Indian Soldiers in World War One

During the First World War, over 160,000 Indian soldiers served in France. The Lahore and Meerut infantry divisions of Indian Army were selected for service in Europe. In October, shortly after they arrived, they were fed into some of the fiercest fighting around Ypres. The Indians took heavy losses at the battle. The average Indian battalion had 764 men when it landed in France. By early November the 47th Sikhs had only 385 men fit for duty. One soldier wrote home 'this is not war; it is the ending of the world'.

Indian soldiers’ major military contribution on the Western Front took place in the first year of the War. At the end of 1915 the majority of infantry brigades were withdrawn and sent to the Middle East. A small number of the cavalry brigades (who fought as infantry) remained in France for the duration of the war.

The Indian wounded soldiers from the trenches of the Western Front were hospitalised in England. A large number of Indian civilians’ e.g. medical personnel, clerks, store keepers, cooks etc. were also recruited for the hospitals and for the front.

At the beginning of the War, under Captain E.B. Howell’s command, a censor office was set up in response to an Indian 'revolutionary' distributing 'subversive' literature for all out-going as well as in-coming letters, both from the front and from the hospitals in England.

Extracts from the censored mails provide vivid testimonies of how Indian soldiers and civilian personnel saw the War and their views on hospital arrangements in England.

The two Indian infantry divisions were withdrawn from France in December 1915, and sent to Mesopotamia. Two Indian cavalry divisions remained on the Western Front until March 1918, when they were transferred to Palestine to take part in the offensive against the Turks.

By the end of the war in 1918, a total of 47,746 Indians had been reported dead or missing and 65,126 were wounded. Participants from the Indian subcontinent won 13,000 medals, including 12 Victoria Crosses.  Out of 12 Victoria Cross medals – 9 were won by Indians.

In 1914, Khudadad Khan  of 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis  became the first Indian to win a Victoria Cross. Other Indian Victoria Crosse recipient soldiers are listed below:

Name	Unit	Place of Action	Date of Action
Khudadad Khan	129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis	Hollebeke, Belgium	1914
Darwan Negi	39th Garhwal Rifles	Neuve Chapelle, France	1914
Gabar Negi	BB03939th Garhwal Rifles	Neuve Chapelle, France	1915
Mir Dast	55th Coke's Rifles	Wieltje, Belgium	1915
Chatta Singh	Garhwal Rifles	Battle of the Wadi, Mesopotamia	1916
Lala	41st Dogras	El Orah, Mesopotamia	1916
Shahamad Khan	89th Punjab Regiment	Beit Ayeesa, Mesopotamia	1916
Gobind Singh	Garhwal Rifles	Peizieres, France	1916
Badlu Singh	14th Murray's Jat Lancers	River Jordan, Palestine	1918