I am hoping to tie up to anyone with knowledge on this relatively niche and seemingly neglected area of the British Army. The Royal Garrison Army were a part of the Royal Artillery, who's job was to man fixed gun (normally coastal defences). A specialised division of them were known as the Mountain Division and as you probably guessed manned fixed gun in the mountains
About 8 batteries of them (maybe 500 in a battery) would move from garrison to garrison within India (as it was) until WW1 (and after)
I am interested in anyone with knowledge of the Mountain Division and their movements within India between 1899 to 1914.
My relative did a tour of duty there for 7 years. Did they never get to go 'home' to England durign that time?
There is much talk in general of hill stations in India (Darjeeling, Shimla etc) where the British would move up to for 6 months of the year because of the 'heat' - this included its troops
But what of the Mountain division? were they permanently based in these Mountain locations? Presumably these stations/cantonments needed to be manned all year around to defend against attack from Afghanistan from the East, the Russians through the North and the Chinese (via Tibet) through the North-West. In general also they could not just be left unattended for 6 months as they would have had 'fixed gun' and accomodation that had existed from the 1840's onwards
If anyone can tell me more on the Mountain Division, their life, their movements, how to identify which battery a soldier belonged to etc - I would be hugely grateful !!!
Thank you
Farmer
So did
