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Indian Dead in WW1

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Richwhit (U2450578) on Wednesday, 7th December 2005

  How many Indians were killed on the Western Front and where are they commemorated?
  I seem to remember some comment about sparing the white pepper by using some black pepper. But a search on the cwgc website shows very few Indian type names.

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Wednesday, 7th December 2005

  Just going from memory here, but I think a lot of the indian troops saw action in Mesopotamia and Palestine rather than on the Western Front.

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• Message 3

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  Posted by Mike Alexander (U1706714) on Wednesday, 7th December 2005

  I think there were some Indians on the Western Front - I have heard mention of 'Pathan Scouts' who apparently were Indian soldiers highly respected for their ability to move about stealthily in no-man's land.
  
  Other than these specialised roles, I think on the whole the British tended to keep ethnic 'inferiors' (as they saw it) away from the front line, as they thought it would give the Germans the idea that they were running short of good quality (i.e. white) soldiers.
  
  (Please note I am not being racist, but merely trying to represent what the prevailing viewpoint of the establishment was at that time.)
  
  West Indians, in particular, were usually given jobs like transporting ammunition rather than frontline fighting (though on the odd occasion when they were allowed to fight, as happened against the Turks in North Africa, they showed themselves to be very effective soldiers).
  
  
  As for memorials, well I know there is a War Memorial to Indian soldiers on the Sussex downs just outside Brighton, in a place called Patcham.
  
  Wounded Indian soldiers were treated at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, which was used as a temporary hospital - but I'm not sure if the two things are connected.
  
  Cheers
  Mike

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  Posted by Mike Alexander (U1706714) on Wednesday, 7th December 2005

  The memorial outside Brighton is called the Chattri memorial. See these links:-
  
  
  
  
  
  Cheers
  Mike

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• Message 5

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  Posted by Richwhit (U2450578) on Monday, 12th December 2005

  This memorial is to those who were cremated there after dying in hospital, more must have died on the front, yet I can find no trace of them

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• Message 6

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  Posted by mulvers (U2607308) on Monday, 12th December 2005

  How many Indians were killed on the Western Front and where are they commemorated?
  I seem to remember some comment about sparing the white pepper by using some black pepper. But a search on the cwgc website shows very few Indian type names.Β 
  IF YOU WOULD READ LYNN McDONALDS BOOK"1915" YOU WILL SEE IN THE INDEX THE NAMES OF ALL THE INDIAN ARMY UNITS AT THAT TIME. THEY INCLUDED UNITS SUCH AS THE LAHORE DIVISION AND THE MEERUT DIV. WHO BOTH FOUGHT WITH GREAT GALLANTRY AT NEUVE CHAPELLE AND YPRES TO NAME BUT TWO PLACES.
  THERE IS ALSO A BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE AT THE MENIM GATE IN YPRES TO REMEMBER ALL THOSE INDIANS WHO DIED AND HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVES.

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