Capt. A S V Roa. Indian Medical Service . Aden Campaign WW I.

 

Capt. A S V Roa.  Indian Medical Service   Aden Campaign  WW I

Herbert Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief, India, 1905,  carried out reforms before Great war, in the British and Indian Army The reforms  were :   there would be only one Indian Army, the three armies of the Presidencies being merged into a unified force. At the same time, the regiments of the Princely states were made available They  became Imperial Service Troops.. The new formation for the Army of India was set at nine divisions, each division with one cavalry and three infantry brigades and these nine divisions together with three independent infantry brigades would serve in India. The Indian Army was also responsible for supplying a division in Burma and a brigade in Aden

Two field armies were also  formed  namely the Northern Army and the Southern Army. The Northern Army had five divisions and three brigades and was responsible for the North West Frontier to Bengal.  The Southern Army, which had four divisions in India and two formations outside the subcontinent, was responsible for Baluchistan to southern India The two armies contained 39 cavalry regiments, 138 infantry battalions (including 20 Gurkha), a joint cavalry-infantry unit, the Corps of Guides, three sapper regiments and 12 mountain artillery batteries.

Expeditionary Forces:  The Indian Army formed and dispatched seven expeditionary forces overseas during World War I.

Indian Expeditionary Force A:   Western Front (World War I)

Indian Expeditionary Force B:   East African Campaign (World War I)

Indian Expeditionary Force C:   East African Campaign (World War I)

Indian Expeditionary Force D:   Mesopotamian campaign

Indian Expeditionary Force E:    Sinai and Palestine Campaign and Battle of Megiddo (1918)

Indian Expeditionary Force F :   First Suez Offensive

Indian Expeditionary Force G:   Gallipoli Campaign

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The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officers, who were both British and Indian, served in civilian hospitals.

Among its notable ranks, the IMS had Sir Ronald Ross, a Nobel Prize winner, Sir Benjamin Franklin, later honorary physician to three British monarchs and Henry Vandyke Carter, best known for his illustrations in the anatomy textbook Gray's Anatomy

Indian Expeditionary Force E consisted of the 22nd (Lucknow) Brigade sent to Egypt in October 1914..Two Indian cavalry divisions (4th Cavalry Division and 5th Cavalry Division) transferred from France in 1918, for service in Palestine. They were joined by the 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade, a unit formed by three regiments of Lancers from the princely states of Mysore, Hyderabad, and Jodhpur The 3rd (Lahore) Division and the 7th (Meerut) Division were transferred from Mesopotamia. At the same time 36 Indian army battalions were sent to reinforce the British 10th (Irish), 53rd (Welsh), 60th (2/2nd London) and 75th Divisions, which were reformed on Indian division lines with one British and three Indian battalions per brigade.

At sea:  During the First World War ships of the Royal Indian Marine carried troops and other war stores from India to Egypt, Mesopotamia and East Africa. When mines were detected off the coasts of Bombay and Aden during the First World War, the Royal Indian Marine went into action with a fleet of minesweepers, patrol vessels and troop carriers. The Royal Indian Marine also played a leading role in landing troops in Mesopotamia and their small river craft did very   useful work on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

"The British Campaign/Military Operations/  in Aden, 1914-1918"

·         The campaign in South Arabia was a minor struggle for control of the port city of Aden, an important way station for ships on their way from Asia to the Suez Canal. The British Empire declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 5 November 1914, and the Ottomans responded with their own declaration on 11 November. From the beginning, the Ottomans had planned an invasion of Britain's Aden Protectorate in cooperation with the local Arab tribes. The Ottomans had gathered in some strength on the Cheikh Saïd, a peninsula which juts out into the Red Sea towards the island of Perim.

·         At the start of the war, the British had one force stationed in the Aden Protectorate, the Aden Brigade, which was part of the British Indian Army. In November 1914, an Ottoman force from Yemen attacked Aden, but was driven off by the Brigade.

·         The capture of the island of Cheikh, the battle of Lahij, occupation of Kamaran; were the prime areas of fighting, which can be read in great detail, in Wikipedia.

While scanning the grave records of the martyrs at Heliopolis (Aden), (actually at Port Tewfik, near Cairo, where the other Heliopolis memorial holds important information about Mysore Lancers), for those of 1st Brahmins regiment,   the following  belonging to the Mysore Princely State, were found.

1420442       ROA  A S V;30yrs;6/11/1918; Captain; Indian Medical Service; Indian;Egypt;HELIOPOLIS (ADEN) MEMORIAL;son of A. Seshagiri Roa, L.M.S.,(  Licenciate in Medicine and Surgery,  a medical degree after 5 years of study) and his wife, Saraswathi Bai, of Mysore Palace, Mysore; husband of A. V. Nagoo Bai, of 1020, Jayalakshammani Rd., Mysore.

1420074                JOSEPH ; 0 ; 22/10/1918; Sepoy ; 75th Carnatic Infantry;               Indian; 4587; Egypt; HELIOPOLIS (ADEN) MEMORIAL; Son of Muniswami, of Cubbonpet, Bangalore, Mysore.

1419999                SHEIKH ABDULLAH; 0 ; 24/01/1920; Farrier ;Mysore Lancers ; Indian ; 1146; Egypt;          HELIOPOLIS (ADEN) MEMORIAL         ; Son of Sheikh Husain, of Bangalore, Mysore.

 

The column with details of next of Kin  took my attention. . A Seshagiri Roa, L.M.S., might have been the Mysore Palace doctor and living in the accommodation provided by the Palace Authorities inside the palace compound itself.  A detailed search at the Archives in the Mysore Palace can only  give more information.  Incidentally, the 30 year young married doctor, was the FIRST MYSORE  DOCTOR  who was martyred  in the Suez Area.

The other two, one from Mysore Lancers, were also martyred in the Aden Campaign.

 Om Shantihi

 (Ref: Wikipedia and CWGC )

 

 

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