history of jammu and kashmir rifles

an unerring precision. They never lose a chance of practising with this weapon - be it by slaughtering
animals or cutting bamboos - which they carry suspended from their waist belts in addition to their
other arms.
Needless to say that no troops, whatever community they may belong to, can perform well without
good leaders. Considering, therefore, the achievements of the State Army from the time of its
inception to the date of integration with the Indian Army much credit is due to its officers. Credit is
particularly due to officers of the earlier years, before the formation of the Imperial Service Corps, who
were required to function independently without British supervision. All operations during this period
were planned and successfully executed by the Dogra officers themselves. Interestingly these officers
had no formal education or training as officers, nor was there any set system of selection. An officer
just got thrown up from amongst sepoys by the dint of his merit. Belonging to the same community as
the troops and having risen from the ranks the officer of those days maintained intimacy with troops
such as would be unacceptable in the present times but this never affected his command. In the
higher echelon in those days the military commander and the civil administrator merged into one. In
fact the civil administrator of a district or a province automatically became a military commander
irrespective of whether he had come up to that appointment the military way or the civil. It was thus
that the higher commanders carried with them the titles of Diwan or Wazir rather than of a General.
The system, that required courage, dedication and common sense on the part of higher commanders
more than anything else, worked well and the Wazirs and Diwans displayed good sense of tactics and
strategy in the various operations they conducted either for conquering new territories for the Jammu
Rajas or for subjugating the border tribes. The enemy they fought was by no means to be despised.
There is evidence to show that the British themselves avoided fighting with the tribals of these area till
the Panjdeh episode brought home to them the seriousness of the threat to the Indian Empire from
Russia. Nevertheless the system does not seem to have been in keeping with the times when the
State was emerging from the medieval to the modern era. Colonel Steinback who had taken up
service under Maharaja Gulab Singh as a commander of two regiments is known to have resigned in
protest against being made subordinate to Diwan Hari Chand for the Chilas campaign in 1851. That
his prophesy of the failure of the campaign under a 'civilian' proved to be incorrect is of course another
matter. There was no rationality about the ranks of the middle order officer. A Jemadar or a Subedar
could mean much more than what he did subsequently during the British days.
The civil and military functions of an officer got finally separated in 1877 with the organization of
'columns' under Generals. It was also during this time that the ranks of the middle order officers got
somewhat rationalized. Colonels were made commanders of regiments, each of two battalions, and
the battalion being commanded by a Commandant. Next to the Commandant came the Adjutant
which at that time was considered a rank rather than an appointment. There was also one Major in
each battalion, who performed the duties of a present day quartermaster, and stood next to the
Adjutant in precedence. Subedars and Jemadars now commanded companies and platoons
respectively.
Further rationalization of ranks took place after the formation of the Imperial Service Corps. The
Army was organized into brigades each of which was commanded by a General. The battalion
commanders now became Lieutenant Colonels with Majors as their second-in-command while the
Adjutants' rank was abolished and the appointment was filled by qualified Jemadars. Subedars filled
the appointment of Brigade Majors and Aide-de-Camp to the Generals commanding brigades. All
officers, however, continued to come up through the ranks till about 1900 when a system of granting
direct commission as Jemadar to the educated candidates was .started. To further attract the
educated to the Army, the system was improved the next year to allow for direct commission as
Majors to graduates, but their training continued to be on the job. With the tight control of the British
officers over the Imperial Service troops the State officer remained sidelined between 1890 and 1923.
Urdu now replaced Dogri and all officers who had received their education in Dogri, (and there was
quite a number), were suddenly declared uneducated and unceremoniously relieved from service.
It was only in 1923 that the Army adopted the modern rank structure to include Lieutenants and
Captains with a proper system of selection and training of officers. Lieutenants and above were,
thereafter, known as State officers and the Subedars and Jemadars as Indian officers on the analogy
of the Indian Army. Every effort was then made by the British to train State Force officers up to the
standard of their own officers in the Indian Army through attachments and courses at the various
schools of instructions in India. By the time World War II broke out, the State Officers had attained
such proficiency that one of them, Major Bhagwan Singh, could forcefully assert and obtain in 1940
the right to command his unit in war independently and free of the British SSOs for the first time since
the formation of the Imperial Service Corps. Subsequently in 1942 the SSOs were removed from all
the units of the State Forces serving under the Crown and the 4th Jammu and Kashmir Infantry
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