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The Buzz –  Armistice Day 2018

1.3 Million Indian Troops in World War 1

Sometimes I think we don’t know enough of our own history! Did you know that over 1.3 million Indians were involved in World War 1? Being part of the British Raj, they were dragged into the momentous war which was being fought thousands of miles away from India. What were their thoughts, their feelings on being asked to serve their British masters? How did they fare so far from home at a time when many hardly left their own towns and villages?

And now a hundred years later, it’s Remembrance Day, recalling their heroism and sacrifices.  Finally they have a statue commemorating their service installed in Birmingham, England. A proud Sikh soldier in the middle of the street. Check the video!

Did you know the name of Arsala Khan? According to the BBC, “Of all the Indian troops who fought between 1914 and 1918 – there were four times as many as those from Australian, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the Caribbean combined – Arsala Khan of the 57th Wilde’s Rifles was the first to go into battle. He led the troops of the first Indian company to enter the British trenches on the western front, in Belgium on the night of 22 October 1914.”

And here is something else you may not have known: Kasturba Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi actually served in army hospitals in Europe during the war!  According to this BBC article, Kasturba Gandhi was with Mahatma Gandhi in England when World War One broke out, and they both volunteered as auxiliary hospital workers among the Allied troops in western Europe. In fact, in 1914-15, Kasturba Gandhi worked in Indian Army hospitals in England which had been  set up for some 16,000 Indian soldiers who had been wounded in France and Belgium. “She undertook to look after the feeding of seriously ill orthodox patients and often used to clean their utensils if they objected to being fed by non-Hindus.”

This fascinating article tells you about Awal Nur, Mir Dast, Amir Singh and Pratap Singh – heroes of the war whose work is forgotten with the passing of time. Historian George Morton-Jack, author of The Indian Empire at War: From Jihad to Victory, the Untold Story of the Indian Army in the First World War (Hachette India), shares some of their stories in BBC.com

It’s important to realize the important part Sikhs played in the First World War. They were just 2 percent of India’s population and made up 20 percent of the British Indian army. The tweet below tells about a Sikh statue hat has been installed in Birmingham, UK to commemorate the end of WW1. This brave Sikh warrior, resplendent in his turban, is walking down the main street and shows how Indians have been a part of Britain’s history. For children of the diaspora growing up there, the message is ‘My people have been here for hundreds of years. Look there’s  a monument to people like me!”

A Sikh statue has been unveiled in Birmingham, UK to mark the end of WWI. Sikhs made up 20% of the British Indian Army, despite being just 2% of India’s population. Statues like these should be installed in Gallipoli & Ypres too. #RemembranceDay2018pic.twitter.com/FTkYWexSsU

— Harjinder Singh Kukreja (@SinghLions) November 11, 2018

Here’s another insightful video on the Indians who served in the Indian army in World War 1

Also read in the Guardian:

Indians in the trenches: voices of forgotten army are finally to be heard