Army of India

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This article deals with the Army of India before Independence in 1947. For the modern day army, please see Indian Army.

Army of India consisted of both the Indian Army and the British Army in India between 1903 and 1947.

Lord Kitchener was appointed Commander-in-Chief, India between 1902 and 1909. He instituted large-scale reforms of the military units in the British Raj (India), including merging the three armies of the three presidencies into a unified force and forming higher level formations, eight army divisions, and brigading Indian and British units. Following Kitchener's reforms:

• The Indian Army was "the force recruited locally and permanently based in India, together with its expatriate British officers."^[1]
• The British Army in India consisted of British Army units posted to India for a tour of duty, and which would then be posted to other parts of the Empire or back to the United Kingdom.
• The Army of India consisted of both the Indian Army and the British Army in India.

During World War II, after the fall of Singapore and the ending of ABDACOM in early 1942, until the formation of SEAC in August 1943 some American and Chinese units were placed under the Army of India command.

The officer commanding the Army of India was the Commander-in-Chief in India who reported to the civilian Governor-General of India. His command was known as India Command and his staff were based at GHQ India.

After the independence of India in 1947, the Army of India was renamed as the Indian Armed Forces.

[edit] References

1. ^ Oxford History of the British Army, Oxford University Press

[edit] External links

• Official site