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CHAPTER-IV

PUNJABI SOLDIERS ON THE WAR FRONTS

When the First World War broke out, the Great Britain and France were two largest

colonial powers in the world and both relied extensively on their colonies for manpower,

material and infrastructure. The British relied heavily on the Indian Army. Over four

years of the War, fighting took place not only in Europe, but also in Africa, the Middle

East, the Central Asia and the Far East. Indians soldiers played an important role in all

the Fronts. The Punjab supplied largest number of soldiers to all fighting Fronts such as

France, Gallipoli, Egypt, East and West Africa, Aden, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, the

North West and North East Frontiers of India. The Punjabi soldiers fought gallantly and

displayed courage, valour and devotion to their duty. They played an important part in the

Allied victory.1

IV: 1: THE WAR FRONTS

(i) Mobilisation and Embarkation

Within four days of the declaration of War, the British War Office ordered two Infantry

Divisions and a Cavalry Brigade of the Indian Army for mobilisation.2 When the Indian

Army was ordered to mobilise, there was no clear plan. Initially, it was thought that it

would be used as reserve troop, but on August 8, 1914, Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy,

suggested that this would be a waste of time for trained soldiers and not good for their

morale. “The Indian Army” he declared, “should fight shoulder to shoulder with the British

colleagues in defence of the King and the country”.3 Fighting Imperial campaign was not

1 India’s Contribution to the Great War, Government Printing Press, Calcutta, 1923, p. 78.

See also M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, Government Printing Press, Lahore, 1922, p. 198.

2 Secy., of State, India to the Viceroy, No. 352, 6 August 1914, Diary No. 672: War Dairy, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, 30 July to 31 August 1914, Vol. 1, File No. WWI/159/H (NAI, New Delhi).

3 Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, Bloomsbury, New Delhi, 2015, p. 37.

Punjabi Soldiers on the War Fronts

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new for the Indian Army. It had previously fought in places like China, Abyssinia, Egypt

etc. But it was the first time that the Indian soldiers set out for War along with the British

troops on European Fronts. The soldiers were asked to cross the Kala Pani (Black water)

for the first time.4 Before 1914, Indian soldiers had served overseas in small number and

for short periods of time. They were not involved in extensive fighting. But during the

World War I, they were on the War Fronts from September 1914 to the end of the War i.e.

1918.5 The soldiers came from the Punjab, the United Provinces, the North West Frontier,

the Rajasthan, Nepal, Madras and Burma and represented different religious, ethnic and

linguistic backgrounds. Most of the sepoys came from peasant stock and hill tribes. A small

village Dulmial in the mountains of Punjab sent 460 men to the War, the highest from a

single village in South Asia. For four long years, there was no young man left in Dulmial.6

TABLE IV: 1: COMBATANT AND NON-COMBATANT PERSONNEL DISPATCHED OVERSEAS UPTO 31 OCTOBER 1918

Combatants Non-Combatants Total Indian Officers And

Warrant Officers Indian Other

Ranks

To France 1,911 82,974 47,611 132,496To East Africa 826 33,633 12,477 46,906To Mesopotamia 7,812 287,753 293,152 588,717To Egypt 1,889 94,596 19,674 116,159To Gallipoli 90 3,003 1,335 4,428To Salonika 31 3,643 1,264 4,938To Aden 343 15,655 4,245 20,243To Persian Gulf 615 17,537 11,305 29,457Total 13,517 5,38,794 3,91,063 9,43,344Source: India’s Contribution to the Great War, the Government Printing Press, Calcutta, 1923, pp. 96-97.

Mobilisation orders were sent to all the regimental centres in India. On August 8,

1914 at 6:00 a.m., the Jullundur Brigade received order at Dalhousie.7 On 11 August at

4 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, Roli

Books, New Delhi, 2014, p. 20. 5 D. C. Ellinwood, “The Indian Soldiers, The Indian Army and Change 1914-1918”, D. C.

Ellinwood & S. D. Pradhan (eds.), India and World War I, Manohar, New Delhi, 1978, p. 183.

6 Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, p. xxii.

7 The Jullundur Brigade consisted of the Ist Battalion of the Manchester Regiment (British Regiment), the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, the 47th Sikhs and the 59th Scinde Rifles (Frontier Force): Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, pp. 20, 25.


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9:00 a.m. the Manchester Regiment (the British regiment station at Dalhousie) left

Dalhousie by road for Pathankot and boarded the train to Jullundur. They were directed

to embark at Karachi. The troops from the 47th Sikhs, part of the Jullundur Brigade, were

all at their stations by 4:00 a.m. On August 18, 1914, they were ready to leave for

Karachi by train.8 Subedar Manta Singh of the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs got call for

mobilization on 8 August.9 On August 21, 1914, the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs with Manta

Singh and Captain Henderson arrived at Karachi at 6:30 a.m. Dressed in their long cotton

kurtas and loose trousers, with the symbol of their Sikh faith on their turbans, the 15th

Ludhiana Sikhs looked every bit the martial race they represented comments Pushpinder

Singh Chopra.10 Orders were issued to recall men from leave and furlough. They were

instructed to report on duty immediately.11

The ports of Bombay and Karachi were very busy in the second week of August

1914, as the Indian soldiers prepared to leave for the War Fronts. Troops, camp

followers, weapons, supplies of animals were being loaded on the ships. On August 17,

1914, 34th Sikh Pioneer regiment arrived from Ambala and boarded at the port of

Bombay. The battalion consisted of nine British Officers, nineteen Indian Officers, fifty

seven followers and the mules and Officers’ Incharge.12 The General Commanding

8 The 47th Sikhs raised in 1901, had served in China till 1908: Shrabani Basu, For King

and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, p. 23. 9 Subedar Manta Singh of village of Selampur Masanda, Jalandhar district, was the eldest

of his five brothers. His father, Khem Singh was an influential land owner and knew many of the Recruiting Officers. It was his decision that led Manta Singh to choose the Army. He was promoted to the rank of subedar. He fought the battle of Neuve Chapelle in France in which he fatally injured while rescuing English officer, George Henderson: Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, pp. 20-21.

10 Pushpinder Singh Chopra, Neuve Chapelle: The Jullundur Brigade in France & Flanders 1914-15, Military Studies Convention, New Delhi, 2014, p. 1; The 15th Ludhiana Sikhs was stationed at Loralai in Baluchistan on the outbreak of War and was amongst the first to be mobilized, proceeding to Karachi from where it sailed for Suez on 28 August 1914: Sardar Asghar Ali, Our Heroes of the Great War, The Times Press, Bombay, 1922, p. 40.

11 The Adjutant Gen., India to Gen. Officer Commanding, 7th Meerut Division, No. 21-4, 7 August 1914: War Diary, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, 30 July to 31 August 1914, Vol. 1, File No. WWI/159/H.

12 Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, pp. 22-23.


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Officers for embarkation were appointed for each unit and regiment for Lahore and

Meerut Divisions.13

The Punjabi Soldiers ready to sail for the War Fronts from Karachi Port in August 1914

Source: Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 1. Just twenty days after the commencement of War, two Divisions (3rd Lahore and 7th

Meerut) had sailed from Karachi and Bombay. These were part of the Indian

Expeditionary Force ‘A’ which was sent to France where British Expeditionary Force

(BEF) was shattered and exhausted after excessive fighting. By the end of 1914, seven

Indian Expeditionary Forces had been sent from India to various theatres of the War.14

The 3rd and 7th Divisions were renamed as 3rd Lahore and 7th Meerut Divisions to avoid

confusion with 3rd and 7th British Divisions.15 The Lahore Division which included

13 War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, 30 July to 31 August 1914, Vol. 1, File No.

WWI/159/H. 14 Amarinder Singh, Honour and Fidelity: India’s Military Contribution to the Great War

1914-1918, Roli Books, New Delhi, 2014, p. 325. 15 Chief of the Gen. Staff to Gen., Willcocks, No. 3790-W, 17 September, Diary No. 3790:

Collection of Army Department (General Staff Branch) Correspondence Relating to the European Crisis, Vol. 7, File No. WWI/566/H (NAI, New Delhi).


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Ferozepur Brigade, Jullundur Brigade, Sirhind Brigade and Divisional Troops,

embarked at Karachi on August 24, 1914 and the Meerut Division which included

Garhwal Brigade, Dehradun troops and the Bareilly Brigade embarked at Bombay on

September 21, 1914.16 On 28 August the 47th Sikhs boarded the S.S. Akbar, a vessel of

the India Persian Steamship Company. The 57th Wilde’s Rifles was to share the British

India Steam Navigation Company transporter Teesta with half of the 9th Bhopal

Infantry at Karachi.17 On August 29, 1914, the 15th Sikhs and 59th Scindia Rifles

embarked on the RMS Takada.18 Of the Meerut Division, the 2/2nd Gurkhas and half of

the 1/9th Gurkhas found themselves on S.S. Angora, while the other half of the 1/9th

shared the S.S. Arancola with the 6th Jat Light Infantry. Both ships belonged to British

India Line. The life on the S.S. Arancola was particularly hard as the ship was crowded

with 12,00 men and 100 animals against the capacity of 500 men. Having boarded the

ships on 13 September, the passengers remained on harbour until September 20, 1914,

when the convoy was at last ordered to sail.19

It was also decided by the War Office that about 15,240 short rifles should be shipped

with Indian troops to France and India would arrange all supplies of food for the soldiers.20 In

addition to this, one thousand rounds of ammunition per rifle and one thousands rounds of

ammunition per gun was decided to dispatch with soldiers.21 Thirty days voyage ration for all

men and animals was also dispatched with the forces for Europe.22

16 According to Pushpinder Singh Chopra, the 7th Meerut Division completed its

mobilization on 26 August 1914 and sailed from Karachi on 21 September 1914: M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 198.

17 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-15, Spellmount, Gloucestershire, 2015 (First Published in 2006), p. 35.

18 Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, p. 24.

19 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-15, p.35. 20 Secy., of State, India to the Viceroy, No. 757, 1 September 1914: War Dairy, Indian

Expeditionary Force ‘A’, Ist September to 30 September 1914, Vol. 2, File No. WWI/160/H. 21 The Viceroy, India to Secy. of State, India, No.11-192, 10 August 1914, Dairy No. 941:

War Diary, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, 30 July to 31 August 1914, Vol. 1, File No. WWI/159/H.

22 The Viceroy, India to Secy., of State, India, No. H-697, 6 September 1914, Diary No. 2998: War Dairy, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, Ist September to 30 September 1914, Vol. 2, File No. WWI/160/H.


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TABLE IV: 2: TWO INDIAN MILITARY DIVISIONS SAILED FOR WESTERN FRONT

3rd LAHORE DIVISION 7th MEERUT DIVISION The Ferozepore Brigade (Brigadier General R. M. Egerton): Ist Battalion The Connaught Rangers (British) 129th Duke of Connaught’s Frontier Force Own Baluchis 57th Wilde’s Rifles 9th Bhopal Infantry

The Dehra Dun Brigade (Brigadier General C.E. Johnson): Ist Battalion The Seaforth Highlanders (British) Ist Battalion 9th Gurkha Rifles 2nd Battalion 2nd King Edward’s Own Gurkha Rifles 6th Jat Light Infantry

The Jullundur Brigade (Major General P. M.Carnegy): Ist Manchester Regiment (British) 15th Ludhiana Sikhs 47th Sikhs 59th Scinde Rifles (Frontier Force)

The Garhwal Brigade (Major General H. D.U. Keary): 2nd Battalion Leicestershire Regiment (British) 2nd Battalion 3rd Queen Alexandra’s own Gurkha Rifles Ist Battalion 39th Garhwal Rifles 2nd Battalion 39th Garhwal Rifles

The Sirhind Brigade (Major General J.M.S. Brunker): Ist Battalion The Highland Light Infantry (British) Ist Battalion Ist King George’s Own Gurkha Rifles Ist Battalion 4th Gurkha Rifles 125th Napier’s Rifles

The Bareilly Brigade (Major General F. Macbean): 2nd Battalion The Black Watch (British) 41st Dogras 58th Vaughan’s Rifles (Frontier Force) 2nd Battalion 8th Gurkha Rifles

Divisional Troops: 15th Lancers (Cureton’s Multanis) HQ Divisional Engineers Numbers 20 And 21 Companies Sappers And Miners Signal Company 34th Sikh Pioneers

Divisional Troops: 4th Cavalry HQ Divisional Engineers Number 3 And 4 Companies Sappers and Miners Signal Company 107th Pioneers

Artillery Units: HQ Divisional Artillery 5th Brigade and Ammunition Column 11th Brigade and Ammunition Column 18th Brigade and Ammunition Column 109th Heavy Battery

Artillery Units: HQ Divisional Artillery 4th Brigade and Ammunition Column 9th Brigade and Ammunition Column 13th Brigade and Ammunition Column 110th Heavy Battery

Source: James Willcocks, With the Indians in France, Constable and Company Ltd., London, 1920, pp. 18-20.

On August 23, 1914, the following message was given by the King Emperor, George V

to the departing Indian troops to the Western Front:

“Officer, Non-Commissioned Officers and men, I look to all my Indian soldiers to uphold the izzat of the British Raj against the aggressive and relentless enemy. I know with what readiness my loyal and brave Indian soldiers are prepared to fulfil this sacred thrust on the field of battle, shoulder to shoulder with their comrades from all parts of the Empire. Rest assured that you will always be in my thoughts and prayers. I bid you go forward to add fresh lustre to the glorious achievements and noble traditions, courage and chivalry of my Indian Army, whose honour and fame are in your hands”.23

23 The Civil and Military Gazette, Lahore, Wednesday, October 7, 1914, p. 3.


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In September 1914, General Sir James Willcocks was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Corps in France. He arrived at Marseilles, France on 25 September 1914 with his staff by S.S. Malwa.24 He had a remarkable record as a General. He led the Indian Army to great accomplishments in France & Flanders.25 General Hudson was appointed as senior General Staff Officer, Major Vincent as General Staff Officer, second grade and Major Tomkins as camp commandant, headquarters of Army Staff. They were instructed to sail from Bombay on 12 September 1914.26

(ii) The War Fronts: Europe

The Lahore Division landed at Marseilles on September 26, 1914 and Meerut Division on

October 11, 1914.27 Twenty two ships with Indian troops arrived at Marseilles. Among

them ‘Ambala’, ‘Taiyabi’, ‘Nurani’, ‘Itola’, ‘Akbar’, ‘Mongora’, etc. were noted.28 The

troops got ecstatic reception in France. It was autumn day and the troops were marching

through the streets of the town. Crowds flocked to the docks to see the sepoys and

followed them as they were marching to their camp sites.29

24 C-in-C, India to Sir James Willcocks, Muree, 5 September 1914; Gen. James Willcocks

to Chief of the Gen. Staff, No. 14-G, 25 September 1914, Diary No. 4436-A: War Diary, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, Ist September to 30 September 1914, Vol. 2, File No. WWI/160/H.

25 General Sir James Willcocks was born in Baraut (India), thirty three miles from Meerut in 1857. He graduated from Sandhurst in 1878. In 1879, he returned to India and took part in the Second Afghan War as a Transport Officer. From 1899 to 1900, he commanded the West African Frontier. In 1900, he became Colonel Commandant of the Frontier Force. He was well versed in number of Indian languages. From 1914-18, he led Indian soldiers in the France. He wrote a book With the Indians in France in which he praised the bravery of the Indian soldiers on the Western Front: Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, pp. 27-28; J.W.B Merewether and Fredrick Smith, The Indian Corps in France, John Murray, London, 1917, pp. 17-18.

26 Milt. Secy., of C-in-C, India to Gen. Officer Commanding, Northern Army, No. 1731-4, 5 September 1914: War Diary, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, Ist September to 30 September 1914, Vol. 2, File No. WWI/160/H.

27 Gen. Officer, Commanding Indian Army Corps, Marseilles to Chief of the Gen. Staff, No. G-159, 17 October 1914, Diary No. 5756: War Dairy, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, Ist October to 31 October 1914, Vol. 3, File No. WWI/161/H.

28 Secy. War Office, London to C-in-C, India No. 1220-C, 27 September 1914, Diary No. 4572: War Dairy, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, Ist September to 30 September 1914, Vol. 2, File No. WWI/160/H.

29 The Tribune, Lahore, October 4, 1914, p. 1. See also Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-15, p. 39.


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This was the first time that the Punjabi troops stepped ashore on the European continent.

They were greeted with great cheers and enthusiasm by the French.30 The British press

voiced the universal feeling of pride at the arrival of the Indian troops to take part in the

War for the Empire. The Times wrote: “No episode in this extraordinary War is more

remarkable or inspiring than the presence of Indian troops on the continent. French were

feeling equally proud that Indian had come to fight for them”.31 On the arrival of the

troops, the King George V gave following message to the soldiers:

“You are the descendants of men who have been great rulers and great warriors. You will recall the glories of your race, you will have the honour of showing in Europe that the sons of India have lost none of their ancient martial instincts… History will record the doings of India’s sons and your children will proudly tell the deeds of their fathers’. It was greeted with a cheer by the troops who were elated that the King himself was reaching out to them. Each soldier now strained to prove himself. Hopes of gallantry medals and fame filled their hearts.” 32

The Punjabi soldiers landed in France at a critical period when the resisting power of

the British Army was at its lowest ebb. They were exhausted by constant fighting

against their opponents who were superior in number as well as in arms. The Punjabis

played a significant role in saving the situation at that time. The additional manpower

was crucial for the Allied.33 At Marseilles, the troops were re-equipped with new high

velocity rifles and given some practical firing practice.34 The Lahore Division

remained at Marseilles till September 30, 1914. Then it entrained for Orleans, France

and reached there on October 3, 1914. The Division camped at the Champs de

Cerecettes, about six miles from Orleans.35

30 Pushpinder Singh Chopra, Neuve Chapelle: The Jullundur Brigade in France & Flanders

1914-15, p. 12. 31 The Tribune, October 4, 1914, p. 4. 32 Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front

1914-1918, p. 33. 33 India’s Contribution to the Great War, p. 221. 34 Pushpinder Singh Chopra, Neuve Chapelle: The Jullundur Brigade in France & Flanders

1914-15, p. 13. 35 J.W.B Merewether and Frederick Smith, The Indian Corps in France, pp. 19-20. See

also, Mulk Raj Anand, Across the Black Waters, Vision Books, New Delhi, 1978, p. 27.


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(iii) First Battle of Ypres, Belgium (October 1914)

Less than four weeks after landing at Marseilles, the Punjabi troops fought first Battle of

Ypres (October 1914) against the world’s best equipped German army. This was the first

confrontation in which Punjabi troops were tested. They went into the trenches in their

cotton khakis, faced one of the severe winter, they had ever seen.36 The Ferozepur

brigade was attached to the 2nd Cavalry Division, under General Gough. Half of the

battalion was placed at the disposal of General Bingham, commanding the 4th Cavalry

Brigade and half with General Chetwode’s 5th Cavalry Brigade. The first two Punjabi

regiments that were engaged with German attack were the 57th Wilde’s Rifles and the

129th Baluchis. Both the regiments were of mixed composition, containing some Sikhs

but no Gurkhas. On October 22, 1914, the 57th Wilde’s Rifles (Frontier Force), moved up

to the trenches near Wytschaete.37 On October 23, 1914, orders were received by the

129th Baluchis to move up in support of the 2nd Cavalry Division which was in distress at

Hollebeke (Belgium) southeast of Ypres. The battalion was engaged in heavy fighting

which continued upto November 1, 1914.38 After that the 129th Baluchis under Lt.

Colonel W.M. Southey proceeded to St. Eloi, where they were attached to the 2nd Cavalry

Division placed at the disposal of General Vaughan, Commanding the 3rd Cavalry

Brigade.39 On October 26, 1914, both regiments took part in their first attack in front of

Messiness. Four days later, the Germans attacked in force and the Indians were subjected

to a very severe test.40 The 57th Wilde Rifles fought without a single British Officer.

Havildar Ganga Ram, Dogra of Kangra district, was holding a trench with a few men. He

36 Syam Narain Saxena, Role of Indian Army in the First World War, Bhavna Prakashan,

Delhi, 1987, p. 22. See also Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, p. xxi.

37 The Ferozepur Brigade included 9th Bhopal Infantry, 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis and the 57th Wilde’s Rifles (Frontier Force): M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 199. See also Major H.M. Alexander, On Two Fronts: Being the Adventures of An Indian Mule Corps in France and Gallipoli, E.P. Dutton and Company, New York, 1917, p. 47.

38 The 129th Baluchis was raised in 1846 at Karachi. It had two companies of Punjabi Muslims, three of Mahsuds and three of other Pathans: Sardar Asghar Ali, Our Heroes of the Great War, The Times Press, Bombay, 1922, p. 33.

39 J.W.B Merewether and Frederick Smith, The Indian Corps in France, p. 22. 40 M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 200.


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Jemadar Khudadad Khan, 129th Baluchis, First Winner of Victoria Cross in South Asia

fought bravely and killed five Germans

with his sword. Afterwards, he was

awarded Indian Order of Merit 2nd Class,

Jemadar Kapur Singh also fought

bravely.41 The 129th Baluchis also fought

bravely. Jemadar Khudadad Khan, Jhelum

district kept firing at the enemy till he was

the last man left alive.42 For his bravery,

he was awarded the Victoria Cross, a

highest British bravery award.43 According

to Tan Tai Yong, 57th Wilde Rifles and

129th Baluchis remained in the trenches

from 23 to 30 October 1914 and during

that time they lost total of 290 and 235

men respectively. The average strength of

the two regiments had been about 750

men.44

Source: Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 125.

41 The 57th Wilde Rifles was a Class Company Regiment. It had two companies each of

Sikhs, Dogras, Punjabi Mussalmans and Afridis (a Pathan sub-tribe): J.W.B. Merewether and Frederick Smith, The Indian Corps in France, pp. 34-35. See also James Willcocks, With the Indians in France, p. 34.

42 Jemadar Khudadad Khan, 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis was a Punjabi Musalman of village Dak, Jhelum district. He was a machine gunner. In 1914-15, during an action at Hollebeke, near Ypres, he got wounded but continued to fight until the enemy was killed. He was the first Indian to receive a Victoria Cross. His portrait enjoys pride of place in the Indian Memorial room at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurt along with Mir Dast, another receiver of Victoria Cross: M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 200. See also Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, p. xx.

43 Sir John French, C-in-C, BEF, to the Viceroy, India, No. 6, 4 December 1914, Diary No. 8920: War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, Ist December to 31 December 1914, Vol. 5, File No. WWI/163/H.

44 Tan Tai Yong, “An Imperial Home Front: Punjab and the First World War”, The Journal of Military History, April 2000, p. 376.


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(iv) Battle of Neuve Chapelle (March 1915)

The famous Battle of Neuve Chapelle (a village in France) in which Punjabi soldiers

showed extraordinary bravery was fought between 10-12 March 1915. The Punjabi

soldiers of the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, 47th Sikhs and 59th Scinde Rifles Regiments

played an extraordinary role in this battle. They fought as a single unit and broke the

German defence for the first time. It was a bloody contest and Punjabis suffered

heavily. About 12,000 soldiers lost their lives in three days. They broke the German

lines and completely demoralized them for many months. According to M. S. Leigh,

the Jullundur Brigade alone lost 600 men in two days. Most of the bodies were never

found.45 The 47th Sikhs also lost very heavily and was reduced to a small number.

Havildar Gajjan Singh of Ludhiana was decorated with the Indian Order of Merit

(IOM) for gallantry in rescuing wounded men under fire. Later, he was promoted to

the rank of Jemadar.46 Havildar Ghamai Khan, a Pathan of 59th Scinde Rifles too was

promoted to the rank of Jemadar for his courage and bravery.47 Gabar Singh Negi, a

rifleman received the Victoria Cross for bravery on March 10, 1915.48

Sir John French, Commander-in-Chief of British Expeditionary Force (BEF)

cabled the Viceroy of India, “I am glad to be able to inform His Excellency that the

Indian troops under Sir James Willcocks fought with great gallantry and were

successful in the capture of Neuve Chapelle. The fighting was very severe and the


1914-15, p. 13. See also M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 205. 46 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-

15, p. 20. 47 The Indian Order of Merit (IOM) was given for personal bravery, irrespective of rank.

Originally, it had three classes but when Indians were declared eligible for the Victoria Cross (VC) in 1911 the IOM was reduced to two classes, ranking immediately after the Victoria Cross: Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-15, p. 7.

48 The Victoria Cross (VC) was the highest gallantry award. It was instituted by Royal warrant on January 29, 1856. It was awarded to those officers or men who served for British in the presence of enemy or performed some signal act of valour or devotion to their country. On December 12, 1911 at Delhi Darbar, the King Emperor announced that Indian soldiers should be eligible for the award of Victoria Cross for an act of perfect courage: Sardar Asghar Ali, Our Heroes of the Great War, p. 17.


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losses heavy, but nothing daunted them; their tenacity, courage and endurance were

admirable and worthy of the best traditions of the soldiers of India.”49 The Regiments

which he specially mentioned were 47th Sikhs, 59th Scinde Rifles, 34th Sikh Pioneers,

39th Garhwal Rifles, 9th Gurkha Rifles, battalion of Dehra Dun Brigade etc.50 In his

correspondence with Viceroy, General James Willcocks reported that Indian troops

fought bravely in Neuve Chapelle. The 47th Sikhs Regiment did very well. The 15th

Ludhiana Sikhs of Jullundur Division did good work beyond words.51 Names of over

4,742 Indian soldiers and non-combatants who died on the Western Front during War

are carved on the wall of the Indian Memorial at Neuve Chapelle.52

(v) Second Battle of Ypres (April 1915)

The next important action by the Punjabi soldiers was the second Battle of Ypres

which commenced on April 22, 1915. It stood out amongst the many battles fought on

the Western Front because it marked the beginning of mass use of poison gas.53 On 24

April, the Lahore Division moved up to take part in this battle to stem the German

tide.54 The 47th Sikhs bore the brunt. The 40th Pathans (Muslim Regiment of North

West Frontier) who had arrived from China was part of Jullundur Brigade in this

battle.55 On April 26, 1915, the 57th Wilde Rifles was sent as part of the Lahore

49 The Tribune, March 20, 1915, p. 1. 50 Secy., of State, India to the Viceroy, No. 1728, 20 March 1915, Diary No. 5887: War

Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, Ist to 31 March 1915, Vol. 8, File No. WWI/166/H.

51 Sir James Willcocks to the Viceroy, 31 March 1915, France, Lord Hardinge Private Papers, January to June 1915, Vol. I, p. 496.

52 The Memorial is situated in Neuve Chapelle (France). It was designed by Herbert Baker. It was inaugurated in October 1927, nine years after the end of the War. The opening ceremony was attended among others by the Maharaja of Kapurthala, the Earl of Birkenhead, Rudyard Kipling and several other veterans: Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-1918, pp. xv-xvi.

53 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 121. 54 M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 206. 55 Pushpinder Singh Chopra, Neuve Chapelle: The Jullundur Brigade in France & Flanders

1914-15, pp. 52-53.


104

Division to repair the breach in the line resulting from a German surprise gas attack

and ordered to counter attack.56

The casualties were high. The 40th Pathans lost 320 men; the 47th Sikhs lost 348

men out of 444; the 129th Baluchis lost 231. Altogether on 26 and 27 April, the Lahore

Division lost some 3,889 men or nearly 30 percent of the men engaged in this battle.57

Mir Dast, an Afridi Pathan, held the line amidst the confusion and chaos of the gas

attack when most of the brigade fell. Despite suffering from the effects of gas himself,

Mir Dast rescued eight British and Indian officers. For his actions, he became the

fourth Indian to be awarded a Victoria Cross.58 Jemadar Sucha Singh of the 47th Sikhs

took command of his company when all the British Officers were killed or wounded

and won the Indian Order of Merit (IOM). Havildar Mangal Singh (Amritsar District)

of the same Regiment, was similarly decorated for helping the wounded under fire.59

The Lahore Division rejoined the rest of the Corps on May 3-4, 1915 and on

May 9, 1915, began the Battle of Festubert. This too caused heavy casualties. On 18

May, during the same operations, a remarkable work was carried out by Lieutenant

J.G. Smyth of 15th Sikhs and ten men of that regiment. Lieutenant Smyth was given

the Victoria Cross, and Naik Mangal Singh of Patiala, Sepoy Fateh Singh of Sialkot,

Ujagar Singh of Lahore, Sunder Singh and Ganda Singh of Amritsar, Sampuran Singh

of Ferozpur and Harnam Singh of Hoshiarpur all received the Distinguished Service

Medal (DSM) for distinguished service.60

56 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 121. 57 M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 206. See also, Tan Tai Yong, “The Imperial

Home Front: Punjab and the First World War”, p. 376. 58 Mir Dast was born on December 3, 1874 into a family of Afridi Pathans in the North

West Frontier Province. He joined the army in 1894 and promoted to the rank of naik by 1910. He became havildar by 1904 and in 1909 became jemadar. During the War, he was one of the officers posted from his home unit to a regiment serving in France with the 57th Wilde Rifles, in Ferozepur Brigade of the Lahore Division. He played a key role in the fighting in Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 and thereafter in second Battle of Ypres. He recouped from his injuries at the Brighton Pavilion Hospital, England: Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, pp. 121-22.

59 M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 206. 60 Ibid., p. 207.


105

Jemadar Mir Dast, 57th Wilde Rifles, winner of Victoria Cross

Source: Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War. p. 121.


106

(vi) The Battle of Loos (September 1915)

On September 25, 1915, the Punjabi Corps took part in the Battle of Loos (France). It

was the last action of Punjabi soldiers in France. The total Indian losses in this conflict

were 1,926. The 69th Punjabi lost 348 men out of 663 in this battle. Subedar-Major

Jagendar Singh of Ambala, Subedar Mohammad Khan and Jemadar Sardar Khan, both

of Jhelum and Lance Naik Nidhan Singh of Hoshiarpur all won Order of Merit on this

occasion. The Malerkotla Sappers were also engaged in it.61

Early in November 1915, it was announced that the Indian Corps would be

withdrawn from France with the belief that their morale would not survive another winter

of trench warfare in France. They were to be sent to join Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’

in Mesopotamia. By November 10, 1915, the Indian Corps in France were to be relieved

and to reorganise themselves and participate in another theatre of War in Mesopotamia.62

Mohammad Ali Khan, a Punjabi Muslim wrote to his friend at home:

“The cold here is intense and it rains every day. The wind is terrible and the water is very cold. A fowl is sold here for seven rupees and a goat for twenty-five. All the Indian troops in France are to leave the country. I don’t know where they are to go”.63

On November 22, 1915, Sir John French issued an order, in which he set forth the more

important engagement in which Corps had to play its part:

“The Indian Corps have shown most praise worthy courage under novel and trying conditions, both of climate and of fighting, and have not only upheld, but have added to the good name of the army which they represent. This is all the more praiseworthy in view of the heavy losses amongst British officers having deprived the Indian rank of many trusted leaders… you have done your work well, and are now being sent to another place… I thank you for the services you have rendered while under my command.”64

61 M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, pp. 208-09. 62 Sardar Asghar Ali, Our Heroes of the Great War, p. 35. 63 Muhammad Ali Khan, Punjabi Muslim to Sher Ali Khan, 82nd Punjabis, Nowshera,

Peshawar District, 24 November 1915, France, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers Letters’ 1914-1918 (edited by David Omissi), Penguin Books, London, 2014, p. 121.

64 M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 210.


107

On November 25, 1915, the Prince of Wales read out the message of the King Emperor:

“More than a year ago, I summoned you from India to fight for the safety of my Empire and the honour of my pledged word on the battlefield of Belgium and France. The confidence which I then expressed in your sense of duty, your courage and your chivalry you have since than nobly justified. I now require your services in another field of action. In a warfare waged under new conditions and in particularly trying circumstances, you have worthily upheld the honour of the Empire and the great traditions of my army in India. I mourn with you the loss of many gallant officers and men. Let it be your consolation, as it was their pride that they freely gave their lives in a just cause for the honour of their sovereign and safety of my Empire. You leave France with just pride in honourable deeds already achieved and with my assured confidence that your proved valour and experience will contribute to further victories in the new fields of action to which you go. I pray to God to bless and guard you and to bring you back safely when the final victory is won, each to his own home, there to be welcomed with honour among his own people.”65

Of the various characteristics of Punjabi soldiers, General Willcocks, Commander-in-

Chief of Indian Corps in France, wrote as follows:

“The Dogras are quite, steddy, clean soldiers of refined appearance. A Dogra Battalion always turned out smartly and this was noticeable, even in the mud laden swamp of Flanders. They felt the first bitter cold of November 1914 more than any other class, but they faced it bravely and rendered great services. The Sikhs are a fighting race. Of all Indian soldiers I know the Sikh best… he is a fine soldier, will share your trials with genuine good honour and can always save something in cash out of nothing. In France, some of the first fighting by Indians was done by Sikhs. The Jats are strapping, big men. They always impressed me as stubborn fighters; not brilliant; but very reliable. They did good work in France. The Punjabi Mohammedan did well all round during the War. He proved himself a reliable soldier.”66

(vii) Mesopotamia

The Middle East was another important theatre of the War. The most significant

campaign of Indian troops was in Mesopotamia. The Government of India decided to

deploy Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’ in the region to protect its oil interest.67 The


1914-15, p. 180. 66 M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, pp. 211-12. 67 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 194.

See also Amarinder Singh, Honour and Fidelity: India’s Military Contribution to the Great War, 1914-18, p. 72.


