Forgotten in India fighting the trenches of the world

Feather the eleventh hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the cannons fell silent on Europe, ending a brutal war that attracted troops and contributions from all over the world. Like Europe, India’s blood spilled into Africa, West Asia and Asia. The memory of the nearly 10 million people killed on the battlefield in World War I and the 15 million or more who died in World War II is now honored with nationwide silence and wreaths in countries around the world on November 11. , Not so much in India – apart from the army cantonments and the British consulate in Kolkata – even though more than 1,61,000 men made the ultimate sacrifice for India’s independence.

Seventy-five years after independence, it is time to honor India’s immense contribution to the world wars and take it from a footnote to the main stage in the history of another country where it belongs. These were also the wars of India.

two struggles and one frugality

Indian silence on these two conflicts stems from the uneasy relationship between Indian contribution to fighting fascism on the global stage and the nationalist movement for independence in the country. The success of the first seems to have come at the expense of the second. It began with a betrayal of nationalist expectations of greater autonomy for India in return for support during the Great War. This was further aggravated by the bitterness of Viceroy Lord Linlithgow declaring war on India’s side against Germany without consulting Indian leaders in 1939, and when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army sided with the Axis powers in hope. So the Indians stood up against the Indians. that freedom can come from it. But the failure to automatically comply with India’s participation in the wars of Indian independence does not mean that the war effort led to an expansion of colonial rule, or that it was all for the defense of Britain: fighting on Indian soil to defend India. Was being Nevertheless, the prevailing belief remains that wars were fought for someone else, somewhere else; As a result, India’s valuable contribution has been written in its history books.

India’s key role

About 1.5 million men volunteered to fight in the Great War. The Indians were mobilized four days after Britain declared war on Germany, with the support of nationalist leaders including Mahatma Gandhi. The Indians fought with valor and glory in the trenches of Europe, West Asia and North Africa, earning 11 Victoria Crosses along the way. About 74,000 of those men never came home. India raised the largest ever volunteer force of 2.5 million for World War II. More than 87,000 of those people have been cremated or buried in war cemeteries around the world and in India. Thirty-one Victoria Crosses – 15% of the total – went to the soldiers of undivided India. Without Indian soldiers, non-combatant labour, materials and money, the course of both conflicts would have been very different, as acknowledged years later by Field Marshal Auchinleck, Britain’s last Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, in an interview.

And yet, this history has no recognition within India. In Britain, the contribution of the Commonwealth – including the Indian subcontinent – is commemorated at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates leading up to Buckingham Palace. Gates recalls campaigns where Commonwealth soldiers made distinguished service; There is also a parasol inscribed with the names of Commonwealth recipients of the George and Victoria Crosses. Much of India’s recent history is rooted in these gates with a sense of gratitude and equality. After all, Britain has much to be thankful for, but Indians are less eager to admit it.

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Some of this dilemma is due to the atrocities of colonial history, which must be acknowledged. Britain may have handed over 11 Vice-Chancellors during World War I, but after the war ended, they betrayed the hopes of the nationalists by imposing martial law, which culminated in the horrors of Jallianwala Bagh in April 1919. The British betrayal, however, does not in any way diminish the sacrifice of those who fought for independence. Those who went abroad to fight alongside white British soldiers returned with the knowledge that they were equal to their colonial masters. By not recognizing and respecting it, we push those people back into colonial subjugation.

fighting looking east

And these were not the only European wars to defend foreign lands. India was threatened by advancing Japanese forces reaching Burma/Myanmar in World War II. He was repulsed in the battles of Imphal and Kohima between March and July 1944. These were brutal wars. In Kohima, the two sides were once separated by the width of a tennis court. A Commonwealth cemetery on Garrison Hill, Kohima includes this passage (by John Maxwell Edmonds): ‘When You Go Home, Tell Them of Us, and Say/For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today’.

Ours today is built on the sacrifices of many people, including those who died fighting fascism. Let us remember and honor them.

Priyanjali Malik is a London commentator