Frontier blockhouse at Jandola in Waziristan, 1920 (c)

Photograph, India, North West Frontier, 1920 (c).

Indian troops man a fortified tower in Waziristan. Many of the villages in this part of the North West Frontier were fortified and protected by a watchtower (or burj) as raiding and tribal feuding were endemic.

The vast majority of the troops engaged in the suppression of the uprising in Waziristan were Indian. Both the Tochi and Derajat Columns were entirely Indian apart from a section of howitzers from the Royal Field Artillery and a mountain battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery. During the campaign over 1300 men were killed in action or died from their wounds and sickness.

One of 267 photographs probably compiled by Private A E Neal, 2/6 Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment, India 1916-1919, Waziristan, 1917 and Afghanistan, 1919.