108

First force sent from India to this sector, arrived in Bahrain in October 1914. Before

this, the Government of India asked the Political Resident to make necessary

arrangements for landing of Expeditionary Force ‘D’.68 The Lahore and Meerut

Divisions were ordered to withdraw from France on 31 October 1915. The Lahore

Division entrained Marseilles between December 8 and 16, 1915 while the Meerut

Division had already commenced entraining between November 7 and 30, 1915. The

Jullundur Brigade entrained from Marseilles on December 10 and embarked on H. T.

Canada for further War service in Mesopotamia. The Ist Manchester Regiment, 47th

Sikh and 59th Scinde Rifles together, were to continue to gain further battle honours.69

The 57th Camel Corps from Multan and 7th Mule Corps were mobilized from

Peshawar for Mesopotamia.70

The Imperial Service troops from Malerkotla, Patiala and Sirmur also fought

in Mesopotamia. The Sirmur Sappers arrived at Kuranna on January 2, 1915, and

were engaged till May in making roads and bridges. After a month at Amara, they

returned to Basra, Mesopotamia and spent a strenuous hot weather improving the

river transport. In October, they went up to Kut-el-Amara and strengthened the

defences of that town, in which they were ultimately besieged. The Malerkotla

Sappers arrived on February 18, 1916. They did bridging at Basra and in July helped

to blow up hostile towers near Nasariyah. They prepared boat bridges at Baghdad,

Diala and Feluja. They did not return to their homes till April 1919, having been on

active service throughout the War. The Patiala (Rajindra) Lancers arrived from

Egypt on May 24, 1916. They were first on the lines of communication and later on

68 Secy., GOI, Foreign and Political Dept. to Political Resident, Bushire, No. 901-S, 14

October 1914, Diary No. 5664: War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’, 26 September 1914 to 17 October 1914, Vol. 1, File No. WWI/223/H.

69 Pushpinder Singh Chopra, Neuve Chappelle: The Jullundur Brigade in France & Flanders 1914-15, p. 55.

70 Quartermaster Gen., India to Officer Commanding, 57th Camel Corps, Multan, No. 92-4, 6 October 1914; Quartermaster Gen., India to Divisional Transport Officer, 7th Mule Corps, Peshawar: War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’, 26 September 1914 to 17 October 1914, Vol. 1, File No. WWI/223/H.


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the front of the Euphrates Line.71

Mesopotamia was a severe test for the Punjabi soldiers. According to George

MacMunn, it was a worst campaign for soldiers. The climate was very hot and

unfavourable.72 Between May and October, temperature reached to 57 degrees. One of

the significant difficulty was the lack of adequate rations. The fruits and vegetables which

had to be shipped from India were often spoiled by the time they reached the troops due

to lack of cold storage facilities. Malaria and Cholera became a cause for concern given

the poor quality drinking water arriving in Mesopotamia. One regiment medical officer

noted, ‘We drink river water but it gives about half an inch of mud per tumbler’ another

called it ‘liquid mud’.73 General Barrett, Commanding Officer, Force ‘D’ informed that

owing to lack of green food, many camels became affected with diarrhea and skin

diseases. Many died of hot weather.74 A soldier wrote to his friend in France about the

situation faced by his brother in Mesopotamia: “I had a letter received from my brother Sadikall Khan from Basra, three days ago. He says, he is constantly ill and that every few days his health changes. He also says that the heat is unbearable and that the country (Mesopotamia) is very opposite of France. He is neither fit to fight nor ill enough to return to India. Except for dates and the heat, nothing is to be found. In short, this country, he says, is the entire opposite of France”.75

71 The Malerkotla Imperial Service Sappers embarked from Bombay on 7 December 1914.

The troops served in France and Belgium for a year from January 1915 to December 1915. The Company took part in the second battle of Ypres and battles of Neuve Chapelle and Loos. From France, the Company arrived at Basra (Mesopotamia) under the command of Colonel Qadir Bakhsh Khan on January 8, 1916. It came back at Malerkotla on 17 April 1919 after four years active service: M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, pp. 94, 241. See also A Short History of the Services Rendered by the Imperial Services Troops During the Great War 1914-18, (compiled by Sir Henry Watson), Government of India, Calcutta, 1930, pp. 45-46; Mirza Ijaz Hussain, A Brief War History of the Malerkotla State 1914-19, The Civil and Military Gazette Press, Lahore, 1920, pp. 4-5.

72 George MacMunn, The Martial Races of India, Marston & Co., London, ND, p. 332. 73 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 199. 74 Gen. Barrett, Commanding Officer, Force ‘D’ to Chief of Gen. Staff, Basra, 10 March

1915, Diary No. 5745: War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’, Ist to 31 March 1915,Vol. 8, File No. WWI/230/H.

75 Abdul Najid Khan, to Suliman Khan, 3rd Skinner’s Horse, France, 18 March 1916, Rohtak, Punjab, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers Letters’ 1914-1918 (edited by David Omissi), p. 165.


110

Hot weather and inadequate medical conditions proved major problems for soldiers in the

Mesopotamian campaign. On the top of that, there was shortage of food supply. The

stock of vegetables dwindled and the garrison’s fresh meat supplies were exhausted.

Therefore, the forces had to consume its animals. This was a situation that proved

problems for the Punjabi soldiers at Kut-el-Amara (Mesopotamia). Many of the soldiers

refused to eat horse and mule, leaving them without an adequate source of protein.

Townshend obtained permission to quote the Imam of the Jama Masjid in Delhi and

other leading pundits and granthis that eating horse meat was not objectionable. Still

local consideration weighed on many Indian troops minds. They declared that every

village pundit would be against them on their return to India and that in consequence, no

one would give them their daughters in marriage. This issue of horse meat was a moral

and religious issue. Rather than break their caste rules. It is reported that some preferred

to commit suicide.76

Captain Kalyan Mukherji who was one of the many Indians who spent the five

long months at Kut-el-Amara wrote to his mother about the precarious conditions:

“Ma, it’s been almost five months since I sat down to write to you. I have often thought of writing in these months but nothing was known about when we would be able to send letters. I never got around to it. Since yesterday, people here have come to accept that we will not be relieved. The troops have been on half rations for the last month and even those have been steadily cut over the last fifteen days, but despite these measures there’s only enough food to last three more days. After three months with very little to eat the troops are starving. The mortality rate in the hospital has soared. In the last fifteen days many have died for lack of food. There’s nothing to eat. People are coming to the hospital because starvation had made them weak.77

After Turkey entered hostilities against the British Empire in November 1914, some

Pathan units in Egypt and Mesopotamia began to waver. They were reluctant to fight

against their fellow Muslims near the Holy places of Islam. Some battalions had

76 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 201. 77 The Battle of Kut-el-Amara was one of the most brilliant actions fought by Punjabi

soldiers in Mesopotamia. This battle was fought in September 1915 and lasted two days. The Infantry lost 4,000 out of 8,500 men engaged, and even the cavalry lost 200 out of 1,200; the 76th Punjabi’s in particular suffered severe casualties: M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 221. See also Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 201.


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problems with discipline.78 The presence of large number of Muslims in the army

affected the attitude of the Indian Government towards some broader political questions.

In particular, the authorities kept a watchful eye on the Pan-Islamic Movement. The

British became worried that the Anglo-Turkish conflict might unsettle Muslim sepoys.

The Viceroy was worried that a military disaster in Mesopotamia might seriously affect

the discipline of Muslim troops. According to David Omissi, the enemies of the British

were conscious of these fears and sought to turn them into facts. The Ghadar leaders, for

example were well aware that without the active cooperation of the troops, their plans for

revolution in India are doomed to failure. In 1915, British agents in Persia discovered

leaflets printed by the Germans, urging the sepoys to shoot down their English officers, to

massacre the English soldiers and share with them the glory of becoming a free nation.79

Many Pathan soldiers had strong religious objections to fighting against the

Turks. In January 1915, three Pathan companies of the 130th Baluchis refused to embark

at Rangoon when they learned that their regiment was destined for Mesopotamia. Some

of the soldiers refused to obey orders. They were arrested and the remainder of the

regiment duly sailed, but its destination was changed to Mombasa. In February 1916, the

15th Lancers was ordered to march from Basra up the Tigris to join the forces at the front.

Most of the regiments refused owing to their strong religious scruples against fighting in

the vicinity of the holy places of Baghdad and Kerbela. The 15th Lancers had fought well

in France previous year. But the unrest did not have any broader political content. The

men admitted their oath of allegiance and pleaded that “they were willing to fight any

enemy, including Arabs or Turks.80 Fattehullah, wrote from Punjab to Fateh Ahmad in

France:

“We have learnt from Nasir Khan’s letter that his brother Raja Khan has been sentenced by Court Martial to fourteen years’ imprisonment. This has caused us much grief. The details which he gives that when the 15th Lancers reached Basra (Mesopotamia) they were ordered to fight against the Turks. They, however, declined to take up arms against their brother Muslims and asked to be sent to other theatre of the War. A Court

78 David Omissi, The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army 1860-1940, Macmillan Press

Ltd., 1998 (First Published 1994), p. 84. 79 Ibid., p. 132. 80 David Omissi, The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army 1860-1940, p. 140.


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Martial was convened and 400 men were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Since then, it has been reported that these men would be sent to some other theatre of War, since they did not in reality decline to fight for the sirkar and should not have been called upon to fight against the Turks against their wish. It is very sad that fate should have dealt thus cruelly with this regiment in the end, after they had done such good service and gained so much renown elsewhere. Now they are all imprisoned in the fort in Rangoon in Burma and are not allowed to receive or send letters”.81

One Punjabi Muslim wrote from, Sialkot:

“We have got the depot of the 15th Lancers here now; and they were in France from the beginning of the War and went thence to Basra. The whole regiment united there for the purpose of taking an oath not to fight against Muslims. They all took the oath and laid Quran on their heads and swore not to tell anyone of their plan. But a jemadar of that regiment told the CO all about the affairs. He at once ordered them to ‘fall in’ to be sounded and everyone had to fall in just as he was, weather dressed or not. When the men had fallen in, the other regiments took possession of their arms. They were then ordered to embark on a ship and all refused. After that it was decided that the denial of the Indian commissioned officers of all knowledge of the affair should be accepted. They denied it all (in spite of the fact that they too had sworn on the Quran) and they were acquitted. The rest non-commissioned officers and troopers, 429 in number-were arrested and punished with various terms of imprisonment. Three Kot dafadars got penal servitude for life and the rest of the non-commissioned officers got fifteen years”.82

Despite great difficulties, the Punjabi soldiers did distinguished service in Mesopotamia.

Of the 22nd Punjabis, Havildar Said Ahmad of Attock, Fazal Hussain of Rawalpindi,

Jemadars Daya Singh of Hoshiarpur, Kishen Singh and Dhian Singh, Havildars Maler

Singh, Kulbir Singh, Naik Inder Singh, all of the Sirmur Sappers got appreciation for

their service. Havildar Lala, a Dogra Rajput, earned the Victoria Cross.83

81 Fateh Ullah, to Fateh Ahmed, Supply and Transport No. 5 Base Supply Depot, France, 30

June 1916, Lyallpur, Punjab, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers Letters’ 1914-1918 (edited by David Omissi), p. 199.

82 Ashraf Ali Khan to Fateh Muhammad Khan, Hindustan Muslim, 6th Cavalry, France, 24 March 1916, Sialkot, Punjab, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers Letters’ 1914-1918 (edited by David Omissi), p. 167.

