A short history of each regiment, including 22 Cavalry, 21 Infantry & 10 Gurkhas Regiments.

On galantary awards winners of Indian armed forces.

Unlike traditional biographies of combat leaders, which focus primarily on military operations or regimental histories, in this book Major General V.K. Singh concentrates on personal accounts, anecdotes and reminiscences in order to highlight these leaders’ personalities, and to draw out the human face behind the military facade. Through the stories of these twelve military leaders, the book also throws new light on several historical events and the role of political leaders during India’s fight for independence and the partitioning of the subcontinent. He gives an overview of India’s military history after independence, including major operations, and describes many hitherto unknown or little-known incidents concerning smaller operations like Nathu La in 1967 and Goa in 1962. Written records tend to glorify the actions of battalions as well as individuals, Singh says, magnifying achievements while suppressing the mistakes and glossing over failures. Leadership in the Indian Army provides a truer picture of the strength of character and convictions of each of these leaders. A must-read for anyone interested in India’s military history.

Examines how military culture forms and changes, as well as its impact on the effectiveness of military organizations.

A unique examination of the role of the Indian army in post-World War II India in the run-up to Partition. Daniel Marston draws upon extensive archival research and interviews with veterans of the events of 1947 to provide fresh insight into the final days of the British Raj.

The Sixteenth Lancers already had a long and distinguished history when they sailed for India in 1822. Over the next twenty four years they fought in four wars, most famously in the Sutlej campaign, against the Sikhs. The Battle of Aliwal, in January 1846, is still celebrated by the successor regiment of the British Army. In their peacetime life in India, the Sixteenth sometimes enjoyed their exotic surroundings, but also endured the perils of a tropical climate - the regiment lost far more men due to disease than in battle. This book examines in detail what regimental soldiering was like in India in those years. It draws on an unprecedented range of sources, most of them previously unpublished. Aside from the official archives, the story is enlivened by a rich collection of journals, letters and diaries left by the officers and men. An important feature of the book is the detailed roll of every officer and man who served in the Sixteenth in the Sutlej. This provides a unique profile of the ranks at Aliwal: where they came from, what skills they brought to the army, why they enlisted, and what happened to them in their army career and afterwards. Some surprising results have been revealed: the high rate of literacy, the high suicide rates, and the proportion of men who stayed on in India when their regiment returned home. The officers were highly experienced and professional, in stark contrast to the amateur attitudes of their fellows in the Crimea. All aspects of regimental soldiering are examined - command, uniforms and weapons, horses, training and medical services, but also how the men lived and played (the Sixteenth's theater was famous). Many officers and men were from army families, and the period covered shows soldiers' sons growing up in the regiment and often reaching high rank. This unique 'social history' approach to the study of a British regiment will appeal to a wide audience; not only to students and academic staff studying military and social history, but also to students of Indian history, and to family historians with army ancestors. The account of the Sutlej campaign is relevant to the worldwide Sikh community. The nominal roll of the regiment will be appreciated by medal collectors, for whom an 'Aliwal' medal to the regiment has a special allure. The successor regiment of the Sixteenth Lancers is again serving in Afghanistan, so that this book has a topical resonance.

The Indian Army was the largest volunteer army during the Second World War. Indian Army divisions fought in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy - and went to make up the overwhelming majority of the troops in South East Asia. Over two million personnel served in the Indian Army - and India provided the base for supplies for the Middle Eastern and South East Asian theatres. This monograph is a modern historical interpretation of the Indian Army as a holistic organisation during the Second World War. It will look at training in India - charting how the Indian Army developed a more comprehensive training structure than any other Commonwealth country. This was achieved through both the dissemination of doctrine and the professionalism of a small coterie of Indian Army officers who brought about a military culture within the Indian Army - starting in the 1930s - that came to fruition during the Second World War, which informed the formal learning process. Finally, it will show that the Indian Army was reorganised after experiences of the First World War. During the interwar period, the army developed training and belief for both fighting on the North West Frontier, and as an aid to civil power. With the outbreak of the Second World War, in addition to these roles, the army had to expand and adapt to fighting modern professional armies in the difficult terrains of desert, jungle and mountain warfare. A clear development of doctrine and training can be seen, with many pamphlets being produced by GHQ India that were, in turn, used to formulate training within formations and then used in divisional, brigade and unit training instructions - thus a clear line of process can be seen not only from GHQ India down to brigade and battalion level, but also upwards from battalion and brigade level based on experience in battle that was absorbed into new training instructions. Together with the added impetus for education in the army, by 1945 the Indian Army had become a modern, professional and national army.

This division first saw light in Jhansi on 1st January 1942, under the command of Major-General R.A.Savory who had come from the 4th Indian Division in which he had been a brigade commander at Sidi Barrani and Keren (Eritrea). At first there were virtually no troops but gradually the brigades began to assemble - 1st, 37th and 49th, all of which would remain to the end of the war. Apart from the presence of the 82nd ATk Regt for a brief period in the very early days, the only British units to serve in the division were 158th Field Regiment RA and 1st Seaforths. In May the division took up station on the frontiers of Assam and Burma, the only force between the Japanese and India. The GOC s operation order included the intention: 23 Ind Div will (a) stop the Japanese invading INDIA, and (b) defeat them if they do. For the next two years and three months the division fought in the jungles of Burma and for all but five months of that time they were front line troops. They went through the length of Burma finishing up near Rangoon and in August 1944 they were withdrawn and sent back to India. Casualties totalled 2,910 of whom 605 were killed in action. A year later, just after VJ-Day, they were sent to Malaya and from there to Java to restore order in the Dutch colony and hand it back to the Netherlands. They were engaged in fighting the Indonesian rebels for more than a year, suffering a further 1,377 casualties, 407 of them killed and 162 missing. Summary of Honours and Awards and index. This is a good history which describes vividly the atmosphere of jungle fighting and the savage resistance of the Japanese soldier. On page xvi the author explains the Indian Army ranks and shows the Subedar-Major under the NCO group. This is wrong. The Subedar-Major was the senior Viceroys s Commissioned Officer in the battalion.

The first complete history of the Indian National Army and its fight for independence against the British in World War II.