NO. 18 SPECIAL BATTALION, INDIA 1919

[Perth Digger]

I have a soldier who served in the 2/RWK in the Middle East and arrived in India on 16 January 1919. On 19 May 1919 he was posted to No. 18 Special Battalion [KIRKLEE?]. Does anyone please know what this battalion did? He remained in it until 28 October 1919, the day before he returned home and was demobbed.

Thanks

Mike

[spof]

Mike

Could it have been a Provisional Battalion?

http://www.1914-1918.net/reserve.htm

In October 1914 the National Reserve was formed into Protection Companies, which were attached to existing TF battalions, for the guarding of railways and other vulnerable points in Britain. That November, all Class I and II men were ordered to present themselves for enlistment. In March 1915 the Protection Companies were redesignated as Supernumerary Companies TF. In July 1915 there was a widescale trawl of these companies to identify men capable of marching 10 miles with a rifle and 150 rounds of ammunition. Those who were classified as medical Category A went to Service battalions, while Category C's were posted to Provisional battalions. Cat B men were formed into the 18th-24th Battalions of the Rifle Brigade. These battalions were sent to Egypt and India at the end of 1915 to replace TF units committed to Gallipoli and Mesopotamia. The rump left in Britain eventually formed the 25th Battalion Rifle Brigade TF and served as a Garrison battalion at Falmouth. As for the Supernumerary Companies, they were eventually formed into the Royal Defence Corps.

Do you have a name and number?

Glen

[David Porter]

Mike,

From what I gather, numbered Special Battalions were formed in India in April & May 1919 from troops prevented from returning home for demobilization.

This included men returning from Mesopotamia and each boatload formed a new Special Battalion.

See http://1914-1918.inv...howtopic=159451

[mcassell]

Some 6 Special Battalions formed No. 1 Special Brigade commanded by Brigadier General J.W. O'Dowda. Because of the near mutiny on formation, the Brigade was known as O'Dowda's Bolshie Brigade. O'Dowda was a former officer of the 2/Royal West Kents and his personal diaries are in the Kent Records Centre in Maidstone.

[Perth Digger]

Thank you for this information. The man in question was Walter William Clarke, G/8066, who had been posted to the 2/RWK from the 11th Battalion in February 1917 after being wounded in September 1916. His papers are on Ancestry. He was eventually demobilised on 27 November 1919.

Mike

[Perth Digger]

Sorry, I also meant to add that my query was also based on the records of another former 11/RWK man, Arthur William Cable, G/11496, who also was posted to the 2/RWK and followed the same pattern as Clarke (both got influenza in October 1918 and both were demobbed on the same day). But Cable received the IGS medal and a clasp (Indian General Service Medal?). This made me wonder if they had been involved in some operation in India.

[David Porter]

A good proportion of the men retained in India were involved in the 3rd Anglo-Afghan War. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Afghan_War

[mcassell]

According to Appendix 1 of the Official Account of the 3rd Afghan War - which gives the Order of Battle on 6 May 1919, No. 1 Special Brigade at Rawalpindi consisted of Nos. 1 through 4 Special Service Battalions (to be formed from Demobilizers) and 287 Company, Machine Gun Corps, with support troops on the way. The only other Special Service Battalion mentioned is No. 17 which joined Baluchistan Force at Quetta on 22 May 1919.

On page 28 of the Official Account is the following:

'A large number of personnel, en route from Mesopotamia to England for demobilization, were detained in India owing to the shortage of shipping. These officers and men were utilized to meet the crisis. The infantry were formed into 'Special Service Battalions' which were given emergency numbers. Those numbered from 1 to 4 were made into a Brigade at Rawalpindi but in June they were split up to provide reinforcements for existing British battalions. Nos. 6, 12 15, 16 and 18 were employed as Internal Security troops in India, whilst No. 17 was used in the Baluchistan area."

On page 87 of Lieutenant General G.N. Molesworth's book Afghanistan 1919 is the following:

" When war was forced on us by Afghanistan, de-mobilization was in full swing. British units, mostly Territorials, were on their way home, changing to larger troopships at Bombay. GHQ India, being short of British troops and unable to see how long the Third Afghan War would take, asked men arriving at Bombay if they would "volunteer' for service on the North-West Frontier, during the period of operations. In addition, Internal Security in India itself was not good. The reply, a very reasonable one, was that if they "volunteered' for further service, they would lose the jobs which were being kept open for them in England, but if they were "ordered" to go to the Afghan War, that was another matter and they would obey.

GHQ India then released a communique stating that all these men had "volunteered' for further service in India. This was a most grievous blunder, quite untrue and had an immediate effect. Feeling among these men ran very high. At Hassan Abdal, on the railway east of Rawalpindi, some 2000 men were put under canvas and refused to do anything except draw rations. They were perfectly orderly, but refused to go further westwards. From the name of the Brigadier in charge, they were known as "O'Dowda's Bolshie Brigade'.

So it would seem that only one Special Service Battalion, No.17, actually served in the Third Afghan War, four Battalions refused, and the remainder, including No.18, were used on Internal Security duties.

[mcassell]

Sorry, forgot to add that according to the IGSM medal roll, Private A.W. Cable served in No.17 Special Battalion thus most likely qualifying for the medal for service in Baluchistan..

[MaureenE]

The following information about the establishment of the Special Service Battalions is from the article

Mutiny in India in 1919 by Julian Putkowski

http://www.marxists....owski2.html#n15

In March 1919 the British Indian government declared martial law, following nation-wide civil unrest by Indians protesting against the Rowlatt Acts. These disturbances put an end to any immediate prospect of the wartime garrison being speedily demobilised, and after the Jallianwala Bagh (Amritsar) massacre on 13 April, the military administration was hard-pressed to find enough British soldiers to carry out counter-insurgency operations. The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of India, Sir Charles Monro, therefore announced:

The Commander-in-Chief regrets that he is compelled by a serious situation which has arisen in India to ask you to volunteer to remain temporarily in India for a period not exceeding one month, or less if the situation admits of it.

Subsequently Monro then ordered the Embarkation Officer at Bombay to transfer drafts of demobilisees from the port to Deolali, Bangalore and Secunderabad. It was intended that these men and those at Karachi would be drafted into composite Special Service infantry battalions. [15]

15. Telegram 28213 WSS to GOCSP, 21 April 1919, L/MIL/17/5/3079.

Cheers

Maureen

Edit: Kirklee (initial post) is very probably Kirkee, a cantonment near Poona, now Pune

http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Kirkee

Edited 4 August , 2013 by Maureene

[Perth Digger]

Many thanks, David, Gunner and Maureene, for these interesting details.

Mike