DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49382#0232
142
CHAPTER VI
that it helped to save the cause both of the Allies and of civilization,
after the sanguinary tumult of the opening weeks of the war, has been
openly acknowledged by the highest in the land, from the Sovereign
downwards. I recall that it was emphatically stated to me by Lord
French himself. The nature and value of that service can never be
forgotten.
“Neither should we forget the conditions under which these
Indian soldiers served. They came to a country where the climate,
the language, the people, the customs, were entirely different from any
of which they had knowledge. They were presently forced with the
sharp severity of a northern winter. They who had never suffered
heavy shell fire, who had no experience of high explosives, who had
never seen warfare in the air, who were totally ignorant of modern
trench fighting, were exposed to all the latest and most scientific
developments of the art of destruction. They were confronted with
the most powerful and pitiless military machine that the world has
ever seen. They were consoled by none of the amenities or alleviations,
or even the associations of home. They were not fighting for their
own country or people. They were not even engaged in a quarrel of
their own making. They were plunged in surroundings which must
have been intensely depressing to the spirit of man. Almost from
the first they suffered shattering losses.
“ In the face of these trials and difficulties, the cheerfulness, the
loyalty, the good discipline, the intrepid courage of these denizens of
another clime, cannot be too highly praised. If disappointment, and
even failure, sometimes attended their efforts, their accomplishment
was nevertheless solid and striking. The writer was at Neuve
Chapelle, just after that historic combat, no record in it excelled
that of the Indian troops. This volume contains the tales of other
deeds not less heroic and daring. When the first V. C. was pinned
on to the breast of an Indian soldier, not only was the promise
given by the King-Emperor at the Imperial Durbar of 1911
redeemed, but the valour of Hindustan received at last the full
recognition of its supreme merit.
CHAPTER VI
that it helped to save the cause both of the Allies and of civilization,
after the sanguinary tumult of the opening weeks of the war, has been
openly acknowledged by the highest in the land, from the Sovereign
downwards. I recall that it was emphatically stated to me by Lord
French himself. The nature and value of that service can never be
forgotten.
“Neither should we forget the conditions under which these
Indian soldiers served. They came to a country where the climate,
the language, the people, the customs, were entirely different from any
of which they had knowledge. They were presently forced with the
sharp severity of a northern winter. They who had never suffered
heavy shell fire, who had no experience of high explosives, who had
never seen warfare in the air, who were totally ignorant of modern
trench fighting, were exposed to all the latest and most scientific
developments of the art of destruction. They were confronted with
the most powerful and pitiless military machine that the world has
ever seen. They were consoled by none of the amenities or alleviations,
or even the associations of home. They were not fighting for their
own country or people. They were not even engaged in a quarrel of
their own making. They were plunged in surroundings which must
have been intensely depressing to the spirit of man. Almost from
the first they suffered shattering losses.
“ In the face of these trials and difficulties, the cheerfulness, the
loyalty, the good discipline, the intrepid courage of these denizens of
another clime, cannot be too highly praised. If disappointment, and
even failure, sometimes attended their efforts, their accomplishment
was nevertheless solid and striking. The writer was at Neuve
Chapelle, just after that historic combat, no record in it excelled
that of the Indian troops. This volume contains the tales of other
deeds not less heroic and daring. When the first V. C. was pinned
on to the breast of an Indian soldier, not only was the promise
given by the King-Emperor at the Imperial Durbar of 1911
redeemed, but the valour of Hindustan received at last the full
recognition of its supreme merit.