Western Front

As the First World War progressed more troops were needed for the Western Front. To meet this demand Expeditionary Force A from India was sent to reinforce the British Troops – particularly in France..

Many men who fell during these campaigns are honoured by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Amongst these are 4,742 soldiers from India whose names are recorded on the Neuve Chapelle Memorial in France. In 1964 these names were expanded to also commemorate 210 servicemen of India whose graves at Zehrensdorf Indian Cemetery in East Germany could not be maintained.

Related articles

• First World War
• Medals
• Nurse

Recommended reading

Recommended by Peter Moore on the Military reading list
"Sepoy in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front, 1914-15 by Gordon Corrigan, Kent, UK; first edition. 1999; 16 plates; 9 maps; hardcover; 274 pp. An excellent, updated account of the sufferings and heroism of the Indian regiments sent to France in the bitterest of winters clad only in tropical uniforms until transferred to the Mesopotamian Campaign in 1915. The author, a retired Major (late Royal Gurkha Rifles and ex-10GR), 1998), has an authentic feel for the old Indian Army and the times".

“Well worth tracking a copy, both as a fascinating book and a display of how good military history should be written.“

For an interview with the author Gordon Corrigan, see below.

Indian treacle (opium)

On the Western Front, Sikh troops were supplied with Indian treacle, an euphemism for opium, which was part of their ration.

External links

• First World War regimental diaries of the Indian Infantry units deployed to the Western Front are available online to download via The National Archives's First World War 100 portal. At September 2014, 171 were available. They are not personal diaries. See TNA’s British Army war diaries 1914-1922 for more details about this type of record. Searching is free, but there may be a charge to download documents.
• India and the Western Front Article by Dr David Omissi on BBC History website.
• Khudadad Khan and Ghulam Haider of the 129th (Duke of Connaught's Own) Baluchis For his remarkable courage, at the village of Hollebeke, near Ypres in Belgium. Khudadad Khan was the first Indian soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross. cwgc.org
• Letters from the West Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Links to online digitsed manuscripts from India Office Records. generalist.org.uk/
• The Indian Memorial at Neuve Chapelle with Photographs. undereveryleaf.wordpress.com

Neuve Chapelle Memorial ww1cemeteries.com

• Indian Forces Memorial, Ypres greatwar.co.uk
• Valour and Sacrifice. The First Indian Soldiers in Europe 1914-1916 Website of High Commission of India in London.
• "The men who cut the war short" by Sidin Vadukut June 28 2014 Livemint. An interview with Gordon Corrigan, author of Sepoy in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front, 1914-15
• Record Of Work [in France] Of Queen Alexandra’s Military Nursing Service For India Scarletfinders
• Royal Pavilion in Brighton, Sussex UK Used as a hospital for troops from the Indian corps who had been wounded during WW1 in France and Flanders and now contains the Indian Military Hospital gallery.
  • In Pictures: Brighton Pavilion's Indian military hospital BBC.
    
  • Doctor Brighton's Pavilion is an 'Online Exhibit' from sikhmuseum.com with much information.
  • Brighton, England : Remains of a faraway battle by Sidin Vadukut May 11 2013. www.livemint.com. The Chattri Memorial to Indian soldiers who fought in World War I
• A series of photographs depicting the Indian Army in the First World War, by H.D. Girdwood held by the British Library. flickr.com. Each photograph has a link to the British Library online photograph, where a zoom facility is available. The photographs were mainly taken on the Western Front, but some taken at the Indian hospitals at Brighton are also included. The set also includes British Army soldiers.

Historical books online

• The British Library digitised manuscripts include some India Office Records relating to the First World War. A search using the key word India, and adjustment of the dates will locate the documents , or the direct links include
  • IOR/L/MIL/17/5/2384 Indian Force for Europe. India Office Military Dept, 6 Sep 1914
  • IOR/V/27/281/33 Neuve Chapelle, India's Memorial in France, 1914-18. Published by authority of the Imperial War Graves Commission London 192
• The Indian Corps in France by Lt-Colonel J.W.B. Merewether and Sir Frederick Smith. Second edition 1919 (first edition December 1917) Archive.org. To read the book you may require a BitTorrent plug in. Another version from archive.org is catalogued as The Indian Corps in Rance and may require a DjVu plug in, or individual pages can be accessed which use the Tiff format. This book is also available to read online on the Digital Library of India website.
• With the Indians in France by Sir James Willcocks 1920 Archive.org Index, page 383
  • List of 'Promotions and Rewards' page 347-382
• Our Indians at Marseilles by Massia Bibikoff ; with an introduction by Maurice Barrès ; translated by Leonard Huxley ; with 50 illustrations by the author. 1915 Archive.org
• A novel: Hira Singh: When India Came to Fight in Flanders by Talbot Mundy. Archive.org. Published in Britain as Hira Singh's Tale: When India Came to Fight in Flanders. Serialized in Adventure magazine, October 18 - December 3, 1917. Published in book form 1918. A fictional account of a cavalry regiment taken prisoners of war by the Germans