83 Lala Havildar of 41st Dogras, belonged to Kangra District. He rescued a British Officer who was lying wounded close to enemy and dragged him to a temporary shelter. He then went to the rescue of his own adjutant who was lying wounded within 100 yards of the enemy, covered him with his own cloths and remained with him until dusk. For his bravery, he was awarded Victoria Cross in Mesopotamia in 1916: M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, pp. 106, 222.


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(viii) Egypt

The first duty given to Lahore and Meerut Division in Egypt was the Garrison duty. Six

other brigades, the 22th Punjabis, 28th Punjabis, 30th Punjabis and an Imperial Service

Cavalry Brigade reached Egypt in November and December 1914.84

The Patiala and Bahawalpur Imperial Service Troops served with Expeditionary

Force ‘E’ in Egypt.85 The Patiala Rajindra Lancers left Patiala under the command of

Brigadier General Nand Singh on November 2, 1914 and disembarked at Suez and

reached Ismailia on November 20, s1914.86 In Egypt, the regiment did excellent work in

active operations especially attack by the Imperial Service Brigade.87 The regiment was

also given the task of constructing strong field works for the defence of Suez Canal and

guarding important strategic points along the line of communications.88 From Egypt, the

regiment was dispatched to Mesopotamia to protect the oil wells of South Western Persia.

It reached Basra on May 24, 1916.89

Another regiment which went to Egypt from Patiala was Ist Patiala Rajindra

Sikhs. It sailed from Bombay on 29 October 1914 and reached Ismailia via Suez on 20

November under the command of Colonel Gurbaksh Singh. Throughout 1915, the

battalion was employed on various sections of defence of the Canal as well as on railway

defence between Zogazing and Ismailia. From the middle of April to the end of

September 1917, the battalion remained on the Palestine line of communication defence

84 M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 252. 85 The Inspector-General, Imperial Service Troops to Inspecting Officer, Punjab Imperial

Service Troops, No. 1542-G, 14 August 1914, Diary No. 1235: War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘A’, 30 July to 31 August 1914 Vol. 1, File No. WWI/159/H.

86 The Patiala Imperial Service Troops in the Field, Izlas-i-Khas, Basta No. 7, File No. 107, Punjab State Archive, Patiala, 1920.

87 Raj Kumar, “Patiala State and the First World War” Punjab History Conference Proceedings, February 27-28, March 1, 2015, Punjabi University, Patiala, p. 260.

88 Sandeep Kaur, “Role of the Ist Patiala (Rajindra) Lancers in the First World War”, Punjab History Conference Proceedings, February 27-28, March 1, 2015, Punjabi University, Patiala, p. 255.

89 Patiala and the Great War: A Brief History of the Services of the Premier Punjab State, (compiled from Secretariat and other Records), Medici Society, 1923, pp. 6-9.


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duty. After taking parts in various battles, the battalion came back to Patiala on January

27, 1919. The regiment got forty three awards for service.90

TABLE IV: 3: LIST OF REWARDS AND HONOURS AWARDED TO THE IST PATIALA RAJINDRA SIKHS DURING THE WAR

Honour Number Military Cross 1 Order of British India (2nd Class) with title Bahadur 3 Indian Order of Merit (2nd Class) 4 Indian Distinguished service medals 5 Indian Meritorious Service Medals 7 Cross of Kara George with Sword 4th Class (Service Decorating) 1 Kara George, with Sword (4th Class 1 Gold Medal (Servian Decoration) 1 Silver Medal (Ditto) 1 Order of Nile 4th Class (Egyptiam Decoration) 1 Mention in Dispatches 18 Total 43 Source: The Patiala Imperial Service Troops in the Field, Izlas-i-Khas, Basta No. 7, File No. 107,

Punjab State Archive, Patiala, 1920. (ix) East Africa

Within a few days of the War, a request was received by the Government of India for the

preparation of a mixed force to deal with German East Africa. Indian Expeditionary

Force ‘B’ was sent to East Africa.91 This force sailed from Bombay and Karachi on 16

and 17 October 1914 respectively. Total nine ships sailed with soldiers from Bombay and

two ships from Karachi.92 Brigadier General A.F. Aitken was appointed as the

Commanding Officer of the Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’.93 The British wanted to

capture German East Africa so as to protect the British lines of communication from the

90 A Short History of the Services Rendered by the Imperial Services Troops During the

Great War 1914-18, pp. 23-25. 91 The Viceroy to Secy., of State, India No. H-189, 10 August 1914, Diary No. 934: War

Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’, 8 August 1914 to 3 September 1914, Vol. 1, File No. WWI/185/H.

92 The Viceroy to Secy., of State, India, No. H-1608, 25 October 1914, Diary No. 6100: War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’, 5 October 1914 to 4 November 1914, Vol. 3, File No. WWI/187/H.

93 The Viceroy to Secy., of State, India, No. H-310, 17 August 1914: War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’, 8 August 1914 to 3 September 1914, Vol. 1, File No. WWI/185/H.


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Cape to Cairo. The British did not want Germany to use East Africa as a naval base from

where German ships could operate in the Indian Ocean and threaten the British Navy.94

The first Punjabi unit to reach East Africa was 29th Punjabis. It was engaged on the Tsavo

River as early as September 6, 1914. The other regiments which took part in the East

Africa campaign were the 13th Rajputs, the Jind Imperial Service Infantry, the Kapurthala

Imperial Service Infantry and the Faridkot Sappers.95

The Jind Imperial Service Troops left Sangrur (capital of Jind State) on 14

September 1914. It sailed from Bombay on 20 September 1914 and reached Kilindini

(East Africa) on October 3, 1914. On next day, it took part in the action in which the

enemy was at Gazi. The regiment was the first Imperial Service unit to engage the enemy

on any Front. From January 1915 to October 1916, the regiment was employed at many

places on constant patrol and piquet duty as well as in the construction of defence works

and repair of roads. On October 9, 1916, regiment took part in the advance attack on

Kessangiri.96 The regiment returned to Jind State on December 30, 1917 with 48 honours

and distinctions.97

Kapurthala State Imperial Service Troops worked three and half years on the

Front. The Regiment sailed from Bombay on September 19, 1914 for Mombasa where it

landed on October 3, 1914.98 From November 1915 to July 1916, the state troops were

engaged to guard the line of communications. In September 1916, the headquarters of the

regiment moved to Mohezi and posts were established at Mnyusi, Mobani, Mombo etc.

Here the Kapurthala troops remained until September 1917. In December 1917, regiment

94 Sandeep Kaur and Kulbir Singh Dhillon, “Role of Faridkot Imperial Service Troops in

the First World War”, South Asian History Conference Proceedings, 2nd Session, October 17-19, 2014, Punjabi University, Patiala, p. 192.

95 M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, pp. 268-69. 96 A Short Account of the Services done by the Jind Imperial Service Regiment during the

Great War, Foreign Office Jind State, Basta No. 15, File No. 1446 (P.S.A., Patiala). 97 Report on the Administration of the Punjab and Its Dependencies 1917-1918,

Government Printing Press, Lahore, 1919, p. 2. 98 Note on the Services Rendered by the Kapurthala Imperial Service troops in East Africa

and Army Recruitment in the State, Sadr Office Kapurthala State, Basta No. 57, File No. W/1-5-1918 (P.S.A., Patiala).


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received orders to return to India and reached Kapurthala on January 9, 1918.99 The

Faridkot Imperial Service Sappers also served in East Africa. It was ordered to mobilise

on August 14, 1914.100 It was the engineering unit of the Indian Army and its main

functions were construction of roads, repairing railway engines and lines, making of

floating bridges of rivers and canals etc.101 The company sailed from Karachi on 17

October 1914 for East Africa with Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’. It included 1 British

Officer, 7 Indian Officers, 158 Indian ranks, 24 followers and 18 animals.102 The

company arrived at Mombasa on November 9, 1914. From 1915-1917, it worked well on

repair and construction of railway lines, bridges and roads. It continued to work till

February 1918 in East Africa and returned to State after three years with 33 awards.103

IV: 2: EXPERIENCES OF THE SOLDIERS

The Indian soldiers for the first time remained on the War Fronts for such a long period.

Their experiences were varied and different from earlier wars and therefore needed to be

told. Sometimes these soldiers were allowed to write letters to their friends, relatives and

family members. Through these letters, they shared their experiences. Majority of the

letters were written by scribes on behalf of their senders as most of the soldiers were

illiterate.104 As the War progressed, the experience of the soldiers widened and it changed

the way in which they viewed the colonial authority.

99 A Short History of the Services Rendered by the Imperial Services Troops During the

Great War 1914-18, p. 30. 100 Inspector Gen., Imperial Service Troops to Inspecting Officer, Imperial Service Sappers,

No. 1543-G, 14 August 1914: War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’, 8 August 1914 to 3 September 1914, Vol. 1, File No. WWI/185/H.

101 Sandeep Kaur and Kulbir Singh Dhillon, “Role of Faridkot Imperial Service Troops in the First World War”, p. 192.

102 The Viceroy to Secy., of State, India, No. H-1608, 25 October 1914, Diary No. 6100, War Diary Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’, 5 October 1914 to 4 November 1914, Vol. 3, File No. WWI/187/H.

103 A Short History of the Services Rendered by the Imperial Services Troops during the Great War 1914-1918, pp. 15-16. See also M. S. Leigh, The Punjab and the War, p. 95.

104 Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers Letters’ 1914-1918 (edited by David Omissi), p. 4.


117

A persistent problem for the soldiers during their stay in the France and the

Flanders was unfamiliar weather. Moreover, they were ill-equipped to face it. In the early

months of the War, troops were fighting two enemies-the Germans and the cold. By

November, night temperature in trenches fell to -10 0 C with heavy rain, frost and snow.

One soldier Gulab Singh wrote home, “Many men have had their feet cut off for they had

been burnt by the frost.”105 The soldiers had left India with winter clothing, but most of it

was suitable only for the winter of Indian plains, where the sun shines, the humidity is

down. These clothes were totally inadequate for the rain, wind and snow of the French

winter. The winter uniforms were not provided to soldiers till December 1914. Some

units such as the Sirhind Brigade did not receive winter clothing until February 1915.

Even though each man was supposed to have been issued with an extra blanket but on the

arrival of the Lahore Division insufficient clothing was available and men of 57th Wilde’s

Rifles were to be found wrapped in eiderdowns, table cloths and even cast off curtains to

ward of the cold.106 In a letter, Natha Singh, 2nd Lancer tried to explain the difficulties of

weather to his friend: “The cold here is excessive. Here are two stories about it. One day, three or four of us signallers were working at the telegraph and telephone. When the message we were at was finished, a Jat added through the wire, ‘if this cold continues for another month or two we shall leave the earth with pleasure’. When I think of this story, or hear it told as a joke, I laugh out loud. The second story is that on the 19 November, I began writing a letter and found that the ink was frozen in the inkstand. I broke the inkpot, took out the ink, melted it over a fire and wrote the letter to you with the melted ink”.107

Many soldiers were not even prepared for trenches where they had to spend a large part of the War. The tedious and ponderous nature of the War comes through Havildar Abdul Rahman’s words, “For six months I have not taken off my boots for one second, nor taken off my uniform, nor have I had one good night’s rest.”108

105 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 41. 106 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-

15, p. 44. 107 Natha Singh, Signaller to Dafadar Wazir Singh, 7th Lancer, Force ‘D’, Mesopotamia, 8

December 1915, France, (in Gurumukhi): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 125.

108 Havildar Abdul Rahman, Punjabi Muslim, 59th Rifles, to Raja Sajawal Khan, Lumbardar, Dalwal Village, Jhelum, May 1915, France, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 63.


