| 1st
Surreys were stationed in India from 1926 to 1937. They arrived
there on 13th November 1926 from Hong Kong. The battalion had
left England in 1920 and was stationed in Egypt and the Sudan
on its way to Hong Kong. The move to India was a step in the right
direction on the long trail back home. Three years in Hong Kong
were enough in so small a station where the garrison duties were
arduous. The battalion’s departure was much regretted for
it had made many friends and established a fine reputation, but
India was viewed with keen expectation. The voyage in HMT Neuralia
was a pleasant one with stops on the way at Singapore, Colombo
and Bombay, although sadly one soldier died just before leaving
Hong Kong and two had to be put ashore at Colombo, one suffering
from pneumonia and the other appendicitis. The battalion disembarked
at Karachi and arrived at Rawalpindi after a sixty hour train
journey to be greeted by the 2nd Royal Sussex who were already
stationed there.
Rawalpindi stands in a vast plain in the Punjab, the Land of the
Five Rivers. Alongside it now is the capital of Pakistan, the
new city of Islamabad. In 1926 it was notable as a large military
station, the location of H.Q.Northern Command and a base for operations
on the North West Frontier. 1st Surreys were part of the 1st Abbotabad
Brigade, the other three battalions in it being Gurkha ones, and
their first priority was to train for mountain warfare on the
Frontier. Their introduction came in January at the Brigade Training
Camp established in the hills near Abbotabad some seventy miles
away. However before that they took part in the New Year’s
Day Annual Proclamation Parade which was described as “something
like the Wembley Tattoo but not so resplendent”. On return
from training camp there was time for the Sergeants Mess annual
Sobraon Ball which was held in the Loco and Carriage Institute
Ballroom, and the corporals held their first dance in India in
the Masonic Hall. Then on 18th April the Battalion moved to Kuldana
in the Murree Hills for the hot weather. Although only twenty
seven miles away, it was all uphill as Murree and the adjoining
military hill stations of Kuldana, Gharial and Bharian were above
7,000 feet, and the journey was spread over three night marches.
The Battalion remained in Kuldana until the beginning of the cold
weather in October when it returned to the Plains.
Such was the pattern of events for the next three years with minor
variations. In 1927 on return from Kuldana “A” and
“C” Companies, the Machine Platoon and the Band and
Drums marched to Abbotabad for additional training with the Gurkhas.
In May 1928 the District manoeuvres were cancelled because of
torrential rain, in November they took place at Jhelum five days
march away, In 1929 the battalion remained in the Plains but each
company had six weeks in the hills at Bharian. In January of that
year it was sufficiently expert to be given the role of Afridi
tribesmen to simulate the enemy attacking the Brigade, a task
much enjoyed by the soldiers. The battalion worked hard and played
hard. Within months of its arrival teams were winning the Rawalpindi
District events at boxing, tug-of-war and football, with hockey
coming on but cricket lagging because of the shortage of grass
pitches. At Kuldana, where training and sports facilities were
more limited, bayonet fencing was taken up with enthusiasm, for
the Luard Cup which had been presented to the battalion by Major-General
C.C.Luard, GOC British Forces in South China. In May 1927 a letter
of approbation was received from the Army Council for the commendable
state of soldiers’ education in the battalion.
The
Surreys first occupied the West Ridge barracks at Rawalpindi which
consisted of single storey brick huts with corrugated iron roofs,
each holding about two platoons. They could be very cold in winter
and baking hot in summer. On the western side were the parade
grounds and the playing fields, and beyond them again the battalion
ranges. A couple of miles away was the arsenal in an old fort.
It contained all the reserves of arms and ammunition and the ordnance
workshops for the whole of the Northern Command. Still working
on the lessons of the Indian Mutiny the guard was found in rotation
by the three British battalions. Later the Battalion moved to
Victoria Barracks and subsequently alternated between there and
the West Ridge throughout its stay. The Victoria Barracks were
in fact Victorian, solidly constructed, raised from the ground
with thick mud-brick walls and roofs, all of which were intended
to make them cooler for units due to spend the hot weather in
the Plains. That part of the cantonment was well planted with
trees, lawns and gardens which were a blaze of colour for a short
time before the hot weather scorched them to cinders, and a pleasant
change from the semi-desert West Ridge.
