Abstract
The First World War (1914–18) was a momentous event in world history. It also left a deep impact on India, which was then under the British rule. As the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war, it is worthwhile to reflect on the Indian contribution to British was effort, and how the war affected Indian political, military and economic evolution. We must also remember that the period 1914–18 was witnessed to a renewed dynamism in the Indian sub-continent. Over one and a half million (combatants and non-combatants) Indian soldiers fought in the First World War, the largest volunteer army from Britain’s imperial dominions. Many soldiers were illiterate and travelled from remote parts in undivided India such as Punjab, Garhwal, the North-West Frontier, Rajasthan and Nepal, Madras and Burma representing different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds to fight in the muddy trenches in France and Flanders, and in all the theatres of war (p. xxii). They crossed the dreaded ‘kala paani’ and went to those frontlines. The Imperial records of the time also noted that a total of 172,815 animals that included horses, mules and camels were part of this Indian contribution to the Great War. When the war ended in November 1918, nearly 10 per cent of the Indians were either killed, missing or grievously wounded. The numbers are staggering 72,000 killed and a little under 80,000 wounded.
The dominant historical narratives of the First World War have been largely/mostly Eurocentric over the last 100 years. Being the largest colony under the British rule, India had received relatively less critical academic attention in terms of its contribution/participation for the war. The book under review is contributed significantly in the First World War literature and subsequently emphasised the role played by the Indian soldiers on the western front.
In thirteen concise chapters, the monograph weaves a compelling picture of the many incidents that connect British India to the Great War, beginning with the shelling of Madras by the German cruiser SMS Emden on the night of 22/23 September 1914 and ends with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 13 April 1919.
The English war poet Wilfred Owen was killed in action in France on 4 November 1918 along with the men who perished in the trenches of the western front. He had inscribed in his notebook the words of Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore: ‘When I go from hence, let this be my parting-word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable’. Owen was only twenty-five when he was died at Ors, just seven days before the guns fell silent (p. xviii). Indian nationalist leaders, especially Mahatma Gandhi, Dadabhai Naoroji, Sarojini Naidu, Jivraj N. Mehta, Sorabji Shapurji, Bhupendra Nath Bose and others supported the call to join the British Army as mark of loyalty ‘to the Empire and the motherland’ (p. 13). India’s support and subsequent participation in the war was aptly praised by the Governor of Bombay, Lord Willingdon. He said, ‘Truly, India by her loyalty and devolution to the King Emperor, which shall be proved during the war, will gain her rightful place in the future in the “sun” of the British Empire’ (p. 14).
It is part of this ‘unsurpassable’ experience that Basu evocatively recreates in deft strokes as she dwells on a few central characters and weaves the personal with the larger backdrop of major historical events. On the Indian side, there are six soldiers whose gallantry on the battlefield is the stuff of legend; two intrepid airmen; three maharajas; a high official of the British Empire and finally a humble cleaner—Sukha. The British cast includes some of the generals who commanded and managed the Indian Corps, two viceroys, members of the war office, the cabinet and the management of the innovative Indian Soldier’s Fund.
The monograph describes the officer-men bond which transcends nationality is best epitomised in the vignette of Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, a former Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army who set up the Comfort Fund for Indian soldiers in London. Having made an earnest plea for donations, the sprightly 82 years old decided to go to France to see the condition of the Indian soldiers. He had considered to be truly a caring commander who placed his personal interest last, the Field Marshal refused to wear a greatcoat since his Indian soldiers did not have such warm clothing, but with fatal consequences. Lord Roberts died of pneumonia on 14 November 1914.
The monograph highlights fascinating facts about the logistics of the war-how Indian soldiers were looked after and their needs met by different sources. Comfort food items to cope in the trenches such as boiled sweets, gud, papd and pickle often made their way. Coconut oil for the use of their hair was supplied from India. Copies of the Guru Granth Sahib for the Sikhs, and the miniature Quran (Pansuras) for Muslims were sent across. Establishing separate kitchens for Hindus and Muslims created a ‘logistical nightmare’ for the British. Often orderlies were killed in crossfire while transporting food to the trenches. Basu also depicts how the Indian caste system seeped into the European battlefields, as an untouchable cleaner Sukha died of pneumonia in 1915, and neither the Muslim nor the Hindu soldiers stepped up for his funeral. Finally, a church in Brockenhurst offered a space in the graveyard. The author concludes by saying that it tells a lot about our social system. The author also realised that the Indian soldiers were fighting in those trenches shoulder to shoulder with their ‘Sahibs’, with unquestioning loyalty. They were mostly illiterate and came from remote villages in India (p. xviii). Today, as the author mourns, few in India know about them (p. xix). On the other hand, she recorded the incidents that Darwan Singh Negi was personally presented the medal by King George V for his bravery in Festubert in France. Sepoy Khudadad Khan was the first Indian from undivided India to win the Victoria Cross (p. xxiii). Untold and unheard stories related to the Great War have been vividly narrated by the author in this monograph.
The letters, which were written by the Indian soldiers, were first submitted to British authorities for censorship. The outgoing letters were censored to ensure that they did not contain information about the war, or portray English society in a negative manner as this could impact adversely on the future recruitment form the sub-continent. So the Indians formed their own code, using ‘red pepper’ to refer to the British and ‘black pepper’ for Indian soldiers. The censorship soon identified these codes and would come to understand the mood troops based on them. The letters reflect at once the soldiers’ despair, their anxiety and, at the same time, their undying loyalty to King and Empire (p. xxii). Newspaper such as Ghadar, Bande Mataram and the Indian Sociologist had to be confiscated before they instigated mutiny.
The book concludes with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar, which took place barely five months after the War. 40,000 people from Punjab had fought in the war, and this massacre was seen as ‘a cruel reward for their loyalty’. The author looks at this incident through the eyes of one of the most prominent airmen of the war, Hardit Singh Malik. The author mentions, ‘Malik who had so proudly flown his Sopwith Camel Aircraft over Belgium and France, risking his life for the allies, watched in horror as his colleagues from the RAF pounded his homeland with bombs killing innocent civilians’ (p. 180). Air power was used for the first time in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre against the non-combatants.
Basu has diligently gone through the available record in the UK and India and the personal letters from the Indian troops to their families that were retained by the military censor at the time and which are a treasure-trove of the Indian soldier’s view of the Great War. She has described the contribution of the Indian soldiers in the Great War that are not adequately explored. At a time when nationality and nationalism are topics of debate, and history finds itself often divorced from facts and in the hands of interpretation, Basu’s book adds nuanced understanding of the Indian identity before independence. The book discusses the concepts of loyalty, patriotism, nationhood and analyses the motivations of the Indians for participating and dying in a war of foreign land.