The Indian Memorial at Neuve Chapelle.(See end of post for photo attribution)[/caption]
Sometimes it’s very easy to forget that I live in one of the world’s great cities. Some of our activities from movies, to theatre to restaurants have been reviewed on these “pages”. This week I went to two lectures which were outstanding and made me grateful to be a resident of London; firstly, Professor Timothy Snyder gave a lecture at the LSE on the Origins of the Final Solution, and secondly, Professor Sean McMeekin at Pushkin House lectured on Russia in the World War 1 (WW1). Snyder’s lecture is available as a podcast (http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/events/events/2014/14-03-11-Snyders-.aspx) and I would urge you to watch for his ability to marshal the facts and for the sheer quality of his analysis. McMeekin was good too, but it was his misfortunate that I heard him the day after Snyder. If it was intended that such lectures boost the authors’ marketing and sales efforts then in my case the strategy succeeded for their books are now waiting for me.
Part of the draw for me to McMeekin’s lecture was, of course, that it is the centenary of the beginning of the World War 1, and I have numerous books on the subject waiting to be read. I’ve begun to re-read Barbara Tuchman’s seminal Guns of August, although it is now rather dated. Nevertheless it is a good beginning. There are many other events on WW1 and I was able to go to The National Army Museum where it was hosting a day on The Armies in 1914. Among the presentations was one on The Indian Army given by Major Gordon Corrigan of The British Commission for Military History.Corrigan, formerly a major in the Gurkhas, gave a very good overview of the Indian Army particularly in 1914; in addition, he related a number of interesting facts about Indians and their army. At the outbreak of the war in August 1914 the British Army in the UK numbered only about 125,000 men, and about half were required for home defence. By contrast the Germans, French and Russians were able to mobilise millions of men. It would take time for the UK army to be expanded and so one of the key sources was the Indian Army which was all volunteer and regular.
The Indian Army was probably not well prepared for any conflict largely because of budgetary constraints. Its equipment was a little dated but this was easily remedied on their arrival in Europe. The Indian Army was not typical of the Indian population in that most of its servicemen were from the martial classes, mainly Sikhs, Pathans, Gurkhas and Dogras. Major Corrigan pointedly said that he would rather twenty Sikhs behind him in battle than a hundred Spaniards which is rather unfair on Spaniards but shows the regard in which Sikhs are held by the British.
The martial classes Corrigan continued often lived in areas of India that were mountainous, cold and where there were numerous wars. Thus these classes merely changed their employers. Regiments and companies operated on class lines composed entirely of one religion. Each company at least had their cook and cookhouse where food for each religion could be cooked. Coming to Europe created some potential problems. All religions were prepared to eat chicken, and lamb providing they were butchered according to their customs. Rice grown in the south of France was procured and atta, flour, was brought from India. No groups had any issues in using frozen or tinned meat.
Muslim imams, Hindu and Sikh priests were it seems never sent abroad. Apparently one lost one’s caste if one travelled abroad but caste could be restored on payment of a donation. No Indian religion had any fear of dying; Muslims believed in a glorious death and Hindus that they would be reincarnated. When men died in battle there was always a co-religionist who knew and performed the rituals. Corrigan suggested that Sikhism had largely survived because of the British Indian Army since it recruited only those that followed the essential tenets, and that policy is followed by the Indian Army today. The Sikh cavalry that operated in Europe steadfastly refused to wear helmets; once when forced they put on helmets for senior officers and when out of sight threw them away, and retied their turbans.
Muslims were in particular put under great pressure by the Germans to mutiny or defect. With Turkey fighting on the German side the Germans believed Muslims could be seduced to join their “brothers”. Leaflets in Urdu were printed and fired into Indian Army trenches and positions. These leaflets were however greatly prized to be used as cigarette paper or toilet paper. Translations of letters that were sent home to India reveal there was interest in crops and marriages but no mention of disloyalty.
Generally the Indian Army was officered by men who had graduated in the Top 20-30 of their officer school class, whether Sandhurst or Woolwich for example. It was felt that an officer had to carry greater responsibility in the Indian Army e.g. managing different religions, and learning new languages. There were however many examples of situations where an NCO had to translate the officer’s words after the officer had left beginning: “What Sahib meant.....” Clearly language skills were not always perfect and competency in other subjects often meant that languages skills not tested. In a typical regiment there would be 11 UK officers with a doctor who might be Indian, and the NCOs were Indian. In the course of WW1 it was often difficult to replace officers because of the long time taken to train.
In September 1914 a large contingent of the Indian Army arrived in Marseilles to help relieve some of the pressure on the Allied armies particularly at Ypres, and did not fight as an individual unit but at company level integrated into the British Army. Overall the Indian Army in Europe, while small in numbers, succeeded in its mission, and were gradually replaced as the British Army grew in size. Thereafter the Indians fought in a number of campaigns including with Allenby in Palestine, Gallipoli, Salonika, and Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq), where it was felt their experience of the heat would be valuable forgetting many of the troops came from mountainous regions of India.
Many of the Indians wounded on the European battlefields were evacuated to military hospitals in Brighton and the Chattri Memorial, (see our post here) on the site of funeral pyres, is dedicated to those Indians who died. There is also a memorial to the Indian dead at Neuve Chapelle, France. In all 43,000 Indians died fighting for the Empire, and 65,000 were wounded. It is a sacrifice that should never be forgotten especially in this anniversary period.
Indian Memorial at Neuve Chapelle photo: Author: Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) and Charles Thomas Wheeler KCVO, PRA (14 March 1892 – 22 August 1974 Carcharoth. Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License
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