier Operations 1897 IOR/L/MIL/7/15855-15939 1897-1923
• Collection 403 Frontier and Overseas Expeditions IOR/L/MIL/7/16820-16978 1901-1944
• Political and Secret Department Library IOR/L/PS/20 1757-1952 A very large and varied collection of confidential prints, official publications and commercially published works, analogous to the Military Library (see under L/MIL/17), it largely consists of military reports, gazetteers, summaries of correspondence, handbooks etc. dealing with the Indian States, the frontier regions and neighbouring countries. There is a separate index. Includes
  • Political and Secret Department Library: 'B' Books IOR/L/PS/20/B 1834-1944 Covers Afghanistan, Baluchistan, North West Frontier of India, Jammu and Kashmir and Northern Frontier of India

Imperial War Museums holdings

The Imperial War Museums are a source of information about operations in Waziristan. Search the catalogue.

Catalogue entry for the publication Bibliography of sources in the Departments of Documents, Photographs, Printed Books and Sound Records at the Imperial War Museum on military operations in Waziristan on the North West Frontier of India 1917-1937, published c 1979.

Note the London Imperial War Museum is closed for six months from January 2013

Also see

• Royal Air Force

Individual accounts

• Francis Stockdale was deployed to Waziristan in 1919. He was a temporary R. E. officer and served late 1919 to Dec 1921 His book Walk Warily in Waziristan is the subject of the article Why Britons walked warily in Waziristan by Alastair Lawson 21 April 2008 news.bbc.co.uk with photographs. Available at the British Library
• John Morris served as an officer in the Indian Army with the 3rd Queen Alexandra’s Own Gurkha Rifles from 1918 until 1934 in Palestine, Afghanistan (the Third Afghan War in 1919), Waziristan and the North West Frontier of India. His autobiography Hired to Kill, Some Chapters of Autobiography was published in 1960. (London, Rupert Hart-Davis ). "Chapter Fifteen, in which he describes how he and his company were ambushed by Mahsud tribesmen on the frontier is a little masterpiece". Available at the British Library
• John Archibald Hislop was an officer in the Indian Army, 2nd Battalion 9th Jat Regiment from 1933 . He had a series of postings primarily in the North West Frontier area. Subsequently he was GS02 Waziristan District until c August 1943. His autobiography A Soldier’s Story-From the Khyber Pass to the Jungles of Burma: The Memoir of a British Officer in the Indian Army 1933-1947 was published in 2010. "Readers will learn much interesting detail about operations in Waziristan and Baluchistan before the outbreak of war, tactics needed for protection on long marches - an officer in charge of a flanking picquet might find himself moving over thirty miles per day over mountainous ground for several consecutive days, and all the problems of food supply and water" Available at the British Library
• John Masters (Wikipedia) was an officer in the Indian Army from 1934, with the 2nd Battalion 4th Gurkha Rifles from 1935. His autobiography Bugles and a Tiger; a Volume of Autobiography was published in 1956 and has since been republished under slightly different titles as Bugles and a Tiger, Bugles and a Tiger : a Personal Adventure and Bugles and a Tiger: My Life in the Gurkhas . It covers the Waziristan Campaign 1936-39. Passages about the often vicious conflict are quoted in this link This book is available at the British Library. It is also available to read online, refer below
• Graham F Reed was a Signals Officer with a Mountain Gun Regiment based at Razmak in Waristan in 1945-47. His book is Walks in Waziristan, with an extract In action from Walks in Waziristan. The first two chapters are available from Preview Google Books

External Links

• North West Frontier Military History Wikipedia
  
• The North-West Frontier of India www.king-emperor.com including
  • The Development of Frontier Warfare 1914-1939 by Dr. Tim Moreman
    
• India Medal 1895 www.northeastmedals.co.uk
  
• NWF VCs www.northeastmedals.co.uk
  
• 1893 North West Frontier Map Rootsweb
  
• 1909 NWF Map Digital South Asia Maps
  
• Map of the NWF-area around Bannu probably c 1937-1940 from Gordon Gibbon’s photographs on Bob Holland’s Rampais website.
• British Raj post dated 12 February 2010 about 1930s maps of the North West Frontier region, recommending those in the Official History 1920-35 and 1936-37, refer above
• Afghanistan & North West Frontier by Michael E. Lambert. The presentation is in three parts: "The History" relates Britain’s involvement in the North West Frontier, (page 6 of the pdf) "The Medals" discusses the Afghanistan Medal, the Kabul to Kandahar Star, and the India General Service Medal through its multiple issues.(page 38 of the pdf), "The Album" presents early twentieth century photographs of soldiers and soldiering (page 56 of the pdf)
• Story of the Pakhtoons [Pathans] by M. Ilyas Khan. Khyber.org
  
