“There is a corner of a foreign field that is forever India...” - The Chattri Memorial Service – 9 June 2013

August 2014 will mark the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. With each decade that passes our understanding of the conflict fades but one cannot forget the cost in lives. When I first began to read history I thought writers had made errors of magnitude: just on the first day of The Battle of the Somme in 1916 there were 19,000 British deaths. French and German casualties were even higher. It is hoped that as the anniversary approaches there will be more awareness of the sacrifices made.

While the First World War was an almost exclusively European conflict, over a million Indians (from what now comprises modern day India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) fought for the British Empire in the European theatre from Flanders to Salonika. Of those it is believed 43,000 were killed and 65,000 wounded[1]. During the Second World War 87,000 Indian servicemen were killed[2], having fought in campaigns in Europe, Africa and the Far East. A number of Indians fought in the Battle of Britain as Spitfire pilots. There are Indian cemeteries and memorials scattered all over the world.

In a couple of weeks the Chattri Memorial near Brighton will be holding a service to the memory of Indian soldiers who fought on the Western Front in the First World War. The memorial was built in the aftermath of the First World War as 12,000 Indians who were wounded in battle were taken to hospitals in the Brighton area. Tragically a number died of their wounds: 53 Hindus and Sikhs were cremated on a site on the Sussex Downs at Patcham and it is on this site that the memorial was built. In addition, Muslim soldiers were buried at Woking.

While any wartime death is a tragedy these Indians died in unique circumstances.  They were fighting for an Empire that subjugated their countrymen, they were often uneducated and illiterate, with perhaps very little understanding of the conflict that had brought them thousands of miles from home. They had been gravely wounded and ferried across the Channel, and perhaps they had an expectation that they would recover and be able to go home. Sadly that was not to be. Perhaps their families had little idea what had happened as communications were very slow by today’s standards.

In these circumstances it is important that we remember these sacrifices and those made by servicemen of all nations particularly with such a poignant anniversary on the horizon. I hope you may be able to read about the Chattri Memorial (www.chattri.com) and attend the memorial service.

[1] http://europeanhistory.about.com/cs/worldwar1/a/blww1casualties.htm

[2] Commonwealth War Graves Commission