anant_s
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On eve of Armistice Day (its been 100 years since that day in 1918), let us look back at Indian Contribution to the Great War, especially that of brave men of Sikh Regiment, which fought with valor and great courage against Germans and brought glory and Laurels to their Regiment.
Rare images of Sikh soldiers who fought in World War I
One soldier in every six in the British Army was Indian, with Sikhs comprising one-fifth of the Indian contingent when the war began.
As we approach the centenary of the beginning of World War I, on July 28, revisionist histories are beginning to examine the role of non-white and non-European people in the war effort. From the Indian sub-continent, around 1.5 million soldiers volunteered to fight in places from Belgium to West Asia. Many of them were Sikhs.
Empire, Faith & War: The Sikhs and World War One, an exhibition at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London organised by the United Kingdom Punjab Heritage Association, showcases the rich history of Sikhs who served in the British Army.
While largely unremembered in textbooks in the years after the war, contemporary documents and photographs do record their effort. The exhibition began on July 9 and will close on September 28.
“By telling the Sikh story, we want to remind the world of this wider undervalued contribution of the non-white British Empire,” said UKPHA chairman Amandeep Madra. “This is British history and a story that helps explain much about modern Britain as well as filling in a tragically missing piece of World War I history.”
The exhibition brings together unprinted photographs, postcards, comics, drawings and other artefacts to trace the narrative of Sikhs in the British army. But it also goes beyond just the soldiers’ lives by looking at the families they left behind and collecting their oral histories.
Photographs show Sikhs cheerfully interacting with other soldiers and civilians.
Sikhs also became objects of interest when held in camps for prisoners of war. Axis forces took advantage of their capture and conducted controversial ethnographic studies of them.
The following images are a selection from the UKPHA collection.
Stalwarts from the East: A French lady pins a flower on the Sikh saviours of France, Paris, 1916. (Toor Collection)
Men of the 15th Sikh Regiment spend time with locals in a Flanders village after weeks in the trenches of the Western Front, c. 1915. (UKPHA Archive)
A Sikh soldier in a German prisoner-of-war camp, c. 1915. (Toor Collection)
Belgium street kids taunt a German soldier by dressing up as Sikh soldiers, c.1915. (Toor Collection)
A listing of captive Sikh soldiers who underwent a study into their racial origins by German scientists, c. 1918. (UKPHA Archive)
Sikh and British wounded recovering from injuries sustained in the front line to their left hand or arm, Southampton, c. November 1914. (UKPHA Archive).
@AUSTERLITZ @Vergennes @Levina @Joe Shearer @Robinhood Pandey @gslv mk3 @Nilgiri @waz @WAJsal @third eye @Storm Force @Irfan Baloch @AndrewJin @Chinese-Dragon
Rare images of Sikh soldiers who fought in World War I
One soldier in every six in the British Army was Indian, with Sikhs comprising one-fifth of the Indian contingent when the war began.
As we approach the centenary of the beginning of World War I, on July 28, revisionist histories are beginning to examine the role of non-white and non-European people in the war effort. From the Indian sub-continent, around 1.5 million soldiers volunteered to fight in places from Belgium to West Asia. Many of them were Sikhs.
Empire, Faith & War: The Sikhs and World War One, an exhibition at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London organised by the United Kingdom Punjab Heritage Association, showcases the rich history of Sikhs who served in the British Army.
While largely unremembered in textbooks in the years after the war, contemporary documents and photographs do record their effort. The exhibition began on July 9 and will close on September 28.
“By telling the Sikh story, we want to remind the world of this wider undervalued contribution of the non-white British Empire,” said UKPHA chairman Amandeep Madra. “This is British history and a story that helps explain much about modern Britain as well as filling in a tragically missing piece of World War I history.”
The exhibition brings together unprinted photographs, postcards, comics, drawings and other artefacts to trace the narrative of Sikhs in the British army. But it also goes beyond just the soldiers’ lives by looking at the families they left behind and collecting their oral histories.
Photographs show Sikhs cheerfully interacting with other soldiers and civilians.
Sikhs also became objects of interest when held in camps for prisoners of war. Axis forces took advantage of their capture and conducted controversial ethnographic studies of them.
The following images are a selection from the UKPHA collection.
Stalwarts from the East: A French lady pins a flower on the Sikh saviours of France, Paris, 1916. (Toor Collection)
Men of the 15th Sikh Regiment spend time with locals in a Flanders village after weeks in the trenches of the Western Front, c. 1915. (UKPHA Archive)
A Sikh soldier in a German prisoner-of-war camp, c. 1915. (Toor Collection)
Belgium street kids taunt a German soldier by dressing up as Sikh soldiers, c.1915. (Toor Collection)
A listing of captive Sikh soldiers who underwent a study into their racial origins by German scientists, c. 1918. (UKPHA Archive)
Sikh and British wounded recovering from injuries sustained in the front line to their left hand or arm, Southampton, c. November 1914. (UKPHA Archive).
@AUSTERLITZ @Vergennes @Levina @Joe Shearer @Robinhood Pandey @gslv mk3 @Nilgiri @waz @WAJsal @third eye @Storm Force @Irfan Baloch @AndrewJin @Chinese-Dragon
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