Army Organisation > 4th (Quetta) Division, Order of Battle
A Division of the Indian Army
History | Units | Commanders
 
Summary history of the division
Headquartered in Quetta and manning stations at Chaman, Fort Sandeman, Jacobabad, Loralai, Manora, Hyderabad and others, the Division remained in the area throughout the war. It mobilised in part for action on the North West Frontier on several occasions during the period of the Great War. The Division was part of the Southern Army, later called Southern Command. From January 1918, the Division came directly under teh control of Army HQ while the constituent Karachi Brigade remained under Southern Command. In 1919, the Division mobilised for operations in Afghanistan. Typical of all Indian Army formations, it contained a mixture of British units (originally Regulars, later Territorials in addition) and Indian ones. Unlike British Divisions it contained a mixture of cavalry and infantry components.
   
A force under command of 2nd Quetta Brigade was maintained in western Baluchistan to suppress arms traffic to the frontier. In July 1915 the force was expanded and titled the East Persia Cordon. In March 1916 it was renamed the Seistan Force. It became the lines of communication force when the Malleson Mission was sent to the Trans-Caspian after the revolution in Russia in 1917. The last troops left Trans-Caspia in March 1920. Units that played a part are noted with an asterisk on this page: example 28th Light Cavalry*.
   
Order of Battle
   
Cavalry and mobile units  
28th Light Cavalry* left by October 1915, two squadrons rejoined March 1917
22nd Cavalry left for 9th (Secunderabad) Division October 1914
10th Lancers left for Mesopotamia in September 1916
3rd Gwalior Lancers joined by July 1915, left October 1917
8th Armoured Motor Unit formed in Quetta in July 1915, renamed Battery in 1917
16th Lancers joined by October 1916, left October 1917
3rd Horse joined by October 1917
Alwar Lancers joined by November 1917, became 46th Cavalry in August 1918
19th Motor Machine Gun Battery joined by January 1918
12th Mounted Brigade formed in June 1918, consisting of...
40th Cavalry formed in April 1918
41st Cavalry formed in April 1918
42nd Cavalry formed in April 1918
13th Mounted Brigade formed in September 1918, consisting of...
43rd Cavalry  
44th Cavalry  
45th Cavalry  
   
Infantry  
10th (1st (Quetta)) Brigade  
2nd Somerset Light Infantry left for Peshawar Division in December 1917
12th Pioneers left for 2nd Quetta Brigade in October 1915
19th Punjabis* left by February 1916
124th Baluchis* left in March 1916
126th Baluchis* left in September 1914
1/7th Ghurka Rifles* detached September-December 1914; detached to Persia LoC July-October 1917; left November 1917
2/7th Ghurka Rifles left in October 1914
2/4th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry joined from Karachi Brigade in April 1915, left October 1915
2/19th Punjabis formed January 1916, left December 1916
1/39th Gharwal Rifles joined from Meerut Division December 1916, moved to 2nd Quetta Brigade February 1917
3/7th Ghurka Rifles formed in June 1917, left Januray 1918
2/10th Ghurka Rifles joined September 1917, left February 1918
2nd King's (Liverpool) joined from Peshawar Division in December 1917
1/5th Light Infantry joined from East Africa in February 1918
2/56th Rifles joined from Lahore Division in February 1918
   
11th (2nd (Quetta)) Brigade  
1st South Lancashire  
2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers left for England September 1914
67th Punjabis left August 1914
106th Pioneers* moved to Peshawar Division in April 1917
2/4th Hampshire Regiment joined from England in January 1915, left April 1917 for 75th Division
12th Pioneers joined from 1st Quetta Brigade in October 1915, to Peshawar Division in February 1916
1/39th Gharwal Rifles joined from 1st Quetta Brigade February 1917, left December 1917
1st (Garrison) Bn, Norfolk Regiment joined April 1917
98th Infantry* joined July 1917
1/4th Ghurka Rifles joined May 1918
   
Karachi Brigade became an independent Brigade in June 1917
1st Lancashire Fusiliers left September 1914
127th Baluchis left in April 1916
29th Punjabis left August 1914 for East Africa
2/4th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry joined January 1915, moved to 1st Quetta Brigade in April 1915
1st (Garrison) Bn, Norfolk Regiment joined December 1915, moved to 2nd Quetta Brigade in April 1917
16th Rajputs joined in April 1916, left in December 1916 for Persia
24th Punjabis reformed (the original battalion having been captured at Kut-al-Amara) in September 1916, left in December 1916
2/19th Punjabis joined from 1st Quetta Brigade in January 1917, left in April 1917
2nd Reserve Mahratta Battalion joined March 1917. Became 110th and 117th Mahrattas and left in June 1917
2nd (Garrison) Bn, Bedfordshire Regiment joined May 1917
49th Bengalis joined July 1917, left in October 1917 for Mesopotamia
3/124th Baluchis two companies formed August 1917, left March 1918 to Persia
Nawanagar Lancers joined October 1917
1/4th Ghurka Rifles joined November 1917, left March 1918
1/129th Baluchis joined from East Africa in January 1918, left for 3rd (Quetta) Brigade in April 1918
2/15th Sikhs formed June 1918
2/5th Light Infantry joined October 1918
2/130th Baluchis formed October 1918
   
