The author, Captain Ashok Nath (retired), provides granular details of artillery regiments in India raised between 1748 and 1947 — their formation, service and disbandment — in this book. It also presents all insignia and regimental iconography in a single volume. The years are significant because they encompass an era when artillery was formally organised and regimented in the country.  Some mentioned regiments include the Bengal Artillery, the Madras Artillery, the Bombay Artillery and the Punjab Frontier Force. Most disappeared during the upheaval of India’s first war of independence in 1857. The excerpts below are produced with permission from the publisher, Harper Vantage. The book costs ₹3,999.

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This chapter covers the history and development of the Indian Mountain Batteries from their initial raising through to their division between the Indian and Pakistan Artilleries on 15 August 1947. The Punjab Frontier Force Batteries have not been included here, as they have already been treated individually in Chapter 5.

The most significant period of expansion for the Indian Mountain Batteries occurred during the Great War (1914-1918) and the immediate postwar years, when several new batteries were raised to meet the demands of Britain’s extended imperial commitments following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, there were twelve Indian Mountain Batteries. By the end of the conflict and the years immediately following, this number had more than doubled to approximately twenty-nine. During this period, Indian Mountain Batteries were redesignated with new numerical titles, ranging from the 21st to the 50th Mountain Battery— though curiously, the number forty-eight appears to have been left vacant.

One of the most intricate aspects of tracing the lineage of Indian Mountain Batteries lies in the multiple — and often overlapping— schemes of re-designation and renumbering that evolved over nearly seven decades. These changes, frequently driven by broader reorganizations within the Indian and British Armies, reflected shifting administrative priorities, evolving operational requirements, and political adjustments in the governance of the Indian subcontinent.

The first formal system of numbering Indian Mountain Batteries was introduced on 15 December 1876, when the four batteries of the Punjab Frontier Force were designated the 1st to 4th Mountain Batteries. As new batteries were raised in subsequent years, they were sequentially numbered up to the 10th. A major shift occurred on 22 April 1901. To avoid confusion with British Mountain  Batteries — some of which bore similar numerical  designations — the Indian batteries were stripped of their numbers and re-identified by geographical titles. Batteries were henceforth named after the regions or stations to which they were affiliated: Kohat, Derajat, Peshawar, Hazara, Quetta, and so on. Though logical in theory, this system proved cumbersome in practice, particularly in operational record-keeping, and was short-lived. On 2 October 1903, a new system was adopted under which the old numerical designations were restored, with the addition of twenty to each battery’s former number. Thus, the 1st (Kohat) became the 21st (Kohat) Mountain Battery; the 2nd (Derajat) became the 22nd (Derajat) Mountain Battery, and so forth. This hybrid model, combining numerical and geographical nomenclature, took firm root and remained in use for nearly two decades.

Following the First World War, a major restructuring of artillery took place. On 29 November 1921, the Mountain Batteries were reclassified as Pack Batteries, and eighty was added to each existing number. For example, the 21st (Kohat) became the 101st (Kohat) Pack Battery. This change, however, introduced greater complexity and was widely regarded as an unnecessary bureaucratic exercise.

Administrative confusion deepened on 31 July 1924, when all Indian Mountain Batteries were officially transferred to the Royal Artillery, thereby becoming British Army units in status and organization. Though still manned by Indian personnel, they were now fully integrated into the British artillery framework and bore the designation ‘RA’. This arrangement remained in place until 1 August 1939, when the batteries were reabsorbed into the newly formed Indian Regiment of Artillery, a process initiated in 1935.

Amidst this period of British command, tradition and regimental continuity were partially restored. On 1 May 1927, Army Order No. 88 reinstated the original pre-1901 numerical designations, allowing batteries to reclaim their historic identities. The 1st to 12th Batteries resumed their original numbers, while retaining their territorial names to preserve local affiliations. Simultaneously, the Pack Batteries were redesignated as Indian Mountain Batteries, and 100 reduced their numerical titles accordingly.

In April 1928, a further instruction removed the prefix 'Indian' from battery titles. A temporary suffix '(How.)' was added to those batteries equipped with howitzers, though this was soon discontinued once all units had been standardized with the 3.7-inch mountain howitzer.

These frequent and layered changes in nomenclature proved to be a persistent administrative challenge. Among the mountain gunners, it was wryly observed that such convoluted reforms served little purpose beyond occupying the ‘pen-pushers’ at Army Headquarters. The redesignations caused ongoing confusion, not only within units themselves but also in official records attempting to track their service histories.

Under Indian Army Order 88, dated 31 March 1927, Indian Mountain Batteries — then serving under Royal Artillery command — were officially listed in the Army List and Gazette of India under the heading ‘Indian personnel attached to British units - Royal Artillery’. In these entries, the designation ‘RA’ appeared before ‘FF’ (Frontier Force), where applicable, further reinforcing their hybrid status during this transitional period.

Ultimately, the evolution of these designations reflects more than just administrative change; it underscores the resilience, adaptability, and growing institutional continuity of the Indian Mountain Artillery. This complex transformation mirrors the broader shift from imperial command to national control — from colonial irregularity to a professional and cohesive artillery tradition.

When the British raised mountain artillery in India, the first gun was the 12-pounder designed for pack. This was replaced in the following order: 7-pounder rifled muzzle-loader (original screw gun), about 1890,  10-pounder breech-loader jointed mountain gun, 2.75-inch howitzer breech-loader mountain gun introduced in 1911,  3.7-inch howitzer, introduced in 1919.

For Nos. 1 to 4 Mountain Batteries, see under Punjab Frontier Force Chap-5. No. 5 BombayMountain Battery (Currently constitutes a part of 57th Field Regiment) ‘Mooltan’, ‘Punjaub’, ‘Abyssinia’, ‘Burma 1885-87’, ‘Tirah’, ‘Punjab Frontier’, ‘Sharqat’, ‘Mesopotamia 1918’, ‘N. W. Frontier, India 1915’, ‘Sittang 1942’, ‘Yenangyaung 1942’

Year       Lineage

1827 - 8th Company, Bombay Golandaz n1846 - 1st Company, 4th Battalion,              Bombay Foot Artillery.

1862 - No 1 Company, Bombay Golandaz Battalion.

1863 - No 1 Company, Bombay Native Artillery. (Incl. Guzerat Mountain Train).

10.05.1876    No 1 Bombay Mountain Battery

1889 - No 5 Bombay Mountain Battery

22.04.1901 - Quetta Mountain Battery

02.10.1903 - 25th Mountain Battery

03.08.1920 - 25th Pack Battery

11.1921 - 105th (Bombay) Pack Battery

05.1924 - 105th (Bombay) Pack Battery RA

01.05.1927 - 5th (Bombay) Indian Mountain Battery RA

1928 - 5th (Bombay) Mountain Battery RA

01.08.1939 - 5th (Bombay) Mountain Battery IA

1945 - 5th (Bombay) Mountain Battery RIA

15.08.1947 - To Indian Artillery.

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The next book that the Blueprint will feature: The Carnatic Wars: Great Power Rivalries in Eighteenth-Century India  by Venkatesh Parthasarathy