• British Governance of the North-West Frontier (1919 to 1947): A Blueprint for Contemporary Afghanistan? by Andrew M. Roe, Maj, British Army. Master’s Thesis Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 2005 html version pdf
• Six blogs by Thomas E. Ricks The British experience in Waziristan, 9 March 2010, 10 March 2010, 11 March 2010, 12 March 2010, 15 March 2010, 16 March 2010 from foreignpolicy.com, with comments on the book Waging War in Waziristan: The British Struggle in the Land of Bin Laden, 1849-1947, by Andrew M. Roe, a British infantry officer, published 2010. This book may be purchased through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop.
• The British colonial experience in Waziristan and its applicability to current operations by Matthew W. Williams 2005. School of Advanced Military Studies U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, Kansas html version, pdf
• An Ever Present Danger: A Concise History of British Military Operations on the North-West Frontier, 1849-1947 by Matt M. Matthews Occasional Paper 33 June 2010, Combat Studies Institute Press, US Army Combined Arms Center Fort Leavenworth, Kansas pdf, html version
• 'Military Operations in Waziristan: From a Historical Perspective (1849-1947)" by Col. (Retd.) Muhammad Yahya Effendi Issue 62, [2008?] Central Asia Research Journal of the Area Study Center, Univeristy of Peshawar, Pakistan (A biannual publication)
• The British Factor and Asia in the Twentieth Century. Chapter V: "British India’s North West Tribal Territories" by Maj (Retd) Raja Muhammad Sarwar Dhuddy. The Defence Journal January 2001 (Karachi, Pakistan)
• The limits of power by 'Richard' 20 October 2009. Surveys the policies to subdue the warring tribes on the North West Frontier. Defenceofthe realm.blogspot.com
  
• Northwest Frontier Expeditions - 1849-1902 Globalsecurity.org
  
• "Why was the North-West frontier of India the scene of so much conflict in the period 1849-1901?" by R.A. Johnson from Soldiers of the Queen issue 97, Victorian Military Society
  
• Pathan Revolt – 1897 Globalsecurity.org
  
• "The 1897 Revolt and Tirah Valley Operations from the Pashtun Perspective" by Robert A Johnson November 2009 Tribal Analysis Center html version Original pdf
  
• Operations in Mekran: Baluchistan 1898-1902 from Harry’s Sideshows by Harry Fecitt (kaiserscross.com)
• Tochi Valley Operations: Waziristan 1914-15: The North Waziristan Militia in action on the North-West Frontier of India, and the award of a posthumous Victoria Cross to a Militia officer from Harry’s Sideshows by Harry Fecitt {kaiserscross.com).
• The Life and Death of Lieutenant Neville Rudd Thompson of the 21st (Empress of India’s) Lancers by Ross Dix-Peek. Lieutenant Thompson and the 21st Lancers, and their part in the Battle at Shabkadar on the 5 September 1915 on the North West Frontier.
• Capt George Theodore Gill and the 2/6th Gurkha Rifles on the North West Frontier 1915 from David Gill’s gillww1
• War in the Switzerland of Asia: Swat Valley. Online papers from part of the collection of General Sir Frederick Campbell charting two key campaigns in Swat 1915. King’s College London Collections: The Serving Soldier.
  
