Ep304 – The Indian Army in WW1 – Dr Alan Jeffreys

Dr Alan Jeffreys talks about his recent publication of collected essays on the Indian Army recently published by Helion. Alan is Head of Equipment and Uniform at the National Army Museum and also a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Greenwich. His book and interview address the important global role of the Indian Army during the First World War. The edited volume covers the traditional areas of the Indian Army on the Western Front, in Palestine, Mesopotamia and the defence of the Suez Canal; however, there are also chapters on combined operations; Indian prisoners of war in Germany and Turkey; the expansion of the officer corps; and the Sikh experience, as well as the mobilisation of the equine army at the beginning of the war and the demobilisation of the army in the period from 1918 until 1923. Three additional chapters are related to the theme, such as the role of the Royal Indian Marine; the Territorial Army in India; and Churchill’s portrayal of the Indian Army during the Gallipoli campaign in his account The World Crisis.