Honour and Fidelity: India's Military Contribution to the Great War 1914-1918

Captain Amarinder Singh

Description

When the First World War raged from 1914 to 1918, hundreds of thousands troops fought valiantly and millions of lives were lost.

Much has been written about the allies (Britain, France and other European powers, Russia, the United States, Canada) battles with the opposing central powers (Germany, Austria - Hungary, Italy, Turkey) but few know that 1.38 million men from India were also sent to various theatres of war. As many as seven Indian expeditionary forces fought battles far from home. Whether it was the damp, flat fields of Flanders or the burning sands of Mesopotamia, the rocky, cold and windy hills of Gallipoli or unhealthy uplands and stifling jungles of East Africa, Indian soldiers left indelible imprints of their heroism, winning world-wide acclaim.

For the first time, this book fills in the abysmal gap in the records of the war. Drawn from archives, regimental histories and other sources, this book tells the story of the tremendous contribution of the Indian corps to the victory of the allied forces.

Sujets

• Histoire
• World War I
• Regiment
• Military
• Allies
• Cavalry
• British
• World War
• Power
• History
• Axis
• War
• First
• India

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789351940548
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

About the book
When the First World War raged from 1914 to 1918, hundreds of thousands troops fought valiantly and millions of lives were lost.
Much has been written about the allies (Britain, France and other European powers, Russia, the United States, Canada) battles with the opposing central powers (Germany, Austria - Hungary, Italy, Turkey) but few know that 1.38 million men from India were also sent to various theatres of war. As many as seven Indian expeditionary forces fought battles far from home. Whether it was the damp, flat fields of Flanders or the burning sands of Mesopotamia, the rocky, cold and windy hills of Gallipoli or unhealthy uplands and stifling jungles of East Africa, Indian soldiers left indelible imprints of their heroism, winning world-wide acclaim.
For the first time, this book fills in the abysmal gap in the records of the war. Drawn from archives, regimental histories and other sources, this book tells the story of the tremendous contribution of the Indian corps to the victory of the allied forces.
About the author
Amarinder Singh , born into the royal family of Patiala, was educated at the Doon School. After graduating from the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy, he was commissioned into the 2nd battalion of the Sikh regiment. During the 1965 war against Pakistan, he was ADC to the GOCinC, western command, in whose theatre of operations the entire war was fought. Later, as a member of parliament, he was a member of the parliamentary defense committee. He spent four terms in the Punjab legislature, once as minister and then as chief minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007. Presently, he has been appointed as a member of parliament after his victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Amritsar. He has authored numerous books, including The Last Sunset: The Rise and Fall of the Lahore Durbar.

