Indian Army pictures 19th Century

lemontree

Active member
A British officer, an NCO and men of the 1st Gurkha Rifles.
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Men of the Loodhiaanah (Ludhiana) Sikh Regiment in China during the Opium wars.
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20th Punjab Infantry in Egypt 1882.
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Sepoy (soldier) uniform of Madras Infantry 1887.
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Zucchini,
At the thread topic suggests these are 19th century pictures of the British Indian Army.
All Indian troops are clean shaven (mustash is optional), with the exception of Sikh troops whose religious beliefs are respected and permitted to wear beards. The Sikhs are the only troops that permitted to wear turbans (as per religous beliefs), and excused from wearing head gear that is standard for other troops.
 
Some more pictures....
The ruins of Saraghari signal post (NWFP now in Pakistan), where 22 men of 36th Sikh (now 4 Sikh) fought off thousands of afghani tribals, and perished to the last man. 1887.

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Mountain arty in action in NWFP 1895.
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British officers and Sikh soldiers of the 45th Sikhs, pose for a photograph after the relief of Chakdara Fort. Circa 1897. Defence of Chakdara Fort by six British officers and 240 Indian soldiers of the 45th Sikhs and 11th Bengal Lancers against 14,000 Pathan tribesmen, must rank as one of the greatest feats of arms in military history.
For six days and seven nights, these men drove off all attacks upon the fort and covered themselves and their regiment with glory. The officer on the extreme left is Haldane Rattray, who received a neck wound after leading a charge to retake the hospital in Chakdara Fort for which he was awarded the DSO. He later commanded the 45th Sikhs during World War I and was tragically killed in Kut, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) after it was lost to Turks, during a long siege. The 45th Sikhs was decimated in this battle.
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The next batch of pictures will be of WW1.
 
The 20th Punjab are equiped with the breech loading Snider-Enfield rifles, just as the other Indian troops were. The long barreled Lee-Enfield was issued in early 1900s.
 
WW1
VCOs (Viceroy's Commissioned Officers) and Other Ranks (ORs) of the 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis in Belgium, October 1914. The unit is today part of the Pak Army as 11 Baloch).
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A long way from home: Indian troops at the first Battle of Ypres.
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A Benet-Mercier MG section of 2nd (Queen Victoria's Own) Rajput Light Infantry in Flanders, winter 1914-15.
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A Havildar (sargent) and Sepoys from the 39th Garwhal Rifles in France, 1915.
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6th Anglo-Indian Division was besieged in Kut-al-Amara on the banks of the River Tigris by the Turks and their German advisors between 07 December 1915 and 29 April 1916. The siege would end in defeat when all relief efforts failed and the garrison surrendered due to starvation and disease. This image shows one of the few defences the garrison had against German-Turkish Air Force attacks.
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....some more next time.
 
lemontree said:
The 20th Punjab are equiped with the breech loading Snider-Enfield rifles, just as the other Indian troops were. The long barreled Lee-Enfield was issued in early 1900s.

There are clearly two different types of rifles in the photographs.

But that wasn't my point.

The rifle they are equipped with is superior to the one used by the USA at that time, and the USA used the inferior rifles right into the Spanish American War.
 
Zucchini said:
There are clearly two different types of rifles in the photographs.

But that wasn't my point.

The rifle they are equipped with is superior to the one used by the USA at that time, and the USA used the inferior rifles right into the Spanish American War.
My mistake. The picture you posted was of the Martini-Henry, which was the rifle issued after the Snider-Enfield has served its purpose as an interim measure.
The little that I know of bolt action rifles, the European rifles were infact superior to the American made ones. The Krag rifle used during the Spanish-American war was however inferior to the Spanish Mauser 93 model. Maybe that is why the Springfield rifle adopted in 1903 was based on the Mauser 98 design.
 
Some more of WW1...
A Grenadier from 114th Marathas at Kut-al-Amara, Mesopotamia, 1916.
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A recon patrol of the Hodsons Horse near Vraignes, France. April 1917.
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A Gurkha soldier using a trench periscope in Palestine, 1917.
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Men from the 2/6th Gurkha Rifles march north towards the battle of Khan Baghdadi on 22 March 1918.
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Early signs of the effect of an air attack - a Lewis machine gun placed on an anti-aircraft mounting, manned by members of the Jat Regiment, in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). Circa World War I. (Soldiers in the rear seem to be diving for cover).
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Teddy's boys may have had Krag carbines in SAW, but most USA soldiers still had trapdoors, which were in use for something like 4 decades.

