The Afghan Regular Army, 1919

Kabul 2009; a friendly Afghan regular and his camel

I have received recently mi pre-order of "Chain of Command", so I have had not enought time for my "only" project, but I think it is an old problem of all of us...

 

Well. This time, I am going to write something about the Afghan Regular Army of 1919, a true "back of beyond" organization.

The real military strength of Afghanistan depended on the armed population rather than on the regular forces because, on the whole, the Afghan troops were ill-trained and lacked manoeuvrability. They could not be considered, by any standard, first class troops, although they had a great level of courage and endurance. There was not weapons training nor tactical exercises, so these troops were more liable to await than to initiate an attack.

 

At the begining of hostilities, the Afghan Regular Army comprised 21 regiments of Cavalry, 78 battalions of infantry and around 280 breech-loading guns and an equal number of muzzle-loaders chiefly posted on the Russian and Persian frontiers. The effectives totalled about 38,000 rifles, 8,000 sabres and 4,000 artillerymen and just half of these forces were stationed on the frontier with India.

 

There was no staff, nor attempt at a brigade organization except in Kabul, whose garrison of 17 battalions of infantry, 7 regiments of cavalry and 108 guns was in fact the strategy reserve of the Army. There were four mixed brigades in Kabul, every one with one regiment of cavalry, one battery of field and another of pack artillery, three battalions of infantry and three machine guns.

 

The Infantry varied considerably in armament and equipment; less than half the battalions were armed with small-bore rifles whilst the remaining units had Martini-Henrys or Sniders. The infantry wore also a bayonted, sometimes with an sword also, but there was no instruction in its use. The Officers and NCO´s were ignorant and deficient in everything.

When war broke out, no battalion had more than 75 percent of effectives, and many of them made up their numbers by drafting in armed tribesmen... adding a new problem to the discipline issue.

 

Only the Kabul units had a service dress consisted of a suit of khaki, puttes and ankle boots. The equipment was a leather belt with leather braces and three big pouches. The headdress was a round, black lambskin cap with, sometimes, a metal badge representing a mosque on a crescent. Men of other units frequently wore their local and everyday costume: a sheepskin coat, wide trousers and native shoes.

Afghan infantryman

The Cavalry were mounted in small but sturdy ponies, unsuited to shock action; they were armed with rifle and sword, but were little better than mounted infantry. The regiments in Kabul had lances, but they were seldom carried.

 

The Artillery in 1919 consisted on 10cm Krupp howitzers, 75mm Krupp pack guns and older 7-pounder mountain guns. There were also really old Gardner machine guns with multiple barrels, obsolete for more than twenty years in the British Army.

The field artillery was under-horsed and badly trained. Drills were infrequent, range practices were seldom carried out and field practices and calibration were unknown.

 

There was only an arsenal in Afghanistan, in Kabul, able to produce guns, rifles, shells, small-arms ammunition, clothes and general equipment. In Bawali, near Jalalabad, existed a factory for making black powder for the Sniders and Martini-Henrys. There was not a vehicular transport service, but there were plenty of camels available for military use in the country.

To facilitate the movement of troops, state granaries existed in the fortified post which marked the stages every 12 miles along the main roads.

Afghan Regular Cavalry

The Afghan Regular Army looked a rag-tag bunch, a true "Pancho Villa´s Army", but they could be expected to fight stoulty, and the rugged country and debilitated state of the Indian Army favoured them, in the sort term at least.

 

Finally, in adition to the regular troops, there were around 10,000 Khassadar (tribal militia) who wore not uniform, carried Snider rifles and were used on road protection, police work and general custom duties.

Waziri Khassadar at Miranshah

So this is the Afghan Regular Army, the enemy of the Imperial forces. I would like to have painted already some figures to represent them but... the time, the never abundant time.

I have though about to use Turkish or Arab in Turk service as Afghan regulars, but my hope is that Mr Hicks sculpt some of them soon.

