The Indian General Service Medal (1909 IGSM) was a campaign medal

Medal

A medal, or medallion, is generally a circular object that has been sculpted, molded, cast, struck, stamped, or some way rendered with an insignia, portrait, or other artistic rendering. A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for athletic, military, scientific,...

 approved on 1 January 1909, for issue to officers and men of the British

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 and Indian

British Indian Army

The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...

 armies. In 1925 it was also awarded to officers and men of the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

.

The 1909 IGSM was awarded for various minor military campaigns in India, during 1908 to 1935. Each campaign was represented by a clasp on the ribbon; 12 were sanctioned.

Clasps

• North West Frontier 1908 (Issued in bronze to native bearers)
• Abor 1911–12 (Issued in bronze to native bearers)
• Afghanistan NWF 1919
  Third Anglo-Afghan War
  The Third Anglo-Afghan War began on 6 May 1919 and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. It was a minor tactical victory for the British. For the British, the Durand Line was reaffirmed as the political boundary between the Emirate of Afghanistan and British India and the Afghans agreed not to...
  
  
• Mahsud 1919–20
• Waziristan 1919–21
  Waziristan campaign 1919–1920
  The Waziristan campaign 1919–1920 was a military campaign conducted in Waziristan by British and Indian forces against the fiercely independent tribesmen that inhabited this region...
  
  
• Malabar 1921–22
• Waziristan 1921–24
• Waziristan 1925
• North West Frontier 1930–31
• Burma 1930–32
• Mohmand 1933
• North West Frontier 1935

Waziristan 1925

The Medal with the Waziristan

Waziristan

Waziristan is a mountainous region near the Northwest of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . The area is entirely populated by ethnic Pashtuns . The language spoken in the valley is Pashto/Pakhto...

 1925 bar was awarded to only 46 officers and 214 men of the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 who took part in Pink's War

Pink's War

Pink's War was an air to ground bombardment and strafing carried out by the Royal Air Force, under the command of Wing Commander Richard Charles Montagu Pink, against the mountain strongholds of Mahsud tribesmen in South Waziristan in March and April 1925....

. It is by far the rarest bar given with an India General Service Medal and was only awarded after the then Chief of the Air Staff

Chief of the Air Staff

The Chief of the Air Staff is the professional head of the Royal Air Force and a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Air Force Board. The current Chief of the Air Staff is Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton...

 Sir John Salmond

John Salmond

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Maitland Salmond, GCB, CMG, CVO, DSO and Bar was a British military officer who rose to high rank in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I...

 succeeded in overturning the War Office

War Office

The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...

decision not to grant a medal for Pink's War.