The spirit of the Indian troops is splendid and soldierly. Above all, they value recompense for valour. The V.C., of course, is their highest ambition. They attach more importance to “Izzat”—their prestige—than to anything else in life. The bitterest blow that an Indian in the field can receive is to be passed over for promotion. I heard of a non-commissioned officer who had distinguished himself by a brilliant feat of gallantry, and was informed that the “General Sahib” proposed to reward him by a present of money. The havildar in question had already been recommended for decoration. “It is very kind of the General Sahib,” the man said, “to have thought of making me a present, but I would rather have the decoration.”
Men of ancient fighting races, they esteem courage highly and count cowardice a disgrace. Praise of their gallant deeds is as music in their ears. Never are they so proud as when the General Sahib, Sir James Willcocks, commanding the Indian Corps, inspects them after a fight, and tells them in their own tongue, in plain martial language that they understand, that he is satisfied with them, that they have fought well.
Their attitude towards the Germans is curious. They respect the enemy’s technical efficiency in war, but they do not believe that he is any match for the bayonet or the kukri when it comes to in-fighting. “It is well!” said the Garhwalis, as they came out of some swift slaying at Neuve Chapelle. “We have killed many Germans! They are good fighters!”
Kwaja Mohammed Khan, Sirdar Bahadur, one of the Indian aides-de-camp to Sir James Willcocks, a magnificent figure of a man from the borders of Buner, in his uniform of Rissaldar of the Guides, with a hawk-like nose and fierce black eyes, said to me one day: “The Indians stand the weather well. Why shouldn’t they? If the Germans stand it, so can we! Huh!”
They are fierce and terrible in the charge, the Indians. But they are merciful to their prisoners. Among the Indians there has been none of that slaying of prisoners that has eternally besmirched the German escutcheon. The Indians bring their prisoners in proudly—living booty, proud testimony to the prowess of their captors.
I met some of the Westphalians we captured at Neuve Chapelle on their way down to the base to be shipped to England—fine, well-set-up, front-line troops they were, too. I well remember the eagerness with which they explained to me that resistance had been impossible. “Auf einmal,” they said in their clipped Westphalian speech, “sahen wir uns von den Schwarzen umzingelt. Da müssten wir uns ergeben!”
And they sighed heavily.
The first Indians to receive their baptism of fire in this war were the 57th Rifles and the 129th Baluchis of the Lahore Division, which came up to the front minus one brigade left behind in Egypt. These two battalions were sent into action at Hollebeke about October 22 in the initial stages of the first battle of Ypres, and acquitted themselves very well. In the meantime the rest of the two brigades of which the Lahore Division was composed were assisting the Second Corps southward, where the fighting was desperate and bloody.
On October 27 the Germans captured Neuve Chapelle, and to the 47th Sikhs, the 9th Bhopals, and the 20th and 21st Companies of Sappers and Miners, was allotted the task of retaking the village. The 47th Sikhs, and the two Sappers and Miners’ companies, were specially mentioned in despatches for their fine work here. Captain Nosworthy, of the Sappers, leading a forlorn hope of a dozen Indians, managed to get into the village at the price of no less than seven wounds, but we failed to regain possession of the place, which remained in German hands until March.
The arrival of the Meerut Division at the end of the month practically completed the Indian Corps, which was placed under the command of Sir James Willcocks. Against it some 60,000 to 70,000 Germans were arrayed—the whole of the crack VIIth Corps from Münster, tough Westphalian fighters, part of the XIVth Corps, and part of the 48th Reserve Division. Sir James Willcocks was told that he must hold out at all costs, and that no reinforcements could be promised him.