Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 25 - A-AUS.pdf/709

This page needs to be proofread.

India] ARMIES 655 Artillery, garrison : 5 officers, 140 other ranks—145. country to find finer fighting material than that furnished by Infantry battalion : 29 officers, 1003 other ranks —1032, in 8 Gurkhas, Sikhs, Pathans, Rajputs, and Jats, men who have on companies. many a field stood shoulder to shoulder with the best and bravest of the British force. There is hardly any practical limit to the The peace establishment of the Indian cavalry regiment is 11 number of excellent soldiers that in case of necessity can be British officers, 17 native officers, 608 other ranks—total 636, raised at short notice from the martial races of India, who possess organized in 4 squadrons. Their armament is sword, lance, and great aptitude for military training. Lee-Enfield carbine. Of the 40 cavalry regiments 25 are lancers. The Indian army is heterogeneous as a whole but homogeneous The British officers in each regiment fill the grades of commandant, in its units. The variation in race of these units is great. About squadron commanders (one of them second in command), adjutant, one-third of the regiments are composed of one class—tribe, caste, and squadron officers. Native officers are in command of half or religion—such as Gurkhas, Sikhs, Rajputs, Jats, Mahommedans, squadrons, and one of them is native adjutant as assistant to the hillmen, &c., while the rest are composed of class squadrons and British adjutant. That of the infantry battalion is 11 British officers, companies of the above and other races. Their languages differ, 16 native officers, other ranks 896—total 923, organized in 8 com- but there is one common to all which they soon acquire—tlfe panies under native officers, and in 4 double companies under British Oordoo or Hindustani—the language of the camp or lingua franca officers. The British officers fill the grades of commandant, double- of India, which originated with the old-time Mahommedan invasions company commanders (one of them second in command), adjutant, of India, and is a mixture of Persian, Arabic, and Hindi. It is quartermaster, and double-company officers. One of the native obligatory upon all staff corps officers to pass in Hindustani, and officers is native adjutant. The armament is the Lee-Enfield rifle. upon the regimental officer to pass in the language peculiar to the There are 9 battalions of pioneers, trained and armed as infantry, men in his regiment. and instructed as pioneers, with a special equipment. The 3 corps In India the transport and supply services are termed the comof sappers and miners are organized in companies. They are missariat-transport department. It is under the control of a comarmed as infantry and trained and equipped as engineers. They missary general-in-chief (a major-general) who has directly under vary in strength ; that of Bengal being 20 officers Royal Engineers, him a commissary-general for transport only. Each command has with 31 warrant and non-commissioned officers, 23 native officers, a commissary-general. Under them are assistant and deputy other ranks, 1414—total, 1488 : that of Madras, 22 officers and assistant commissary-generals. All these appointments are held 34 warrant and non-commissioned officers R.E., 24 native officers, by Indian staff corps officers. This department feeds and clothes 1490 other ranks—total, 1570 : that of Bombay, 14 officers and the army in the field, and the British troops in quarters. All 20 warrant and non-commissioned officers R.E., 15 native officers, native troops in India during peace are independent of the com886 other ranks—total 935. The R.E. officers fill the grades of missariat for food and forage, making their own arrangements commandant, superintendents, instruction, park and train, adjutant, regimentally, as their pay includes the provision of these items. company commanders, and company officers. The native mountain The transport consists of corps of mules and camels, trains of pony battery consists of 4 officers Royal Artillery, 3 native officers, 253 and bullock carts, with elephants for special work. Regiments other ranks—total, 260. They are armed with 2‘5" guns. All and corps on the mobilization roster keep in charge a proportion army accoutrements are of brown leather manufactured in India. of mule transport. The grades of the cavalry native officers are risaldar-major (one to The ordnance department, under a director-general of ordnance each regiment), risaldars and ressaidars in command of troops, and (a major-general), is officered from the Royal Artillery. There is under them jemadars; those in the infantry are subadar-major an inspector-general to each command. The military works services, (one to each battalion), subadars in command of companies, and under a director-general (a major-general), is officered from the under them jemadars. Promotion is made by selection. Selected Royal Engineers. There is a chief engineer in each command. non - commissioned officers are promoted to the commissioned The organization for war is by brigades and divisions. Regiments grades, and direct commissions are also given to native gentlemen and batteries on the mobilization roster are required to keep up a of rank and position, who are required to serve a