A short description of this unusual memorial to the war dead of the Indian Army in France in the First World War, based on my visit there in autumn 2011 and illustrated with my own photographs.
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It was a dull and drizzly Sunday morning in Northern France, on the way back to Calais and the ferry to the UK, but the moment we stepped inside the circular wall of the Indian Army Memorial at Neuve Chapelle it was as if we were transported to warmer climes and another era – to the
heyday of British India, to units with exotic names like the Garhwal Rifles and havildars rather than sergeants, naiks rather than corporals. The architecture fitted the eastern mood too: domed chhatris (pavilions), shaped arches and pierced stone panels.Photograph 1: the entrance pavilion (click to open)
Coming into the monument by the entrance pavilion, a path leads straight across the centre, lined by beds of red roses, to a second pavilion. In the centre, the path widens to split around the Stone of Remembrance on its plinth. This is a feature of all but the smallest British and Commonwealth war cemeteries – a simple white stone block bearing the inscription “THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE.”
Photograph 2: the path across the centre from the entrance pavilion (click to open)
Photograph 3: the Stone of Remembrance (click to open)
On the left as one enters the monument, the outer wall bears large plaques with the names of over 5,000 soldiers of the Indian Army killed and with no known grave. Going over to read the plaques I was struck by the exotic names of the units listed, adding to the sense that one was in a different era and on a different continent. Regiments such as the Garhwal Rifles and the Ghurkha Rifles seemed more reminiscent of the dust and heat of the Northwest Frontier rather than the mud and rain of the trenches of the Western Front.
But there was in fact a large Indian Army contingent on the Western Front, at least until the winter of 1915/1916 when most battalions were withdrawn to serve in the Middle East against the Turks. By the end of 1914 two complete divisions (the Lahore Division and
the Meerut Division, totalling around 24,000 men) had been shipped to France to make up the shortfall in British units until the mass of volunteers who had joined up in the first months of the war could be trained and equipped.Each division was made up of twelve infantry battalions – nine Indian Army battalions of native troops and three British Army battalions seconded to the Indian Army. Furthermore, the Indian battalions were commanded by a British colonel and had a smattering of British officers amongst the Indian ones. This mixture had been instituted in the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny in the mid 19th century and continued as a precaution, even though Indian units had performed sterling service since then and continued to do so through the First World War.
In addition to the infantry, two divisions of Indian Army cavalry also served on the Western Front.
Photograph 4: section of plaque to the missing dead of the 8th Ghurkha Rifles (click to open)
The photograph above shows the start of the listing of the missing dead of the 8th Ghurkha Rifles. Each unit is listed on the wall plaques in order of seniority of the unit within the Army lists and within each unit then men are grouped by rank and then in alphabetical order. Rather than the familiar ranks of lieutenant, sergeant, corporal and private, the Indian Army equivalents of jemadar, havildar, naik and sepoy can be seen.
Continued in part two (click here)
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This article was previously published on Triond, here.