 

In this moment I´m awaiting some terrain elements I have bought in E-Bay, and others I have ordered from Wargames News and Terrain. I´m also thinking about to adapt the new rulebook from Too Fat Lardies, "Chain of Command" and test it in a game; after playing a game of "Mud and Blood" I think it can be unnecessary complex for this period...





Terraforming the North-West Frontier

Bala Hissar of Peshawar

While I am painting the figures I need, I need also to look for suitable terrain elements. Fortunately, from my games of Darkest Africa and Modern Afghanistan I have been able to collect, in my home, some basic elements I can use without problem.

 

This is the game surface I have from En Cobertura (with some other terrain elements on it):

http://www.encobertura.com/

It is the game table I pepared, some months ago, to play a game of "Skirmish Sangin". Probably, it has a good size for an small skirmish, but I would like to have more modules. Sadly, in this moment, En Cobertura only sell them unpainted, and I have had a very bad experience painting their flexible surfaces:

 

Horrible experience. I´m not an artist of the terraformation...

 

It has been my main problem for a time; I need a game surface of a suitable size for different games, from an small clash between patrols to a siege, from the arid country of Afghanistan to the jungles of Vietnam, and I want that this surface has a reasonable quality. Finally, I bought this game mat from E-Minis Málaga:

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/

 

This game mat is from Woodland Scenics, and I liked a lot its colour, perfect to represent a great number of different terrains and not only the desert (well, perhaps it can be a desert in Spring). Besides, it is not so expensive as the modular terrain, it need less space of storage and it is very easy to represent the contours of the terrain. I expect to use it in this same week with a Darkest Africa game to test another ruleset I have, "The Sword and the Flame".

 

Well, I have the game surface, but I need also other terrain elements. I would like to represent a landscape like this one:

Road repairs, North-West Frontier, 1919

Flat valleys, dry riverbeds, some scattered trees, patches of hard bush and the hills, the imposing hills.

I have some of these terrain elements already:

http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/

This is my "red fort" handmade by the great artist that is behind Wargames News and Terrain. I bought this one for my "Skirmish Sangin" games, but it is perfect for the Third Afghan War and, in fact, it is the main piece in my first scenario.

 

I have also some buildings, trees and other elements, form different sources:

 

This is a model from Mutineer Miniatures; a great quality building.

 

But I need a lot of other elements, and I have found some interesting sites in the web that are the main reason of this entry: to share that information:

 

An interesting seller in Ebay; very nice items, and cheap too! I pretend to buy some of them, specially hills and brush dots.

http://stores.ebay.com/Battlefield-Architect?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

 

A modelling service with great elements. I like a lot the olive trees.

http://www.realisticmodelling.com/default.asp

 

Another one, with wonderful buildings. They have a fort perfect for some games.

http://crescent-root.com/index.html

 

This one has the palms I need. I have, actually, also some of their walls.

http://www.jrmini.com/shop/jrmini.php

 

And, of course, for my roads and rivers, this one:

http://www.terrafirmastudios.co.uk/#/flexible-dirt-roads/4564861504

 

A great company with excellent products. I´m very interested in their animal enclosure and oasis:

http://www.architectsofwar.com/

 

As with other entries, I pretend to update this one or to write other "chapters" of this one when I have new information about terrain elements I´m interested in.

 

And now, to paint more Afghan tribesmen!





Frontier Tribesmen

Group of Afridi fighters, 1878

Now, it is the time to write something about the Afghan tribesmen.

 

At the begining of the war, the Amir´s call to a Holy War had not been received with general enthusiasm by the tribes of the Frontier. The Afghan Pathans between Jalalabad and Dakka were eager for war whilst the Afridi and Mohmands of the British side of the Durand Line were not so actively hostile; and this was a problem for Amanullah Khan because the true strong of Afghanistan lies in the armed tribesmen rather than in the regular army raised by a form of conscription which took a man in eight for life service. Of course, they were not the pick of the country...

