4 – Indians at Ypres
Arguably the largest contribution from Commonwealth soldiers – certainly the largest numerically – came from the Indian Army. More than a million subcontinental soldiers bolstered the King’s forces in the Great War, with men coming from the modern day nations of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Indeed, at the beginning of the war, India possessed the second largest volunteer army in the world, behind only the British Army itself. The man tasked with mustering forces for the British was Lord Kitchener – the iconic figure whose face would adorn the famed “You Country Needs You!” posters – was acutely aware of the potential of mobilising India: he had been Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army from 1902 until 1909.
The Indians were not organised like their counterparts from the colonial master: infantry were Indian and officers predominantly white and English, even in the Indian Army itself; divisions were segregated by caste, religion and tribe. When the war began in Europe, the Indian soldiers were immediately mobilised, with some sent to Western Europe, some facing off against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and others staying at home to defend against attacks against the valuable Raj itself.
Within two months of the start of the war, Indian soldiers were in France and Belgium. They were beset by problems almost from the start. They were issued with rifles with which they were unfamiliar and given practically no heavy weaponry, instead requiring other nearby battalions to support them when they advanced. Their clothing, too, was woefully inadequate for the trenches and mud of Ypres and Passchendaele.
British Army protocol had it that when a regiment lost officers, as would inevitably happen, replacements would be drafted in their stead from other regiments – but with the Indian soldiers, the reinforcements were unfamiliar with the operations of the colonial soldiers and, of course, unfamiliar with the language. Leaderless, under supplied and freezing cold, it isn’t surprising that moral plummeted. By 1915, the Indians had been removed from the Western Front.
Under more favourable conditions, however, the Indians would flourish. In East Africa, regiments from Bangalore, Derajat and the Punjab all served with distinction. Indeed, it was the contribution of soldiers from the colonies that in the end won the day for the Entente, as the German plan in the region had been to occupy British forces for as long as possible. The British counteracted by moving the soldiers who were less comfortable with fighting in the cold and wet of Europe to a climate in which British fighters themselves were less effective, being unsuited to the heat.
The valour of Indians in the First World War did not go unrewarded. 12 Victoria Crosses – the highest medal available to Crown forces – were awarded, with Khudadad Khan, from the Chakwal district of modern day Pakistan, became the first Indian recipient in December 1914. He was commended for his bravery after maintaining his machine gun post, despite suffering wounds himself, when all around him had been killed, allowing other regiments to reinforce the line.