In the 1930s Mac reported to congress that the US military was ranked 17th in the world as a fighting unit.
 
Zucchini said:
but most USA soldiers still had trapdoors, which were in use for something like 4 decades.
What is the 'trapdoor' rifle?
The US army was not a colonial army like the British and French, hence, they were not rated as the top 5 or 10 armies of those days. The colonial armies had the advantage of learning from the various colonial expansion wars that were fought. However, WW2 changed all that.
 
Now for WW2...
Out of 31 Victoria Crosses awarded in the Burma front, 28 VCs were awarded to Indians.
A portrait of Tulbahadur Pun, Victoria Cross (VC).
Pun was awarded a VC at Mogaung on the night of 6/7th June 1944. After his comrades were killed around him, he single handedly charged a group of Japanese who were dug in 30 yards away across open ground, firing a bren gun from the hip he overcame the enemy and captured their position and two light machine guns.

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Men of the 2/6th Gurkha Rifles who served with equal distinction in Italy. The second photograph shows a Gurkha soldier proudly displaying his feared Khukri - a Nepalese dagger. A Gurkha and his khukri are an extremely dangerous combination for the enemy. Circa World War II.
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5/5 Marathas in Italy, late 1944 or early 1945. Machine gunners with Vickers MMG's setting up pre-established fields of fire for a defensive position. The bulbous devices on the muzzles of the Vickers are recoil accelerators designed to minimize jamming during sustained fire.
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Madras Sappers and Miners work on a 'corduroy' road east of Kohima, on the Jessami track, August 1944. Timber provided a cheap way of producing a reasonably durable road surface for those hard-to-reach areas where mule or air transport was not enough.

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Engineers of the 8th Indian Division rest on the morning of 12 May 1944. They spent the previous night clearing enemy mines planted on the Gustav Line, allowing infantry and armour to break through during the drive that would take the Allies north to Rome.
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Jawans (soldiers) of the 4th Indian Division, right after Operation Crusader. These Jawans were virtually the only fresh troops available to the Allies, in the advance towards the capture of the Libyan port of Derna in December 1941.
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A Sikh-manned Bren gun team of the Fourth Indian division participating in manoeuvres prior to Operation Compass, the December 1940 offensive against the Italian Army in the desert of Western Egypt and Eastern Libya.
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4.2" mortar crews of 5/5 Marathas, the machine gun battalion of the 8th Indian Division, in action in Italy. Machine gun battalions manned the Vickers machine guns and heavy mortars that supported infantry divisions.
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After his comrades were killed around him, he single handedly charged a group of Japanese who were dug in 30 yards away across open ground, firing a bren gun from the hip he overcame the enemy and captured their position and two light machine guns.

Gurkha + BREN gun = bad times

gotta love the BREN though, 40 years before the the SAW....a light machinegun you could fire from the hip
 
chewie_nz said:
Gurkha + BREN gun = bad times
A Gurkha + Khukhri are a deadlier combination. Gurkha battalions don't bayonet charge, they have a khukhri charge.

Here are some more pics....
Jawans(soldiers) from the 17th Indian Divison on assault at Imphal in June 1944. The Naik(corporal) in the foreground carries a Thompson SMG and the riflemen in the background carry a SMLE with a fixed bayonet.
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Indian Paratroopers during World War II. Source: Parachute Regiment (India).
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Dogra troops from 2 Gogra, in forward light machine-gun positions in Burma. Circa 1944.
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Indian infantry assaults through a burning objective, in Burma. Possibly, Circa 1945.
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Ayo Gurkhali!!! Gurkha troops charge the enemy lines in Burma. Possibly, Circa 1945.
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Sikh mountain gunners cleaning Italian guns captured by the 5th Indian Division in Eritrea. Circa 1941.
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Humbling of a symbol of unbridled power - Indian troops examine a captured German Swastika, at Sidi Omer.
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Infantry of the 29th Indian Brigade assault Italian defensive positions at Jalo, a point to the west of Tobruk, on the 5/6th of December 1941.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but a Swastika is a good luck symbol in India isn't it? That must have been weird to see it styand for so much evil.
 
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