Indian Army Lists online-pdfs

At least some of the editions of the Indian Army List have been uploaded by the Digital Library of India to the Internet Archive, Archive.org.

The download options appear to be pdf files, (which is what is available on the Digital Library of India), and in addition a Torrent download, which I understand may also be called BitTorrent, but I am otherwise unfamiliar with this type of download

Some other books uploaded by the Digital Library of India to Archive.org you can read online, but this option was not available for the (small number of ) Indian Army Lists I looked at.

Cheers
Maureen

Edit: It is possible that the the ability to read the book online may be a feature which appears in the next dew days, as these books have only been uploaded quite recently.
2nd edit 1 April 2017: Some editions are now available to read online. At the current rate, it could be mid 2017 before this feature is available for all editions. Full range of Internet Archive download options appear to be now available.

 

Hello Maureen,
I am researching my late father's service in the British Indian Army and found the WW2Talk website and the link to the FIBIS site. I encountered errors when selecting various links in the 1940-1947 period.
Do you know if the FIBIS site has been disabled or if any other members have encountered problems?

Thank you for your work and I look forward to hearing from you.

Chris Houghton

 

Hello Maureen,
I solved the problem. Driver error!
Thanks,
Chris

 

Regarding the Indian Army Lists for 1943 which are linked from the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Indian Army Lists online
Indian Army List online - FIBIwiki

A researcher has kindly advised FIBIS that the digital files for April and October 1943 are intermixed, and catalogued incorrectly. I have made the corrections to the above Fibiwiki page.

Cheers
Maureen

 

Thanks as always Maureen. 1943, the most important year of all in this regard, well for me in any case.

Steve

 

Thanks for staying on top of this resource.

 

Hello, any idea how I might find lists of non-commissioned officers?

thanks

 

Occasionally there may be senior NCOs appearing in the Indian Army Lists, but this may be for pre-WW2 periods. I am not aware of any other sources.

Cheers
Maureen

 

Three extra editions from Google Books from the FIBIS Fibiwiki page "Indian Army List online" Indian Army List online - FIBIwiki
1915-October
1922-April
1932-October

Also there is some limited information about the Indian Army, and other "Colonial" regiments in Army Lists for the British Army.
There is a FIBIS Fibiwiki page "Army List for British Army online", section "Monthly Army List"
Army List for British Army online - FIBIwiki

I posted this information in a topic " Online Monthly Army List for British Army inc. 1920-1936"
Online Monthly Army List for British Army inc. 1920-1936

Maureen

 

Hi - My grandfather (Nijanand Vishnu Bal) served in the British (Indian) Army. He joined Sandhurst on 30th Jan 1931 and graduated in July 1932. He served in WWII on the eastern front. I believe he was part of the 5th Light Maratha Infantry. However, I was unable to locate his name in the lists provided. In case anyone has any suggestions for me, I would be very grateful. Am writing his biography and hence keenly interested in his role in WWII.

 

Hi Deepika,
He is there in the lists. To make things easier for you, I have attached his entries for 1941 and 1943 through 1945. As you likely know, post-war and independence, he was promoted substantive Colonel (Acting Brigadier) in January 1950 and retired as a Major-General. The London-based Mahratta Light Infantry Regimental Association folded about 20 years ago but I feel certain that the regiment will still have an active Officers' Association. I can't immediately locate its contact details but a call to the Regimental Centre in Belgaum/Belagavi might yield results particularly given your grandfather's renown and his subsequent tenure at Pune University.
Happy Hunting!
Col

 

Dear Col, Thank you so much for the documents. They are invaluable. I will definitely contact the regimental center at Belgaum. I will also look up any records of the Mahratta Light Infantry's role in Mesopotamia during WWII. He had mentioned he was stationed there.
If you do not mind my asking, does the Army also have any records of his Pune University tenure? The reason I ask is that anything pertaining to him would be invaluable to me. In fact, I believe he had prepared a study on the demobilization of Indian soldiers after WWII and had given it to Commander Claude Auchinleck. I am keen to find that document. Thank you again.

