painting Indian troops

[richard zamudio]

Did Sikhs have different colored turbans, i.e. enlisted or NCOs?

Did Sikh units have English officers?

Thanks for any help in this matter!

[Paul Nettle]

As far as I know, all turbans were the same.  It would be bad practice to identify officers and NCOs to the enemy by such obvious markings.

Indian units in 1939 were well on the way to being “Indianised”.  Of the 31 Officers, 12 were King’s Commissioned Officers (British) and 19 were Viceroy’s Commissioned Officers (the ratio could vary in practice).  A platoon would usually be comanded by a “Jemadar” (2nd Lt) or “Subadar” (Lt) whilst the Company was commanded by a British officer – usually a 2nd Lt or Lt.  All Viceroy’s Commissioned Officers ranked below Kings Commissioned Officers.  There was also a single Subadar-Major per battlion who ranked as Maj and worked with the battalion commander as a sort of surpeme NCO.

NCOs would all be Indian.  Lance-Naik, Naik (Cpl), Havildar (Sgt) and Havildar-Major.  I hope this helps.

[richard zamudio]

Thanks for the help! Here in the USA there is very little printed information as regards these matters.

[Christoph Hintze]

Here is the trick that I use so as to be able to recognize enlisted from NCO from officer; I paint the rims of the bases the appropriate colors.  Such as black for enlisted, silver for NCO, and gold for officer.  My sniper teams get green for Rifles.

I hope this helps,

Stoff

[Paul Nettle]

If you want some good reference books, the first two autobiography books by John Masters are good.  “Bugles and a Tiger” is about his life in the British Indian army before WWII (as a 2nd Lt in charge of a rifle company), and “The Road Past Mandalay” describes his was service.  Both very good books.

[Author]

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