ROLI BOOKS
This digital edition published in 2014
First published in 2014 by The Lotus Collection An Imprint of Roli Books Pvt. Ltd M-75, Greater Kailash- II Market New Delhi 110 048 Phone: ++91 (011) 40682000 Email: [e-mail] Website: www.rolibooks.com
Copyright © Amarinder Singh, 2014
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Cover Design: Sneha Pamneja
eISBN: 978-93-5194-054-8
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HONOUR AND FIDELITY
Contents
Preface
1. The First World War: An Overview
2. India Mobilizes
3. France: Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’
4. East Africa: Indian Expeditionary Forces ‘B’ and ‘C’
5. Mesopotamia: Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’
6. Egypt, Palestine and Syria: Indian Expeditionary Forces ‘E’ and ‘F’
7. Gallipoli: Indian Expeditionary Force ‘G’
8. Epilogue: A summing up of India’s contribution in men, money, and material to the First World War
Bibliography
Signing the visitor’s book at the Menin Gate War Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.
TO SONIA GANDHI
A lady with courage and commitment, under whom I have had the privilege of serving as Congress Party President in Punjab, Chief Minister, and Deputy Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha, I dedicate this book.
PREFACE
A few years ago, when the events of the First World War had once again begun to be spoken of, with the centenary just a few years away, I happened to watch a BBC programme on the war. A twelve-part series, it was around twenty-three-and-a-half hours of viewing.
I was greatly saddened by the fact that in this long programme on the First World War, India barely found any mention. This, despite the fact that the Indian army was the first to reach France when the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of Sir John French, consisting of one cavalry and four infantry divisions, had been in constant battle for sixty-seven days, from landing in France between 15 and 17 August 1914 till the Lahore Division came to its assistance on 23 October. Virtually on the verge of collapse, the divisions were propped up by the Indian Corps. Had the Indian troops not shown up and strengthened the British units, or filled gaps in the trench lines till more troops and formations could arrive from Britain, the BEF could well have disintegrated. I cannot understand why in twenty-three-and-a-half hours, India was found fit to be limited only to a total viewing of less than a minute.
India sent seven Expeditionary Forces to the various theatres of the First World War between 1914 and 1918. In these four years it lost 74,000 men killed in action and 67,000 wounded – many were to die later of wounds.
The United States, which entered the war in 1917, got over an hour in the programme. The same time was given to the French, Canadians, Australians and many other nations from where hundreds of thousands of troops took part and gave their support willingly to the Allied powers. Why then this discrimination? Soldiers of all these nations also fought brilliantly, and I do not have the slightest hesitation in praising the gallantry, fortitude, and complete commitment of the officers and men of these countries who took part in battles, which have now become legendary. Each nation lost comparable figures in officers and men – therefore, my question is, why single out India’s contribution as less than the other countries?
A special relationship existed between India and Great Britain from 1858 when India came under the British Crown until 1947, the year India became independent, in addition to the earlier period under the East India Company, since the Mughals gave Britain trading rights during the period of Queen Elizabeth I. This makes the issue even more baffling. It was then that I decided to write the story of India’s military contribution to the First World War, also known as the Great War.
This book could not have been written without the help of the Indian army. Regiments mentioned in the various battle narratives which are very much part of the Indian army today. It was the Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC who gave instructions for me to be assisted in the task of identifying their battles and details about them. For this I am most grateful to him, his staff, all serving officers in the army and the regiments who gave me this support. I have tried to do justice to each regiment. All – without exception – performed brilliantly, regardless of which theatre they were committed to. In most cases each regiment served continuously in three to four theatres.
In France, the two infantry divisions, the 3rd Lahore and 7th Meerut, were 26,000 strong. By the time they sailed for another theatre a year later, they had suffered 22,000 casualties – nearly a 100 per cent of their original strength. Most infantry regiments whose war establishment was 13 British officers, 17 Indian officers, and 734 other ranks had casualties of over 100 per cent of their strength and in some cases, 200 per cent. When the 47th Sikhs (the 5th Sikhs today) boarded ship at Marseilles after their year-long commitment in France, only 25 of the originals were left.
Where Pakistan is concerned, I have found it difficult to get any official information, but I have managed to locate the current designations of the infantry and cavalry regiments which took part then, and are still in active service in the Pakistani army. Their exploits are also recorded in various books written on the war. As with the Indian units, they too, performed brilliantly throughout the war.
I am also grateful to the British Defence Attaché Brigadier Brian McCall for his assistance in identifying the current regiments in the British army that are descendants of those who took part in the Great War. This became necessary as sadly, the distinguished centuries-old regiments with a great history, no longer exist. Financial compulsions have put paid to them. In some cases old units, after various amalgamations necessitated by these cut-backs, are today represented in the descendent regiments as platoons. Tragically, many regiments have simply disappeared.
I am also grateful to Shrimati Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Party president, who has permitted me to use her photograph, taken when she went to pay homage at the war memorial at Ypres on behalf of all of us in 2006 as the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The Menin Gate Memorial is one of the four British and Commonwealth memorials to missing soldiers in the battlefield area of the Ypres Salient in Belgian Flanders. The memorial bears the names of 54,389 officers and men from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Forces (except New Zealand and Newfoundland), who fell in the Ypres Salient before 16 August 1917, and who have no known grave. Buried in the various cemeteries in the Salient are 90,000 officers and men who fell and were identified.
Finally, I wish to thank Major Amardeep Singh (retired) of my battalion, the 2nd Battalion of the Sikh Regiment (which was the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs during the war), who helped me in my research, both in the United Kingdom and in India; Lieutenant Colonel Rohit Aggarwal (retired) of the 74th Armoured Regiment for delving into the various archives in New Delhi for me, and to Navneet Sharma who has worked endlessly on producing the text and photographs as they appear in this book. I also wish to thank Brigadier I.S. Gakhal of the 14th Sikhs, (4th Battalion the Mechanized Infantry today) a military histori