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The Indian Army, also called the British Indian Army, was involved in World War I as part of the British Empire. More than one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom more than 60,000 died during the war. [1] In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German Empire on the Western Front.
In France the Russian brigade prepared in camp de Mailly, in Champagne and was sent between Suippes and Aubérive on the Western Front. Russian units held the front of Champagne while French units were fighting the Battle of Verdun. Russians occupied the Fort de la Pompelle near Reims.
The high number of officer casualties had an effect: British officers who understood the language, customs, and psychology of their men could not be quickly replaced; as well, the alien environment of the Western Front had an adverse effect on the soldiers. [3] Hew Fanshawe, from the 19th Hussars, commanded the 2nd Indian Cavalry Division in 1914.
The I Indian Corps was an army corps of the British Indian Army in the World War I. It was formed at the outbreak of war under the title Indian Corps from troops sent to the Western Front . The British Indian Army did not have a pre-war corps structure, and it held this title until further corps were created.
The Meerut Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Indian Army formed in 1904 as a result of the Kitchener Reforms.It was mobilized as 7th (Meerut) Cavalry Brigade at the outbreak of the First World War and departed for the Western Front where it served as part of the 2nd Indian Cavalry Division.
In May 1857, on the eve of the 'Indian Rebellion of 1857' (or 'First War of Independence'), the troops at Meerut comprised the 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) and a battalion of the 60th (King's Royal Rifle Corps), the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry, and 11th and 20th Bengal Native Infantry under the command of Maj-Gen W.H. Hewitt.
In 1914, the British Indian Army was larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In all, 140,000 soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded. [81]
In 1917, during the First World War, the armies on the Western Front continued to change their fighting methods, due to the consequences of increased firepower, more automatic weapons, decentralisation of authority and the integration of specialised branches, equipment and techniques into the traditional structures of infantry, artillery and cavalry.