Corps scouts: soldiers, sung by Kipling

10
"Oh, the West is the West, the East is the East, and they will not leave their places,
Until Heaven and Earth appear on the Last Judgment.
But there is no East, and the West does not exist, that the tribe, the motherland, the family,
If strong with a strong face to face at the edge of the earth rises? "

So begins the "Ballad of the East and the West." In it, Rudyard Kipling, a classic of English "colonial literature", narrating the pacification of the warlike mountain tribes on the north-western borders of British India, makes the main heroes of the soldiers of the Intelligence Corps - the renowned unit of the British Indian Army. Among the many and diverse divisions of the British colonial troops, recruited from the inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent, the intelligence unit takes its rightful place. Of course, his fighters were not as widely known as the undersized commandos of the Himalayan mountains Gurkha or the majestic Sikhs, but, nevertheless, this military unit was for a long time considered to be one of the most combat-ready and formidable units of the British Indian Army.

History Scout Corps began in the middle of the XIX century. This time was marked by a further expansion of the colonial expansion of Britain in India and in adjacent territories. The natural interest of the British crown caused the north-western regions of Hindustan, where feudal Muslim, Sikh and Hindu states existed. Solving the tasks of establishing British domination in this region was associated with the need to ensure a strategic presence on the territory of modern Pakistan and Afghanistan - in close proximity to Central Asia, which by that time was already in the sphere of interests of the Russian Empire.

Geopolitical rivalry with Russia demanded that the British advance into the mountainous regions inhabited by militant Afghan tribes. However, the British government did not intend to act only with the use of its own military units - here, as in other regions of the world, the British authorities were going to use the colonial troops recruited from representatives of the native population. In India, the British preferred to recruit military units from representatives of the most militant peoples and tribes. Many of these peoples at one time put up fierce resistance to the British colonization, but then were forced to submit to the strongest and since then began to put brave and well-trained soldiers to serve the British crown. So it was with Gurkhas, Rajputs, Sikhs and many others. Not escaped service in the British Indian Army and the natives of the mountainous regions of modern Pakistan - representatives of the militant Pashtun tribes that inhabit the north-western areas on the Afghan border (today they are two provinces - Khyber - Pakhtunkhwa and Federally controlled territories of the tribes - always a problem and warring region, trying to proclaim the creation of a separate Islamic state of Waziristan, so named after the Pashtun tribe of Wazirs).

In 1838-1842 there was the first Anglo-Afghan war, in which both British and Indian military units took part. To strengthen their position in the region, the British needed to neutralize the resistance of the Sikh state - an influential state entity in the territory of Punjab. Secondly, there was a need to establish control over the “tribal zone” in the north-western part of modern Pakistan. To solve these problems, it was decided to reinforce the already existing contingent of British troops with a unit recruited from among the representatives of the local Pashtun tribes, distinguished by their militancy and well-known landscape features adapted to climatic conditions.

Creation of intelligence corps

The creation of this unit was initiated by Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence (1806-1857), a British resident in Lahore. Professional military, Lawrence has served in British India since 17 for years. Strictly speaking, it was quite predictable, because he was born on the island of Ceylon - in a family of Irish immigrants. As a young man, Lawrence began serving in the Bengali artillery regiment, participated in the First Anglo-Burmese War, after which he fell ill with fever and was treated for a while and rested from the colonial service in Great Britain. In 1829, he returned to India, where he became a tax inspector in Gorakhpur, and then was promoted to a British resident in Afghanistan and Nepal. It was Lawrence who came up with the idea of ​​creating a military unit of warlike Pashtuns. He assigned this task to Lieutenant Harry Barnett Lumsden (1821-1896).

Like Lawrence, Lumsden was a "British Indian." He was born aboard the ship of the British East Indies Company, in the family of the colonel of the British army, Thomas Lumsden. Harry Lumsden's childhood passed in Bengal, then at the age of six the boy was sent to Scotland, where he studied until he was sixteen and then returned to India again. In 1838, the young Lumsden began service in the 59 Bengal regiment of the native infantry, participated in the capture of the Khyber Pass in the 1842 year, in two Anglo-Sikh Wars. Becoming an assistant to Henry Lawrence in 1846, Lumsden led the immediate work of creating a new native unit. 6 February 1847, he wrote in a letter to his father that he would try to make his unit the best among others deployed in North-West India.

