This Anzac Day was more about India

At dawn on April 25, 1915, troops from Australia and New Zealand—the Anzacs—landed on the beaches of Gallipoli, Turkey, under the cover of fire provided by troops of the 7th Indian Mountain Artillery Brigade. Elsewhere at Ypres, Belgium, on the same day, Indian troops faced a new enemy weapon with devastating consequences—gas. But while Gallipoli became the most defining moment for the Aussies and Kiwis—in fact, their national identities were forged in the killing fields of Gallipoli—for Indians it became just another battlefield where their blood was spilled without any substantive gains coming their way, whether in terms of political concessions by imperial Britain or acknowledgement of their sacrifices to an extent that would influence the historiography of the Great War. Until now.

As the first rays of the sun lit up the sleeping capital on Saturday, the Indian sacrifice was acknowledged by everyone present at the Dawn Service jointly hosted by high commissions of Australia and New Zealand at the Delhi War Cemetery. This year marked 100 years of that disastrous Allied campaign that was also the original Normandy. High commissioners of both Commonwealth countries, while remembering their own war dead—8,000 Australians and over 2,000 New Zealanders—fully acknowledged the unsung heroes of that disastrous and ill-conceived campaign, the Indians.

Indian infantry in the form of 29th Indian Infantry Brigade, Indian mountain batteries, Indian Mule Corps, Indian Medical Corps—all played a pivotal role in the Dardanelles campaign. In fact, the Indian Mule Corps took huge hits and suffered heavy losses in both men and pack animals in their effort to keep the Anzacs equipped and fed. But while Indians shared the wounds and pain, separation and longing, courage and glory of war with the Aussies and Kiwis, they didn't get their share of history. So when New Zealand high commissioner Grahame Morton and Australian high commissioner Patrick Suckling paid glowing tributes to the Indian corps, with Morton even thanking India for evacuating its citizens from crisis-hit Yemen recently, there was an unmistakable glow of joy and pride on the faces of the Indian members of the audience. The long-awaited 'thank you' had finally come.

Yet the best part didn't happen on Saturday but on Friday, at the United Service Institution of India. Here, a daylong conference was organized by USI and the Embassy of Belgium to mark 100 years of chemical warfare. Belgian ambassador Jan Lyukx acknowledged the Indian sacrifice and subsequent speakers elaborated on the kind of sacrifices the Indians made.

Military historian Squadron Leader Rana Chhina (Retd), whose paternal and maternal grandfathers fought together in Mesopotamia in the Great War, said over 30% of British troops on the Western Front in 1915 were Indians. "So when the Germans first unleashed chlorine gas on April 22, 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres and there were very heavy French casualties, the Lahore division was sent to plug the gaps. On April 25, Indians had a devastating experience with the gas," Sqn Ldr Chhina said.

Belgian military historian Dominiek Dendooven elaborated on Rana's point: "Indians sustained over 2,000 casualties in that gas attack. Yet they were quick enough to figure out a way—mostly because of a Canadian pharmacist-cum-soldier—that one had to urinate on his turban and wrap it around his mouth to survive. This way, the Indians held their line."

The war was an eye-opening experience for the Indians as they were exposed to European society for the first time. "Though mostly illiterate, the Indian soldiers recognized that the war, despite its horrors, was an emancipating experience for Indians. The writer of a particular letter—and there are many others like it—hoped that Indians would be stuck in this terrible war longer as more Indians would get to learn and experience newer things," Sqn Ldr Chhina said.

Dendooven added that war commemorations are a great way to build a nation. "Gallipoli was your battle too, as was Festubert, Loos, Givenchy, Ypres and Neuve Chapelle. It's time you realize it and reclaim these as your own," he said.