France: The sound of Indian military boots again

I felt so proud watching on TV the Indian contingent leading the Bastille Day parade in Paris yesterday. The boys marched perfectly as the strains of ‘Kadam kadam badaye ja..’ and ‘Sare jahan se acha…’ reverberated along the Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

I wonder how many of the millions who watched the parade on July 14 knew the historic significance of the Indian soldiers’ presence in France for the ceremony. The Indian Army had sacrificed much to save France and Western Europe from the Germans. According to Peter Francis, Commonwealth Graves Commission, “"Very few people are aware of the role Indian troops played in both world wars."

In the First World War the Indians fought mostly in Western Europe and the Middle East. In the Second World War the 2.5 million-strong Indian Army saw action mainly in the Middle East, Africa, Italy and the Eastern Theater.

About 140,000 Indian troops – 90,000 on the front line and the rest auxiliary - fought in France and Belgium during World War I. Some of them were in the fray within a month of the outbreak of hostilities. They were at Neuve Chapelle, and at Ypres where Khudadad Khan (see photo) won the Victoria Cross – the first Indian to gain that honor.

The British Indian Army won 13,000 medals in the Great War. That included 12 Victoria Crosses. (The Second World War tally was 30 Victoria Crosses.) But the toll was high. The estimates of Indian sepoys who died or were missing in action on the Western Front differ from 48,000 to 65,000. There are memorials for them at several locations in Europe. The one at Neuve Chapelle is perhaps the best known. (See http://ww1cemeteries.com/othercemeteries/neuvechapelleindian.htm)

What drove those brave men to fight far from home for a cause which may not have been very clear in their minds? The Indian National Congress was supporting the British war effort on the conviction that it was the best bet for India’s independence. Did the recruits, mostly from the villages, understand that? Alternatively, had they developed a tremendous loyalty to King Emperor George V about 60 years after India’s First War of Independence? Or did they put themselves on the chopping line for the pay of eleven rupees per month?

In this context an article, India and the Western Front by Dr David Omissi in the BBC’s World Wars series (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/india_wwone_03.shtml) is interesting. He quotes a letter one Indar Singh wrote home from Somme in September 1916, 'It is quite impossible that I should return alive. [But] don't be grieved at my death, because I shall die arms in hand, wearing the warrior's clothes. This is the most happy death that anyone can die'. Izzat?

Sikh machine gunners at Flanders.

I must mention here the two great novels which were inspired by World War I. They are, All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and Across The Black Waters by Mulk Raj Anand.

Perhaps the most famous poem of that war is In Flanders Fields by a Canadian, Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918). Here is a quote from it, which is relevant to the Indian soldiers who died there too:

‘We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.’

Poppies grow on those fields now. Do those flowers represent the dead soldiers?

(Photos from Wikimedia Commons.)

Related posts:

Great soldiers never die…

THE DEAD AND THE LIVING DEAD. (Short Story)

Mahe - Petite France in Kerala.