3rd (Quetta) Brigade formed in April 1918, renamed 57th Brigade in July 1918
1/4th Royal West Kent joined February 1918
1/127th Baluchis joined from East Africa in March 1918, left in September 1918
1/129th Baluchis joined from 2nd (Quetta) Brigade in April 1918
2/119th Infantry joined in August 1918
   
Unbrigaded infantry  
58th Rifles left for Meerut Division in September 1914
31st Punjabis left December 1915 for Mesopotamia
15th Sikhs left for Lahore Division in September 1914
67th Punjabis joined from 2nd (Quetta) Brigade August 1914, left March 1915
1/7th Ghurka Rifles detached from 1st (Quetta) Brigade September-December 1914
126th Baluchis detached from 1st (Quetta) Brigade in September 1914, left in October 1914 for Egypt
43rd Erinpura Regiment joined October 1914, left July 1915
2/67th Punjabis formed March 1915, left February 1917
42nd Deoli Regiment joined July 1915, left February 1917
84th Punjabis joined November 1915. left March 1917 for Mesopotamia
107th Pioneers joined from Meerut Division in October 1916, detacehed February-May 1918, left in October 1918 for Persia
2/19th Punjabis joined from 1st (Quetta) Brigade in January 1917, left March 1918 for 60th Division
76th Punjabis joined in March 1917, left February 1918
2/42nd Deoli Regiment joined in October 1917, left in May 1918 for 10th (Irish) Division
3/7th Ghurka Rifles joined from 1st (Quetta) Brigade in January 1918
2/129th Baluchis formed in January 1918
2/5th Light Infantry formed in August 1918, left in October 1918 for Karachi Brigade
2/10th Ghurka Rifles joined from 1st (Quetta) Brigade in February 1918
3/1st Ghurka Rifles joined in March 1918
12th Pioneers joined in March 1918, left for Peshawar Division in May 1918
2/11th Rajputs joined in October 1918
110th Mahrattas two companies joined in February 1918, rejoined rest of battalion and joined 53rd (Welsh) Division in June 1918
1/4th Ghurka Rifles joined in March 1918, left for 2nd (Quetta) Brigade in May 1918
81st Pioneers attached in March-May 1918 from Peshawar Division
55th Rifles joined from East Africa in March 1918, left May 1918
   
Artillery  
XXI Brigade RFA based at Hyderabad, originally consisting of 101, 102 and 103 Batteries. 103 left in December 1914. 101 left in December 1917. 1107 (How.) Battery - formerly C/CCXXXVIII (2/3/Devon) - joined April 1917.
IV Mountain Brigade RGA based at Quetta, originally consisting of 3, 8 and 4 Mountain Batteries. 8 left in December 1914. 4 Battery joined in December 1916.
60 Company RGA became 60th Heavy Battery in November 1914
69 Company RGA left in June 1916 for Aden
101 Heavy Battery RGA under command of Karachi Brigade from June 1917
72 Heavy Battery RGA joined in November 1914, left November 1915
25 Mountain Battery joined in November 1915, left March 1918
1 Kashmir Battery attached October-December 1915, joied in October 1918
70 Company RGA joined in June 1916, under command of Karachi Brigade from June 1917
23 Mountain Battery joined in March 1918
33 Reserve Mountain Battery attached June-August 1918
   
Other units under Divisional command
261 Company MGC formed June 1917, left December 1917
270 Company MGC formed December 1917
   
Engineers  
18/3rd Company Sappers & Miners left in January 1915
19/3rd Company Sappers & Miners left in January 1915
9/2nd Company Sappers & Miners joined in December 1914, left May 1917
14/2nd Company Sappers & Miners joined in December 1914, left January 1918
24/3rd Company Sappers & Miners joined in June 1917, left June 1918
71/3rd Company Sappers & Miners joined in January 1918
73/3rd Company Sappers & Miners joined in June 1918
   
Divisional command
Lieutenant General Sir M. Grover from 17 November 1912
Major General R. Wapshare from East Africa 22 November 1916. Promoted Lieutenant General 15 June 1918