"Kamal fled with twenty people to the border of the rebel tribes,
And the colonel's mare, his pride, stole him from the colonel.
From the very stable of his he hijacked at the end of the night hours,
Thorns on horseshoes she turned, jumped up and was like that.
But a colonel’s son came out and said that the scouts are being led by a detachment:
“Can it be that none of my young men will indicate where the horse thief is?”

These lines of "Ballad of East and West" by Rudyard Kipling - just about him, about Harry Lumsden - the son of a colonel and the commander of the Intelligence Corps. Already many years after the creation of the unit, Lamsden, who rose in rank, took part in an expedition to Waziristan in 1860, commanded a contingent in Hyderabad in 1862, and in 1869 left India. In 1875, Mr. Harry Lumsden, rising to the rank of Lieutenant General of the British Army, retired and moved to Scotland, where he died at 75 years of age after 21 a year after his resignation - in 1896.

The official date for the creation of the Intelligence Corps is 14 December 1846 of the year. The creation of a new unit, known as the Intelligence Corps, was dictated by the need of the British military command to gather intelligence on the situation in the border areas and to ensure the protection of the borders of North-West India. The formation of the Intelligence Corps began in the vicinity of the ancient city of Peshawar. At present, Peshawar is the capital of the Pakistani Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the de facto center of Pakistan’s Pashtun population. The history of the city goes back to deep antiquity - as early as 159 BC, as a major urban center, it became part of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. Since then, over two millennia, kingdoms, princedoms, sultanates, empires, and Peshawar remained. In 1834, he was captured by Sikhs and became part of a powerful Sikh state. However, the British Empire claimed Peshawar and the surrounding lands, which understood the strategic importance of this city. Peshawar entered 1849 in British India two years after the creation of the Intelligence Corps.

Initially, the Intelligence Corps was conceived as a mixed unit, which would include in its composition and infantry, and cavalry units. This was a very sensible decision, since reconnaissance and border patrols in the mountainous regions of North-West India required the participation of both cavalry and foot soldiers. In the year of its creation, the Intelligence Corps included only two infantry companies and a cavalry platoon. However, its number was increased in 1848 year - due to the beginning of the Second Anglo-Sikh War - to three infantry companies and three cavalry platoons.

The second Anglo-Sikh war began in the spring of 1848. Her reason was the killing of English envoys at Multan. The city of Multan was formally part of the Sikh Empire from 1818, but after the First Anglo-Sikh War was in fact an independent entity. He was ruled by a Hindu raja Dewan Mulrage. When the British-controlled Sikh authorities demanded that Mulraj increase taxes sent to the center of the Sikh Empire from Multan, the governor of the city refused power in favor of his son. However, 18 on April 1848. A squad of native soldiers led by British lieutenants Patrick Vance Angnu and William Andreson arrived in Multan. Mulraj let them into the city, but there the British were attacked by the local militia. The wounded British fled to a mosque outside the city, but were killed. Mulrage sent Lieutenant Vance Angnu’s head to Sikh Governor Han Singh. The news that Multan was dealt with by British officers quickly spread throughout the Sikh region of Punjab and led to mass unrest, including in parts of the troops loyal to the government of the Sikh state. The forces of the Bengal and Bombay armies of the British East India Company were deployed to Punjab. The fighting began between the British troops and the rebels Sikhs, and the latter was joined by a large part of the Sikhs, first controlled by the British. The irregular units, recruited by the British from the Pashtuns who professed Islam and had their own accounts with respect to the Sikhs, took an active part in the war against the Sikhs. In 1849, the war ended with the defeat of the Sikhs. According to its results, Punjab passed under British control.

The scout corps, commanded by Harry Lumsden, played an important role in the fighting. As early as the beginning of 1848, Lumsden and his scouts were summoned to Lahore and began to gather information about the uprising planned by Sikhs. The scout corps was directly involved in the siege of Multan and the battle of 21 in February of 1849, during which the Sikh army suffered a crushing defeat from British troops. By the way, for the first time in the British army on the territory of Hindustan, Lamsden introduced a khaki-colored uniform that showed its practicality in combat conditions.

