INDIA AT WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 99, 24 October 1939, Page 5

INDIA AT WAR

HER VAST STRENGTH

EMPIRE'S UNKNOWN FACTOR

India is the unknown factor in the Empire's war potential, writes A. E. Simpson in the "Sydney Morning Herald." No one knows how many sepoys she could supply, but at a pinch the Indian Army, which is now being modernised, would make an impressive show. Most of the population, it is true, lack martial spirit, but at least forty millions are' four-star fighters by birth, breeding, and inclination. Like the German Junkers, they are brought up to feel that any war is better than none. But for British gunpowder the terrible Mahratta cavalry might still be holding Bengal to ransom and harrying the Moslems round Delhi. In the Great War India trained half a million men. that number being all that Britain could equip and transport. The present Indian Army consists of 150,000, plus reserves and the forces maintained by the Princes. The Princes control a third of India, and their- troops have again been placed at Britain's disposal. Tlie most important Prince is th© Maharajah of Nepal, who is not onlyindependent, but is ruler of the Gurkhas. These are not British subjects, although they, provide us with twenty battalions even in peace-time. Like the Foreign Legion, they are mercenaries whose loyalty and courage are beyond question. They are probably, the best Hindu troops, vying with Sikhs and "Moslems. Those three races provide practically the whole of the present Indian Army, and coriie from the north. OTHER RACES RECRUITED. . The Mahrattas and Jats qf Central India are the only other races seriously recruited in peace-time. Only the fact that they, live mostly in native States like Gwalior prevents them taking a larger share. Both did well in the Great War. All those races are quite distinct ia language and outlook. They are taught a common language, Urdu, called "Hindustani" by the British soldier. Urdu means "language of the camp,* and is a tongue which developed in the time of the Mogul conquerors whose army contained Turks and Persians as well as every kind of Indian. The British have made it the official language, but the vast majority of recruits have to learn it on enlistment. Words of command are given ia English, and the ambitious sepoy or sowar (trooper) learns English so that he may become a jemadar (officer). In the Great War the highest rank open to him was subadar-majdr, equivalent to senior lieutenant, but today. some of these men are full majors, and it is intended to have a 100 per cent. Indian division as soon as the senior officers can be trained. Indian officers are called Sahib, and are saluted by all junior British officers. The . Tommy is rapidly losing his .reluctance to salute them. . This was achieved by attaching young Indian officers to the British battalions for a year. Now every Tommy knows that all Indians do not live in a bazaar covered, with flies. Diggers will remember the stocky, shaven-headed Gurkhas who fraternise most readily with white troops. They have more humour and tolerance Tthan other Indians, so that social' and 'religious difficulties never ;■ arise With! them. They will eat anything arid fight anybody, unlike the Sikhs arid Musselmans. In 1914 feeding the Sikhs was. a staff officer's nightmare, for at first they rejected bully beef. The Gurkha is satisfied if the beef if canned as "mutton!" The Musselmans were unreliable against their co-religionists the Turk* until the British were inspired to make the Aga Khan a general. They sent him into the front line in Mesopotamia, where he found a formula, as the diplomats say. GOLD BY THE LOAD. The big, bearded Sikh is a magnificent soldier, but hard' to handle in view of his fanaticism. This, too, is breaking down, especially since the leading Sikh Prince, the Maharajah of Kapurthala, has set the example. He is probably the most westernised of Indian, rulers. The Aga Khan is still divine to-mil? lions of Moslems, and his loyalty'does not have to be declared. Like the Pope, he has no temporal power, but he is. worth an army corps to the Empire. The leading temporal ruler in Moslem India is the Nifcam of Hyderabad. Any war which he and the Aga Khan support will never require conscription in India. The Nizam is the richest man on earth, measuring his wealth, in wagon loads of gold. * ■ Every rich" Indian keeps his private gold hoard, and. weighs his wife arid daughters.. down , with silver bangles. No , effort has .been made to. mobilise this hidden reserve. It is the last card in the Bank of England's pack. India's industrial wealth is ver£ important at the moment. Her jute makes all Allied sandbags, and her man-, ganese ensures that our guns wear better than Germany's. Her. cotton makes explosives, while her tea arid sugar make war endurable.to the British soldier. Finally, India now. makes her own armaments with her own coal and iron, feeds herself, and exports wheat, maize, arid rice (from Burma). She will be free on this occasion to develop a real effort. The last war found the Indian army, with no oversea experience, no industry, arid trouble on the frontier. India had in fact, to b staye off an Afghan invasion. That will not be necessary now, for air power would enable us to reduce Kabul to rubble in twenty-four hours. The frontier riiay be a nuisance, but it is not a threat. Already Indian battalions are station* ed in Egypt. Singapore, and Hong Kong. ________