12th October 1914, Near Mons
The men of the Indian Expeditionary Force A were drawn up for inspection, the King Emperor George V, the Commander of the BEF Field Marshal Smith Dorien, the GOC British 1st Army General Sir William Robertson and the commander of the Indian Expeditionary Force Sir James Wilcocks along with aides and various others were striding along the ranks inspecting representatives of the first Imperial troops to join the fight, the Indians would be first but across the length and breadth of the empire men were training or taking ship to join the war, Canadian Troops were expected soon to be followed by the first division of Australians and New Zealanders. In time recruits from Africa and the Caribbean would also face the foe.
The King and the Generals would inspect Gurkas, Jats, and men of the Frontier Rifles, Bombay Sappers and Miners, Sikh Cavalry and a host of other troops even humble drivers from the Supply and Transport Corps, before the entire Corps marched past the saluting stand. The Indian troops had been busy since they had arrived in France a month before, they had been training hard and re-equipping replacing old and obsolescent equipment with new.
The Indian Expeditionary force was to join 1st Army as its third Corps, the 1st Army was already taking part in the investment of Brussels, the siege would be conducted by the British Expeditionary Force and part of the Belgian Army. The majority of the Belgian Army, led by King Albert were taking part in the attacks that were pushing the Germans back away from Brussels.
General Sir William Robertson had not expected to be present at the parade until mere days ago, having only just been appointed commander of 1st Army, after Field Marshal Smith Dorien had dismissed Sir Arthur Paget from command. Paget had initially been appointed into command of First Army with the support of Churchill and French, some had been surprised by the decision given his role in the Curragh Mutiny. The doubters had been proved right, Paget had proved to be a poor commander lacking the decisiveness of Haig and Plumer, his Army had performed well, despite his failings but that said more for the Corps commanders, Rawlinson and Byng than it did for Paget. Paget was also keen to play politics he had even tried to start a whispering campaign against Haig and Wilson.
Smith Dorien had known Sir William Robertson for a long time and his performance as Quarter Master General for the BEF had been outstanding. His relationship with Wilson which had previously been poor had improved during the hard fighting over the last few months and he was held in high regard by Rawlinson. Rawlinson, Smith Dorien and Robertson had spent time in 1909 travelling through Belgium inspecting the ground over which they now fought and predicting the probable line of the German attack.
Robertson was happy to have the Indian troops under his command, his fluent command of many of the languages of the Indian Army was much remarked on and he displayed it during the inspection acting as an interpreter for the King Emperor as he inspected the men. Switching fluently from Urdu to Pashto to Gurkali as needed.
Robertson thought the Indian troops would be well suited to the siege that was developing. They usually served in small units scattered across the length and breadth of the Raj and so the officers and men were trained to use high levels of initiative. Additionally, the relative paucity of artillery would be less of an issue in the siege, the British had no intention to level Brussels, but instead would conduct continuous small probing attacks to identify weak points and to wear down the defenders. The aim was to induce surrender rather than smashing the city to winkle out the last half starved defender.
When the parade concluded General Wilcocks invited King and the various generals to dine with himself and the senior officers of the Corps. The Prince of Wales who was serving with the second battalion of the Grenadier Guards was also been in attendance, he had spent several minutes having an animated conversations with both the King his father and General Robertson. Field Marshal Smith Dorien and Lt General Rawlinson, knew he would be begging for release to serve on the front line. They had both received numerous requests that he be allowed to play his part, the King was not opposed, the main concerns seemed to be political and a natural desire not to be the General Officer Commanding who got the heir to the throne killed. Smith Dorien was aware of the mounting casualties, as far as he was concerned the Prince could fight, perhaps even should fight, resolving the decision, Smith Dorien would issue an order in the morning allowing the Prince of Wales to enter the line.