• Waziristan Campaign 1917 from 25th County of London Cyclist Battalion: The London Regiment
• Colonial Control On A Shoestring — The RAF Experience by Maj Michael J. Petersen includes a section "The Third Afghan War and the Northwest Frontier, 1919-1920"
• The Bombing of Waziristan (c 1924-1939) by Graham Chandler Air & Space magazine, July 2011
• "“Good God, Sir, Are You Hurt?” The Realities and Perils of Operating over India’s Troublesome North-West Frontier" by Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Roe Air Power Review Volume 14 Number 3 Autumn/Winter 2011 Centre for Air Power Studies, Royal Air Force, pages 61-82 (computer file pages 72-93) pdf, html version
• Pink’s War 1925 Wikipedia
  
• "Air/Ground Cooperation between the RAF and the Indian Army in Waziristan 1936-1937" by Simon Coningham BCMH [British Commission for Military History] Summer Conference 2012–Indian Armies html version, pdf
• "Credit for COIN [Counter-Insurgency]: the Army in India and the development of internal security doctrine" by Robert Johnson, Oxford. Paper given at the Imperial War Museum with KCL [King’s College, London], June 2009. Also titled "The Army in India and Responses to Low Intensity Conflict, 1936-1946" by Robert Johnson
• A Story of War Colin Diarmid Campbell Dunford Wood, 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment kept war diaries continuously from early 1939.
  • Diary commences "January 2nd 1939-Razani-1st Leicestershire Regiment" (scroll to bottom of page). At the top of each page click on "newer posts", but then scroll down to the bottom of the page to commence reading. Diary ends "September 14th 1939-Razani"
  • Photographs Waziristan 1939
  • Waziristan Campaign Order of Battle Includes regiments and detachments based in Waziristan during 1939.
• Details of the book North West Frontier 1908:The Zakka Khel and Mohmand Campaigns by Peter Duckers , published by Spink ( Medal Dealers) 2006. Contains detailed listings of Honours and Awards to both British and Indian units, detailed Casualty lists etc. Available through some Medal dealers, eg Dixons Medals.
  
• Savannah Publications have published Taming the Tiger: The Story of the India General Service Medal 1908–1935 by Richard G.M.L. Stiles. Includes Medal Rolls and Rolls of Honour. This edition is either a reprint or more likely a revised, possibly expanded edition of a book printed in 1992.
• The kidnapping of Mollie Ellis from Kohat cantonment by Afridi tribesmen from the Khyber Pass region 14 April 1923 and the rescue expedition which included Mrs Lilian Starr matron at the Peshawar Mission Hospital: Article by Michael E Lambert, from his website html version, original pdf; Article from Lookand learn.com, Photographs from the Illustrated London News (26 May 1923 pages 894-895 ) Flickr.com. An account of her rescue mission Tales of Tirah and Lesser Tibet by Lilian A Starr, published 1924 is available at the British Library. Also available to read online, refer below
• "Waziristan's last soldier" by Zubeida Malik BBC 8 November 2008 with a slideshow of photographs. Frank Leeson spent two years commanding 1,000 Khassadars- Waziri soldiers- between 1946 and 1948, the last surviving British officer to have served in North Waziristan.
• Randolph Bezzant Holmes Photographs, 1910-1919. Northern India and the North-West Frontier Province Duke University Libraries
• emmyeustace's Northwest Frontier Photograph Collection flickr.com Contains 105 photographs taken from 1888 to c 1933
• reddin68's photostream on flickr.com taken by a member of the RFC [Royal Flying Corps] 31 Squadron in the NWFP during and after WW1.
• Photograph of camels carrying wounded men to safety on the North West Frontier of India 1917 Imperial War Museum
• Photographs North-West Frontier Province, 1930s and some additional photographs. The photographer was possibly a member of the 8th Armoured Car Company, Royal Tank Corps, but other Armoured Car Companies are also possible. From "Andrew M Brownhill"
• Gordon Gibbon’s photographs, taken during his tour of duty in the Northwest Frontier of India, with the RAF from 1937 to 1940. Includes Miranshah Fort, NWF 1939, Convoy Miranshah-Bannu road NWF with interesting comments. Bob Holland’s Rampais website.

