The British Army in India
Another legacy of the Indian Mutiny was the deployment of a large number of British Army units (mainly infantry) in India. These units were not part of the Indian Army, but came under operational command of the Indian Army. With the partition of British India on 15 August 1947, the British maintained a military presence in the two new countries for a short period. The last British Army unit to leave independent India was the 1 Bn. The Somerset Light Infantry, which left Bombay on 28 February 1948, with the British Headquarters, The Army in India closing on the same date. The last unit to leave Pakistan was the 2 Bn The Black Watch, which sailed from Karachi on 26 February 1948.
Structure of the Army in India
Pre-war, India Command was divided into four commands, each headed by a General or Lieutenant General, namely:
- Northern Command;
- Southern Command;
- Eastern Command;
- Western Command.
In late 1938, Western Command was downgraded to become the Western Independent District. Each command had a number of Districts under command, each being a Major General’s command. In April 1942, with the threat of Japanese invasion, Eastern Command and Southern Command were given a more operational focus and were redesignated as Eastern Army and Southern Army respectively. Also in April 1942, the Western Independent District was absorbed by Northern Command, which itself was redesignated as the North Western Army. In May 1942, a new command was established to control the central part of India. This meant that the higher level formations from May 1942 until the end of the war were:
- North Western Army;
- Southern Army;
- Eastern Army;
- Central Command.
With the end of the war, in 1946 the Armies reverted to being Commands, and British India moved back onto a peacetime setting with Central Command being disbanded. However, India quickly moved towards partition, with Northern Command becoming the Army Headquarters of the new Pakistan Army, and the other commands passing to the new Indian Army.
Western Command was one of the four pre-war commands in the Army in India. In 1938, this command was downgraded to become an independent district.
This district had its headquarters based in Quetta. It had four brigades under command namely:
Quetta Brigade: HQ Quetta
Khojak Brigade: HQ Quetta
Zhob Brigade: HQ Loralai
Sind Brigade Area: HQ Karachi
In April 1942, it was redesignated as the Baluchistan District under command of the North Western Army.
