I Corps (British India)

I Corps
I Corps
	I Indian Corps formation badge.
Active	World War I
Country	British India
Branch	British Indian Army
Type	Field corps
Engagements	Western Front of World War I Battle of La Bassée; First Battle of Messines; Battle of Armentières; Battle of Neuve Chapelle; Battle of Aubers Ridge; Battle of Festubert; Battle of Loos; Lieutenant General Sir James Willcocks ; Lieut-Gen Alexander Cobbe

The I Indian Corps was an

army corps of the British Indian Army in the World War I. It was formed at the outbreak of war under the title Indian Corps from troops sent to the Western Front. The British Indian Army did not have a pre-war corps structure, and it held this title until further corps were created. It was withdrawn from the Western Front in December 1915 and reconstituted as I Indian Corps in Mesopotamia

until the end of the war.

Western Front

In 1914

Marseilles on 26 September 1914, but there were further delays while the troops were re-armed with the latest pattern rifle, and the supply train could be improvised, using tradesmens' vans procured locally.^[2] The corps finally got into action at the Battles of La Bassée, 1st Messines and Armentières

in October–November 1914.

Order of Battle October–December 1914

ADC
Colonel, Royal Engineers

: Col H.C. Nanton

Lahore Division
Meerut Division
Divisional Troops (attached from 12 October, left to join Indian Cavalry Corps 23 December 1914)
- 9th (Secunderabad) Cavalry Brigade
- Signal Troop
- N Battery Royal Horse Artillery
- H Section Ammunition Column
- 1st Indian Field Troop,
  1st King George's Own Sappers & Miners
- Jodhpur Lancers (Imperial Service Troops
  )
- Jodhpur Cavalry Field Ambulance [3]

Operations

The Battles of La Bassée, 1st Messines and Armentières
Winter operations 1914–15
The Battle of Neuve Chapelle
The Battles of
51st (Highland) Division of the Territorial Force in addition to 3rd (Lahore) and 7th (Meerut) divisions.^[4]

The Battle of Loos^[1]

Mesopotamia

On 13 August 1915, General

Tigris Corps, too late to relieve 6th (Poona) Division at Kut-al-Amara.^[7]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Baker, Chris (2010). "The British Corps of 1914-1918". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
^ Edmonds, 1914, Vol II, p. 92, Note 1.
^ Edmonds, 1914, Vol II, Appendix 1.
^ Edmonds & Wynne 1915, Vol. II, Appendix 2.
^ Edmonds & Wynne, 1915, Vol II, pp. 402–3.
^ Moberly, Vol II.
^ Baker, Chris (2010). "The British campaign in Mesopotamia 1914-1918". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 11 June 2014.