INDIAN CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR

India and Britain had stood together in battle many times over the centuries before the Great War came about,
but this was the conflict that finally taught the British soldiers to appreciate and respect their Indian brothers in
arms.
To begin with the relationship wasnt exactly an equal one, but Britain was nonetheless hugely relieved to have
India onside. Its own army was comparatively small at that time, with just over 733,000 men available to fight.
To that army, India added 223,700 men by October, 75,000 from British units, according to The Western Front
Companion by Mark Adkin. From 1914 to the wars end in 1918, the total of British Army made available for
deployment, thanks to an outpouring of volunteers and recruits from the home countries and Empire
contingents, would number 8,689,467. Of these, over 1.5 million came from the Indian Army.
Indians marching into battle to force back Germans, Forces War Records
Initially, 150,000 Regular Army soldiers teamed up with the private armies of Indian princes and the Imperial
Service (British) units to form the Army of India. The forces were arranged so as to leave no doubt who was in
charge. In each Battalion there were 12 British Officers, who held the posts of Commanding Officer, Major (or
2
nd
in command), Adjutant, Quartermaster, and Captains and Lieutenants, all holding the Kings Commission.
The Senior Indian Officer, meanwhile, would be the Subedar Major. It was his job to advise the commanding
officer on matters relating to the local customs and religions, to prevent misunderstandings. He was backed up
by the Subedar, equivalent to a Captain, and J emaders, equivalent to a Subaltern, commanded the platoons. All
of these were Viceroys Commissioned Officers. In each Brigade at least one Battalion was always British, as
the UK could not yet get over the distrust that had begun with the Indian Mutiny and wanted to keep one eye
open at all times.
Within weeks of landing in Marseilles in September 1914 the Army of India soldiers headed for the Front Line,
and it wasnt long before they found themselves in the thick of the fighting in the trenches at Neuve Chapelle.
Things werent easy for any man on the Front, but the Indian troops suffered more than most. Although they
were used to dealing with conditions of extreme heat or cold, and were fit enough to march for miles, the Indian
recruits werent prepared for the dewy damp of a British winter. In 1914, as many men died from illness as from
wounds inflicted by guns or shells. It didnt help that all their supplies, uniforms and training were intended for
conflict in hot climates. Many arrived in light summer uniforms, and were forced to remain in them right
through the bitter French winter. There werent enough medical supplies to go round, and the Sepoy marksmen
were forces to use bolt-action rifles that they werent familiar with. Heavy losses decimated their ranks. Many of
the British officers, who had largely grown up in India and had at least some understanding of the Indian
cultures and dialects, were wiped out. In came completely unfamiliar officers, who had learn what they could
about the men and earn their trust over time.
Indian observer in trench, Western Front, Forces War Records Collection
The Indian troops, if they felt aggrieved by their hardships and the fact that they were not accorded equal status
with the British troops, never let their feelings affect their actions or enthusiasm on the battlefield. Instead, they
fought with great gusto and bravery, with 5 Indian soldiers earning the Victoria Cross in the first year of
fighting. Friends and foes alike were impressed; The Western Front Companion borrows a quote from a
German soldiers letter from Philip Masons A Matter of Honour:
We at first spoke with contempt of the Indians. Today we learned to look on them in a
different light the devil knows what the English put into those fellows with a fearful
shouting thousands of those brown forms rushed on us At a hundred metres we opened a
destructive fire which mowed down hundreds, but in spite of that the others advanced in no
time they were in our trenches and truly those brown enemies were not to be despised.
Indian Bikanir Camel Corps, Egypt 1915, Forces War Records
Apart from anything, the Indian soldiers were some of the best trained in the war. They had been kept active
over the decades fighting territorial battles in their homelands, while many of the European armies had seen
little fighting. They had a larger pool of professional soldiers to call on than many other nations, and the Indian
soldier had more to prove. Despite their high levels of deaths and casualties- the 47
th
Sikhs, for example, arrived
in October 1914 with 764 men, and by the end of November had only 385 fit for duty- the Indians never gave
up, and always made their mark in a fight.
They did their bit at Neuve Chapelle, and also at Ypres, the Aubers Ridge, Ypres, Festubert and Loos before the
Indian Corps were moved to the Middle East in 1915. Moving them to more familiar climates eased their
difficulties considerably. The Indian troops fought on until the end of the war, by which time they had served
not only in France, but in Belgium, Gallipolli, Salonika, Somaliland, Cameroon and East Africa, North West
Persia and Kurdistan, the Persian Gulf and northern China. In particular, they made their mark in Mesopotamia
and Egypt; 138,000 Indian men died on the Western Front, 144,000 in Egypt, and 675,000 in Mesopotamia.
Never again would the world under-rate the soldiers of India.