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The provision of rations for soldiers created further problems. The Hindus did not

eat beef. The Muslims did not eat pork and the Brahmans were vegetarian. Many soldiers

ate food prepared only by the members of their own caste. The Muslims did not eat meat

as it had to be slaughtered in a prescribed fashion.109 Sowar Yakub Khan, 36th Jacob

Horse, wrote:

“For the last two years I have abstained from everything unlawful. It is great pity that everything that is most useful in this country (France) is absolutely barred by our religion, but we have to put up with it. I have not touched meat for two years, even though it be halal. I have not touched meat for this reason-that it all comes together, both that intended for Sikhs and for us”.110

Separate butchers and places for killing and storing meat were provided as Muslim ate Halal meat, while meat eating Sikhs were prohibited by their religion from eating Halal and the Hindus required their own facilities to avoid 'contamination' of the meat, each community had separate kitchens (and kitchen staff) to cater to specific religious demands of the soldiers. The image show the separate Hindu and Muslim meat houses. Source: Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 151. 109 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-

15, p. 46. 110 Sowar Yakub Khan, Pathan, 36th Jacob’s Horse to Abdul Jabbar Khan, 21st Cavalry

Depot, Jhelum, 12 February 1917, France, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 277.


119

In peacetime, each company in a Class Company regiment had its own cook-

house and took its own (civilian follower) cooks with it when deployed in the field. The

Sikhs and the Dogras could eat pretty much the same food, and all would drink each

other’s tea. In fact most soldiers were pragmatic and accepted that in War there might be

occasions when they would have to eat whatever was available in order to survive. After

some time flocks of sheep and goats were delivered to the soldiers and each unit sent four

soldiers to supervise the slaughtering, certifying that the animals were what they

purported to be, and that they had been slaughtered in accordance with religious

requirements.111

Soldiers’ stay on the Western Front also gave them an opportunity to observe the

differences in social and cultural norms between home and abroad. This sparked

revelation about the need for education and even gender reform. Several men wrote home

commenting on the fact that in France all children were obliged to attend school”. Firoz

Khan wrote to his friend in Shahpur district, Punjab:

“I have seen in this country (France) that no person is uneducated. Even all women are educated. All the inmates of a house are educated and when they see one of our men going about with a letter in his hand (to have it read) they are very surprised. No doubt they think that we are very stupid since we can’t read. Truly they are right. What is man without education? Nothing. God is pleased with a man who is educated. These people are very prosperous and are in want of neither money nor property. Rain and snow fall frequently. Men and women both work hard and cheerfully that we regard them with wonderment”.112

Soldier Mohammad Khan wrote home in Rawalpindi offering to pay for a teacher at the

local mosque both for the boys and the girls. “In My young day, I did not learn anything,

and to this day, I am regretting my mistakes.” Soldier Ranji Lal, from Rohtak district

wrote to his grandfather:

“When I look at Europe, I bewail the lot of India. In Europe, everyone, man and woman, boys and girls are educated. The men fight at War and the women are doing the work. They write to their husbands and get their

111 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-

15, pp. 46-47. 112 Firoz Khan, Punjabi Muslim, Secunderabad Cavalry Brigade to Rajalal Khan, Shahpur

District, Punjab, 20 March 1916, France, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 277.


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answers. You ought to educate your girls and our posterity will be better for it.”113

Soldiers when not on the War field, generally stayed in French or Belgian civilian farms

or in private houses. Initially, the French were wary, even frightened of the Indian troops,

but the latter’s natural courtly behavior and scrupulous regard for property soon made

them popular tenants. Most of the sepoys were farmers themselves, they understood and

sympathized with the problems faced by the French peasants and small holders and

helped when they could.114 Mulk Raj Anand writes that Sepoy Lal Singh of 69th Rifles

along with other sepoy friends had begun to believe that vilayat was an ‘unrelieved

paradise’ and encouraged by all the privileges of journeys in ships and railways through

foreign lands which they had never enjoyed before, heartened by the kindness of people

everywhere, they had grown to the dignity of human beings and forgotten the way in

which they had always been treated as cattle in India.115

Teja Singh of the 9th Hodson’s Horse writes to a friend in Ludhiana:

“In each village there are ‘hotels’ and liquor shops, but the people here do not get blind drunk as they do in India. In the smallest villages, there are schools in which boys and girls are taught… Women work in just the same way as men. For instance, one may be a ‘stationmaster’, another a schoolmaster- the difference is simply this that God made them women.”116

The soldiers formed strong sentimental bonds with French women they encountered.

Overwhelmingly, these were the French matrons in whose homes they stayed. One

soldier writes home to his mother in Shahpur about his ‘other’ mother in France:

“My mother, like you this French mother does all she can for my comfort and thinks much of me. I cannot write sufficiently in praise of what she does for me. At the same time when I was away and could not find time to write either to you or her she came close to the place where I was and where no one is permitted to come, and asked to see her boy, and brought

113 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 48. 114 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-

15, p. 48. 115 Mulk Raj Anand, Across the Black Waters, p. 31. 116 Susan Van Koski, “Letters Home, 1915-16: Punjabi Soldiers Reflect on War and Life in

Europe and their Meanings for Home and Self”, International Journal of Punjab Studies, 2. 1. 1995, p. 53.


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with her a hamper of things to eat. What more can I say about the concern she has for my welfare”.117

Another soldier wrote explaining the bond he had built with the lady he was staying with:

“I have seen strange things in France. The French are a sympathetic and gracious people. Sometime ago we were established for about three months in a village. The house of a well to do man, but the only occupant was the lady of the house and she was advanced in years. Her three sons had gone to the War. One had been killed, another had been wounded in hospital and the third was at that time in the trenches. There is no doubt that the lady was very much attached to her sons. There are miles of difference between women of India and women of this country. During the whole three months, I never once saw the old lady sitting idle although she belonged to a high family. Indeed, during the whole three months, she ministered me to such an extent that cannot adequately describe her kindness of her own free will she washed my cloths, arranged my bed and polished my boots for three months. She used to wash down my bedroom daily with warm water. Every morning, she used to prepare and give me a trey with bread, butter, milk and coffee. I was continually wishing to find a way to reimburse her the expense; but however much I presses she declined. We had to leave the village, the old lady wept on my shoulder. Strange that I had never seen her weeping for her dead son but she should weep for me.”118

The soldiers’ letters shows their observations on education and French women. It offered a striking contrast to the women folk at home. Sometimes, soldiers became romantically and physically involved with women abroad. The relationships with French women became point of conversation at the front and home. “I have heard about your amours with French women and how the officers forbid it”, wrote Major Khan (Friend of Wali Mohammad Khan) from Punjab to Wali Mohammad Khan who was serving with 18th Lancers in France.119 One Punjabi soldier wrote home to his friend telling him about his plans for his new year’s celebration; “In every village there are four or five hotels, and each of these today is an ample realisation of the paradise of

117 Susan Van Koski, “Letters Home, 1915-16: Punjabi Soldiers Reflect on War and Life in

Europe and their Meanings for Home and Self”, International Journal of Punjab Studies, p. 54; Gajendra Singh, The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the Two World Wars: Between Self and Sepoy, Bloomsbury, London, 2014, p. 83.

118 Sher Bahadur Khan, Secunderabad Cavalry Brigade to Raja Gul Nawaz Khan, Jhelum, Punjab, 9 January 1916, France, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 135.

119 For detail see Letter No. 1 (Appendix VI); Major Khan to Wali Muhammad Khan, Punjabi Muslim, 18th Lancers, France, 19 September 1916, Jhelum, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 239.


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which we have read in books and heard from mullahs. I send you a picture of a girl. When you see it you will understand what beauty there is in France”. Such praise was not one sided. When the troops moved from Marseilles, it was reported that some men had received letters that were of a ‘violently amatory nature’. One women wrote to an Indian soldier: “At present, the troops here are Irish but they have not such sympathy with us as you used to show”120. Many of these relationships might have been transitional or fleeting, some did develop into long term attachments. The British military authorities took pre-emptive actions to try and segregate Indian men from white women. The British nurses were barred from attending wounded Indian military personnel, with the exception being Lady Hardinge Hospital at Brockenhurst. The Commanding Officers of Indian battalions and hospitals resisted French attempts to relax the restrictions. But, in spite of these efforts to limit contact, encounters with European women and Indian men were common.121 In the winter of 1916-17, the authorities decided to sanction marriages between the Muslim soldiers and the French women, although permission was not extended to the Hindus. A Hindu would risk losing caste by marrying out (something the British did not want to be seen as encouraging). However, fear of loss of religion persisted and a marriage was not without controversy. Several unions did take place, but comrades and relatives of the Indian party often expressed doubts, especially if the man intended to convert from Islam to Christianity. Even when the girl promised to convert, the Indian family might still disapprove.122 Such was the case when Muhammad Khan married a French woman. A fellow sepoy wrote:

“There was an extraordinary affair in the regiment yesterday, although there have been similar incidents before in other regiments. Muhammad Khan, the Lance dafadar, is engaged to French women on the condition that he becomes a Christian. The marriage ceremony is to take place in two or three days. We have done our best to prevent it. But all has been in vain. You can judge the state of affairs when it has got to the length of our marrying French women.123

120 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 46. 121 Gajendra Singh, The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the Two World Wars: Between

Self and Sepoy, p. 83. 122 David Omissi, The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army 1860-1940, p. 66. 123 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 47.


123

The War-era postcard a hint at the attraction some Indian soldiers held for French ladies

Source: Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 47.


124

Muhammad Khan’s family was very hostile with his action. Although, he claimed that he

had been personally ordered by the King to marry the French woman.124 Some non-

Muslim sipahis appeared to have actively considered converting to Islam or Christianity

so that they could marry in France, in spite of the unease it proved among their

parents.125A supply and transport agent, Mehta Deaki Nandan, got shrift from his father

when he told him, he wanted to marry a French Girl. “Have you shame? Could a man be

so prevented as to lose his religion for the sake of a women? It is the greatest disgrace for

a Hindu to become a Mohammedan or a Christian. Don’t blacken your face before the

whole world. Take care how you bring such a women to my home, for she will be beaten

on the head with a shoe a thousand times”.126 According to Vedica Kant, it is not clear

that how many men married French woman or the extent of alliance between French

women and Indian soldiers. But it was clear that such romantic interactions did take place

and were talked about. They became, in a way, another means by which life in Europe

was experienced by the Indian soldiers and perhaps even offered a contrast against which

the more personal aspects of life and relationship in India could be measured.127 Many

sipahis indicated that they were in consensual relationships with one or, in case of Abdul

Jaffar Khan, two French women. Others commented on their desire to wed the English

‘mems’ that they had met:

“I am sick, but there is nothing the matter with me, nor am I wounded… Tell (censored) not to be anxious about me, for when I come back I will bring him a lovely girl to marry such as he could not find among all the mahsuds. If the War comes to end I will bring you a “mem” from England. So do not be distressed, but pray always, for safety is difficult”.128

124 For detail see Letter No. 2 (Appendix VI); Mohammad Khan, Hindustani Muslim, 6th

Cavalry to Mohammad Khan, Rohtak District, Punjab, 18 June 1917, France, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), pp. 298-99.

125 Gajendra Singh, The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the Two World Wars: Between Self and Sepoy, pp. 114-115.

