12th Frontier Force Regiment

This chapter is being re-produced with thanks from JOHN GAYLOR'S fine book 'SONS OF JOHN COMPANY'. JOHN GAYLOR, first came to India with the Royal West African Frontier Force and served in India and in Burma with the 82nd (West African) Division. He subsequently served with the London Scottish and the Special Air Service. He is the Secretary of The Military Historical Society and lives in retirement in Kent. This book is available from JOHN GAYLOR directly at £19.99 (UK) plus postage. He can be contacted at 30 Edgeborough Way, Bromley, Kent BRI 2UA Tel 44 (181) 3251391

Centre: 1923 MARDAN
1946 SIALKOT

Class Composition: 1923 Punjabi Mussalmans, Sikhs, Dogras and Pathans 1947 Dogras from the Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir State, Pathans from within the admin- istrative borders of the North-West Frontier Province of British India. NWFP States and Tribal Territory, Punjabi Mussalmans from the Punjab (less Ambala Civil Division), including Niazi and other Pathans of the Punjab, Hazarawalas of NWFP and Mussalmans of Jammu and Kashmir State and Gilgit Agency, Sikhs from the Punjab.

Both the 12th Frontier Force Regiment and the 13th Frontier Force Rifles shared a common origin in recruiting veterans of the Sikh Wars. The 12th sprang from the infantry element of the Frontier Brigade authorised in 1846 after the First Sikh War, consisting of a company of artillery and four regiments of Infantry. Colonel Henry Lawrence, the Agent to the Governor-General on the Frontier asked if he might also raise a small irregular body of men - one troop mounted and two companies of infantry - to be called 'Guides'. The term Frontier Brigade was dropped in 1847 and the four regiments became the 1st, 2nd (or Hill Corps), 3rd and 4th regiments of Sikh Local Infantry. Together with the Corps of Guides, these four regiments went to form the 12th Frontier Force Regiment in 1923.

Despite their title, the regiments were never wholly Sikh, not even when first raised but they fought their way through the next century as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sikhs since they had been raised principally from disbanded regiments of the Sikh Army. The 2nd Sikhs, in fact, was first composed almost entirely of Dogras, enlisted for the first time in the Army of the Honourable East India Company, together with a few Pathans and Gurkhas and it was this make-up which prompted its title of Hill Corps.

In 1851, the four regiments of Sikh Infantry became part of the Punjab Irregular Force and the letters 'PIF' entered Indian and, indeed, British military history. The 'Piffers' they became and the nickname lives on. Despite their mandate to serve in the Frontier areas, there was great keenness to follow the drum wherever it might lead and, at that time, there was no shortage of drums in our Indian territories. The 4th Sikhs volunteered for Burma in 1852 as did the 3rd, but the 4th was accepted and served there for two years. All four regiments went to Central India at the time of the Great Mutiny but the 4th, again, made the headlines even by the exacting military standards of the times.

They marched from Abbottabad to Delhi, 560 miles in thirty days in an Indian June, going into action on their arrival. The Guides beat this with their march from Mardan, a distance of 580 miles in twenty-two marching days but they were a combined cavalry-infantry corps and the infantry element had camels provided, one to every two foot-soldiers.

In 1876, Queen Victoria conferred on the Corps of Guides, the style of 'Queen's Own' making them one of the first units of the Indian Army to become a Royal regiment.

The Second Afghan War involved the Corps of Guides and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Sikhs and gave the Guides their first two Victoria Crosses.

In 1903, the re-numbering was significant. The 'Bengal block' ended with the 48th Pioneers and the four regiments of Sikh Infantry became respectively the 51st, 52nd, 53rd and 54th Sikhs (Frontier Force). The Guides Infantry became, in 1911, Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (Frontier Force) Lumsden's) Infantry.