 

The most warlike of the inhabitants of Afghanistan were the Pathan tribes of Eastern Afghanistan, precisely those situated in front of the British forces. All these Pathans were serious Mohammedans, susceptible to be called to a religious war by the Amir or by the many mullahs that hated the British and also overwhelmingly hard hillmen in contrast with the Afghan, that were mainly plains dwellers. They were first-class fighters, and the best armed and more warlike of them lived in the area between the Durand Line and the Administrative Border.
There was, in fact, an order among the tribes in terms of their fighting quality. The Mahsuds were the most formidable adversaries followed nearly by the Afridis and Mobmands but all of them shared the same broad characteristics: hardy, implacable in their vengeances, tactically sophisticated, fiercely Muslim and independent and hostile to ALL authority. They lived under a common and rigid code of behaviour, Pakhtunwali, based in badal (blood vengeance), malmastia (hospitality) and nanawati (asylum). Living in a hill country of low fertility, the tribesmen had for centuries been accustomed to raiding down into the plains of India or levying tolls on travellers through their lands

There were, probably, half a million Pathan fighting men, many of them armed with more or less modern rifles and all of them very expert in mountain guerrilla war. Although British subjects and receivers of annual allowances of money from the British Government, all of them enjoyed an almost complete independence in their tribal areas and didn´t think they were subjects of the Crown.

 

The Pathans were expert in guerrilla warfare; were full of Muslim fanatism and, also, love of plunder. They were quick to rally under the Amir´s standard if it suited their interest or it was not too dangerous, but they rarely fougth at any great distance from their homes. Each man carried his rifle, ammunition, a knife and a supply of flour in a bag of undressed sheepskin. Because this flour was easily spoiled by the action of rain or perspiration, or when it was consumed, the men went of at any moment to their homes for more.

 

The brave tribesmen made an effective use  of the rugged terrain and could be very aggresive if the prospects of exit were good but they could not compete with the weaponry and discipline of the British forces in set-piece actions, so sniping at columns on the march was more effective (and safe) for them; also, the attack against picquets or rearguard units.

 

By this time, the tribesmen had replaced their old jezzails with breech-loading rifles such as the Martini-Henry or the Lee-Metford. In adition, the tribesmen carried tulwars (curved swords) and chora (heavy knives) for the close combat. Tribes that were not sustained by the British (or Afghan) subsidies made do with older weapons, but those tribes who could afford them, bought European rifles. From 1908, most tribesmen carried Martini-Henry and the luckier - or more skilled thieves of them - carried Lee-Metford or Lee-Enfield. The tribal craftmen were also really skillful at reproducing European weapons so these tribesmen were now the most dangerous adversary of the British forces.

 

The Pathan were tall and lean men dressed in a coarse home-spun angarka (shirt), loose white trousers, sandals ans a cummerbund holding a knife. The common headdress was a pointed cap (kullah) rounded with a strip of material (lungi) to form a medium-size turban.

The headmen (maliks) had a more ornate costume, with, by example, crimson waistcoats covered with gold lace.

The turban could be of a bright red, white, blue, etc. and the lungi (sash) could have solid colours or narrow stripes of black, yellow, red or blue.

Although white was the most common colour used for the angarka, red, blue and grey were also worn. To counter the bitter Afghan winter, tribesmen wore a poshteen, a shepskin coat with hair on the inside. Its ammount of embroidery depended of wealth and status.

 

The clothing worn by the Pathans varied from tribe to tribe but the basic garment was that indicated here. The Waziris, by example, tended to favour a dark-red or indigo turban and a dark-red or pink waist sash; the Kurram Valley tribes wore an angarka of dark blue and the Khyber Pass Afridis usually wore a grey or blue angarka with off-white trousers.

