November 11th: Remember the Sikhs.

© Manvir Rai, 2014.

November 11^th, Remembrance Day. As part of a remembrance parade in the West Midlands, the 1914 Sikhs Organisation were amongst the marching troops, representing the thousands of Sikhs who committed themselves to fighting for Britain in the Great War.

The Sikh Empire of the Punjab was the toughest for the British to conquer during their rule of India. Hence why, in 1914 when the Great War was declared and across the continent enemies were being fought and killed, Great Britain called on their dominion to help defend against the German empire. A large number of their recruits were Sikhs, who made up 20% of the 1.2 million Indian recruits. With this it is easy to forget that Sikhs only make up 2% of the Indian population. The volunteers were sent to the front line to fight in battles across Europe, the Middle East and East Africa, and it has been noted that Sikhs were allowed to fight with their traditional weapons such as talwar swords.

An expert from the Guardian reportage of the First World War describes ‘when the Indians arrived’. ‘To show their contempt for death, some Sikh’s had refused to hide in trenches’. It describes that the Indians looked like kings, sat proudly in their saddled. The Sikh men walked at a ‘brisk pace’, all ‘big and strong’.

© Manvir Rai, 2014.

Another part of the report tells the story of a Sikh sapper, who had a ‘Black Maria’ fall next to him while he was firing at the enemy. It did not harm him, so when the smoke had cleared, he found the hole that had been created at his side provided a comfortable position to fire from. From here, he killed 15-20 Germans according to his accompanying troops. This Sikh snapper was happy to remain in this position, but he had to be ordered to retreat. When he was congratulated for his efforts, he failed to see he had done anything remarkable.

During this time, the British Empire was beginning to loosen, and events in occupied India began to deteriorate. Yet despite this, Sikhs and thousands of Indian warriors continued to put their lives on the line willingly, and fought for the safety of a country they did not know. For people they would never meet. For an ally that had invaded their own land, and taken some of their own deserved human freedoms. Their sacrifice needs to be honoured and remembered on this day.

Please follow the following links that helped inform this post:

http://www.1914sikhs.org/

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/14/excerpts-guardian-reporting-first-world-war

© Manvir Rai, 2014.