Indian States Forces and ammunition provision for Singapores coastal artillery.
There for those not familiar with the situation during the British control over India, which despite what is commonly believed was never total. India during the decades of British rule, could basically be divided into two parts, then British Raj and the Princely States. If you were within the British Raj, you were under the control of the British administration whose head was the King Emperors representative the Viceroy, and a proto democratic government that was semi elected and contained some Indian nationals. If however you were in a Princely State, you fell under the jurisdiction of an absolute ruler, who while he did have obligations to the King Emperor and had at his side a British representative. Who’s primary job was to prevent the Prince from doing anything to stupid, and ensuring that British interests were respected. And so there were three armies in India, the British Army, the Indian Army and the Princely States Armies. The British Army was majority British, but had a large formal and informal native component. So while a British infantry battalion was composed of British troops and officers, it would have attracted a number of Indian ancillaries who were on the battalion roles and paid by the British, mostly in the supply and service sectors like the cookhouse and stores. Fun fact during the Irish troubles in the sixties, seventies etc, the British built a fort from shipping containers, and inside was a canteen/shop run by a Pakistani whose grandfather had been a tailor to a British regiment in India, and the family had followed the drum through Aden, Cypress, Britain to Northern Ireland. A British artillery regiment would have British officers and gunners, but the ammunition supply column, had a British officer in command, while the Indian troops who brought the ammunition to the guns were overseen by Indian officers. In addition to the formal Indian members of a British army unit, there were a host of informal members, no British soldier in India cleaned his own boots, washed and pressed his uniform, made his bed or cleaned his barracks. All these jobs were done by various locals, who while not on the units strength, and didn’t travel with the unit if it was relocated or went into the field. Were part and parcel of the efficient running of a British unit. The best example of this is the seventies British TV comedy show, ‘It ain’t half hot mum’ which was written by an in one case acted by people who had experienced the system, and while greatly exaggerated for comic effect, was reasonable accurate.
The second Army in India was the British Indian Army, with a mix of British, Indian and Nepalese units, and was mostly paid for by the Indian Government. Throughout the twenties and thirties it had been subject to major changes, and directly commissioned Indian officers were now being integrated into the the officers mess, while the highly skilled and experienced native officers, all former senior NCO’S, were steadily being fazed out except in the Gurkha units. This army could be divided into two, the home service units and the devisions and units that were equipped and trained to fight alongside the British Army overseas. This wasn’t a colonial army, but was a thoroughly modern force as good as any other in the world, even the home service units could with the appropriate training and equipment quickly be brought up to the same standard as the A-Line units. The third Army and by far the worst was the Indian States Forces, basically the private armies of the various Indian Princes. While up until the turn of the century the very best of them had been a match for the Indian Army, since the end of WWI, the sheer cost of maintaining them to the same standard as the Indian Home Service units, was beyond the pocket of even the richest Prince. And so they had become over time toy soldiers equipped with obsolete and hand me down weapons, totally inadequately trained, and officered by British officers who had been asked to leave the Indian Army, or indigenous officers with little to no formal training. Their terms and conditions were not as good as those of the British Indian Army, and while they might look good on a formal parade. And could just about handle a riot if push came to shove, anything more challenging or complicated would require the British or British Indian to step in and take charge. These forces for all the obvious disadvantages, had an additional burden to bear. They knew that they were looked down upon by both the British and British Indian armies, who made it plain that they didn’t regard them as real soldiers, like them. Sent by their Princes primarily as a jester to curry favour with the Raj, overseas in most cases personally reluctantly, they were at the bottom of the list in a region that itself was close to bottom of the list for equipment. And their training and re-equipment was not a priority for the military authorities, so they have been split up and assigned third line duties. Airfield and coastal battery defence. Garrisoning the cities, in support of the civil power was reserved for the in British eyes far more dependable green British Indian Army formations.
It can come as no surprise that after the fall of Singapore, they were very susceptible to the siren voices of the various groups claiming to represent the voice of the true Indian freedom movement, whose aim was to liberate India from the rule and tyranny of the British and their lick spit Princes. Remember in a lot of cases the Prince was not of the same religion as them, which added to the sense of alienation that they felt. Abandoned in their eyes by the British authorities and their own Prince, trapped in a foreign land, having watched the mighty British suffer a humiliating defeat, they were ripe for the false blandishments of the Nationalist leaders. However ITTL, given slightly better leadership, training and equipment, and never themselves suffering a major defeat or the British as appears increasingly likely, not being defeated in Malaysia. The chances of a INA being anything other than a paper formation with a few hundred at most personnel, is slim to none. The vast majority of the ISA forces will never see anything other than minor action, be slowly trained up to a much higher standard, receive more modern equipment. And eventually replace the BIA, units in the garrison role, as they transfer from second line responsibilities to being active front line forces. For those who are not British especially our sundered cousins in America and those who are too young, and find the complexity of the British situation in India totally illogical, it believe it or not worked. Remember Britain is despite the constant moaning of a small number of permanently malcontents, still a constitutional monarchy with a part hereditary part appointed second chamber to parliament. No one elects our judges or police chiefs, or any other position in government, local or national, nor do we as such have a written constitution. Does it make sense or is it democratic, of course not old chap, but its the way we have done things since time immemorial, with cutting off a Kings head when needed, the fool got French ideas don’t you know. And non of the other systems have to our mind had the time yet to prove themselves better, give it another thousand years and we might reluctantly change. But definitely not to any French system system, thank you very much, we had them in charge after the Battle of Hastings, and it was a complete disaster.
As for the ammunition for the coastal artillery around Singapore, and why it didn’t have any HE ammunition. It was principally designed repel a seaborne assault, by armoured warships, and that along with the expensive of storing HE ammunition in a hot and humid environment. Not only do you have to provide protected storage, proof against enemy shellfire. But it also has to be fully air conditioned, with both temperature and humidity control, in an era when A/C was a very expensive and complex new technology. In addition if your enemy ground forces are within effective artillery range, you have basically lost already. However given the improvements large and small that have been made in Singapore and Malaya ITTL, I personally believe that the Japanese will be very lucky to get within 200 miles of Singapore Island, and more likely to be stopped 300 hundred miles away. And while given that this TL is close to ours in all other areas, and the conflict in the Middle East, Mediterranean and Atlantic. Are for all intents and purposes the same as was, the British will have for the time being very little to spare to conduct a significant counter attack, and drive the Japanese back across the Thai border. But without the losses of personnel and equipment suffered during the fall of Singapore and the subsequent campaign in the DEI. The British should be able by the end of 1942, to drive the Japanese out of Malaya back into Thailand, retain control of Burma and the Burma Road, while alongside the Dutch hold on to Sumatra and Java. And with that vital raw materials especially rubber that were lost thanks to the fall of Singapore, still available to the Anglo American war industries. Both Britain and America were be in a much stronger position in 1943 than they were, and once North Africa has been captured from the Axis, and the Mediterranean is open once again to the transit of merchant shipping. The Allied position is only going to improve day by day, and the shortage of personnel that the British suffered in 1944, is going to be delayed until the start of 1945, by which time the Germans will basically on their knees.
RR.
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