The strength and organisation of a force destined to undertake
operations against the transborder clans of the Indian frontier is
naturally conditioned by the physical features of the area, by its
fertility, and by the numbers, character, organisation, and armament of
its inhabitants.
It has been truly said that in war every available man should be
employed, for one can never be too strong, but this aphorism is always
qualified by the number of men that can be fed in the district which is
to form the seat of war. The problem of the numbers to be used against
the Pathan tribes is, therefore, by no means easy of solution, for, as
a great French King said of Spain, in mountainous countries possessing,
as does the Indian borderland, few natural resources, but inhabited by
a hardy though scanty population, large armies risk starvation, small
are in danger of defeat.
The tribesmen of the North West Frontier are brave, and inured to
fatigue and hardship, a considerable number have been trained in our
Indian army, and these have some knowledge of tactics, and acquaintance
with British methods.
The clansmen possess no artillery, but in other respects are fairly
well armed, and owing to the cheap sale of rifles and ammunition in
Afghanistan, are daily becoming more formidable in this respect. They
suffer, however, from two grave military faults, lack of discipline
and cohesion, and at present would, it is believed, be unable to mass
against any one of several columns invading their fastnesses.
They would, more probably, be content merely to defend their own
valleys and homesteads, rather than attempt to defeat, in detail, the
divided forces of an invader operating from exterior lines.
It would seem, then, that in a campaign in the Indian borderland,
British troops would be justified in undertaking a concentric invasion
from several localities.
Certain advantages may also be claimed for this policy.
The road space occupied, in these pathless regions, by a large force
moving on one line, is so great, that, as was demonstrated in Sir W.
Lockhart's advance from Shinawari, in 1897, the rear of the column
will be several days' march behind the leading troops. In these
circumstances, not only will risk of defeat in detail be even greater
than in the case of concentric invasion--for small columns can better
exercise mutual support, than can a large force moving in a restricted
valley--but the length of the convoy train, and the seeming strength
of the force, will be a direct temptation to the tribesmen to avoid
battle, and have recourse to guerilla warfare.
Besides, if small columns are employed, the whole country will be, in
the first instance, over-run, and the enemy may, on account of the
apparent weakness of the various detachments, take heart of grace and
fight.
This, after all, is what is most desired, for the aim is always to
attain rapid and decisive victory, and so end the campaign.
An argument against convergent invasion is, that since it may be
necessary to use more than one line of communication, not only will the
employment of larger numbers be necessary, but more transport animals,
the provision and care of which really constitutes the main difficulty
in frontier warfare, will be required.
This drawback may, however, be mitigated by opening only one line of
communication, along the easiest route, the other detachments moving as
flying columns, until the heart of the district is reached, when their
surplus animals can be transferred to line of communication duties.