NEW DELHI, Jan 12:
Photographs, videos, memorabalia and several belongings of about seven lakh Indian soldiers who served in the First World War are on display in an exhibition that opened here today.
The month-long exhibition titled “India and the First World War,” was inaugurated by Secretary, Culture Ministry, Ravinder Singh.
Among the items on display are uniforms, ceremonial waistcoats, flasks, map cases, knives and khukris, cigarette packs, utensils, biscuit and cardboard boxes, first-aid kits, gauze, bandage and badges to name a few items used by the soldiers 100 years ago.
“With this exhibition we look forward to make the Indian citizens aware of the bravehearts who fought in the War and the reason which drove them to fight the war. We would want to take this exhibition throughout the world especially to France,” Singh said.
The images for the exhibition have been sourced from all over the world primarily from Imperial War Museum, British Library, London, French Military Archives, Flanders Museum, Belgium and many other private collections internationally.
Besides, there will also be a section featuring sound recordings and silent movies of the Indian soldiers made between 1914 and 1918.
A book, “India and the First World War housing the pictures and other details of the soldiers was also presented to the Secretary and other guests by Pramod Kapoor of Roli Books.
The book was a product of the research conducted by Roli Books with the help of various people including Param Vir Chakra awardee Subedar Yogender Singh Yadav of the 18th Grenadiers Regiment.
“The book took almost three years to be published and has rare pictures. While some pictures were perfect even after 100 years, some had to be modified for the exhibition and for publishing in the book,” Kapoor said.
The exhibition has been organised in association with Roli Books, the French Embassy and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA).
“We wish to take the exhibition to France because we still celebrate the end of the War every year with special commemoration of the Indian troops. We are also planning to hold high profile events for this purpose,” Francois Richier, Ambassador of France said.
The exhibition has photographs depicting the soldiers in a musical party, in rural France and in villages where they were billeted.
It fell to the lot of the Empire’s colonies across the world to fill in for the gaps left by the weakened British regiments. And thus, close to seven lakh Indian soldiers encouraged to enlist by their national leaders crossed the oceans for the first time to fight an indecipherable war against an unknown enemy.
They were ill-prepared for the European winters and the dusty Mesopotamian summers. The warfare tactics, which used extensive bunkers and weapons that were hitherto unheard of, proved to be a challenge.
Issues of racism and language followed the Indian soldiers wherever they were deployed. And yet, they fought bravely for the prestige of their regiments and for their own. They proved to the world that they were brave, loyal, and capable soldiers, and till date, the Indian troops are spoken of reverently in the villages across the Western Front.
And yet, people know little about this aspect of the War. According to British Council, almost 1.5 million Muslim, Sikh and Hindu men from regions like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Bihar volunteered in the Indian Expeditionary Force, which saw fighting on the Western Front, in East Africa, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Gallipoli.
However, of these men, around 50,000 died, 65,000 were wounded, and 10,000 were reported missing, while 98 Indian army nurses were killed. India also supplied 170,000 animals, 3,7 million tonnes of supplies, jute for sandbags, and a large loan (the equivalent of about 2 billion pounds today) to the British Government.
Last year, the United Nations commemorated the centenary of World War I, lauding the courage and sacrifice of soldiers including over a million from India. During the event, a short film showing images of the War was also screened. It had particularly moving images of the Indian soldiers fighting in the battlefield across the world.
Excerpts from letters and diaries of soldiers and nurses as they lived through the war were also read by UN interns and staff. (PTI)
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