1947 Partition: Division of British Indian Army saw challenges, emotional moments for troops

Time of India

20 hours ago

The
1947 Partition
cleaved a nation into two separate dominions but the epochal exercise also spelt an end to the British-led Indian Army, which was divided between India and Pakistan, a step that saw both administrative challenges and emotional moments for the members of the troops who had to cross over to the other side.
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Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, the legendary British officer who was undivided India Army's Commander-in-Chief at the time of Partition, largely oversaw the division of the forces.
The midnight of August 14-15, 1947, was a promised moment in the history of India as a nation threw off the yoke of colonial rule and achieved Independence after a long struggle, and in the words of first prime minister Jawaharalal Nehru's famous 'Tryst With Destiny' speech, "the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance".
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But, it was also an occasion that carried painful memories of unprecedented human migration in history and bloodshed that preceded the hastily carried out Partition.
The landmark event meant a sunset for the British Empire in India, as also for the
British Indian Army
which evolved out of the East Indian Company forces.
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According to archival documents in possession of the UK-based National Army Museum (NAM), the "last Indian Army order" before its official division was issued on August 14, 1947.
"Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, who was to oversee the division of the army between India and Pakistan, and Major General Reginald Savory signed the text of the final order issued from the Adjutant General's Office," reads a caption for the image of this historic order, hosted on NAM's website.
This last order of the British-led Indian Army served as the "administrative epitaph for the largest volunteer army in history", it says.
The legacy of Field Marshal Auchinleck or 'Auk' as he was popularly known as, lives on in India, and a Sainik Aramgah (resting house for soldiers) at Old Delhi station carries his name.
Along with the Army, the Air Force and the Navy were also divided between independent India and the newly created Pakistan.
"Around 2,60,000 men, mainly Hindus and Sikhs, went to India. And 1,40,000 men, mainly Muslims, went to Pakistan. The Brigade of Gurkhas, recruited in Nepal, was split between India and Britain," according to the NAM website.
Many British officers stayed on to assist in the transition, including General Mcgregor Macdonald Robert Lockhart, who served as commander-in-chief of the Indian Army from August 15, 1947, to December 31, 1947, and General Frank Messervy, who was the first to head the Pakistan Army after its creation in 1947.
"Individual units were split up. The 19th Lancers in Pakistan exchanged their Jat and Sikh troops for Muslims from Skinner's Horse in India," according to the museum.
But, for many members of such troops, the separation from their homeland, which also meant a change in national and military allegiance, was not easy.
Old records suggest that many were reluctant to cross over to the other side of the border.
Military historian and former IAF officer Sqr Ldr T S Chhina (retd) said that in April 1947, in a defence committee meeting, it was "considered and agreed in principle" that planning for the division of the armed forces should be "given precedence".
"When this exactly started, I am not sure, but I think it may have begun around August 1947, the process of division. And, the services were given just few months to do this division," he told PTI.
Chhina, who works at the Centre for Military History and Conflict Studies (CMHCS) at Delhi-based think-tank United Service Institution of India (USI), said the troops in the British Indian Army were recruited on the basis of what was called the 'class-company system', meaning companies having men belonging to particular communities, like Punjabi Muslims, Jats or Sikhs, unlike in the Air Force and Navy which were technical forces.
He said while several senior officers from the Muslim community chose to stay in India, such as Brig Mohd Usman, whose heroics in the battle of Naushera in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1947-48 India-Pakistan war had earned him the moniker of 'Lion of Naushera' or 'Naushera Ka Sher', many of the troops "had no choice" and had to leave.
There were cases where men in the troops on the Indian side did not want to go, and it was quite an emotional moment for them, migrating to a newly-born country.
The other challenge was the "very short time" given to carry out the division of the armed forces which caused another problem, Chhina said.
This was "great tragedy" for the country as the India Army had "built a formidable reputation" for itself, and its military divisions were among the best in the world during the World War II, having defeated the German and Japanese forces.
"And, they would return to India to face an uncertain future that would lay ahead of them," the military historian said.
After Independence, British Army regiments were gradually withdrawn from the subcontinent. The last unit to leave India was the 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's), which embarked at Bombay on February 28, 1948.
Francis Robert Roy Bucher was Indian Army's commander-in-chief from December 31, 1947, to January 15, 1949.
On January 15, 1949, General K M Cariappa (later Field Marshal) became the first Indian commander-in-chief of the Army, a day commemorated as Army Day. The post was later redesignated as the chief of the army staff.