Pioneer Regiments in The Indian Army
Extensive use was made of pioneers in the British Indian Army because of the demands of campaigning in difficult terrain with little or no infrastructure. In 1780 two companies of pioneers were raised in Madras, increasing to 16 in 1803 divided into two battalions. Bombay and Bengal pioneers were formed during the same period. In the late nineteenth century a number of existing Indian infantry regiments took the title and the construction role of pioneers. The twelve Indian Pioneer regiments in existence in 1914 were trained and equipped for road, rail and engineering work, as well as for conventional infantry service. While this dual function did not qualify them to be regarded as elite units, the frequency with which they saw active service made postings to pioneer regiments popular with British officers.
Prior to World War I each sepoy in a Pioneer regiment carried a pickaxe or a light spade in special leather equipment as well as rifle and bayonet. NCOs and buglers carried axes, saws and billhooks. Heavier equipment such as explosives was carried by mule. The unit was therefore well equipped for simple field engineering tasks, as well as being able to defend itself in hostile territory. During the War the increased specialisation required of Pioneers made them too valuable to use as regular assault infantry. Accordingly in 1929 the Pioneer regiments were taken out of the line infantry and grouped into the Corps of Madras Pioneers (four battalions), the Corps of Bombay Pioneers (four battalions), the Corps of Sikhs Pioneers (four battalions), and the Corps of Hazara Pioneers (one battalion).
All four Pioneer Corps were disbanded in 1933 and their personnel mostly transferred into the Corps of Sappers and Miners, whose role they had come to parallel. An Indian Pioneer Corps was re-established in 1943
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Twenty or thirty years ago, in the army, we had a lot of obscure adventures, and years later we tell them at parties, and suddenly we realize that those two very difficult years of our lives have become lumped together into a few episodes that have lodged in our memory in a standardized form, and are always told in a standardized way, in the same words. But in fact that lump of memories has nothing whatsoever to do with our experience of those two years in the army and what it has made of us.”
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