Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial
The Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial, located on the outskirts of Neuve-Chapelle, in the French department of Pas-de-Calais, commemorates over 4,700 soldiers and labourers of the Indian Army who lost their lives on the Western Front during the First World War and have no known grave.
Just four days after Great Britain had declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914, two infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade of the Indian Army were ordered to mobilise and prepare for overseas service. Units of the Indian Expeditionary Force began arriving in France in September, and by late October, they were involved in heavy fighting on the Messines Ridge in Belgium. It was during this period that Sepoy Khudadad Khan, of the 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis, performed the act of gallantry for which he later became the first Indian soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
The Indian Corps, composed of the 3rd (Lahore) and 7th (Meerut) Divisions, went on to fight in some of the bloodiest battles of the first year of the war. At Neuve-Chapelle, from 10th to 13th March 1915, the Indian Corps made up half of the attacking force and, despite suffering very heavy casualties, succeeded in capturing important sections of the German line. The officers and men of the Corps further distinguished themselves at St. Julien in the Ypres Salient in April 1915, at Aubers Ridge and Festubert in May, and at Loos in September, before being redeployed to the Middle East in December. The Indian Cavalry Corps remained on the Western Front until the spring of 1918, and Indian labour companies, which began arriving in France in 1917, performed vital and often dangerous logistical work behind the lines until after the Armistice.
Over the course of the war, India sent over 140,000 men to the Western Front - 90,000 serving in the infantry and cavalry and as many as 50,000 non-combatant labourers. They hailed from the length and breadth of British India: from the Punjab, Garhwal, the Frontiers, Bengal, Nepal, Madras, and Burma, and represented an extremely diverse range of religious, linguistic, and ethnic cultures. The officer corps was composed mostly of men of European descent. Of the combatants, over 8,550 were killed, and as many as 50,000 more were wounded. Almost 5,000 of the dead have no known grave and are commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres, and here at Neuve-Chapelle.
The location of the memorial was specially chosen as it was at Neuve-Chapelle, in March 1915, that the Indian Corps fought its first major action as a single unit. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker, with sculpture by Charles Wheeler, takes the form of a sanctuary enclosed within a circular wall after the manner of the enclosing railings of early Indian shrines. The column in the foreground of the enclosure stands almost 15 feet high and was inspired by the famous inscribed columns erected by the Emperor Ashoka throughout India in the 3rd century BC. The column is surmounted with a Lotus Capital, the Imperial British Crown, and the Star of India. Two tigers are carved on either side of it, guarding the temple of the dead. On the lower part of the column, the words "God is One, His is the Victory" are inscribed in English, with similar texts in Urdu, Hindi, and Gurmukhi.
One half of the circular enclosure consists of panels bearing the names of the dead. In the centre is the Stone of Remembrance inscribed with the words: "Their name liveth for evermore." The entrances to the monument take the form of chhatri - round-topped pavilions traditionally built into significant Indian holy complexes and monumental architecture - pierced with stone jalis, or grills. Even the horticulture is thematically linked to the Indian homeland, with wild irises, waterlilies, and overhanging trees. Here lies a small piece of India, commemorating those who travelled thousands of miles from their home, under the auspices of the British Empire, and laid down their lives.
The memorial was unveiled by Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, on 7th October 1927. The Earl of Birkenhead, who was present in his role as Secretary of State for India, had served in France in World War I from 1914 to 1915 as a staff officer with the Indian Corps, and later co-wrote an official history titled The Indian Corps in France. Attending the ceremony was a contingent of troops from India to represent the units that fought in France, including Sikhs, Dogras, and Garhwalis. Later additions to the memorial commemorate other Indian Army dead of both World Wars.
The memorial was the site of commemorations during the First World War centenary years, including a visit in April 2015 by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. Today, over a century after the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle and the Great War, and almost a hundred years after its unveiling, the Neuve-Chapelle Memorial serves as a reminder of the enormous contribution made by the Indian Army, both on the frontline and in support roles. It commemorates the Indian Army’s missing servicemen in perpetuity and serves as a reminder of how India’s sons travelled so far from home to fight and fall alongside their comrades from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa on the battlefields of the Western Front.
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