ARMIES
654
general officer and garrisons a district of the Hydrabad state, but is available for general service. . . The unified army is now organized on the territorial principle. The old Madras and Bombay armies are included in the Madras and Bombay commands, and recruit with some exceptions within the territories of these commands. The Bengal army was divided into two parts. All that portion of it which recruits in the Punjab is included in the Punjab command, while that which recruits in North-West India and neighbourhood is included in the Bengal command. The Gurkha battalions, a foreign element, are divided between the Punjab and Bengal commands with one battalion in Burma. All the troops, though they have a home connexion with their particular commands, are interchangeable and liable to serve anywhere in and outside India. The composition of the several commands is as follows :— Indian Army. Native Troops. Cavalry regiments Artillery batteries (10 mountain) Sappers and miners Infantry battalions
Total.
Punjab. Bengal.
3 139
44
Strength, includ- 52,600 32,900 30,300 31,200 7,600 154,600 ing officers / The Indian Staff Corps, consisting of a corps of British officers for regimental employment in the native army, for staff, departmental, and other duties, numbers at present 2600 effectives, with a tendency to increase. Of these 26 are general officers. The Indian Medical Service numbers 700 officers of all ranks, with a subordinate establishment of 500 military assistant surgeons. The present establishment of British troops in India numbers 73,500. They are periodically relieved from home, the tour of service varying from 9 years for cavalry up to 15 years for artillery and infantry ; and are generally distributed in the several commands as follows Bombay Total. Punjab.^ Bengal. Cavalry regiments Artillery horse batteries ,, field batteries ,, heavy batteries ,, mountain batteries ,, garrison batteries . Infantry battalions
3 4 8 2 5 3 15
3 3 14 1 17
1 2 12 2 9 11
9 11 42 4 8 23 51
Royal Engineers, Submarine Miners, etc., one company in the commands. The regular troops, British and native together, number 228,100, the strength of the several arms being as follows :— British. Native. Total. Cavalry 5,600 24,700 30,300 Infantry 52,600 122,000 174,600 Artillery 16,600 13,400 3,200 Guns. 390 466 76 The Native Army Active Reserves, mainly infantry, are growing, and at present number about 21,000, nearly half of whom belong to the Punjab command. They consist of men who have served with the colours from five to twelve years, and are called out annually for one month’s training at regimental centres. There is also a large garrison reserve of all arms, consisting of old soldiers who have served twenty-one years, and are on the pension establishment. The auxiliary forces consist, in round numbers, of Volunteers (British) 31,000 Imperial Service Troops (Native) .... 18,000 North-West Frontier Irregular Corps (Native) . . 5,000 Burma and Assam Military Police Battalions (Native) 15,000 The volunteers are drawn from the British element of the population ; organized in corps in the different commands—rifles, mounted and foot, light horse, and artillery—under district general officers. Well armed and trained, they are of great defensive value. The Imperial Service Troops came into existence in 1888, when the principal feudatory chiefs spontaneously offered men and money
[INDIA
towards co-operation in imperial defence. Portions of their forces, under the instruction of a staff' of British inspecting officers, have been raised to such a pitch of general efficiency as to fit them to take a place in line with the army of India. At present they consist of 8000 cavalry, 8000 infantry, with pioneers, mountain artillery, camel and transport corps, and have done good service in the field at Gilgit, on the Punjab frontier, and in China. They are under the orders of the Government of India. The North-West Frontier Irregular Troops are organized in eight corps as rifles and militia, under two and three British officers to each corps, and form an efficient advanced frontier force for service in the tribal countries beyond the administrative border. They are under the political authorities of the frontier province, and are recruited from the Afridi and other mountain clans along the border. The Burma and Assam Military Police are organized in battalions under British officers, seconded from their regiments for this duty. They are recruited from the best material in the Punjab and neighbourhood, and form a very efficient irregular force for service on the eastern frontiers. They are under the provincial civil governments. The supreme military power in India is vested by law in the Governor-General in Gouncil, subject to the control of the Secretary of State for India. The business of the army is conducted through the military branch of the Government secretariat, which is immediately under the military member of Council. The secretary of this branch, like all the others, holds a position somewhat above that of an under-secretary of state in England as, apart from his responsibility to the military member, the duty rests with him of personally bringing to the knowledge of the Viceroy every matter of special importance. The executive head of the army is the Commander-in-Chief in India. He is responsible for its efficiency, is the adviser of Government in all military matters, and is an extraordinary member of Council with a voice in it, and precedence next after the Viceroy. Besides the great department of command and discipline of which he is the head, there are various army departments, for the most part spending—ordnance, works, accounts, commissariat-transport, Indian medical service, army remount, clothing. These, together with what comes up from the Commander-in-Chief, make up the whole business of the army, and are administered in the military department of the Government by the military member of Council. All orders are issued by the secretary of this department in the name of the Governor-General in Council. The Commander-in-Chief nominates to all appointments in the combatant branches subject to regulations, the action of Government being limited to confirming his nominations, which m all important cases are the result of communications which obtain the Viceroy’s approval beforehand. The military member nominates to all appointments in the departments under him. As a matter of fact, the disposal of questions of equipment, armament, and defence, is the result of deliberation between the two authorities previous to submission to the supreme authority. Communication between the Commander-in-Chief and the military department is carried on through the adjutant-general and quartermaster-general. The Commander-in-Chief has under him a personal office, of which his military secretary is head, dealing with appointments and promotion. Also under him is the adjutant-general’s department, which includes the inspector-generals of royal artillery and cavalry, staff officers for musketry and royal engineers, &c., with the quartermastergeneral’s department, including mobilization, intelligence, army signalling, &c. Other heads at army headquarters are the surgeongeneral, army and Indian medical staff, director military education, judge-advocate-general, principal veterinary officer. The division of the army into four great commands with complete army and departmental staff, all under lieutenant-generals, vested with large responsibilities and powers, has relieved the Commanderin-Chief of much detail, and left him free to exercise general supervision over the army—to watch it in peace and direct it in war, and to consider the important military questions of the day. Comprised in the commands are thirty military districts. All the general officers and staff are selected according to a fixed proportion from both services, British and Indian. The establishment of units of the British army in India is :— Cavalry: 29 officers, 601 other ranks—total 630, in 4 squadrons. Artillery, horse and field : 5 officers each, 157 other ranks—total, 162. ,, mountain : 5 officers, 106 other ranks—111. ,, heavy: 5 officers, 95 other ranks—100.
