"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. مجلد I" [و‎‎٤‎٤] (٤٥٤/٩٢)

ARMY IN INDIA : PRE-WAR MILITARY POLICY 67
numbers of direct commissions to Indian gentlemen of higher
education had not been very successful, as the best of this
class preferred the higher emoluments and greater prizes of
.civil employment. The Indian officer commanded a troop or
platoon* and in practice the interior economy of the unit was
to a great extent in their hands, owing to the social and religious
questions affected ; and much of the value of the Indian army
was due to their loyalty, ability and training. It has often
been asked why Indian officers were restricted to the lower
grades and before the war it was a matter of considerable
controversy for some time, which lack of space forbids us to
discuss here. It must be acknowledged, however, that what
ever the Indian gentleman of modern times may attain to in
this direction, it is an unquestionable fact that had not his
predecessors been less efficient leaders of men than the British
officer, we should not now occupy the position in India which
we do ; and it must always be questionable policy to officer
alien oriental races with any but the best available material.
As regards medical arrangements, although there was suffi
cient equipment for hospital units for a field army of seven and
one-third divisions and five cavalry brigades for frontier opera
tion conditions, there was a deficiency of some three hundred
to four hundred medical officers and two hundred assistant
surgeons for even this standard ; and the medical institutions
m the country were not of a nature to be able to give much
assistance]-. Lord Kitchener had relied, in the event of war,
on obtaining the necessary additional trained personnel from
overseas and he had altered the organisation of the Army
Bearer Corps from an active strength of 6,000 to an active
strength of 1,500 with a reserve of 4,500, which was unfortunate,
as it never reached a strength of more than one hundred and
while Lord Nicholson’s Committee had recommended an
* The Indian officer commanded a company under the old “double-companv’'
organisation; when the British organisation of companies and platoons
was introduced into the Indian infantry, he commanded a platoon.
f The medical colleges in India train and give degrees to assistant and
sub-assistant surgeons who are generally Indian bom and educated and in
most cases in Government employ. The former, usually of European or
mixed parentage, get four years’ training and are qualified for practice in
india, those in military and civil employ being under a definite obligation
to serve overseas. The latter, mostly Indians, get three years’ training and
are qualified as Indian doctors, those in civil employ being under no obligation
to serve overseas, which in the majority of cases they declined to volunteer
for during the war.
X The men who form this corps in India are a special race dating from the
days when most people in India travelled in “ palanquins ” ; nowadays
these men are few in number and require continual practice to keep them
efficient in the performance of their duties. r