FIRST WORLD WAR

  • Guides Infantry - India, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine (one company to France in 1914, attached to 57th Wilde's Rifles)
  • 2nd Guides - (raised in 1917) - India, Egypt, Palestine, Syria
  • 3rd Guides - (raised in 1917) India
  • 51st Sikhs - India, Aden, Egypt, Mesopotamia
  • 52nd Sikhs - India, Mesopotamia
  • 54th Sikhs - India, Egypt, Turkey 2/54th - (raised in 1917) India

    Immediately after the war, the 2/54th Sikhs was disbanded as was the 3rd Guides. As a reward for their services in what was later called the Middle East, the 51st became the 51st The Prince of Wales' Own Sikhs (Frontier Force).

    BETWEEN THE WARS

    The formation of the 12th Frontier Force Regiment in 1922 did not present too much of a problem in re-numbering its battalions. The change was facilitated by the Guides Infantry who, although senior to the Sikh battalions, volunteered to become the 5th Battalion of the new regiment leaving the 51st The Prince of Wales' Own Sikhs (FF), the 52nd Sikhs, 53rd Sikhs and 54th Sikhs to become, once again, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions. The 2nd Guides had been retained after the war to become the Training Battalion. Thus, the new line-up was as under but the Guides still took precedence on parade.

  • 51st The Prince of Wales' Own Sikhs (Frontier Force) - 1st Bn (Prince of Wales' Own) (Sikhs) 12th Frontier Force Regt
  • 52nd Sikhs (Frontier Force) - 2nd Bn (Sikhs) 12th Frontier Force Regt
  • 53rd Sikhs (Frontier Force) - 3rd Bn (Sikhs) 12th Frontier Force Regt
  • 54th Sikhs (Frontier Force) - 3rd Bn (Sikhs) 12th Frontier Force Regt
  • 1st Bn QVO Corps of Guides (Frontier Force) (Lumsden's) Infantry - 5th Bn (QVO Corps of Guides) 12th Frontier Force Regt
  • 2nd Bn QVO Corps of Guides (Frontier Force) (Lumsden's) Infantry - 10th Bn (QVO Corps of Guides) 12th Frontier Force Regt

    The badge chosen for the new regiment was a stringed bugle-horn with '12' between the strings, a crown above and title-scrolls flanking the bugle-horn.

    The Territorial battalion, raised on 11 Mar 22 as the 1st (territorial) Bn 51st (The Prince of Wales' Own) Sikhs in Nowshera, became the 11/12th but wore its own badge, crossed Khyber knives, points down, a crown above and title scroll below. It recruited only Pathans and, on mobilisation on 4 Sept. 39, was the only all-Pathan battalion in the army.

    In 1933, the 4/12th was one of the battalions nominated for Indianisation. Most regiments saw service on the North West Frontier in the between-wars years but few had the experience of the Guides Infantry.

    In an action in September 1935, the under-strength battalion, barely 370 all ranks, faced an overwhelmingly superior force of Mohmands, an action in which all the British and most of the Indian officers were killed or wounded. Captain Godfrey Meynell MC, the adjutant, went forward to encourage his men and was over-run with them. His action inflicted heavy losses on the tribesmen and gained him a posthumous Victoria Cross.

    Also in 1935, in the Silver Jubilee honours, the 3/12th was made a royal battalion.

