The Heroes of Yesterday: Indian Soldiers of World War I
The Indian soldiers of World War I have been relegated to a mere page in history. On this day when we commemorate Vijay Diwas (which marks the military victory of India over Pakistan in the 1971 war), let us also pay homage to those who served our country across the seven seas.
Shashi Tharoor, former Minister of State in the Government of India for External Affairs and former UN under secretary general writes in an essay commissioned by the British council and the BBC world service:
"The Great War, as it was called then, was described at the time as "the war to end all wars". But while the war took the flower of Europe's youth to their premature graves, snuffing out the lives of a generation of talented poets, artists, cricketers and others whose genius bled into the trenches, it also involved soldiers from faraway lands that had little to do with Europe's bitter traditional hatreds. Of the 1.3 million Indian troops who served in the conflict, however, you hear very little.
The most painful experiences were those of soldiers fighting in the trenches of Europe. Letters sent by Indian soldiers in France and Belgium to their family members in their villages back home speak an evocative language of cultural dislocation and tragedy. "The shells are pouring like rain in the monsoon," declared one. "The corpses cover the country like sheaves of harvested corn," wrote another."
Shashi Tharoor goes on to write that almost 1.4 million soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the war were led on by the false promise of Indian independence, and tragically all of this is merely a page in history.
He writes,"The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains war cemeteries in India, mostly commemorating World War II. The most famous epitaph of them all is inscribed at the Kohima war cemetery in northeast India. It reads, "When you go home, tell them of us and say/ For your tomorrow, we gave our today."
The British Library has put together a collection of some the most poignant letters written by Indian soldiers who served in France, during World War I. The letters that most of these soldiers wrote were all censored. They were not allowed to mention anything about the ongoing war. The main intention behind the Censor office was not to suppress the letters but to learn more about the morale of the soldiers.
Here are pictures of two of the most heart-rending letters written by Indian Soldiers, (picture courtesy : Europeana: letters from Indian Soldiers)
The first letter written by Daya Ram of the 2nd Lancers, elaborates the dire conditions in which the soldiers lived in during the war and the life while fighting a battle from the trench.
In this poignant letter written by Gholam Rasul Khan of the Secundrabad Cavalry brigade addressed to his father in Bihar, talks about the family picture to be his only valuable possession. In the letter, he pines to meet his family but is despaired by the thought he wont live to see that day.