From the revolt of the sepoys to the First World War

After the war, in 1851, the Intelligence Corps was incorporated into the formed Punjabi irregular forces. This military unit included military units recruited on the territory of Punjab, in which Muslims, Sikhs, Indians and British officers served. In addition to the Intelligence Corps, the Punjabi irregular forces included five cavalry, eleven infantry regiments and five artillery batteries. The Punjabi irregular forces were tasked with protecting the borders of North-West India and maintaining order in the territory entrusted to them. The Intelligence Corps itself was stationed at 1854 as a garrison in the city of Mardan.

In May, 1857 broke out a famous uprising of sepoys - soldiers of Indian units of British colonial troops. The formal reason for it was rumors about new patrons, the shell of which was saturated with pig and cow fats. In order to charge weapon, it was required to break the shell with the teeth, but neither the Muslims could afford such a thing with respect to the shell soaked in pork fat, nor the Indians could touch the shell soaked with cow fat. 29 March 1857 g. Soldier Mangal Pandi disagreed with the actions of the command and fired at the British lieutenant, hitting his horse. Pandy, of course, was hanged, but the beginning of the uprising was laid. The 34 Bengal regiment of the native infantry rebelled first, and other military units joined by Muslim and Hindu soldiers joined it.

Corps scouts: soldiers, sung by Kipling


Sipai hoped to restore the power of the Mughal dynasty, for which they asked Bahadur Shah to lead the uprising. The last representative of the dynasty did not at first respond to the appeal of the rebels, but then, when Delhi and a number of other cities were completely in the hands of the sepoys, still announced the restoration of the power of the Great Mughals. In the cities captured by the rebels, massacres and violence against Europeans and Indians who collaborated with them began. Nevertheless, a number of influential forces in India supported the British from the very beginning of the uprising. Thus, the Sikhs and Pashtuns of Punjab and the North-Western border, as well as the spiritual head of the Ismailis, Aga Khan, whose subjects lived in the highlands of Kashmir, spoke in support of the British authorities. The support of the Muslim and Sikh population of the British authorities was due to the fact that the Great Mughals claimed the Punjab and Pashtun territories, considering them as their possessions, and the local population did not forget about the Mughal rule and did not want their power back.

13 in May 1857. The reconnaissance corps left Mardan and 9 June arrived in Delhi, making an unprecedented transition in twenty-six days and fourteen hours in the hot Indian climate. Historians argue that the moral effect of the arrival of the Corps of Intelligence to the walls of Delhi was even more significant than the real combat power of a small unit. Corps scouts entered the battle on the same day of June 9. They took the most active part in assault and capture of Delhi, demonstrating high fighting qualities and tremendous courage. By the end of hostilities, a Corps detachment arrived in Delhi, numbering 600 soldiers and officers, suffered casualties of a total of 350 people. For participation in the storming of Delhi, the servicemen of the Intelligence Corps received the right to wear a red edging on collars. This has become an honorary distinctive mark for military units.

It should also be noted that in the division, as in other Indian units, the opportunity for career advancement of native military personnel who received special “native” officer ranks that were not commensurate with the ranks of European officers, was created. “Native” officers were called “viceroy officers” and were used as a link between British officers and native soldiers and noncommissioned officers. As a rule, former non-commissioned officers became “officers of the viceroy”, who were deserted for their personal and combat qualities. In the cavalry units of the Indian troops, the following ranks were established: sipai (private), non-commissioned officer ranks - Lance Dafadar trainee, Lance Dafadar and Dafadar, officer ranks - Djemadar, Risaldar and Risaldar Major. In the infantry divisions there was a slightly different hierarchy of ranks - sipai (private), non-commissioned officer ranks - Lans-Naik, Naik and Havildar, officer ranks - Djemadar, Subedar and Subedar-Major.