126 David Omissi, The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army 1860-1940, p. 66. 127 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 47. 128 Gajendra Singh, The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the Two World Wars: Between

Self and Sepoy, pp. 83-84.


125

When the authorities decided to sanction marriages between Muslim sipahis and French

women, the reaction was largely positive. Nazir Ullah, a Muslim soldier was motivated

enough to leave the army and go in search for work that would bring better remuneration

because of the feelings that he had towards his ‘Mademoiselle’ (young French women):

“I have arrived in India. I have given up the idea I had of going to Mesopotamia. I am in search of some means of livelihood which will enable me to satisfy my longings to marry my “Mademoiselle”. At present she remains in Marseilles”. 129

Soldiers’ wrote about their experiences on the War field. Daya Ram of the 2nd Lancers

wrote home in Ambala, explaining the War:

“The fighting is very severe. The moves are like those of a game of chess. When an attack is made in one direction a countermove is made in another and attention is drawn off the first attack. The War is an entirely new lines and is full of surprises. It is impossible to understand it. At present we are in the trenches waiting for orders. We do not know what will happen. A new kind of smoke (gas) has been invented which is let loose in the trenches and if you get a sniff of it you lose consciousness at once. It does not matter whether you are armed or not, as you lose all your senses. Such inventions have been made that one’s mind is utterly confused. There is a new kind of gas that catches fire directly it is let out of the cylinder. It is liquid fire and burns anyone who is in front of it.130

The destruction wrecked by War made Santa Singh write to his mother:

“Many sons of mothers, brothers of sisters and brothers of mothers have been lying dead for a whole year on the field of battle. A year has passed and there they lie. He who sees them for the first time says that there is no place left empty. All the ground is covered with corpses. So many corpses are there, and all have perished in forty seconds. As a man climbs, a plum tree and shakes down the plums so that they fell and lie in heaps, so are men here fallen. They too are the children of mothers”.131

Daya Ram visited trenches in France in August 1916 and said:

“All the trenches, thousands of maunds of iron representing exploded shells lie on the ground. At some places corpses are found killed in 1914, with uniform and accoutrements still on. Large flies, which have become

129 Gajendra Singh, The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the Two World Wars: Between

Self and Sepoy, pp. 114-115. 130 Daya Ram, 2nd Lancer to Rohlu Ram, teacher, Ambala, Punjab, 14 June 1916, France, (in

Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 195.

131 Santa Singh to his Mother, 20 July 1915, Brighton Hospital, England (in Gurumukhi): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 80.


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poisonous through feasting on dead bodies infest the trenches, huge fat rats run about there. By the blessing of God, the climate of this country is cold and for that reason corpses did not decompose quickly. It rains frequently and that causes much inconvenience. At the present time, we are suffering as the horses are tented outside and the rain has converted the ground into slush”.132

Trying to dissuade a friend back in India for signing up for War, a Sikh soldier wrote:

“You propose to enlist and come to France. You are lucky because you did not. Perhaps someone may escape from this War. On the 10th, 11th, 12th Meerut Division made on attack and won a great victory, we took three trenches, wounded 600 and killed 400. A splinter of shell hit me. I am well again. The German guns throw a shell, which digs a hole in the ground 35 feet wide and 114 feet deep. My brother such a War will not be again, nor has such a War been before. It is Mahabharata, the death of the Punjab”.133

Havildar Abdul Rahman pleaded to his brother not to join the War as it was disastrous:

“For God sake don’t come, don’t come, don’t come to this War in Europe. I am in state of great anxiety. Tell my brother Muhammad Yakub Khan for God’s sake not to enlist. Canons, machine guns, rifles and bombs are going day and night, just like the rains in the month of sawan. Those, who have escaped so far are like the grains left uncooked in a pot. This is the case with us. In my company, there are only ten men left”.134

Amar Singh, a rifleman from the Garhwar Rifles brings the battle scenes at Neuve

Chapelle vividly to life for a friend back home:

“The condition of affairs in the War is like leaves falling off a tree and no empty space remains on the ground. So it is here; the earth is full of dead man and not a vacant spot is left. One has to stay on top of the corps and even sleep on them because not an empty space remains anywhere. Such is the scene that goes on here. You have heard the War between the Kauris and Pandevs was a great conflict, but it was so great a fight at this one. Consider this true: there was not a empty spot on the ground. Now I have not any confidence that I will see you people again; there is nothing but hopelessness”.135

132 Daya Ram, 2nd Lancers to Kalu Ram, Ambala city, Punjab, 5 September 1916, France, (in

Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 231.

133 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, pp. 169-170.

134 Havildar Abdul Rahman, Punjabi Muslim, 59th Rifles to Naik Rajwali Khan, 31st Punjabis, 20 May 1915, France, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 61.

135 Amar Singh Rawat, Rifleman, Garhwal Rifles to Dayaram Jhapaliyal, Garhwal District, UP, 1 April 1915, Kitchener’s Hospital, Brighton: Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 48.


127

A Sikh Sepoy expressed his pain caused by War in the trenches:

“Our life is a living death. For what great sin are we being punished? kill us. Oh God, but free us from our pain. We move in agony, but never rest. We are slaves of masters who can show no mercy. The bullets fall on us like rain. For days we have not washed our faces. We do not change our cloths. Many sons of mothers lie dead. No one takes any heed. Death here is dreadful, but of life, there is not the briefest hope”.136

Some letters were infused with a spirit of patriotism for the Allied cause. Daffadar Durga

Prasad of the 16th Cavalry in Mesopotamia mused pensively about the course of the War

to Jemadar Gobind Singh, who was toiling in France with the 20th Deccan Horse. He

writes, ‘Uncle, my constant wish is that God will put a stop to this bloody War, and bring

back the days of peace. What evil spirit has possessed the German nation? May God

speedily and utterly destroy them?’137 Another commentator links his overall loyalty to

the Empire’s cause with a healthy self-interest. After telling his brother of the many

virtues of France, a Pathan from the 36th Jacob’s Horse finishes by saying, ‘Pray that our

King and the British Empire may be victorious so that we people in safety and renown

may return to our dear country.138

(i) Wounded and Casualties

The Indian Corps suffered a number of injuries in the trenches. By the beginning of

December 1914, about 3,915 Indian and British soldiers in the Meerut and Lahore

Divisions had to be removed from the lines because of wounds. By the end of that

month the number had risen to 5,860. Between October 1914 and December 1914,

almost one in every four sepoys who had landed at Marseilles had sustained some kind

of physical trauma.139 The casualties sustained at the battle of Neuve Chapelle were

largest for Punjabi troops in such a short period.140 A year later, the promise of a short

136 Sant Singh to his Wife, 18 September 1915, France, (in Gurumukhi): Indian Voices of the

Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 102. 137 Susan Van Koski, “Letters Home, 1915-16: Punjabi Soldiers Reflect on War and Life in Europe

and their Meanings for Home and Self”, International Journal of Punjab Studies, p. 54. 138 Ibid., p. 54. 139 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 112. 140 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-

15, p. 171.


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War seemed a distant past, the grim reality of trench warfare in a soldier’s letter brings

to life this destruction:

“My dear brother, great damage has been caused to India. Nearly two hundred thousand men have been killed. About four thousand have lost arms or legs and many have lost their sight. In India, three quarters of the population will be women and only one quarter men. Here the state of thing is such that all the world over there will be two women for each man. All the Kings have been ruined”.141

Initially the wounded soldiers were cared for in hospitals in French cities like Marseille,

Boulogne or other smaller towns. But as the War intensified and the number of wounded

increased, French medical services failed to keep up. Faced with insufficient resources

and vary of the strain, they protested that they could not accommodate the number of

Indians wounded. Instead, they suggested treating the wounded men in England or

Algeria. England was more practical option, but the possible presence of a large number

of Indian troops in the country opened up a host of contradictory concerns for British

authorities. On the one hand, the treatment of Indian troops in hospitals in England would

allow Indian troops to be sent back to the front more quickly and blaster the British

claims of being caring rulers.142

It was decided in November 1914 that all men who could not be cared for in

France were to be sent to England. Soldiers arriving in Britain were accommodated in a

number of make shift hospitals. However, given the number of the wounded and the

inadequate conditions of some of the hospitals sites, it became increasingly clear that

alternative arrangements had to be made. The Mayor of coastal Brighton offered the

services of his city. Brighton was now to become one of the key sites for the medical care

and recuperation of Indian soldiers during the War.143

There were six Indian military hospitals established in England in late 1914 or

early 1915. Of which two at Brighton, one at Milford on sea, one at New Milton, one at

Bournemouth and one at Brockenhust. The main Indian hospital in England was the

Kitchener Hospital which was opened on January 13, 1915. Patients arrived at the 141 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 112. 142 Ibid., p. 112. 143 Ibid., p. 113.


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hospital by train from Southampton. Immediately after Neuve Chapelle in March 1915, a

group of 647 arrived. 1,135 were further added after the second battle of Ypres in April

and May 1915. The battle of Loos brought 430 in September and another intake of 387

came in November.144

Source: Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 145. The first large contingent of soldiers arrived at Brighton in December 1914. Despite the

weather, crowds gathered to cheer the soldiers arriving from the front. The Brighton

Gazette wrote:

“At last the wounded Indians are duly installed at Brighton. They arrived under rather mournful conditions. That was the first impression the warriors’ got of Brighton, and it was rather chilling, but crowds assembled to voice public welcome and the reception undoubtedly cheered the brave fellows. The hundred stretcher case in the first train that reached the terminus on Monday afternoon constituted perhaps the most distressing of the many pathetic sights seen on similar occasions during the past four months. Something akin to a feeling of awe was created by the silence with which the work of bringing them out of the train and placing them in the motor ambulances was carried on”.

144 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-

15, p. 171.


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Regardless of where they were admitted, the soldiers enjoyed good medical facilities and

treatment. Lawrence noted, ‘every effort was made to keep them cheerful and provide the

simple comforts, which means so much to the Indians’. It was not an effort that went in

vain. One wounded Punjabi soldier wrote home to Peshawar saying, ‘Do not worry about

me, I am in paradise’.145 Another recuperating soldier, Golab Singh wrote, ‘the

arrangements for our food are excellent. The Gora log (British) are most attentive to our

wants’.146 Daffadar Muhammad Husain letter to his friend brings to life the immense

gratitude many soldiers felt at the way they had been taken care of:

“I am in English hospital. The English doctors pay great attention to the Indian sick. We get very good food, beds, etc. and I cannot sufficiently praise the building. It is very splendid building. Our pensioned officers and their wives come to the hospital and enquire after our health and give fruits and sweetmeats to the sick and we also get fruits and sweetmeats from the state. May God make our King victorious; it is proper for you to pray so, too. The state of the Indian troops in the battlefield is very prosperous; they get excellent food, and you should not believe what liars say, the Germans are but ‘guests of a few days’, for on all four sides the English and French and Russians have enclosed them, and they are very hard up for rations. How can hungry men fight?.. England is a very fine country. The King and Queen themselves came to visit the sick in hospital and asked everyone if he had any sort of inconvenience. Every soldier blessed them and said that they were well served in every way and prayed for their Majesties’ long lives”.147

For some soldiers the experiences in the hospitals were enough to reaffirm their Imperial loyalty. This was not uniformly the case. Even by late 1914, soldiers were demoralised by prospect of returning to the trenches having recovered from their wounds. Raghbir Singh, a dogra with the 59th Rifles wrote to his friend in the Kangra district:

“I have been wounded twice, and now this is the third time that I am sent to the trenches. The English say it is all right. How can it be all right? As long as one is unhurt, so long they will not let one off. If Parmeshwar

145 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 114. 146 For detail see Letter No. 3 (Appendix VI); Golab Singh, Dogra, 57th Rifles to Bhur Singh,

25th Cavalry, Bannu, 3 April 1915, England, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 50.

