The Imperial Service Troops were forces raised by the princely states of the British Indian Empire. These troops were available for service alongside the Indian Army when such service was requested by the British government.[1] At the beginning of the 20th century, their total numbers were about 18,000 men.[1]
The troops were routinely inspected by British army officers and generally had the same equipment as soldiers in the Indian Army.[1] Although their numbers were relatively small, the Imperial Service Troops were employed in China and British Somaliland in the first decade of the 20th century, and later saw action in the First World War.[1]
In 1920 the Imperial Service Troops system was reviewed and revised. Renamed as the Indian States Forces, units saw service during the Second World War in Malaya, Burma, North Africa, the Middle East and Italy. Following 1947, the majority of Indian States Forces units were incorporated into the new armies of India and Pakistan.
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In March 1885, after a Russian force defeated the Afghan army at Panjdeh, a village on the ill-defined Russian-Afghan frontier, the British were alarmed and immediately dispatched the Army of India to the north-west frontier.[2] The "Panjdeh incident," however, also resulted in generous donations of money for a potential war effort from many Indian rulers, most notably the Nizam of Hyderabad.[2] Although the incident was later resolved in a compromise, the timely support of the Indian princes prompted the British to create a stand-by force of approximately 20,000 soldiers recruited from the armies of the Native States, but trained and equipped by the Indian Army.[2] The cost of the training and new equipment was borne by the Native States.[2]
The armies of the Native States were bound by many restrictions that were imposed by subsidiary alliances. They existed mainly for ceremonial use and for internal policing. According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. IV 1907, p. 85,
"Since a chief can neither attack his neighbour nor fall out with a foreign nation, it follows that he needs no military establishment which is not required either for police purposes or personal display, or for cooperation with the Imperial Government. The treaty made with Gwalior in 1844, and the instrument of transfer given to Mysore in 1881, alike base the restriction of the forces of the State upon the broad ground of protection. The former explained in detail that unnecessary armies were embarrassing to the State itself and the cause of disquietude to others: a few months later a striking proof of this was afforded by the army of the Sikh kingdom of Lahore. The British Government has undertaken to protect the dominions of the Native princes from invasion and even from rebellion within: its army is organized for the defence not merely of British India, but of all the possessions under the suzerainty of the King-Emperor."[3]
In addition, other restrictions were imposed:
"The treaties with most of the larger States are clear on this point. Posts in the interior must not be fortified, factories for the production of guns and ammunition must not be constructed, nor may the subject of other States be enlisted in the local forces. ... They must allow the forces that defend them to obtain local supplies, to occupy cantonments or positions, and to arrest deserters; and in addition to these services they must recognize the Imperial control of the railways, telegraphs, and postal communications as essential not only to the common welfare but to the common defence."[4]
On the eve of war in 1914, twenty-nine Indian states were providing soldiers for the Imperial Service Troops scheme. These totalled 22,479 of whom 7,673 were cavalry, 10,298 infantry and 2,723 transport corps. Smaller numbers served as artillery, sappers and signals personnel, while Camel Corps troopers, mainly recruited in Bikanir, numbered 637. During the First World War 18,000 Imperial Service soldiers saw service in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine and East Africa. Sappers and transport units were sent to France. Contingents from the smaller states did not serve overseas but were employed, on internal security duties or training cavalry remounts, in India itself.[5]
From 1914 to 1916, as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force commanded by General Maxwell, the Imperial Service Cavalry brigade with the 10th and 11th Indian Divisions, the Bikanir Camel Corps and three batteries of Indian Mountain Artillery, took part in the Defence of the Suez Canal Campaign at the beginning of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign.[6][7][8]
Following 1947, sixty-nine former Indian States Forces (ISF) units were transferred into the part of the Indian Army which transferred to the new Dominion of India. ISF infantry units were generally added to existing regular regiments: the 1st and 2nd Patiala Infantry for example becoming the 15th and 16th (Patiala) battalions of the Punjab Regiment. Six ISF cavalry regiments were however amalgamated to form the newly raised 61 Cavalry, which remains the only horse mounted non-ceremonial unit in the Indian Army. Four ISF infantry regiments and one mountain artillery battery were incorporated into the new Pakistan Army.[9]