India’s contribution to both world wars is not widely known about, despite the fact that India raised the world’s largest volunteer armies: 1.5 million in WW I and 2.6 million in WW II. They fought in all the major theatres of war on land, air and sea, alongside British troops. Their many awards for bravery, as well as their war graves and memorials on the battlefields, are testimony to their sacrifice in the service of Britain.
The context of India’s participation in war was political. Very few Indians of today’s generation are aware that over a million Indian soldiers went overseas to fight in World War I. Indian soldiers fought alongside soldiers from Britain, France and Australia and New Zealand.
The response to Britain’s request for Indian soldiers to fight the war, which was not really India’s war, met a positive response from the Indian politicians as a quid pro quo in return of Britain’s assurance of increased self governance for India and the implicit understanding that taking part in World War I would facilitate the road for Indian independence. Offers of financial and military help were made from all over the country. Wealthy princes offered great sums of money, and even areas outside of British India offered help – Nepal offered help and in total sent 100,000 Gurkhas and the Dalai Lama in Tibet offered 1,000 of his troops to the cause.
Britain declared war against Germany on 4th August, 1914. Soon after a British Expeditionary Force of 4 infantry divisions and a cavalry division were sent to France to take on the German offensive. As soon as Britain’s request for India to join the war was accepted by the Indian politicians on behalf of the Indian people, the Indian Army supplied the 1st and 2nd cavalry divisions, which saw action on the Western Front. They stayed in France until the end of the war, fighting in the battles of the Somme and Passchendale. The first 28,500 Indian Army troops had arrived on the Western Front on 26 September.
The British Expeditionary Force did a great job in holding superior German forces but after 2 months of hard fighting they had suffered very heavy casualties and had reached the end of their capacity to hold on further. It was at this critical juncture that the Indian divisions were thrown in to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force. Indian soldiers were deployed widely and fought in the battles of Ypres, Neuve Chapelle, the Somme and Passchendaele and in even greater number in Mesopotamia.
It is universally accepted that the arrival of Indian divisions helped in stabilising the line and prevented the Germans from overrunning France and reaching the channel ports.
The Indian forces were however not equipped to fight a modern war. They were trained and equipped to fight on North West Frontier against tribal forces. They were therefore ill-equipped to meet the conditions they faced in Europe. It was for the first time they faced heavy artillery, gas and chemical warfare – mines, machine guns, grenades, barbed wire and air war.
By the end of 1915 the British high commander realised that the Indian soldiers could be better utilised to fight in Middle East and more divisions as part of Indian Expeditionary Forces were sent to Turkey, Persia, Egypt, Palestine and East Africa.
By the end of 1918, over 11 lakh Indian soldiers had served overseas, more than 74,000 died, and over 1,37,000 were wounded.
The Indian Army contributed 6 lakh personnel to Mesopotamian campaign. By the end of it, it had lost 364 Indian officers and 29,191 men. In the campaign 828 Indian officers and 31,780 men were wounded.
The New York Times wrote in 1918: “The world must pay India in whatever India wants, for without Indian products, there would be greater difficulty in winning the war.”
The memory of Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in World War I had been commemorated with honour by memorials throughout the globe. The most important of these include India Gate in New Delhi, Neuve Chapelle memorial in France and Ypres memorial in Belgium. Another memorial dedicated to soldiers of World War I is Teen Murti in New Delhi. It was built in 1922 in memory of Indian soldiers.
World War II
Few know that it was India’s contribution of men and material that saved the West in the World War 2.
India contributed over 2.5 million troops (2, 581,726) that were pulled to fight in Germany, Italy, North African deserts, West Africa, defend Suez Canal, Burma and along valleys of Kohima. They also helped in liberating British Colonies after Japan’s surrender in August 1945. Due to its strategic location India acted as base for American forces ferrying supplies to Chinese Nationalist efforts, supported British that fought against Germany in Middle East and against Japan when it seized Singapore, Malaya and Burma (Myanmar). Indian forces terrorized German tank divisions in Africa, fought the Japanese in Burma (Myanmar), took part in the invasion of Italy, and played a decisive part in battles in the Middle East.
Equally crucial was India’s material help. Weapons, ammunition, timber, steel and especially food, were transported in huge number to Europe.
Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army from 1942, asserted that the British “Couldn’t have come through both wars if they hadn’t had the Indian Army”.
Even the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill acknowledged the “unsurpassed bravery of Indian soldiers and officers”.
To a great extent he was also to be blamed for death by starvation of at least 3 million people in Bengal in 1943.
On the Western Front, without India’s mobilization, the Allies would not have reached Berlin. Had the US not entered the war, the British would have sat out the war holed up in their small island. And without India, they probably would have starved. As it turned out, they forced starvation upon Indians.
Overall, India supplied a total of 2,581,726 army, navy and air force combatants in WWII. Besides, 14 million Indian labourers worked round-the-clock to keep the war factories and farms running.
The bloodied war claimed lives of 36,000 Indian troops and left 64,354 severely injured.
India was, second to Britain, the largest contributor to the Empire’s war. India provided 196.7 million tonnes of coal, 6 million tonnes of iron ore and 1.12 million tonnes of steel.
India was even forced to contribute $24 million to the UN Relief & Rehabilitation Administration.
In all, 4,000 gallantry awards and 31 Victoria Crosses were awarded to Indian Army men. At the First Battle of Ypres, Khudadad Khan became the first Indian to win a Victoria Cross.
It is high time India’s contribution to Allies’ victory in World War I and II is acknowledged by the world.
Why there isn’t much acknowledgement of Indian soldiers’ contribution to World War I and II?
Dr Kusoom Vadgama, who is an authority on the history of the Indian peoples in the British Empire, said: “When you have a national programme that goes out to the whole country and you do not have any mention of Commonwealth and Indian soldiers that is where my argument is. It is unfair. If you see their programme you will think British forces won the war single-handedly and there was nobody else to support them. That’s absolutely false. And if it wasn’t for Indian and Commonwealth soldiers, we would all be speaking German. We still have more than 2 years to go for the end of the centenary commemoration in 2018 (November 11). And I am hoping and trying to muster up some support that okay if you don’t do that, give us a whole evening of programme just to acknowledge what the Indian and Commonwealth soldiers have done. After all we want to honour the soldiers who died for somebody else’s country. We were fighting for somebody else’s freedom. It’s despicable. Why can’t they show an element of gratitude. To die for somebody else’s country is unheard of. But I won’t give up. Before the end of the centenary in 2018, I want a programme in the Royal Albert Hall showing nothing but the contribution made by the Commonwealth and Indian soldiers. There’s a lot that needs to be shaken about our attitude towards honouring our heroes.”
The Defence Adviser of the High Commission of India, Brig Rajesh Jha had in the previous issue of Asian Voice said: “I would like to say that recognition of Indian contribution is a very welcome step and extremely relevant as it acts as a catalyst to deepening the India-UK relationship.” He said this in the context of Indian Ministry of Defence's plan to chronicle Indian soldiers contribution to World War I & II.
(Reference: http://swarajyamag.com)