147 Dafadar Muhammad Husain, 36th Jacob’s Horse to Dafadar Ray Muhammad Khan, 37th Lancer, 13 April 1915, England, (in Urdu): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 54.


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(God) allow I will escape, but the butcher does not let the goat escape”.148

Another soldier wrote to convey the news after his examination by the medical board that determined whether soldiers were fit to return to the front:

“My medical board is over and I am ordered to the front. Such tyranny has been practiced on me that words fail me to describe it. I cannot walk and I can get no justice. Well, no one is to blame, as it is my fate. If my livelihood is at an end, no one can restore it. I shall live as long as I have to live and when the end is due, no treatment can avail. If I was destined to live in India at all, would they not have sent me back there now after I have been thirteen months in hospital? This is my fate, where ever I go, I get pushed about. Write to my home in Kangra and say if I never come home again at all, it will not turn day into night there; and if I do turn up, the light will go on as usual”.149

For the soldiers, it was unthinkable that they were being asked to go back to the front after already suffering wounds and injury. This had never been the practice in the Indian army. Risking one’s life for the Emperor once was not enough and that you would have to do so again and again (until you were perhaps indeed killed) was shocking proposition to most Indian soldiers. Mir Dast, the Victoria Cross winner, himself conveyed a request to the King that wounded soldiers be spared a return to the front. This became talking point amongst soldiers at the hospitals. Naider Khan wrote from hospital in England to Zaman Shah who was serving in France:

“Subedar Mir Dast sends you greetings. He has got the Victoria Cross and the King has sent for him. He wonders how he is to go to the King, because he is wounded. But he is going to make a very urgent request of the King that a man who has once been wounded ought not to be sent back”.150

TABLE IV: 4: CASUALTIES SUFFERED BY INDIAN SOLDIERS Killed Wounded Missing Prisoners Total Indian Officers 691 1,463 43 218 2,415 Indian other ranks 25,186 57,045 1,302 7,147 90,680 Indian non-combatants 10,819 781 174 1,725 13,499 Total 36,696 60,289 1,519 9,090 1,06,594 Source: Memoranda on India’s Contribution to the War in Men, Material and Money, August 1914 to

November 1918, p. 11. 148 Raghbir Singh, Dogra, 59th Rifles to Gajander Singh, Dhada Village, Kangra, 8 April

1915, Indian Military Depot, Milford, (in Hindi): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 53.

149 Sepoy Kharka, Dogra, 57th Wilde’s Rifles to Harnam Singh, Lance Naik, 11 December 1915, Pavilion Hospital, Brighton, (in Hindi): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 125.

150 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 117.


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(ii) The Indian Soldiers’ Fund

As the ships containing the wounded soldiers of Meerut and Lahore Divisions arrived from Marseilles, a high power meeting was held on October 1, 1914 at St. John’s Gate in Clerkenwell, London. A Committee was formed with Sir John Hewett as chairman. The members of the Committee discussed the problems of providing comforts and provisions to the soldiers. The Committee unanimously decided to set up the Indian Soldiers’ Fund.151 The objectives of the Fund were:

1. To establish and maintain a hospital for wounded Indians; 2. To supply comforts of all kinds to different hospitals maintained

by the Government to which Indian wounded were sent; 3. To supplement the clothing and comforts furnished by the

Government for Indian troops at Front.152

Lord Curzon, a former Viceroy, allowed the use of his London residence, 1 Carlton House Terrace, as the Fund’s headquarters. Appeal was made for donations from general public. In the first twelve months of its existence, the Indian Soldiers’ Fund sent to the men of the Indian Corps and the Cavalry Corps in France, 78,000 pairs of socks, 12,000 balaclava caps, 85,000 handkerchief and 8,50,00 envelops. For the Sikhs, the Fund sent 3,178 religious books and pamphlets to the Western Front. For the Muslims copies of the Quran were sent.153 Under the Fund, a hospital named after the late Lady Hardinge was established in Brockenhurst Part near Southampton. It accommodated 520 patients. In addition to this, comforts were supplied by the Fund to eight other similar institutions in England and twenty in France. On the departure of the Indian Corps from France, the Fund continued to supply comforts to all Indian units which remained, and to the Indian hospitals and casualty clearing stations in France, as well as to the Indian Labour Corps.154 On the end of War, Michael O’ Dwyer, praised the Punjabi soldiers:

“The great conflict of the last four years has now ended in the complete triumph of the King Emperor and his Allies. Our enemies, one after

151 Shrabani Basu, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front

1914-1918, p. 40. 152 J.W.B Merewether and Frederick Smith, The Indian Corps in France, p. 510. 153 Gordon Corrigan, Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-

15, pp. 198-99. 154 J.W.B Merewether and Frederick Smith, The Indian Corps in France, pp. 512-13.


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another, have laid down their arms and begged for peace. The triumph of our cause is finally achieved. From the beginning of the War, the Punjab has sent nearly 400,000 of her sons to fight the battles of the King Emperor. In France and Belgium, in Africa and Persia and above all in Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia, those men have bravely upheld the proud traditions of their province, successfully protected the Frontiers of India and have borne a noble part in the achievement of the final victory. The Punjab will ever cherish the memory of those brave men who have fought and fallen. It will welcome back with honor those who will now return, and it will not forget those at home who, though they could not share the danger of War, helped to secure the peace of the province to maintain our forces in the field and to succor the wounded and suffering. I am proud that the Punjab during my tenure of office has so nobly fulfilled its duty and as head of the Province, I desire to express my deep gratitude to all who have borne a part in maintaining the proud position of the Punjab in India and in the Empire”. 155

(iii) Demobilisation

With the end of the First World War, demobilization took place in the Indian Army. The

British dropped large number of soldiers and sent them home. In February 1919, about

50,000 Indian troops had been demoblised and allowed to return home.156 Number of

ships containing troops started coming from overseas in early months of 1919. On 12

February 1919, the ship named ‘Elephanta’ sailed from Egypt for Karachi and reached

Karachi on February 25, 1919.157 Reception was given to returning soldiers in many

places. One such ceremony was organised in Multan on March 12, 1919, for 2/30 Punjabi

(raised in 1917) at Karachi.158

(iv) Impact of War on the Punjabi Soldiers

The War deeply influenced the Punjabi soldiers and their experiences in Europe affected

their views on a number of important social and cultural issues. The War put soldiers into

unique conditions which broke many barriers. Tara Singh of 6th Cavalry wrote from

France:

“The state of affairs here is that when I returned from Marseilles to the firing line, we had to change trains en route, and we wandered about

155 The Tribune, Lahore, November 17, 1918, p. 1. 156 The Tribune, Lahore, February 8, 1919, p. 1. 157 The Tribune, Lahore, February 25, 1919, p. 1. 158 The Tribune, Lahore, March 13, 1919, p. 5.


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Paris for eight hours. On that day we all ate at the same table. Our company was composed of five sepoys (of whom three were Sikhs and two Muslims), two sweepers and three cooks. But we all ate together at the same table. Moreover, we have often eaten food and drank tea prepared by Muslims”.159

They took new ideas from other soldiers and people of other countries. The soldiers

who had no courage to speak before the British, started protesting against them in

connection with their salaries and other issues. They now demanded that there should

be more Indian officers in the Indian Army. They started raising the voices against

injustice and inequality after the War. They became wiser and sensible. They desired

for political change in India on the lines they had seen in foreign countries. Therefore,

War served as an engine of political and social change in the Punjab. As the

contribution of the Punjab was the largest in India to the Indian Army, no wonder, it

became the centre of political movements soon after the War.160

Their experience in France made them aware about the colonial rule. They

made comparison of Europe and India. They started thinking and analysing why India

was both underdeveloped and subjugated? Many soldiers made perceptive

observations about the wealth they saw in Europe and the role of education, religion

and woman in society. Soldiers were quick to notice the differences in everyday life,

particularly in living standards and agricultural practices, which was perhaps not

surprising given the agrarian background of most of the soldiers.161 The most

important effect of the War on the Sikh soldiers was that it generated anti-British

feelings. They saw the French and found that they were enjoying full freedom. They

started realizing that the Indians were deprived of their rights. The good behavior of

159 Tara Singh, 6th Cavalry to Sirdar Karbar Singh, teacher, Rawalpindi District, Punjab, 17

July 1916, France, (in Gurumukhi): Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters 1914-18 (edited by David Omissi), p. 208.

160 S. D. Pradhan, “The Social Effects of Military Service during the World War I on the Punjabi Soldiers”, Punjab History Conference Proceedings, 17th Session, October 8-10, 1982, pp. 187, 220.

161 Vedica Kant, If I die here who will remember me? India and the First World War, p. 48.


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the French people brought a sharp comparison with the British attitude of superiority,

which they resented.162

The soldiers were demobilized after the end of the War. On returning home,

they came to form an unemployed sector of the rural population. Counting with the

experience gained in the army with respect to military skills and organization and

having been exposed to ideas that referred to problems beyond the village’s limits,

these retrenched peasants soldiers constituted a potential group of participants on

which armed struggle could be based.163 According to Budheswar Pati, the War

improved social and economic status of the soldiers. In recognition of their services,

the British granted rewards, pensions, rations, concessions, pay and allowances, bonus,

medical facilities etc. In 1915, soldiers serving in Europe were given a 25 per cent

increase in field allowance. Later on this was extended to other battle areas also. From

January 1, 1917, pay and pensions were increased. Troops in the field were given free

rations and clothing regularly and this was extended to all combat troops in January

1917.164 At the end of the War, the Government in India decided to remit land revenue

of those villages who had high proportion of persons in the army. Special assignment

of revenue was granted to those families, who had a sent large number of their

members to the Army.165

The Punjabi soldiers fought bravely at various theatres of War. They fought

first time in Europe on a large scale. In France, Mesopotamia, East Africa, Egypt etc.

they fought different battles in difficult conditions. In France, they fought in extreme

cold conditions with inadequate warm clothing. In Mesopotamia, they experienced hot

weather, lack of food and medical facilities. Besides these difficulties they performed 162 S. D. Pradhan, “The Sikh Soldier in the First World War”, D.C., Ellinwood & S.D.

Pradhan (eds.), India and World War I, Manohar, New Delhi, 1978. pp. 223-24. 163 Susana B.C. Devalle and Harjot Singh Oberoi, Soldiers, “Immigrants and Bandit: The

Making of Peasant Protest in Early 20th Century Panjab,” The Panjab Past and Present, Vol. XVII-I, April 1983, p. 164.

164 Budheswar Pati, India and the First World War 1914-1918, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, 1996, p. 59.

165 The Tribune, Lahore, January 30, 1919, p. 1.


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their duty and won awards and distinctions. Punjabi soldier was the first to win

Victoria Cross in South Asia. In Europe, they learned many things. They constantly

praised the country of France and their people in their letters which they wrote home.

They observed that the French were more educated than the Indians. In the four years

of War, some got infatuated to French women. Moreover, some even got married

there. After their return to their country, they compared the living standards, society

and standard of education of India with the West. However, they also became aware of

their rights.

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