 

For this entry I would like to have had the command group of the Empress Miniatures Afghan tribesmen painted, but it has been not possible; some painting commissions and this horrible hot have prevented it.

In their place, I have this figure from Scarab Miniatures, a downed pilot in the middle of a very delicate moment that I´m thinking about to use in a "Rescue the Pilot" game, perhaps in the middle of the Kabul valley...

 

I like a lot the figures from Scarab Miniatures; they are not anatomically perfect, and are, in fact, a bit "chunkies" but they have a lot of character in them and I like to paint them!

20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Infantry (Brownlow´s Punjabis)

20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Infantry in Egypt, 1882

I have chosen this British Indian Army regiment as the first one of my own collection of units for my project... but it didn´t participate in the Third Afghan War!

No problem; all of them are very similar.

 

This regiment was raised in 1857 as the 8th Regiment of Punjab Infantry and was designated as the 20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Infantry in 1904. Today, it is the 6th Battalion, The Punjab Regiment in the modern Pakistan Army.

 

The regiment was raised on August 1857 by Lieutenant Charles Henry Brownlow from drafts of the 4th and 5th Punjab Infantry as a part of the army raised to suppress the Great Indian Mutiny. After this bitter war, the Regiment took part in the Second Opium War against China, taking part in the assault to the Taku Forts in 1860. In 1861, the regiment become part of the line as the 24th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry but was renumbered as the 20th Regiment later in the year.

In 1863, it took part in the Umbeyla Campaing in the North-West Frontier, in the first of its many engagement against the Pathan tribes. In 1864, the regiment was designed as the 20th (Punjab) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry and took part in the Black Mountain Expedition.

 

Painting by Walter Fane, 1868

The regiment took part in the Second Afghan War, advancing into the Khyber Pass to clear Afghan forces at Ali Masjid fortress. In 1882, the regiment was dispatched to Egypt as part of the expeditionary force to suppress the revolt of Arabi Pasha, taking part in the battle of Tel-el-Kebir. In honour of its service in Egypt, the Duke of Cambridge was appointed as its honorary colonel in 1883 and the regiment was retitled (again) as the 20th (Duke of Cambridge´s Own) (Punjab) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry.

In 1891 and 1897, the regiment took part in new expeditions in the North-West Frontier and in 1900 was sent to China to suppress the Boxer Rebellion.

 

After the reforms brought about in the Indian Army by Lord Kitchener, the regiment received a new designation, 20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Punjabis in 1903 and then 20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Infantry (Brownlow´s Punjabis) in 1904.

 

During the Great War, the regiment saw active service in Mesopotamia and Palestine, taking part in the capture of Kut-al-Amara in September 1915. In May 1918 it returned finally to India.

30rd Punjabis and 2oth Duke of Cambridge

In 1921-22 there was a major reorganization in the British Indian Army, grouping four to six battalions in a same regiment. In this way, the 14th Punjab Regiment was formed by grouping the 20th Punjabis with the 19th, 21th, 22th and 24th Punjabis and the 40th Pathans. The new designation of the battalion was 2nd Battalion (Duke of Cambridge´s Own) 14th Punjab Regiment. During the Second World War, the battalion was part of the British garrison of Hong Kong but, after a siege of 18 days, the battalion surrendered and spent the rest of the war in Japanese captivity.

In 1947 the battalion was allocated to Pakistan Army and fought, in 1948, in the war with India in Kashmir and in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965.

 

And this is the history of this interesting Regiment.

 

I like a lot the green touch in the kullahs, and perhaps it is the main reason to choose this unit for painting my first Indian Army figures. I have painted some more figures for this unit:

 

 

They are, again, from Woodbine Design and this time I have painted the LMG team and one of the British officers.

 

I have also painted another of my old Foundry figures from the North-West Frontier range:

 

 

It is an Afghan regular soldier for the Second Afghan War. Perhaps I will use him as a Khassadar militiaman, or an "old timer"...