As we have seen Nolan was impressed by the Indian irregular cavalry in British employ. His praise in unequivocal, my emphasis.
"whilst, at the same time, brilliant proofs
were given of the superiority of the irregulars, armed with sharp swords, and
having a proper command over their horses." Below, we see "a proper command over their horses". Fancy stuff from Skinners Horse. I have no doubt at all that such acrobatics took place. Note too, they fire from the saddle just as the Gorchurra did.
Nolan contrasts their performance with that of the Regulars.
“The same contrast is presented by our native irregular and our native regular cavalry in India. The first, acting on usage and instinct, and armed and mounted in their own Oriental way, are nearly always effective in the battle, or the skirmish, or the recognisance; the second, cramped by our rules and regulations, and, as it were, de-naturalised, are rarely of any service whatever. For a long series of years, the only native cavalry we kept in India was the irregular.”
“These corps were formed before our infantry sepoys, and many and most important were the services they rendered to us. They were always active — always rapid. The names of some of the most distinguished leaders of this brilliant light cavalry are still revered in India. If their corps had been Europeanised, and turned into regulars, assuredly we never should have heard of them as heroes.”
“Nothing during that campaign was more gallant and determined than the behaviour of the Scinde horse, whereas the distinction the regulars attained was such that it is best passed over in silence. Yet the only difference between the men composing the two arms lay in their organisation.”
“My attention was drawn particularly to the fight by the doctor's report of the killed and wounded, most of whom had suffered by the sword, and in the column of remarks such entries as the following were numerous: —
" Arm cut off from the shoulder.
" Head severed.
" Both hands cut off (apparently at one blow) above the wrists, in holding up the arms to protect the head.
" Leg cut off above the knee," &c. &c.”
“I was astonished. Were these men giants, to lop off limbs thus wholesale? or was this result to be attributed (as I was told) to the sharp edge of the native blade and the peculiar way of drawing it?
“I became anxious to see these horsemen of the Nizam, to examine their wonderful blades, and learn the knack of lopping off men's limbs."
You will notice that we have met these types of injury before inflicted at the hands of the Gorchurra. We will meet them again when we look at the performance of the British regular cavalry.
To drive home his point, if I may be forgiven a martial metaphor, Nolan secured an interview with one of the victorious troopers. The emphasis below is mine.
"Opportunity soon offered, for the Commander-in-Chief went to Hyderabad on a tour of inspection, on which I accompanied him. After passing the Kistna River, a squadron of these very horsemen joined the camp as part of the escort.”
“And now fancy my astonishment!
The sword-blades they had were chiefly old dragoon blades cast from our service. The men had mounted them after their own fashion. The hilt and handle, both of metal, small in the grip, rather flat, not round like ours where the edge seldom falls true ; they all had an edge like a razor from heel to point, were worn in wooden scabbards, a short single sling held them to the waist-belt, from which a strap passed through the hilt to a button in front, to keep the sword steady and prevent it flying out of the scabbard.
The swords are never drawn except in action.
An old trooper of the Nizam's told me the old broad English blades were in great favour with them when mounted and kept as above described: but as we wore them, they were good for nothing in their hands.”
I said, " How do you strike with your swords to cut off men's limbs?"
" Strike hard, sir!" said the old trooper.
" Yes, of course; but how do you teach the men to use their swords in that particular way? [drawing it.)
“ We never teach them any- way, sir : a sharp sword will cut in any one's hand."
To continue further would be to labour Nolan's point about the effectiveness of Indian irregular cavalry. He has set out his case with examples well known to his audience.
His task was not over, he must also speak of the performance of the British regular cavalry. That needed careful handling if Nolan's reform project was to bear fruit. We will see what he had to say in the next installment.
Fascinating stuff once again OB. IIRC I read of similar accounts of French blades causing more wounds than British ones in the Peninsula War.
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve. It is really making me think. Thanks for the Peninsula info' I didn't know that.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, most all the accounts I have read about the battles, the British regular cavalry had excellent performances. One example was the charge of the 16th Lancers at Ailwal.
ReplyDeleteHere is one quote:
As the Sikhs tried to swing back their left, pivoting on Bhundri, some of their cavalry presented a threat to the open British left flank. A British and Indian cavalry brigade, led by the 16th Lancers, charged and dispersed them. The 16th Lancers then attacked a large body of Sikh infantry. These were battalions organised and trained in contemporary European fashion by Neapolitan mercenary, Paolo Di Avitabile. They formed square to establish a strong front against a cavalry charge, as most European armies did. Nevertheless, the 16th Lancers broke the square. Both forces suffered heavy casualties.
Or the excellent performance of the British 3rd Light Dragoons which covered itself in glory at Mudki.
I could mention other arguments in favor of the British regular cavalry but I don't have my books in front of me.
Love your blog btw!
Thanks for the kind words Joseph.
ReplyDeleteYes, most accounts do highly praise the performance of the British regular cavalry. It is almost an article of faith. The actuality I think was different.
We will have a look at what Nolan has to say about how they performed next week. I think you will find it interesting.
The thing to keep in mind is that Nolan was a cavalry officer and a highly regarded one. He served on the staff in India, published his book and continued to get staff appointments. The book was dedicated to another British cavalry officer. He was an insider writing for other insiders. We can take his comments as a true bill.
The 3rd at Mudki covered itself in blood, mainly their own. No lack of courage but no great result either. That was Nolan's point. Look at these brave, willing lads and look at what really happened. Now if we made my changes we would see a better result.
I intend to write again about Mudki and then onto Ailwal and Chillianwallah.
The phrase "charged and dispersed" seems to be a formula. The 3rd at Mudki are credited with it. It seems to translate as charged and passed through taking casualties. More on that next week.
Interesting, I'm enjoying the discussion. I certainly don't claim to be any expert of this war(s). I will certainly await your next postings.
ReplyDeleteI find the whole thing fascinating Joseph. I’m not a military expert either but we can say Nolan was setting out his stall as a cavalry expert
DeleteHe does mention the breaking of the square by the Lancers. I’ll include the passage in my next post as I’m sure you will find it of interest.
Very interesting! I am learning a lot from these posts. :-) In reply to Steve about the Peninsula and British versus French cavalry, many French cavalry used the point and not the edge (this is particularly true of their dragoons, the commonest French cavalry in the Peninsula) and this tended to produce more fatal wounds. The British cavalry were mostly light, hussars and light dragoons, for much of the war and used the 1796 light cavalry sabre, whose wounds inflicted with the edge were less commonly fatal but did chop people about rather horribly. (I have one myself and it is a delightfully light and well balanced weapon, ideal for cutting.) An interesting account of the British cavalry in the Peninsula is Ian Fletcher's Galloping At Everything, which tries with some success to disprove the general view that the British cavalry were largely ineffective - see, for instance, the usually critical stance of Oman in his History of the Peninsula War and the often rather unfair and ill-informed comments of the Duke of Wellington.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff David, thank you.
ReplyDelete