WesWorld

While the reasons of the dismissal of the Persian Army by his Royal Highness Koroush IV in late 1935 will never be know, India embarked themselves into a way to resolve the problem while trying not to alienate the British near by. The initial fears of a complete dismissal of the army and the related problems were somewhat mitigated by the news received by private channels in the middle of November that a sizable part of the Persian Army was being transferred to the Gendarmerie. Still a very large force was freshly unemployed; a decision was made by India to use the funds made available by Persia to pay for the presence of Indian troops in their country to be used instead to fray the cost of a private support force for the Persian Gendarmerie, these units composed of Persian ex-soldiers.

While Philippines announced early in December 1935 that they could allocate a battalion of Lt-33(1) tanks to the Bandar Abbas area, India announces they have hired the first of many Security Units to help to garrison different parts of Persia. The first one, aptly named the 1st Security Bn, was created in the port of Bandar Abbas in December 10th 1935 followed by the 1st Security Composite Bn to protect the Persian oilfields near the Iraqi border.

The 1st Security Bn was composed of 1500 men; including officers, noncoms and soldiers. They were designed to protect the port and airfield near by and show in their organization. The unit was armed with eight 150mm Jabalpur 150 guns, twelve 105mm Jabalpur 105J (2) AA guns, eighteen 75mm Jabalpur 75J (3) AA guns, forty 25mm Jabalpur 25J (4) AA guns and thirty five 15mm Bhandara 1920 HMGs. The unit was subdivided in Artillery, AA and Machinegun groups.

The 1st Security Composite Bn was larger in scope than the 1st Bn due to the terrain and mission involved. It was composed of 2000 men; including officers, noncoms and soldiers. While having the same subunits as the original the 1st Composite also included an armored car company, a tank platoon, an AT group and an infantry company. The unit was armed with eight 100mm Skoda M30 guns, twelve 105mm Jabalpur 105J AA guns, eighteen 75mm Jabalpur 75J AA guns, forty 25mm Jabalpur 25J AA guns, thirty five 15mm Bhandara 1920 HMGs, four Gaada tanks, sixteen Ajgar II armored cars and twelve 35mm Jabalpur 28 AT guns. The infantry company was designed following the more modern German 1931 organization utilized by the Indian New Model Divisions, using the standard Indian 7.92mm Mauser round.

The raising of the units was somewhat rushed so in reality the units suffered the growing pains expected of units being created in a hurry but served as the model for the units that entered service during 1936 in different parts of Persia to free the Gendarmes of the task of garrison duty. While these units entered service thousands of new employees were being trained in how to use the equipment being allocated and how to integrate into the new TO&E.


(1) the most modern vehicles of the Filipino Army.

(2) I forgot to include AA guns in the Indian Army so I guess I just build license of the Japanese

(3) same as the above.

(4) same as the above.

Ahh the expansion of the Indian empire continues...

Any progress?

As I recall, Perderdor's moving right now, so he'll probably be quiet for a bit longer....

That can explain why he hasnt answered the PMs

1936 saw an increase on the size of the PDF, with two more composite battalions of 2000 men being raised early on the year for service in coastal regions. While similar to the original 1st Composite Bn, they lacked the armored vehicles assigned to the original unit, instead the number of artillery pieces being increased on the later two units.

On the summer of 1936 the largest unit so far on the PDF entered service, the 1st Reinforced Regiment, with headquarters in Tabriz. The unit was composed of over 8,000 men organized as an infantry battalion following the Indian New Model organization, a horse mounted cavalry regiment (1), a motorized infantry company, an armored car company of sixteen Ajgar II cars, an artillery group and an air defense group. The artillery and air defense groups were allocated eight 150mm Jabalpur 150 guns, sixteen 75mm Cossipore 75 guns, eighteen 105mm Jabalpur 105J AA guns and forty 25mm Jabalpur 25J AA guns. Most significant of the unit was that it was mainly composed of soldiers of Kurdish extraction and were commanded by Ihsan Nuri Pasha with the rank of Colonel. Nuri Pasha was recommended by the Shah himself to the Indian authorities responsable for the administration of the PDF, so it was decided to indeed give the position to the Kurdish leader.

(1) based in German cavalry order of battle and TO&E. A battalion in size.