Talk:10th Indian Infantry Division

Latest comment: 12 years ago by IainWallace in topic Indians or Brittish?


WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Tag & Assess 2008

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Article reassessed and graded as start class. WWII & British Task Forces --dashiellx (talk) 16:15, 25 April 2008 (UTC)Reply

Indians or Brittish?

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Was the division made up of British people or Indian people? I find it hard to believe they could have been British, given the amount of casualties suffered...211.28.54.73 (talk) 12:39, 16 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

I can't see what relevance the nationality of the troops has to do with casualties. However, in WWII most Indian Infantry Divisions had three brigades each with two battalions of Indian troops and one of British although later in the war sometimes all three battalions were Indian (or Gurkha). You can see this in the Formation section of this article. In the Indian battalions the majority of officers were British although, again, as the war went on, increasing numbers of Indian officers were present. All senior officers in the division would have been British - I don't have the numbers but very few Indian officers had reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel by the war's end. Stephen Kirrage talk - contribs 14:09, 16 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

I agree that the nationality of the troops can't be assumed from the casualty figures! I suppose technically, as this was before the British Nationality Act 1948, none were British citizens but all were British subjects. However, there is one unit of native British troops missing from the Divisional order of battle. This is the 1st battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, who were wiped out in Kensington Box in the Battle of Gazala, June 1942. I am no expert, but am investigating these events and will edit the page once I have confirmed the facts. IainWallace (talk) 22:53, 4 May 2012 (UTC) The 1st battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry was part of the 21st Indian Brigade within the 10th Division for about six months before its destruction in the "Cauldron" at Gazala. IainWallace (talk) 23:02, 4 May 2012 (UTC)Reply


List of Indian divisions in World War I says that there was a 10th division in WW 1 also. Vinay84 (talk) 09:59, 4 September 2009 (UTC)Reply