'PAPERS RELATING TO THE MESOPOTAMIAN COMMISSION from SIR E. BARROW'S ROOM' [‎633r] (1278/1386)

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reinforcemonts from home or Kgypt are furnished. Please caide if this
correctly represents case. It will make position perfectly clear i! you
express 7 urgent need of reinforcements as well as inability fo give it from
mg Indian resources. I anl quite convinced of nec^ity oi' reinforcing
ett up to two Divisions as apart from menacp on Karim side it is
us that Turks are concentrating troops in Mesopotamia. In my view
the need of reinforcing India by a proportion Pritish units
important consideration than the risk run byS’ou parting with
complement of two more brigades, although the latter M
ignored.
No. 1 Secret?
Ac
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. to War Office.
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ,
4th February 1915.
In reply to your letter No. 01b 1/5146 (MX). 1), of the 2nd February
1915, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India to make the following
remarks thereon.
Lord C rewe fully endorses the view of the Army Council as to the
primary demands on His Majesty’s Forces, he also accepts their view that
the battalions of the 1st Wessex Division ought now to be lit to take up
duties “ near the Frontier," by which he understands that they might be
employed on garrison duty at places like Quetta and Kawal Hindi, but this
qualified description of their military value does not admit of the relief of
all the nine I British regular battalions allotted to the defence of the frontier,
as such battalions should be fully trained and capable of working
independently or in Brigade in frontier warfare.
Lord Crewe is, however, prepared under the exceptional circumstances
of the time to allow three of the nine battalions* in question to be sent on
* Om-of tile niiw has just Ix-M, so sent. s ? ryio l e 40 the I’evsian Gulf, provided
that three more battalions of second line
troops are sent from England to take the places of Territorial battalions sent up
to the Frontier Divisions. As regards the seven Indian battalions still
required to complete the Persian (! ulf Force to two Divisions, these might
be speedily furnished from the Indian troops in Egypt, if a proportion of the
latter can now be spared, as seems possible, from recent rumours. Otherwise
they would have to be found from the troops now allotted to internal
defence, in which case Lord Crewe would reluctantly have to press for more
infantry from England to replace them.
%
The Secretary of State is responsilde that all due and reasonable
provision is made for the peace and security of the Indian Empire, and he
therefore feels it Ids duty to place on record what is the exact position in
India.
There are at the present moment 112 British and Indian battalions in
that country. Deducting the battalions composing the three Frontier Field
Divisions and those required to complete a second Division for the Persian
Orulf, there is a balance of 64 battalions only available for the internal
defence of all India, from Aden to Bhamo and from Chitral to Cape
Comorin, whereas according to the Nicholson Commission of 1912 there
should be 89 battalions. There would thus be a shortage of 25 battalions •
which cannot be regarded as a satisfactory condition of affairs. The details
C) / + gee Q 'j are more fully shown in the accom-
^ panying tabular statement.f
4. It will be observed that the extra troops that might be required for
Aden and East Africa are not included in this estimate, and therefore as
regards the concluding remark of your letter under reply I am to point out
that it was never suggested by this Office that a Brigade would be required
to reinforce the Aden garrison, but that a couple of battalions and a
mountain battery might be necessary to support the Abdali Sultan and our
other friends in south-west Arabia, a contingency which has been frequently
dwelt on recently in the telegrams from the Resident at Aden.
5. Apart from all arithmetical calculations the real measure of our safety
in India is the relative value of the British troops now composing the