As there was no 1st Indian Infantry Division in World War II, and the 2nd (garrison troops in Iran) and 3rd Indian Infantry Divisions (the Special Force, or Wingate's "Chindits," in Burma) were only cover designations, the 4th Indian Infantry Division was truly the "First" division of the Indian Army in both stature and chronology.

First mobilized in 1938, it was created to form part of the Indian Army's Imperial Reserve and designated for duty in Egypt with two brigades, the 10th and 11th Indian Infantry Brigades.

The division later received the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade, but lost the 10th Brigade to the 5th Indian Infantry Division in the Sudan, receiving in its place the 7th Indian Infantry Brigade. The reinforced 11th Brigade set sail for Egypt as "Heron Force" in August 1939 and was on duty in the Canal Zone when war came.

The 5th Brigade, along with divisional headquarters, arrived in Egypt in October 1939, followed by the 7th Brigade in October 1940. The division, with 7th and 11th Brigades, plus the 16th (British) Infantry Brigade, formed part of O'Connor's Western Desert Force for "Operation Compass" in December 1940.

After participating in the initial attacks on the Italian defenses at Sidi Barrani, the division, with all three of its brigades, was pulled out of the desert and shipped by sea to the Sudan to join the 5th Indian Infantry Division for the February 1941 offensive in Eritrea.

The division was organized as a standard British infantry division with three infantry brigades, each composed of three infantry battalions (two Indian and one British) and an antitank company. Artillery support was supplied by three Royal Artillery field regiments and the engineers were three field and one field park company of Indian Army Sappers and Miners.

The reconnaissance unit was the elegantly named 21st King George V's Own Horse (Central India Horse). The division at first lacked organic light antiaircraft and antitank regiments. As one-third of its infantry and most, if not all, of its artillery was British, and as many of its Indian units had British officers, it is no wonder that Churchill insisted on referring to Indian divisions like the 4th Indian Infantry Division as "British-Indian Infantry Divisions."

Following the bloody battles at Keren, the appearance of Rommel and the Afrika Korps in Libya, as well as Axis threats to Greece and the Levant forced the recall of 4th Indian Infantry Division to Egypt. Following its return in April 1941, it appeared in "Operation Battleaxe" in June 1941, albeit shorthanded. Operations against the Vichy French had caused 5th Indian Brigade to be sent on to Palestine and Syria, where the brigade's 1st Royal Fusiliers was captured in its entirety by the French.

The division was at full strength for "Operation Crusader" as part of Eighth Army's 13th Corps in November 1941. However, after "Crusader," the division was again dispersed. The 5th Brigade returned to Palestine, 7th Brigade went to garrison duty on Cypress, and the Central India Horse was sent to "Paiforce" in Iran. Only a rump of the division, with 11th Brigade, remained in Egypt. Rommel's renewed offensive in the spring of 1942 lead to the reassembly of the division in Egypt.

The 11th Brigade was sent to reinforce Tobruk where it was captured on May 22, 1942.

With the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade replacing the lost 11th Brigade, the division formed part of 30th Corps for the Battle of El Alamein. By this time it had received its Royal Artillery light antiaircraft regiment and antitank regiment, i.e., 149th Antitank Regiment (The Lancashire Yeomanry) and an Indian Army machine gun battalion.

The division remained with Eighth Army in its long pursuit of Rommel back through Egypt and Libya and on into Tunisia. With the other two veterans of the 1940 Western Desert Force: 7th Armored Division and 201st (ex-22nd) Guards Brigade, the division was transferred to First Army and was present at the demise of the German forces in North Africa in May 1943. During this period, the 161st Brigade was removed from the division and sent to Burma where it was attached to 5th Indian Infantry Division and fought the Japanese. In addition, one Indian battalion of each of the 5th and 11th Brigades was replaced with a battalion of Gurkhas.

After the end of the fighting in Tunisia, like so many other British formations, the division remained on garrison duty in Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. The division received a newly formed 11th Indian Infantry Brigade, composed like the others of one Indian, one Gurkha, and one British battalion, and which had been trained in mountain warfare in Lebanon. Even without special training and although without special equipment and organization, Indian Army units such as the 4th Indian Infantry Division were considered to be appropriate for mountain warfare.

The Indian Army fought the "Pathans" (i.e., the Afghans and their cousins) for years in the Himalayan foothills of the Northwest Frontier and many of its officers and some of its units had extensive experience in mountain c ombat. The Gurkhas, being from Nepal and possessed of a fearsome reputation, were considered especially suited for mountain warfare.

In December 1943, the division embarked from Egypt and went to Eighth Army in Italy. After fighting on the Adriatic side of Italy, in February 1944 the division participated as part of Freyberg's New Zealand Corps in probably its most famous combat, the Second Battle of Monte Cassino. Here the 1/9th Gurkha Rifles Battalion distinguished itself by making the deepest Allied penetration in the battle with its seizure of Hangman's Hill.

After Cassino, the division remained with Eighth Army until November 1944, when it was sent to Greece to put down the Communist-led revolt. It remained in Greece until January 1946 when, less its British elements, it at last returned home over six years after it went overseas.

Counting the 161st Brigade, the 4th Indian Infantry Division could make the unique claim of having come up against almost all of the King's enemies in World War II: the Germans, the Italians, the Japanese, the Vichy French, and the Communist-led ELAS in Greece. Its men had earned four Victoria Crosses and three George Crosses. Unlike most of the other "first" divisions chronicled in this publication, the 4th Indian Infantry Division remained in existence after the war. During this time it became a full-fledged mountain division and added the Pakistani Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army to its list of foes.

The 4th Indian Infantry Division in Europa: In "War in the Desert" it is a 7-8 Inf XX being composed of 3x 2-8 Inf Xs. In the Second Front draft order of battle it becomes an 8-8 Mtn XX, being composed of 1x 3-8 Mtn X and 2x 2-8 Mtn Xs. Arguably, since it was composed of regulars, both British and Indian, and began receiving Gurkha battalions in 1943, it should rank as an 8-8 Inf XX from the beginning of the war. Mountain status should not be acquired until after the North African campaign.

Partial Bibliography

Graham, Dominick and Shelford Bidwell; Tug of War; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986.
Jackson, W. G. F.; The Battle for North Africa 1940-1943, New York: Mason/Charter Publishers, Inc., 1975.
Joslen, H. F.; Orders of Battle; London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1960.
Praval, K. C.; The Red Eagles; New Delhi: Vision Books, 1982.
Smith, E. D.; The Battles for Cassino; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975.