NORTH-WEST OF INDIA

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1939, Page 22

NORTH-WEST OF INDIA

FRONTIER FIGHTING

TOUGH TRIBESMEN

The North-West Frontier of India was the subject of a talk which Major A. G. C. Deuber gave at yesterday's luncheon of. the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association.

Major Deuber referred to the interest taken by British people in the North-West Frontier. The reason originally may have lain in the fact that before the Great War the Frontier was often the scene of some of Britain's little wars which crept into the corners of the newspapers but perhaps did not mean very much. Apart from that, he thought the nature of the country and the people who inhabited it were a source of interest. In his opinion there were no others quite like the people there anywhere else in the world. They were hard and tough, and, living in the rough and relentless part of the world in which they did, were something to cope with. The country was exceedingly hilly; in fact, it was practically all hills, which were bare of vegetation. Major Deuber described the tribesmen as people who still lived a primitive life, in spite of their contact with the representatives of western civilisaton. They would go anywhere and stop at nothing to get firearms and they were expert marksmen. Apart from the nature of the country, the climate had a great deal to do with the characteristics of the people; in the summer it was terrifically hot and in the winter bitterly cold. When the tribes were not fighting the British troops, they were engaged in family feuds, but these were dropped when there was any trouble on with the British Raj. Then they united against their common enemy—the Unbeliever. The tribes were fanatically Mohammedan, and their one desire was to kill white men. PICKETING THE HEIGHTS. After describing the Khyber Pass, Major Deuber gave the gathering some idea of the methods employed when troops were manoeuvring in this hilly country. The first essential, he said, was to picket the heights. The picket men accordingly were sent ahead, and if any distance had to be covered a lot of troops were used up before it was possible to get down to the major operations. The picketing was most important because otherwise the troops would be very vulnerable to the sniping of the tribesmen. People had asked him why were not the people in this part of the world squashed once and for all. Even if there were a force of millions it could [ not be done, said Major Deuber. The speaker concluded his talk with an outline of events in what is officially ! recorded as the 3rd Afghan War, which started in May, 1919, just after the Great War and just after there had been very serious riots in India. He dealt with the artfulness and craftiness of the tribesmen, giving the gathering a good insight into the reasons why the troops on the North-West Frontier have always to be on the gui vive, ready for any eventualities. "It has been an interesting part of the world, it is now, and it will be also in the future," added Major Deuber. "Out there you have always to be on active service."

On the motion of Mr. H. R. Biss, Major Deuber was heartily thanked for his address.