Historical books online

• Nine Years on the North-West Frontier of India from 1854 to 1863 by Sir Sydney Cotton 1868 Google Books
  
• Sir Robert G. Sandeman K.C.S.I., peaceful conqueror of Baluchistan by A.L.P. Tucker 1921 Archive.org. Born 1835, he joined the Bengal Army in 1856 and the Civil Service in 1859, working in the North West from 1861 until his death in 1892.
• Indian frontier policy: an historical sketch by General Sir John Adye 1897 Archive.org
• The Pathan Revolt in North-West India by H. Woosnam Mills 1897 Archive.org
  
• "Despatches: The operations of the Malakand and Mohmand Field Forces" London Gazette Supplement January 11, 1898.
• The Risings on the North-west Frontier being a complete narrative, with specially prepared maps of the various risings of the frontier tribes in the Tochi Valley, the Swat Valley, the country of the Mohmands and Mamunds, and the country of the Afridis and Orakzai... from the middle of June, 1897 to the end of January, 1898 Special War Correspondence of the "Pioneer" 1898 (archive.org)
  
• A Dictionary of the Pathan Tribes on the North-west Frontier of India Asstistant QMG Intelligence Branch 1899 (archive.org)
  
• The Story of the Malakand Field Force: an Episode of Frontier War by Winston L. Spencer Churchill 1916 First published 1898 Archive.org
  
• The Indian Frontier War being an account of the Mohmund and Tirah expeditions, 1897 by Lionel James 1898 Archive.org
  
• Sketches on service during the Indian frontier campaigns of 1897 by Major E.A.P. Hobday. Containing fifty-seven full page engravings from original drawings, and fourteen photographic portraits of the commanding officers and their staffs. 1898 Archive.org
• "Summary of Operations on the North-West Frontier of India, from 19th June 1897 to 6th April 1898" by Surgeon General AA Gore MD page 446 Army Medical Department Report for the Year 1897 Volume 39 1898 Archive.org
• The Indian Borderland, 1880-1900 by Colonel Sir T. Hungerford Holdich, late of the Indian Survey Department 1901 Archive.org
• Frontier Warfare 1901 Official publication Simla. "Notes... written for the assistance of commanders when operating in broken and mountainous ground and are based on the experience gained in late frontier campaigns". Archive.org
• "Despatch on the recent operations on the Mohmand border, in the Khyber, and the country of the Mohmands" London Gazette Supplement August 14, 1908.
• Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India: Volume 1 Tribes north of the Kabul River by Intelligence Branch Army Headquarters India 1907 Archive.org. There is a supplement Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Volume 1, supplement A: Operations against the Mohmands (including operations in the Khaiber, 1st-7th May) which is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website, under the title Operations against the Mohmands. Unfortunately the file is somewhat unsatisfactory. There is no Contents page and many pages are duplicated. For Chapter 2, go to computer page 21, and for Chapter 3, cp 29. At least the following pages appear to be missing in addition to the Contents: (actual) p 34-35 and Appendix page i. This book is available at the British Library and through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop as a reprint. Look Inside the Book(amazon.co.uk) Includes Contents pages.
  
• Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Volume 2. North-West Frontier Tribes between the Kabul and Gumal Rivers by Intelligence Branch Army Headquarters India 1908 is available partially online to page 97 on the Digital Library of India website. It is catalogued without volume number simply as Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India 1908 and has barcode 99999990229429. It is also available as Snippet view Google Books which viewers in some countries may be able to access as full view. It is available at the British Library and through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop as a reprint of 461 pages. There is a supplement Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Volume 2 Supplement A ,Operations against the Zakka Khel Afridis Intelligence Branch Army Headquarters India 1908 Archive.org. (Requires a Djvu plug in)
  
• Campaigns on the North-West Frontier by Capt H.L.Nevill DSO 1912 (archive.org)
  
• From the Black Mountain to Waziristan being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the North-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the past by H. C. Wylly 1912 Archive.org
  
• The Problem Of The North-West Frontier 1890-1908 by Collin C Davies 1932 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Alternatively, it may be downloaded as a pdf from OUDL Osmania University Digital Library. May only be available Indian office hours (IST 10 am to 6 pm), (IST = GMT+5:30).
  