In 1857, the unit received the official name - the Intelligence Corps of the Punjab Irregular Forces, and in 1865 it was renamed the Intelligence Corps of the Punjab Border Troops. In 1876, Queen Victoria awarded the unit with the title of royal and officially became known as the Queen’s Separate Intelligence Corps of the Punjab Border Troops. The chief of the intelligence corps was the Prince of Wales. The unit took an active part in the Second Anglo-Afghan War 1878-1881. Among the exploits of the scouts during the Afghan company is participation in the capture of Ali Masjid, a march on Jalalabad and a cavalry attack on Fatehabad. During the latter, Lieutenant Walter Hamilton distinguished himself, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. After the Gandamak Treaty was concluded as a result of the war, in May 1879, the emir of Afghanistan agreed to the presence of the British mission in Kabul, a squad of 76 troops of the Intelligence Corps under the command of Lieutenant Walter Hamilton was identified as a convoy to the mission of Sir Louis Kavagnari (1841-1879) - a British diplomat of French origin, a participant in the suppression of the Sipahi uprising, who served in Punjab for a long time and was well acquainted with the local political situation. In Kabul, Cavagnari was to become a resident of the British crown during the Afghan emir.



24 July 1879. The mission arrived in Kabul, but on September 3 a regiment of the Afghan army attacked the British residence. For 12 hours, Corps scouts defended the residence with two platoons against an Afghan army regiment. During the defense of the mission, all of its defenders were killed, managing to destroy opponents to 600. In memory of the brave scouts who fell in Kabul, in Mardan, on the site of the reconnaissance corps, a memorial was created. The destruction of the British mission in Kabul was the reason for the resumption of hostilities of the British army against Afghanistan. The intelligence corps again took an active part in them. He participated in numerous battles and replenished with another holder of the Cross of Victoria - Captain Arthur Hammond, who received an award for personal courage shown in battles. After the end of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the Intelligence Corps participated in the pacification of the tribes on the North-Western border. Among the combat operations of the regiment during the period under review were the joining of Chitral in 1895, the suppression of the uprising at the border in 1897-1898, participation in the expedition to Mohmand in 1908. In 1901, the unit was withdrawn from the Punjab border troops and it became just the Queen Separate scout corps. In 1911, it was renamed Queen Victoria Separate Intelligence Corps (Border Troops).

Scouts in World Wars

The beginning of the First World War, the infantry and cavalry units of the Intelligence Corps met in different ways. Corps infantry was left in India to guard the northwest frontier. Cavalry reconnaissance units were dispatched in November 1917 to Mesopotamia, where they participated in the battles of Shargat and Khan Baghdadi as part of the 11 of the Indian Cavalry Brigade. After the end of the war, the Corps' cavalry stayed in Persia for three more years, where it performed the tasks of protecting British interests in geopolitical confrontation with Soviet Russia. The infantry units of the Corps during this period served in the territory of Palestine and Mesopotamia. During World War I, the cavalry and infantry units of the Intelligence Corps acted separately, and in 1921 they were officially separated and the Corps ceased to exist as a whole force. The cavalry was named 10 of Queen Victoria of its own cavalry scout corps (border troops), and the infantry units joined the 12 regiment of the border troops, making it the 5 and 10 (training) battalions, respectively. The regiment served Punjabi Muslims, Sikhs and Dogra. The regiment kept the khaki uniform with red edging.

The 10th Cavalry reconnaissance corps met World War II as a mechanized reconnaissance regiment equipped with wheeled armored personnel carriers and one and a half ton trucks. In May 1941, the unit was sent to Iraq, as part of the British contingent in Mesopotamia. The regiment participated in the British invasion of Iran, during which one of the regiment squadrons, together with the infantry battalion, stormed the city of Khorramshahir. In June 1942, the regiment was transferred to North Africa, where it was attached to the British 8th Army, fighting in the area of ​​Egypt. In September 1942, scouts returned to Iraq, where they served for another year, after which they were transferred to India in November 1943. The regiment continued its service on the North-Western border. In November 1945, in addition to armored vehicles, the regiment was adopted Tanks.

