North West Frontier Revolt 1936-1937

To facilitate relations with Pakhtuns, the British appointed maliks, or minor chiefs. Agreements in which Pakhtuns have acceded to an external authority--whether the British or the Pakistani government--have been tenuous. The British resorted to a "divide and conquer" policy of playing various feuding factions against one another. British hegemony was frequently precarious: in 1937 Pakhtuns wiped out an entire British brigade. Throughout the 1930s, there were more troops stationed in Waziristan (homeland of the Wazirs, among the most independent of Pakhtun tribes) in the southern part of the North-West Frontier Province than in the rest of the subcontinent.

In 1936, a revolt broke put in Waziristan, a mountainous region inhabited by warlike tribes, an area that is today part of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. A Muslim holy man, the Faqir of Ipi, led the Wazirs against the occupying British-Indian regime for many years, and the revolt remains one of the greatest twentieth-century South Asian insurgencies. This book is the first full-length study of the campaign, providing valuable insight on a region that remains the focus of political tensions.

On the eve of World War II, the Indian Army was in the process of mechanization, with true armoured vehicles nearly non-existent. The most commonly available transport was various brands of trucks (lorries); Fords, Chevrolets, etc. In the years immediately prior to the war, the Indian Army also faced a low intensity warfare problem with tribesmen along the North West Frontier Province.

One example was the ambush laid by Mahsud on 9 April 1937. A 45-truck convoy carrying supplies and some passengers from Manzai to Wana, escorted by four armoured cars and guarded by nearly 80 Indian troops, was attacked by 60-80 rebels. This figure was later raised to 200-300, with the first heavy fusilade catching the front of the convoy on a narrow road. The lead armoured car and first three trucks made off for the next friendly post, but several trucks in front of the second armoured car were immobilized when their drivers were killed. While the armoured cars were able to return fire, the guard detachment had to hold their ground until relief columns fought their way through.

Constant encounters like that described and nagging casualties necessitated action and by early 1938, the officers of the South Waziristan Scouts1 developed a pattern for armouring their Chevourolet trucks. The object was to give a 'good' degree of protection to the driver, fuel tank and engine with a 'fair' amount of protection to the passengers.

References

Pakistan - A Country Study; South Waziristan Scouts; Waziristan.

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