{{short description|Headquarters of the [British] Indian Army}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox Military Unit |unit_name=GHQ India |image=GHQ India.svg |caption=Formation sign of General Headquarters, India during the Second World War |country=British India |branch= |type= |dates=1903 to 1947 |specialization= |command_structure= War Office<br>Viceroy of India |size= |current_commander= |garrison=New Delhi |battles= |notable_commanders= }} '''General Headquarters, India''' was the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, India, who commanded the British military forces in India, including the British Indian Army, after the Kitchener Reforms of 1903. It succeeded '''Headquarters, India''' which was the term in use initially after the three Presidency armies had been amalgamated into one force. The Commander-in-Chief answered to the civilian Viceroy of India.
Confusingly, in the official ''Volume II: India's Most Dangerous Hour'', Major-General Stanley Kirby ''et al.'', 1958, the term "India Command" was repeatedly used.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/war-against-japan-vol-2 |title=Volume II: India's Most Dangerous Hour|first=Stanley|last=Kirby|year=1958|publisher=HMSO}}</ref> "India Command" was not defined, but Stanley Kirby ''et al.'' appeared to be referring to the British Indian Army in India; the British Army in India; and GHQ India, the three together, as a whole. A more correct term for these three entities together would have been the Army in India.
==Early history== GHQ India succeeded '''Headquarters, India''' which was the term in use initially after the three Presidency armies had been amalgamated into one force in 1895. "The C-in-C India’s HQ was known as the General Headquarters (GHQ India) and acted as the superior HQ for all services to fulfil their requirements."{{sfn|Dogar|1999}}
The Commander-in-Chief's chief of staff was the Chief of the General Staff. It was based in Calcutta and Simla (the winter capital of the Raj) until the seat of power moved to New Delhi in 1911.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britains-smallwars.com/India/Survey.htm |title=Britain's Small Wars |access-date=9 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114083136/http://www.britains-smallwars.com/India/Survey.htm |archive-date=14 January 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In addition to India, as the [British] Indian Army garrisoned the waystation Aden Settlement (later Aden Colony) the Commander-in-Chief was also responsible for troops in Aden. Later Indian troops were also sent to Iraq and Persia).{{sfn|Jackson|2006|p=148}}
The 1906 Birthday Honours and 1922 Birthday Honours list officers on the staff of Headquarters, India; by the 1942 New Year Honours the listing had become General Headquarters, India (Colonel, Acting Major-General Rob Lockhart).<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35399|page=6|date=1 January 1942|supp=y}}</ref>
For significant periods before the creation of South East Asia Command (SEAC) in 1943, the C-in-C India was also responsible for Ceylon and Burma. The Commander-in-Chief, India,{{sfn|Dogar|1999}} had some 2,000 officers and 2.5 million troops under his command in 1945.<ref>{{cite web|title=India Army GHQ |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1945/nov/29/india-army-ghq#S5CV0416P0_19451129_CWA_183|publisher=Hansard |date=29 November 1945}}</ref> GHQ India was redesignated ''Army HQ'' in 1947 when India was partitioned.{{sfn|Dogar|1999}}
==Second World War== Following a review by the British Chiefs of Staff in late 1939, operational control of troops in Iraq passed in early 1940 to Middle East Command although the provision of troops and their maintenance remained for the most part GHQ India's responsibility.{{sfn|Playfair|Stitt|Molony|Toomer|2004a|pp=63 & 66}} In March 1941, in the period before the Anglo-Iraqi War, the C-in-C Middle East General Archibald Wavell, who was preoccupied with existing problems in his theatre, gained approval for Iraq to come under India's operational control again{{sfn|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Toomer|2004b|p=178}} but once hostilities commenced in May Wavell was obliged by London reluctantly to reassume responsibility.{{sfn|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Toomer|2004b|pp=184 & 185}} In June 1941, after cessation of hostilities, control reverted once more to GHQ India.{{sfn|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Toomer|2004b|p=250}} India finally relinquished responsibility for Persia and Iraq in August 1942 when a separate Persia and Iraq Command was created.{{sfn|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004c|pp=375 & 376}}
After the dissolution of ABDACOM in February 1942 the C-in-C India also became responsible for Ceylon. During this period, some Chinese and American units also came under C-in-C India.{{sfn|Patti|1980|p=11}} These responsibilities remained unchanged until the creation of South East Asia Command (SEAC) in August 1943. With the creation of SEAC there were three geographic theatres and a further operational command. The China Theatre was under the command of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. SEAC was an Anglo-American command under a Supreme Allied Commander, Lord Mountbatten, who was responsible for operations in Burma, Ceylon, Malaya and Sumatra. General Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief, India, was responsible for the development of India as a base, for internal security in India, and the defence of India's North West Frontier. His responsibility included the training, equipping, maintenance and movement of operational forces assigned to SEAC.{{sfn|Romanus|Sunderland|1953|page=364}} The American operational theater, China Burma India (CBI), operated in all three geographic areas. It was not subordinate to SEAC.{{sfn|Romanus|Sunderland|1953|page=364}}