Pakistani service

After the independence of British India and its division into two sovereign states - India and Pakistan, the 12-th regiment of the border troops was renamed the border regiment and entered into the armed forces of Pakistan. The cavalry regiment also remained in Pakistan and was named the reconnaissance cavalry of the border forces. In 1957, the rifle and Pushtun border regiments were merged into a new border regiment. The cavalry regiment was included in the 6-th armored division of the Pakistani army. During the Indo-Pakistani War 1965, a regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Amir Gulistani Janjua participated in the battle of Chavinda. 7 September 1965. Indian troops, using one armored and three infantry divisions, launched an offensive before Sialkot, but the cavalry regiment undertook a bold operation and rejected the Indian armored division, which took two days to recover. At this time, the 6-I Pakistani armored division was brought. September 11 Indian units resumed the offensive, but could not capture Chavinda. September 14 new attack of the Indian army also ended in failure.

Currently, similar tasks are performed by the Pakistan Border Corps. It has a total of about 80 000 military personnel and is recruited by recruiting representatives of Pashtun tribal formations living along the Pakistani-Afghan border. Command posts in the corps are occupied by Pakistani army officers. The border corps is subdivided into the Border Corps of the North-West Frontier Province in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Territories, and the Balochistan Border Corps stationed in the south of the country - in the province of Baluchistan. Each unit is commanded by a Pakistani major general, but the general leadership of the Border Corps is exercised by the Minister of the Interior of Pakistan. The tasks of the formation include participation in the protection of the state border, the fight against terrorism, and the maintenance of public order together with the police and army units. Corps servicemen perform counter-insurgency missions in Balochistan and the “tribal zone” - the federally controlled tribal territories. In the Pakistani city of Mardan, there is a memorial to the soldiers of the Intelligence Corps who died during the defense of the British mission in Kabul in 1879.
Our news channels

Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest news and the most important events of the day.

10 comments
Information
Dear reader, to leave comments on the publication, you must sign in.
  1. +2
    16 January 2015 06: 30
    I think that scouts have been since the time of tracking and detecting a mammoth.
    Or I'm wrong?
  2. +3
    16 January 2015 08: 00
    However, well done the British .. knew how to fight with the wrong hands ... Thank you, great article ..
  3. 0
    16 January 2015 08: 25
    Quote: parusnik
    However, well done the British .. knew how to fight with the wrong hands ...

    Yes, it is very well described in the book by Lawrence of Arabia "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom".
  4. +3
    16 January 2015 08: 37
    Song of the Colonel
    West is west, east is east, and north is north.
    Such deep thoughts, my friend, can’t be counted in my head,
    but the thought - that dust on seven winds, appeared for a moment - and no,
    and this tradition lives on for centuries, leaving a trace in the hearts.

