It was said at the time, and has been said many times since, that the British Expeditionary Force, the BEF, that went across to France and Belgium on the outbreak of war in August 1914 was the best led, the best equipped and the best trained body of troops ever to leave these shores. That was probably correct, but it was pitifully small: four infantry divisions compared to France’s sixty-two, and one cavalry division to ten French ones. If Britain was to have any influence on the course of the war on land then that initial contribution would have to increase massively. In due course the Territorial Force of part-time soldiers would play its part, but in 1914 not all members had signed up for overseas service, and what’s more, its units were ill-equipped and unprepared for all-out war.
The New Armies being raised as a result of Lord Kitchener’s appeals would come on stream eventually, but they had to be trained and organised and equipped before they could play any part in the war. The dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa would make their presence felt in due time, but in 1914 their armies were tiny – a few thousand men at most – and it would be some time before they could be effective. In 1914 the only source of trained, professional reinforcement was the Indian Army, almost as large as the British Army (itself as yet tiny in comparison to those of the European powers) and composed entirely of long service regular soldiers.
Pre-war the Indian Army had been told that should there be a European war they would not be involved. This was a budgetary decision, as while the Indian army was well equipped to deal with troubles on the frontier and in campaigns in India’s near abroad, its infantry were equipped with the Mark II Rifle, rather than the Mark III of the British Army, and it had only mountain artillery, rather than the field and heavy guns that would be needed in Europe. To equip the Indian Army to British standards would cost money, and neither the British nor the Indian governments were prepared to spend it. In the event that stricture was swiftly reversed, and on the outbreak of war an Indian division was despatched to the Persian Gulf to safeguard the British owned oil. Three days after the declaration of war two Indian infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade were ordered to mobilise for the Western Front.
Embarking on hastily assembled ships adapted for carrying troops, horses, mules and all the impedimenta of war, the Indian forces set off from Bombay and Karachi and started to arrive in Marseilles on 26 September. A multi-racial army recruited mainly from the Punjab and the north, commanded by a small number of British officers who were required to immerse themselves in the languages and cultures of their men, they arrived just in time and in just enough numbers to plug the gaps in Flanders. It was here the First Battle of Ypres raged as the Germans attempted to break through to the Channel Ports.
It was said at the time that the arrival of the Indian Corps ‘saved the Empire’, and it certainly saved the BEF. The Indian Corps fought in all the major battles of 1914 and 1915, before being re-deployed to Mesopotamia at the end of 1915. Indian troops fought not only on the Western Front but also in Gallipoli, in Egypt, in Palestine, in Persia and in Salonika. True to their salt and professional soldiers all, they fought gallantly and at great cost. They fought in lands that they hardly knew, against enemies of whom they had never heard and in a war the nature of which no-one had anticipated.
Major Gordon Corrigan retired from the Brigade of Gurkhas in 1998. He is the author of Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-15, Mud, Blood and Poppycock and Loos 1915 – The Unwanted Battle, as well as several other military titles. He has appeared extensively on television and lectures and conducts battlefield tours in Europe, Asia and Africa.