On 24 November 1944, G.H.Q.(I) passed on to the Headquarters Allied Land Forces South East Asia "..proposals made by the Burma Government-in-exile for the evaluation of the men released in 1942, either returnees or deserters."<ref>{{Cite web |title=War Office 203/4030 via New Burma Army, 1945-1949 |url=http://www.rothwell.force9.co.uk/burmaweb/BurmaArmy1945-49.htm |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.rothwell.force9.co.uk}}</ref> "The Burma Government proposed to raise administrative units to screen personnel who had remained in Burma, and operational units for internal security duties. ..Within General Headquarters, India, the department responsible for the administration of Burma Army units in India and Burma, known as Burma Section, also asked for the immediate raising of a second administrative unit." A.G. (BURSEC) was an integral part of GHQ India until it was established with Headquarters Twelfth Army.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://indiaburmasoldiers.co.uk/BurmaArmy1945-49.htm|title=The New Burma Army, 1945–1949|publisher=The Burma Campaign|access-date=22 March 2024}}</ref>
Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck served as the last C-in-C, India from 1943. He was reappointed on 15 August 1947, and became Supreme Commander of India and Pakistan. He oversaw the division of the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force between the two new countries. In the process, GHQ Pakistan was established to serve the newly independent Pakistan, at Rawalpindi. Auchinleck served in this capacity until November 1948, when the role of Supreme Commander was abolished.{{sfn|Warner|1982|page=289}}
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *{{cite journal|last=Dogar|first=Yasub Ali |title=Pakistan's higher defence organisation |journal=Defence Journal |url=http://www.defencejournal.com/jan99/defence.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201100518/http://www.defencejournal.com/jan99/defence.htm |date=January 1999 |archive-date=1 December 2008}} *{{cite book|last=Jackson |first=Ashley |year=2006 |title=The British Empire and the Second World War|edition=illustrated |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=1-85285-417-0|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=xTKtPPEDTtQC&pg=PA148 148]}} *{{cite book| last=Patti |first=Archimedes L. A.|year=1980 |title=Why Viet Nam?: Prelude to America's albatross |edition=illustrated |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-04156-9 |page =[https://books.google.com/books?id=xbFx8OhYSjcC&pg=PA11 11]}} *{{cite book|first1=Major-General I.S.O.| last1=Playfair| author-link1=Ian Stanley Ord Playfair| last2=Stitt| first2=Commander G.M.S| last3=Molony| first3=Brigadier C.J.C.| last4=Toomer| first4=Air Vice-Marshal S.E.|editor-last=Butler| editor-first=J.R.M| editor-link=James Ramsay Montagu Butler | series=History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series| title=Mediterranean and Middle East Volume I: The Early Successes Against Italy (to May 1941)| publisher=Naval & Military Press |location=Uckfield, UK|year=2004a| orig-year=1st. pub. HMSO:1954| isbn=1-845740-65-3| name-list-style=amp}} *{{cite book| first1=Major-General I.S.O.| last1=Playfair| author-link1=Ian Stanley Ord Playfair| last2=Flynn| first2=Captain F.C. (R.N.)| last3=Molony| first3=Brigadier C.J.C.| last4=Toomer| first4=Air Vice-Marshal S.E.|editor-last=Butler| editor-first=J.R.M| editor-link=James Ramsay Montagu Butler |series=History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series| title=The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume II: The Germans come to the help of their Ally (1941)| publisher=Naval & Military Press |location=Uckfield, UK |year=2004b| orig-year=1st. pub. HMSO:1956| isbn=1-845740-66-1| name-list-style=amp}} *{{cite book| first1=Major-General I.S.O.| last1=Playfair| author-link1=Ian Stanley Ord Playfair| last2=Flynn| first2=Captain F.C. (R.N.)| last3=Molony| first3=Brigadier C.J.C.| last4=Gleave| first4=Group Captain T.P.|editor-last=Butler| editor-first=Sir James| editor-link=James Ramsay Montagu Butler |series=History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series| title=The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume III: British Fortunes reach their Lowest Ebb (September 1941 to September 1942)| publisher=Naval & Military Press |location=Uckfield, UK |year=2004c| orig-year=1st. pub. HMSO:1960| isbn=1-845740-67-X| name-list-style=amp}} *{{cite book|last1=Romanus |first1=Charles F. |last2=Sunderland |first2=Riley |year=1953|title=Stilwell's Mission to China |publisher=Government Printing Office|id=Library of Congress 35-603349 | url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-CBI-Mission/USA-CBI-Mission-10.html|page=364}} * {{Cite web |last=Romanus |first=Charles F. |last2=Sunderland |first2=Riley |date=1987 |year= |title=United States Army in World War II China-Burma-India Theater: Stillwell's Command Problems |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-CBI-Command/USA-CBI-Command-1.html |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=www.ibiblio.org |publisher=Center of Military History |place=Washington, DC.}} * {{cite book| last=Warner| first=Philip| title=Auchinleck. The Lonely Soldier| publisher=Sphere Books| year=1982| orig-date=1981| location=London| isbn=0-7221-8905-2}} * Development of India as a Base for Operations - Digested by the MILITARY REVIEW from an article by Lieutenant General Sir Wilfrid Lindsell in the "Journal of the Royal United Service Institution" (Great Britain) May 1947.
==External links== * [http://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/London%5FGazette/Far%5FEast/ OPERATIONS IN THE FAR EAST From 17 October, 1940 To 27 December 1941] - including creation of General Headquarters Far East * [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1245251 General Headquarters India: operational instructions and standing orders (WO 203/4755), April-October 1943] on file National Archives * https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30071123 - formation badge
{{British armies, commands, and corps during the Second World War}} General Headquarters, India GHQ Category:Military units and formations established in 1903 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1947