Content area
Full Text
(November 1899- November 1969)
The British Indian army consisted of Indian soldiers and British officers. Indians served as non-commissioned officers called Native Officers and later Viceroy Commissioned Officers (VCOs). The debate about opening the officer rank to Indians lingered over few decades in India and England and the issue was finally settled after the First World War when it was decided to open King's commission to Indians. The first batch of five Indians consisting of Iskander Mirza, Iqbal Baig, Lolit Kumar Roy, Madanjit Singh and Turan Kumar Sinha entered Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in January 1919. Iqbal and Lolit Kumar died before graduation and Turan Kumar failed. Madanjit Singh passed but could not maintain high standards, ended up in a bankruptcy court and failed to earn commission. Mirza was the only one of the first batch to earn King's commission in the Indian army.
Mirza was commissioned on July 16, 1920 and was the first Indian to be commissioned as officer from Sandhurst. Indian officers were attached to a British regiment for one year before being posted to their parent regiment. He was attached to 2nd Battalion Scottish Rifles (Cameroonians). He was the first Indian officer to serve with British on equal basis and this caused uproar in some circles and issue caused a prolonged struggle involving Indian army brass, Viceroy's Army Council, War Office in London and Secretary of State of India. This dragged on for six months and finally Mirza was able to join Scottish Rifles in January 1921. The Battalion was stationed at Kohat and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Oakley. Mirza earned the respect of his British colleagues and after two months, the commanding officer wrote, 'I can say with confidence that this attachment has been a success'. Mirza participated in frontier operations with Cameroonians. After an operation in the hills Mirza's platoon was retiring under fire. Mirza fell and sprained his ankle. His soldiers noticed his absence and dashed back under fire and picked him up. The British soldiers...