    SECOND WORLD WAR

  • 1st Battalion - India, Iraq, Syria, Italy. In late 1946, the battalion was nominated for parachute training to join 2nd Indian Airborne Division.
  • 2nd Battalion - India, Malaya, Captured on Singapore Island by the Japanese in February 1942, Reconstituted 30 Apr 46 on a cadre of 9/12th.
  • 3rd Battalion - India, Italian East Africa, Egypt, Iraq, Cyprus, Sicily, Italy, Greece.
  • 4th Battalion - India, Burma.
  • 5th Battalion (Guides) - India, Iraq, Iran.
  • 6th Battalion - raised 8 Aug 40 at Sabathu. India. Disbanded 5 Jul 44.
  • 7th Battalion - raised 7 Aug 40 at Shillong. India. Became a unit of 39 Training Division. Disbanded February 1946.
  • 8th Battalion - raised 1 April 41 at Bareilly. India, Burma. The battalion was not disbanded after the war but continued as a regular unit.
  • 9th Battalion - raised 1 April 41 at Jhansi, India, Ceylon, Burma, Indo-China, reconstituted as 2/12th on 30 April 46.
  • 11th Battalion - the pre-war Territorial battalion was mobilised on 4 Sep 39, converted to active battalion of 15 Sept 41 and redesignated 14th (Suba Sarhad) Bn.
  • 14th Battalion - formed 15 Sep 41 on conversion of 11th Battalion to active status. India, Burma, Iran, Greece. Disbanded September 1946.
  • 1st Afridi Battalion - raised 1 Apr 42 at Sialkot. India, Iran, Iraq, Syria. Disbanded January 1946 but re-raised as Khyber Rifles.
  • Machine-Gun Battalion - raised 15 Jan 42 at Sialkot, India, Burma, Dutch East Indies. Disbanded December 1946.
  • 25th Garrison Battalion - raised 1 Apr 41 at Sialkot, India. Disbanded 20 May 46.
  • 26th Garrison Battalion - raised 1 Mar 42 at Sialkot, India, Iraq. Disbanded February 1946.

    PARTITION

    On Partition, in August 1947, The Frontier Force Regiment as it had now become since most of the infantry regiments had lost their numbers, was logically assigned to Pakistan. Pathans and Punjabi Mussalmans were retained whilst Dogras and Sikhs were routed to India.

    The regular battalions on transfer of power were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th.

    BATTLE HONOURS

    Pegu, Mooltan, Goojerat, Punjaub, Delhi 1857, Ali Masjid, Kabul 1879, Ahmed Khel, Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1878-80, Chitral, Malakand, Punjab Frontier, Tirah, Pekin 1900, Somaliland 1901-04.

    Suez Canal, Egypt 1915, Megiddo, Sharon, Nablus, Palestine 1918, Aden, Tigris 1916, Kut-al-Amara 1917, Baghdad, Sharqat, Mesopotamia 1915-18,

    NW Frontier, India 1914, 1915, 1916-17, Afghanistan 1919.

    Gallabat, Tehamiyam Wells, Agordat, Barentu, Keren, Amba Alagi, Abyssinia 1940-41, Gazala, Bir Hacheim, El Adem, North Africa 1940-43, Landing in Sicily, Sicily 1943, Landing at Reggio, The Sangro, Mozzagrogna, Romagnoli. The Moro, Impossible Bridge, Cassino II, Pignataro, Advance to Florence. Campriano, Gothic Line, Coriano, The Senio, Santerno Crossing, Italy 1943-45, Athens, Greece 1944-45, North Malaya, Kota Bharu, Central Malaya, Kuantan, Machang, Singapore Island, Malaya 1941-42, Moulmein, Sittang 1942, 1945, Pegu 1942, 1945, Taukkyan, Shwegyin, North Arakan, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Ngakyedauk Pass, Imphal, Tamu Road, Shenam Pass, Bishenpur, Kyaukmyaung Bridgehead, Arakan Beaches, Ramree, Taungup, Mandalay, Myinmu, Fort Dufferin, Kyaukse 1945, Meiktila, Nyaungu Bridgehead, Capture of Meiktila, Defence of Meiktila, The Irrawaddy, Rangoon Road, Pyawbwe, Toungoo, Burma 1942-45.

    BOOKS

    History of the 2nd Sikhs, 12th Frontier Force Regt 1846-1933 by Capt C W May (Mission Press, Jubbulpore 1933)

    Historical Records of the 3rd Sikhs 1847-1930 by Lieut Col C I Shepherd (Pardy and Son Bournemouth 1931)

    History of the 54th Sikhs, Frontier Force Regiment 1846-1914 by Capt S R Shirley (Gale and Plden Ltd, Aldershot 1915)

    The Frontier Force Regiment by Brig W E H Condon OBE (Gale and Polden Ltd, Aldershot 1962)