OUR INDIAN SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2262, 23 September 1914, Page 6

OUR INDIAN SOLDIERS

MEN OF GREAT FIGHTING NATIONS SIKHS, PATHANS, AND GURKHAS More'than a century and a half has passed since Indian troops, under British officers, faced, a European enemy in the field, and India lias seen many changes since Clive drove out the French with an army composed largely of native soldiers, writes "A Soldier," in an exchange. The Indian foixes have undergone many reorganisations as the Empire extended its boundaries, but tho last, under Lord Kitchener, when Com-mandor-in-Cliief, finally eliminated tho tribes, which had become effete and lost their military' qualities, and ensured that the Indian regiments should'be recruited only from the "fighting races." Of these, the Rajputs, the oldest fighting raco in India, whose name means "sons of princes," and whose chiefs claim descent from the old gods, will probably not bo drawn upon for tho present war, as the hot climate in which vlioy live would unfit them for service in the snow and wet of a German winter. Tlie same may be said of the Marathas, Jats, and Deccanis, and we may conclude that the expeditionary force will consist mainly of Sikhs, Patbaus; and Gurkhas. Of these the Pathans and Gurkhas are mountaineer*, and used to intense cold, while the Sikhs inhabit the Punjab, where the winters are at least as cold as in France or Southern Germany;

A Race of Warriors. The Sikhs, who- number about 3,000,000, were originally a religious sect, under strict military discipline, which aroso in the loth century, and by tho end of the 18th had become a powerful nation, under the famous "Lion of the Punjab," Ranjit ' Singh. Tall, powerful men, living chiefly on the land, they are good horsemen and mako magnificent infantry. They fought two wars against the British—in 1846 and 1849— and wore finally subdued by Lord Gough after many desperate battles. Gough was much censured at the time for his lovo of. close-quarter fighting and the bayonet, which led to very heavy losses, but since then the Sikhs have always said that we beat them fairly, man to man, with the cold steel, and that they would stick to us while the sun shone in , tho heavens. • The Sikh' 6bldier is one of the finest, men to be seen on earth. Fully 6 feet high, broad-shoulderocl, deep-chested, and with a most stately -bearing, he looks the ideal of a fighting man. His huge black beard is parted on the chin and carried back in. two rolls, fastened behind his ears, and surmounted by an immense pagri (usually miscalled "puggaree") or turban, into which is folded a'thin, flat, sharp s'ted ring, the "throwing quoit," an ancient weapon, with which an expert can kill a man at 50 yards.! Nowadays it is no longer used for fighting, but is good "to ward off. a cut from the head- The Sikh is an.excellent bayonet-fighter, and loves a hand-to-hand combat.

Hardy Mountaineers. The Pathans are of a different type. Tall( spare, and wiry, ir.ured to hard living, cold and fatigue, in a country so poor that it hardly supports its population, they can stand extroines of hardship and privation. They are not as a rulo fond of hand-to-hand fighting, but when worked up 10 a pitch of excitement, they will charge home with the most desperate courage ; and will take as much killing as a wild beast. Fanatical Mohammedans to a man, their sole thought when lighting against "unbelievers" is to kill ae many as possible before they go down, securo in the belief that this gives them a direct passport to heaven. They live habitually in a state of war, in tho 800 miles of rugged mountain-range which form the north-west frontier of India. Every tribe is at war with every other, often village with village, and blood-feuds are as common and as bitter as the vendetta in Corsica. Every man carries a rifle, and his reaching tho age of manwod is proof that he can use it. The Pathans are without doubt the finest rifle shots in the world,' and the man who exposes himself withiif 200 yards of a Pathan has a small chance of life. Many of them are also born horsemen, and, although the sword is less used than in the days' before rifles were known," they make light car airy second to none, their eyesight is \ery keen, and the training of their whole life has made.them perfect in scouting and in every trick and artifice of war, ■ ambushes and night attacks being perhaps their favourite mode of fighting. \' - v Bloodthirsty Little Men. The Gurkha again differs widely from Sikh or Pathan. He is of mixed Hindu and Mongol stock, small, dark, and very • muscular. He loves sport, where sport consists in the killing of any wild animal, and looks on fighting as the highest form of sport. He is a fair riiie shot, but as a rule better at game or at an enemy than on the rifle range. Each man carries, in addition to rifle and bayonet, the kukri, or kookree, the national weapon, a curved knife with a blade about 18 inches long, a very heavy back and a convex cutting edge. Ims. weapon he much prefers to rifle or bayonet, and a .Gurkha charge driven home is a terrible thing, for the Gurkha' fairly revels in a hand-to-hand scrimmage, .and the kukri will lop. off a head or antral with the greatest ease.. Indeed, armed with hisbelpved kukri, the Gurkha fears nothing living, and will cheerfully attack a wounded tiger or a hostile battery. Hβ is by nature a most bloodthirsty little man, and his groat festival, the feast of Durga goddess of death, is a wild orgy of i blood In a Gurkha regiment all tho, BrrUsh officers who -can take leave during this festival, and those who are left keep well away from the men's lines while the slaughter is going on.

Indian Cavalry. The Indian cavalry are the pick of the .Indian Army, and are perhaps the most aristocratic service m the world, every trooper being a gentleman, .of land-owning stock. Each man on joina considerable sum of. money to purchase his horse and arms, and receives more .than three times the pay of an infantry soldier, out,of which he has to keep his horse. Direct commiseions are often given to men of good familv, especially those who can bring a number of their tenants or retainers as recruits. Otherwise all promotion is through the ranks. The moral effect on the Germans of bein" faced, in the field by such troops as tfteso will be great. In past yeans various Germans have expressed to me their honor and dismay at the idea of France using her African troops, Algerians and Senegalese, against, Germany if war should break out between the t,wo countries. The Indian troops are far better than 'any Africans, and will without doubt strike terror into the enemy. .In the coalition war m China in 1900-1901 the Indian soldiers developed a profound contempt for the Germans, who were then acting as their ■lilies, and now these same soldiers, led by British officers, to whom they are devoted, and whom they love and admire beyond maasitrc, will face with the "ircatest confidence and an unlimited suise of superiority the best troops of the Kaiser. For years they have been madly keen to join with their British coniindes in a groat Imperial war, and jww their J&BBS9 £14 SPJ&e-