• The Pathan borderland: a consecutive account of the country and people on and beyond the Indian frontier from Chitral to Dera Ismail Khan by C.M. Enriquez 2nd edition 1921 (First published 1909) Archive.org
• Gun-running and the Indian north-west frontier by the Hon. Arnold Keppel 1911 Archive.org
• "The Defence of India" by F. A. McKenzie, from The Great War: the standard history of the all-Europe conflict, edited by H.W. Wilson, volume 7, chapter 128. (13 volumes in the series) Reprinted in 1999 as Volume 4: Carnage (6 volumes in the series) Look inside the book. The North West Frontier during World War 1. greatwardifferent.com
• "Punishing the Bunerwals" [1915] , page 217 Under ten viceroys the reminiscences of a Gurkha by Major-General Nigel Woodyatt 1922 Archive.org
• "Despatches on the operations against the Mahsuds, March-August, 1917" London Gazette Supplement 12 April 1918
• Despatches on military operations in the Indian Empire since the outbreak of the First World War. Includes the North West Frontier London Gazette Supplements.
  • To 9th March 1916 LGS 4 July 1916; To 31st March 1917 LGS 31 October 1917; To 31st May 1918 LGS 17 March 1919; To 30 April 1919 LGS 5 August 1920
• "A report on the operations in Waziristan during the period 3rd November 1919 to 7th May 1920". London Gazette 8 December 1920.
• Operations in Waziristan, 1919-1920 Compiled by the General Staff Army Headquarters, India 1921 Archive.org
  
• Waziristan 1919-1920 by H De Watteville 1925 (one of eight in the series Campaigns and Their Lessons) is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website
  
• "N.W. Frontier 1919-1920" page 273 The Post Office of India in the Great War edited by H.A. Sams Published 1922 Archive.org
• "A report on the operations of the Waziristan Force for the period 1st April to 31st December, 1921" London Gazette Supplement 1 December 1922.
• "A report on the operations in Waziristan for the period 1st January, 1922 to the 20th April, 1923" London Gazette Supplement 27 February 1924
• "Final despatch on the operations of Waziristan Force covering the period 21st April, 1923, to 31st March, 1924" London Gazette Supplement 18 November 1924
• Tales of Tirah and Lesser Tibet by Lilian A Starr, published 1924 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Includes general comments about the Pathans, based on the author's experience in the Mission Hospital at Peshawar.
• "An account of the recent operations by the Royal Air Force against certain recalcitrant sections of the Mahsuds in March, April and May, 1925". London Gazette Supplement 20 November 1925.
• "The North West Frontier", page 9 India in 1930-1931 A statement prepared for presentation to Parliament. Government Of India Central Publication Branch 1932
• Passing It On: Short Talks on Tribal fighting on the North-West Frontier of India by General Sir Andrew Skeen , 3rd edition 1934 (originally published 1932) is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. A 2010 reprint edition with annotations published by the Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworh Kansas. Note: some of the text appears to be missing, at least one probable whole page has been noted. html version, pdf
• Waziristan 1936- 1937: The problems of the North-West Frontiers of India and their Solutions by Lieut Colonel C. E. Bruce 1938 Archive.org. Missing the "Bibliography" at the end of the book, page 80 onwards.
  
• "Report on Operations in Waziristan, 25th November 1936 to 16th January 1937 (1st Phase)" London Gazette Supplement 2 November 1937
• "Report on Operations In Waziristan, 16th January 1937 to 15th September 1937 (Second Phase)" London Gazette Supplement 18 February 1938
• "Report on Operations in Waziristan, 16th September 1937 to 15th December 1937 (Final Phase)" London Gazette Supplement 14 June 1938
• "Report on Operations in Waziristan, 16th December, 1937 to the 31st December, 1938" London Gazette Supplement 18 August 1939
• Bugles and a Tiger by John Masters is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. The original edition Bugles and a Tiger; a Volume of Autobiography published in 1956 is available to read online through the Internet Archive (Archive.org) Lending Library. The main restriction is that only one person can see a particular book at one time (so the book may be ‘checked out’). For more details see Online books-Archive.org
• Actions in Waziristan continued during WW2, although details are not known. Awards appearing in the London Gazette Supplements indicate some of the regiments involved. There were also awards to RAF personnel.1939 LGS 25 October 1940, 1940 LGS 20 June 1941, 1942 LGS 15 December 1942, 1943 LGS 25 November 1943
• The History of the Indian Mountain Artillery by Brigadier-General C A L Graham 1957 Archive.org. This book is also available to read online on the Digital Library of India website, where the print quality is better.

Recommended Reading

Campaigns on the North-West Frontier by Capt H.L.Nevill DSO 1916
Reprinted by The Naval & Military Press Ltd 2005
ISBN 1-845741-87-0
Imperial Frontier: Tribe & State in Waziristan by Dr Hugh Beattie
Routledge 2001
ISBN 0700713093 and ISBN 978-0700713097