 

Hi Deepika,
If you are looking for an overview of what the 5th Battalion were up to in Iraq and Persia, then you could do worse than consult the regimental history, Valour Enshrined by Col. M G Abhyankar (1960). Happily, it is available online here . You will see that your grandfather is mentioned a few times and there is also a photograph of him. The history also covers the activities of the 15th Battalion in which your grandfather served in the latter part of the war. I suspect that he will also feature in the official histories of the Operations in Jammu & Kashmir 1947-48 (for his activities in the State of Junagadh) and Operation Polo (action in the State of Hyderabad). His spell on the staff at Army Headquarters in the mid-1950s is likely to remain obscure but his old regiment may or may not be able to fill in the blanks for you. It is unlikely that they will be able to offer you much on his time as Head of the Department of Military Science at Pune University but hope springs eternal!! Please be aware that Auchinleck's papers are held by the University of Manchester in the UK and if your grandfather's study is not amongst them then I can only assume that it is still gathering dust in Army HQ even today. The library of the United Service Institution of India based in Vasant Vihar, Delhi may be able to offer some help in tracking it down as I see that your grandfather had a few articles published in their journal in his time, so, there is every reason to be hopeful!
Good Luck,
Col

 

Dear Col, Your messages are priceless. I shared them with my dad as well. It is wonderful to see this information on him. Truly priceless. I have downloaded a copy of Valour Enshrined and will go through it. Very grateful.
Regards,
Deepika

 

You are most welcome Deepika!

 

If you do not mind, I have another query. When my grandfather was at Sandhurst, he had a local guardian by the name of H Wilkinson. I am attaching his admission card (which shows H Wilkinson's name) and also a blog on H Wilkonson (very very interesting.Who was Mr WHJ Wilkinson CIE, ICS?)

I am curious to know why Sandhurst required these cadets to have local guardians. What was the role of the local guardians? How much interaction did they have with the cadets? In case there is any information available on the subject of local guardians, I would be very grateful. Thank you.

 

Dear Col,
I also went to the online site of the United Service Institution last evening (Publications : Journal) to search for my grandfather's articles in their journals. However, I could not find old journals there. Should I be writing to them to get access to these journals? Thank you so much for your help.
Regards,
Deepika

 

Hi Deepika,

Wilkinson had quite the career, didn't he? Also kept very active in his so-called retirement. I think the best way to describe the official view of guardians at Sandhurst is to quote direct from the Skeen report (Jinnah was one of the members of this committee) on the Indianisation of the Indian Army officer cadre:

..."those [cadets] who are in a position to do so should select their own guardian, as the boy will then receive more individual attention than he could hope to receive from an official guardian. The guardian should be a personal friend of the parent. He should be a person of mature age permanently resident in England, and preferably an ex-member of one of the Indian Services, and the India Office should be furnished with the name and address of a guardian so appointed.

For those boys whose parents are not in a position to secure the services of a personal guardian, there should be an official guardian who should be very carefully selected by the India Office with the concurrence of the Government of India. The essence of the matter is that the Indian boy at Sandhurst should have someone always at hand whom he can regard as a friend and as a protector, to whom he can turn for sympathetic advice and guidance, and in whom both the parent in India and the son at Sandhurst can feel that they have implicit trust. It is probably desirable that the official guardian should be a retired officer of the Indian Army, whose experience should make it specially easy for him to assist the boy in adjusting himself to the military atmosphere and conditions of life in the Royal Military College."

One of the key outcomes of the Skeen report was the establishment on an "Indian Sandhurst" and the Indian Military Academy was duly inaugurated in 1932 although prospective officers from India continued to apply to and were accepted by Sandhurst long after that date.

Regards,
Col

 

How interesting! Clearly, my grandfather's parents were not in a position to secure the services of a personal guardian. Very understandable since he came from a rural farming family. It is really interesting and eye-opening to research his career. Thank you so much.

 

Hi,

This being a public forum, I think the diplomatic way of suggesting a best course for you will depend on where you are based! If you are based in India, you will need either a strong letter of support from a university seeking access to their library or be in possession of an invitation to visit a member of the USI willing to sign you into the library. The journals that you seek are over 50 years old and hence can only be consulted in situ.

If you are based outside India then you might try the library of USI's "sister" institution in your country as they may well hold a run of numbers!

Good Luck!

Col