Victoria Barracks was also much closer to the European type shops,
the cinema, eating places and the bazaar, all a pleasant change
for the soldiers. For the officers there was the club, and for
their ladies a congenial social life. An erstwhile “Pindi
Poppet” has recalled that:-
“The Frontier Mail arrived at the station about 4 pm daily
and then went on to Peshawar. ‘Pindi’ was a large
place; the Mall, the main road, was part of the Great Trunk Road,
it lay north to south and the wind whistled down it. At times
I was very glad to have a fur coat. There was not a great deal
for the women to do except be social, although at the time of
the Quetta earthquake we all attended the British military hospital
for training as auxiliary nurses. The curtains were drawn during
the day to keep the heat out, and after an afternoon rest I used
to go to the club to play tennis on the mud courts; then home
to change for dinner and perhaps go out afterwards. We all had
bikes; I biked up to the barracks or married quarters on the Ridge.
If you did not bike you took a tonga. Not many of the young officers
had cars.
There was quite a good shopping area. I used to spend my pocket
money on Chinese knick-knacks and beautiful brocades that could
be made up into jackets and housecoats. John Chinaman came to
the bungalow; he had lovely things in a wicker basket which he
would put out on the verandah for us to pick over. Tibetans also
called selling copperware and turquoise jewellry.
The cinema was well attended. We sat on sofas on the balcony,
the troops were downstairs and sometimes pretty vocal. There was
a Saturday night dance at the club. My parents nearly always had
a dinner party beforehand. After dinner we usually had a singsong
with my mother playing the piano. The dance at the club finished
at midnight with the National Anthem. The Lambeth Walk was brought
out from England by an elderly colonel who taught everyone how
to do it. Sunday was usually a busy day. We attended the church
parade, watched the cricket, went riding.
Then there were picnics to Taxila, where there were Greek remains
and to the woods in the Topi Park - very popular with courting
couples. I also remember visiting the Attock Oil Company off the
road to Nowshera, and being up a ladder when there was an earth
tremor - not nice! And there was riding. I preferred my horse
to my bicycle. The hunt was a drag; we met about 6 am in the dawn
and the cool air -breakfast was wonderful when you got back. The
Races were another feature, very popular with all ranks including
the Indians”.
The countryside at the hill stations consisted of steep, thickly-wooded
hillsides which greatly restricted the training then required,
since the requirements for Burma many years later could not be
anticipated. Beyond the hills, across the distant horizon, was
the stirring sight of the snow-covered Karakoram Mountains. Entertainment
was also a good deal more limited. One form of amusement introduced
first at Gharial was ‘tat-riding’. A tat was a pony
normally used for hire in place of a taxi. Tat-riding entailed
hiring a number of ponies for the soldiers keen to ride and willing
to go on local expeditions on the weekly Thursday holiday. It
became very popular; each man carried a haversack ration and a
water bottle and the party organised itself as irregular cavalry.
Newcomers soon learnt to trot and then to canter. It was a far
cry from the ‘Pindi’ drag and the races, but very
worthwhile.
1930 was a year of increased tension. During the first part political
agitation grew as a result of Ghandi’s resistance to the
law which prohibited the unlicensed manufacture of salt (there
was a tax on salt) and which was part of his civil disobedience
campaign . Some companies of the Surreys were deployed to Chaklala,
a military suburb on the south side of Rawalpindi which was a
mass of huge storage godowns and workshops intersected by numerous
roads and railway sidings. The others were able to move to the
hills but remained there at twelve hours notice. Later in the
year reinforcements were required for the North West Frontier,
but the Surreys, to their dismay, remained behind and the impending
inter-station move south to Lahore took place in February 1931.
There followed four years at Lahore and four at Fyzabad before
the Surreys resumed their homeward path via Khartoum to England.
Life followed much the same pattern but with different hill stations,
Dagshai in the Simla hills while at Lahore, and Chaubattia while
at Fyzabad.
Despite the ever present communal tension Lahore was a much enjoyed
station. Among many memorable occasions there were the visits
to the battlefields of Sobraon and Ferozeshah in the Kasur Training
Area, the annual Sobraon Ball given by the Warrant Officers and
Sergeants (1200 guests attended in the Lawrence Gardens Montgomery
Hall at Lahore in 1932), the winning of the Army and RAF India
Team Boxing Championships, the hosting by the Officers’
Mess of the MCC Touring Team led by Douglas Jardine in 1934, and
the winning in that year of the Lahore District boxing, athletics
and cross-country championships. Fyzabad provided new opportunities
for shooting and fishing, and plenty of football and hockey grounds,
a pleasant change after the cramped conditions at Lahore, but
much reduced shopping facilities. For the newcomers to India there
was also the first sight of the Hindu burning ghats on the river.
For the Regiment it was its last station in India.
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