probationary special equipment for field service, and on receipt of orders to period before confirmation. Many members of old military mobilize know precisely what to do. Besides the divisions (four) aristocratic families serve in the ranks in order to win a which are always maintained in a state of readiness, there are commission. other troops specially detailed for the lines of communication. The full dress of the Indian army varies in colour—red, blue, When regiments move in course of relief to stations outside the dark green, and drab. The fighting and working dress of all is of mobilization area, their place in the list is taken by the relieving <£ khaki” colour. Khaki uniform, which has now been adopted in corps to which they make over their special equipment. the imperial army, was used first by the Punjab Frontier Force in The number of the military forces of the many native states of 1849. It developed during the campaign in India in 1857, and India, great and small, is now returned at 90,000, mostly ill-armed became general during the Afghan war. The word is derived from and ill-trained, one-third of which are cavalry. This total does the Persian “khak,” meaning dust, ashes. not include the 18,000 well armed and organized imperial service A medical officer of the Indian Medical Service is permanently troops furnished by twenty-three of these states. Kashmir has a attached to each corps. The establishment of British officers force of Dogra Rajput infantry, hardy, inured to hill marching, includes absentees on leave. All appointed to the staff or other and valuable in protecting the far north corner of that state about duty for a term of years, are seconded in their regiments. Their Gilgit and Chitral. A considerable part of the Gwalior and Hydraarmy rank is regulated by substantive rank in the staff corps or by bad forces is fairly well drilled, and possesses some equipped batteries brevet. The temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel is given to a of artillery. The Sikh states have good Sikh troops, well drilled major selected for the appointment of commandant, and that of and fairly officered. They are very loyal to their chiefs. Rajmajor to a captain for that of second in command. The principle putana could supply a large force of cavalry, all members of a which it is endeavoured to preserve is that none but approved military class. There is much excellent material among these British officers should be appointed to native regiments. They are troops which, under the hands of British officers, could be made first trained and tested in British regiments before appointment to useful in escort duty and keeping open lines of communication. Among the states guns abound of all sorts, sizes, and conditions. the staff corps. Annual field-training is carried out first by squadrons and double They may be put down at 500, all smooth-bores of old pattern, companies under their own commanders, followed by that of the half of them movable. Very little of their artillery is organized. Nepal is not included in the native states of India. It pays no regiment, and of larger bodies of the combined arms at every station where available. Camps of exercise are a great feature in tribute. This mountainous state, the homeland of the Gurkhas, India, where unrivalled facilities exist close at hand for training the has maintained close and friendly relations with the Indian troops in every kind of country, which are taken full advantage Government since the accession to power of the Jung Bahadur of. Musketry is a strong point in the training. The course is a in 1846, especially after he had, to use his own expression, “stood very practical one, and the result is that the Indian soldier soon on London Bridge.” In 1857 he personally led a strong Gurkha force of infantry and artillery to co-operate with the British army develops into a first-class shot. Recruiting is conducted by British recruiting staff officers at at Lucknow. Nepal has an army of 48,000 infantry, capable of various centres throughout the commands, and also at regimental expansion, and about 600 guns of various kinds. The maintenance of the 18,000 imperial service troops costs the headquarters where men offer themselves, particularly cavalry. Subject to certain restrictions as to active service, a man may claim states concerned about £420,000, the outlay of the Indian Governhis discharge after three years’ service, but it is optional with him ment on them for inspection being £14,000. The personal cost of the British garrison of India to Indian to serve on for pension, or to pass to the reserve after five years’ service. The army draws its recruits as a rule from the peasant revenues is about £4,400,000 a year, while the net expenditure of (j. j. h. G.) or yeoman class, men of good physique, hardy, enduring, and the whole army of India is about ISJ millions. courageous. There is no lack of them. The service is very popular and well paid, and has a liberal system of pensions for The United States. long service and wounds, and also family pensions for widows or The regular army of the United States has always been orphans in case of death on active or foreign service, an attractive feature which appeals to the homes. It would be difficult in any small. During the Civil War the several States furnished