    Before Fort Buklo, Colonel gray-haired mercilessly drove horses,
    to the gloomy cliffs where Kemal and twenty of his people hid.
    He raced a bird flying faster, even though he rubbed a saddle mercilessly,
    and then he drove up to the Jagi gorge, which is next to Fort Buklo.
    There is a rock on the right, and on the left a rock, blackthorn and piles of sand,
    and the sweat the labor colonel gray-haired tiredly brushed off his temple,
    and cast a few words to his comrades (army jargon is harsh,
    but the general meaning was something like this: soak in the toilet goats!).
    And the colonel clung to the cherished flask, and the good took a sip,
    and sees - the old man is coming from the gorge (in the turban - that's what the East is for).
    "Come on, tell me, wise hajji, but just look, don't lie,
    what fate measured out my fate - a year, two or three?
    Why are you chalking in your own way, boor, you don’t know English, come on?
    Hey son of the Risaldars, Mohammed Khan, come on, translate! "
    And Mohammed Khan, Risaldar’s son, reluctantly stepped forward,
    and made, after deducting an idiolect, a very good translation:
    "O Colonel, the jackal is a direct descendant, your empty head,
    you are ruining the people here by the war for more than a year or two.
    Under enemy fire your faithful horse stands without fear of anything,
    wild fire is raging in his blood, his neck is stronger than gallows!
    But no matter how cute the belly is for you, it’s better to send it out,
    after all, it is he who is your death, if you believe fate! "
    The Colonel frowned angrily at his brow, but he dismounted in an instant:
    “Find another horse under the saddle - it seems the old man is not lying.
    And send this home, brothers, even though he’s good on the go,
    well, his to the devil with such karma - why waste not for a penny? "
    And several times since then the spring color has flown from the trees,
    and the brave colonel was completely decrepit, even though he had been hitherto gray,
    And, having decided to bring old bones to foggy native Albion,
    I turned to my friends with the last one, and he remembered the horse:
    Like, somewhere now a black stallion, comrade of war days?
    And he hears in response that the cattle is the end - not a long century at the horses.
    "Where did he find the last rest?" - "On the steepest, near the river."
    And the old colonel sighed and said, "Come with me, men."
    He stepped on the horse’s skull and turned his gaze
    to the place where fog covered the tops of high mountains
    and said: "It turns out, the old man lied! What a liar people!"
    Or, maybe, tell me, Mohammed Khan, was the translation inaccurate?
    Eh, I would probably know - I would have nailed, she-she! Who did you trust ... "
    ... A snake crawled out of the skull at the voice, and the colonel cried out: "Fuck!"
    Yes, the West is the West, the East is the East, but people are there, what's here,
    in five minutes the snake venom fades, turns blue and dies -
    and there is no East, and there is no West, and other famous places ...
    So let’s remember, friends, the Ministry of Health’s advice and drink to the Red Cross!
    graf_nulin
    http://www.anekdot.ru/id/136559/
    1. 0
      16 January 2015 12: 33
      Thanks! Frankly speaking, I did not know that Vysotsky had rocked his "Song of the Prophetic Oleg" at Kipling's. :)
  5. 0
    16 January 2015 15: 29
    More from Kipling, just about scouts:
    "Walking around the picket, whose shape he took - open,
    Did he become a mosquito, or a mosquito on the river ?,
    Sora, what lies everywhere, a rat running away?
    Spit among street stoves?
    Here's your business, spy! "
  6. 0
    16 January 2015 22: 36
    Well done British, have always led a very rational colonial policy. How did they know how to prioritize military service among Aboriginal people? Should learn. All the national military units of the colonies took part in all the wars in which the British Empire took part ....
  7. -2
    17 January 2015 01: 35
    Crimea-Sevastopol at one time, prosrali, quickly then returned.
    And the British fleet didn’t get a superfood with a pill on the way to Peter?
    Forgive the British, but without the masters of the United States, you are a Zirow. that is 0.
    1. +2
      17 January 2015 12: 37
      The language of these "zeros" is spoken by the USA, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand,
      South Africa and many more countries - former colonies. Thanks to the British Empire
      English has become international. Hedgehog understands that without the world's strongest military
      a fleet and a disciplined army capable of fighting in deserts and jungles,
      such an international expansion would not be possible.
  8. 0
    20 January 2015 12: 38
    interesting article. thank. especially the ranks interested.

"Right Sector" (banned in Russia), "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) (banned in Russia), ISIS (banned in Russia), "Jabhat Fatah al-Sham" formerly "Jabhat al-Nusra" (banned in Russia) , Taliban (banned in Russia), Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia), Anti-Corruption Foundation (banned in Russia), Navalny Headquarters (banned in Russia), Facebook (banned in Russia), Instagram (banned in Russia), Meta (banned in Russia), Misanthropic Division (banned in Russia), Azov (banned in Russia), Muslim Brotherhood (banned in Russia), Aum Shinrikyo (banned in Russia), AUE (banned in Russia), UNA-UNSO (banned in Russia), Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (banned in Russia), Legion “Freedom of Russia” (armed formation, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation and banned)

“Non-profit organizations, unregistered public associations or individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent,” as well as media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent: “Medusa”; "Voice of America"; "Realities"; "Present time"; "Radio Freedom"; Ponomarev; Savitskaya; Markelov; Kamalyagin; Apakhonchich; Makarevich; Dud; Gordon; Zhdanov; Medvedev; Fedorov; "Owl"; "Alliance of Doctors"; "RKK" "Levada Center"; "Memorial"; "Voice"; "Person and law"; "Rain"; "Mediazone"; "Deutsche Welle"; QMS "Caucasian Knot"; "Insider"; "New Newspaper"