WW1 - Indian Soldiers - Gabar Singh Negi

Gabar Singh Negi was born on 21st April in 1895  in Manjood village, in Northern India. He was 21 years old and a Rifleman in the 2nd and 39th Garhwal Rifles when he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 10th March 1915 at Neuve Chapelle, France. His bravery led to his death.

"During an attack on the German position, Rifleman Gabar Singh Negi was one of a bayonet party with bombs who entered their main trench, and was the first man to go round each traverse, driving back the enemy until they were eventually forced to surrender. He was killed during this engagement."

The Gabar Singh Negi fair is organised annually in Chamba (Tehri) in his memory.

WW1 - Letter to a friend in Punjab

A Sikh wrote to a friend in Punjab about the Battle of New Chappell, France.

“Now hear what happened to us. On the 9th March, the General told the Lahore and Meerut Divisions that they were to make a grand attack and glorify the name of the Punjab throughout Europe. The attack came off on the 10th at seve o’ clock in the morning. We fix bayonets and look towards the enemy. The enemy trenches are two yards off. They have been well built. In front is barded wire and we are not expected to attack here. With a shout to our Guru we hurl ourselves forward. The enemy’s bullets scorch our heroes while machine guns and cannons spread their shot upon us. We leap the wire entanglements and overwhelm the enemy, killing some and capturing the rest. On the 10th we captured 1050 Germans and took four lines of trenches defending the city of La Bassee. Here from the beginning the enemy have been very strong. On the 10th and 12th we took two miles of enemy position. Next day at five o’ clock the Germans attacked in eight lines. There was fine fighting on the battlefield. Eight lines of the enemy were destroyed. We also suffered grea loss in killed and wounded. On that day no one took thought of his friend and the slightly wounded man made his way back himself. If severely wounded, a man lay out in the battlefield. When the sun set in the evening, the rain began to fall. The wounded were picked up and sent back. The enemy attacked fiercely but were beaten back with great loss. We did not give up our trenches but pressed the enemy very hard. They could not recapture their lost lines. From the 10th to the 25th the German lost 70,613 men."

Reference:

Omissi, David, Indian voices of the Great War. Soldier’s letters, 1914-18, pp 51, London, 1999.
PS - The transcripts of the original letters are kept in the India Office Library at the British Library, London.

WW1 - Sydney Theodore Erby

Sydney Theodore Erby was born in 1895 at Parramatta. He was a son of George Thomas and Annie E Erby of Wigram St., Parramatta. He is a younger brother of Harold George Erby. He was driver with 4th Div. Train and 20th A.S.C. His service number was 8723. He served in France. He returned to Australia on 05 March 1919.

WW1 - Russian Revolution - March 1917

The First World War had cost Russia millions of lives. Those not actually fighting had to face serious food shortages. The winter of 1916-17 was very cold and fuel was in very short supply. Cold and lack of food create an environment that lead to trouble for those blamed for these problems.

By March 1917, discontent came to a head in Petrograd -this was St. Petersburg but the name sounded too German so in 1914 the name was changed to the more Russian sounding Petrograd. Petrograd became St. Petersburg.

March 4^th - workers in the city’s largest factory (the Putilov engineering factory) demanded a 50% wage increase so that they could buy food. The management refused so the workers went on strike.

March 8^th - 30,000 workers were locked out of work. They were not paid and could not afford any food now. The strikers persuaded other workers to come out on strike. Demonstrations occurred throughout the city. Nicholas II was in Petrograd at this time but he left to inspect troops at the war front thinking that the demonstrations were the work of hooligans and that they would end shortly. He was very wrong.

March 9^th - the riots got worse and were getting out of hand. Nicholas was informed about the situation and the Russian Parliament (the Duma) pleaded with him to order the release of emergency food supplies. He refused and ordered that the riots should be put down by March 10th 1917.

March 10^th - the police tried to carry out the orders of Nicholas. Unfortunately, people got killed and the rioters became even angrier. The rioters opened up prisons and released those in them. For the first time there were calls for the tsar to quit. The head of the Duma informed Nicholas that law and order had broken down as soldiers brought in to put down the rioters had, in fact, joined them. Nicholas then did something very foolish. He ordered that the Duma was no longer to meet.

March 11^th - the Duma disobeyed Nicholas - this is usually considered the first act of the Russian Revolution. The members of the Duma met in chaos. One person in the Duma, Alexander Kerensky, shouted out that 25,000 soldiers had mutinied and were marching to where the Duma was meeting to support them. With this support, the Duma decided to form a temporary government (the Provisional Government) to take the place of the tsar. In a bizarre move, Alexandra, the tsar’s wife, phoned him to tell him that he had nothing to worry about.

March 12^th - The leader of the Duma was a man called Rodzianko. He persuaded Nicholas that things had got very bad for the royal family. Nicholas then decided to return to Petrograd to restore law and order. The Provisional Government by this time had got some degree of control and they stopped the royal train outside of Petrograd. The government wanted to talk terms with Nicholas. The first plan was for Alexis - the son - to take over but Nicholas refused this as he felt that the boy was too weak. The throne was offered to Grand Duke Michael but he did not want it. It became clear to Nicholas that the Provisional Government did not want a tsar and he was forced to give up the throne.

Royalty came to an end in Russia in March 1917.

The Neuve Chapelle Memorial

  Photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial is a World War I memorial in France, located on the outskirts of the commune of Neuve-Chapelle, in the department of Pas de Calais. The memorial commemorates more than 4700 Indian soldiers with no known grave, who fell in battle while fighting for the British Indian Army in the First World War. The location of the memorial was chosen because of the participation by Indian troops at the Battle of  Neuve-Chapelle.

The memorial was designed to honour India, its culture and traditions. The memorial is a circular enclosure centred on a tall pillar that is topped by a lotus capital, and carved representations of the Star of India and the Imperial Crown. Two tigers are carved on either side of the column guarding the temple of the dead. On the lower part of the column the words ‘God is One, He is the Victory’ are inscribed in English, with similar texts in Arabic, Hindi, and Gurmukhi.

It bears the following inscription:

English: To the honour of the Army of India which fought in France and Belgium, 1914-1918, and in perpetual remembrance of those of their dead whose names are here recorded and who have no known grave.

French: En honneur de l'Armee de l'Inde qui a combattu en France et en Belgique 1914-1918, et pour perpetuer le souvenir de ses morts aux tombes inconnues dont les noms sont ici graves.

Photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The memorial at Neuve Chapelle was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and sculpture by Charles Wheeler. The memorial was unveiled by Earl of Birkenhead on 7th October 1927. Lord Birkenhead, then Secretary of State for India, had served as a staff officer with the Indian Corps during the war. The ceremony was also attended by the Maharaja of Karputhala, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Rudyard Kipling, and a large contingent of Indian veterans.

Gabar Singh Negi, a Victoria Cross recipient is also commemorated on the Neuve-Chapelle Memorial. There are 4703 names inscribed on the memorial. Many of the men lost their lives during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March, 1915.

A commemorative book was published at the time, with a foreword written by King George V

Photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission