Tag: 34th Sikh Pioneers

An Overdue Honoring on Remembrance Day…

Babaji Indar Singh

Today, on this Remembrance/Veterans Day, the world celebrates and honors the fallen soldiers of the Great War. It also commemorates the day Armistice was signed that brought World War 1 to its end. In this sea of poppies, which is considered a symbol of sacrifice, I too want to recognize and pay tribute to my ancestor Subedar Indar Singh, who saw the various theatres of war fighting the Germans in Flanders & Western Front and later the Ottoman Empire in Mesopotamia. 






  • IEF in the Trenches
  • Trench Foot Inspection
  • Flammenwerfer
  • Chemical Warfare Casaulties





Part of Indian Expeditionary Force (34th Sikh Pioneers, Lahore Brigade), saw action very soon after landing in France (October 1914).  As a specialized infantry regiment with expertise in engineering and construction in addition to being conventional infantry men, they quickly supported building and fortification of trenches, establishing communication lines and other infrastructure.  Eager to fight, this was the first time these men from India were exposed to ‘Trench Warfare’.  Needless to say, the conditions were deplorable!  The trenches were mostly waterlogged; full of mud and slime that not only jammed their rifles but also caused them to develop ‘trench foot’ (and led to many a foot amputation).  Add to that inclement weather for which initially they didn’t have proper protection (and they had to contend with their summer-grade Khaki uniforms, not ideal for European fall/winter weather).  In addition,  the trenches were filled with rats competing for their meager rations, and the soldiers had to endure instances of body-lice breakouts!  There was the ‘Trench deadlock’ and to gain a few yards, each side of the warring factions faced each other across the  no man’s land, and 24/7 launched repeated & aggressive trench attacks, saps and raids.  This was aided by heavy artillery bombardment, constant bursts of machine guns, grenades and mortars attacks, arial bombardment and tanks ( although in their infancy), and snipers galore.  Of the German armament, ‘Minenwerfers’ (mortar bombs) were the most dreaded.  They were effectively used to clear obstacles, bunkers, barbed wires, parapets, sentry positions, etc., and once launched it could be heard coming and with it’s sound getting louder and louder as it approached and then exploded with great power creating a crater as big as a room! It’s psychological impact was so huge that ‘Shell-shock’ was officially recognized by the medical and psychiatric communities.   As the war progressed there were even more fearsome weapons such as the ‘Flammenwerfer’ (Flamethrower) that threw/hurtled sheets of flame and smoke towards the trench soldiers and in essence burning them alive! Also, for the first time chemical warfare in the form of large-scale  use of lethal poison gas where liquid chlorine was used (second battle of Ypres, 1915) followed shortly afterwards with mustard gas. Needless to say that despite such destruction and horrific conditions, neither side made any meaningful gain!  Instead, both sides amassed massive and crippling casualties!   Shrapnels, fragments,  bullets, bodies and injured everywhere! 










Having said that, the ‘Battle of Festubert’ (on November 23-24, 1914), was very pivotal for my ancestor and his regiment.  According to Iain Smith (Sikh Pioneers and Sikh Light Infantry Association UK), it was the worst day for the regiment on the Western Front.  They were told to take over the German trench at all cost!  In the thinly manned Allied Line, the German attack decimated the 34th!  9 out of 12 British Officers were killed, wounded or went missing.  Same happened to the men.  Only the very experienced soldiers survived and they were instrumental in keeping the morale high and normal functioning of the regiment.  One of those Indian officers was Indar Singh, and the regimental records show that he got promoted from Jemadar to Subedar on November 24th, 1914.  Also the regimental effort and sacrifice was honored by the King and ‘Royal’ was added and thus the regiment was called the ‘34th Royal Sikh Regiment’.  Very few regiments have been honored in this way. Also, at some point, he also received the Russian imperial order of St. Stanislaus (which was reciprocal award amongst the Allies).  Plus, there has been a family story that has passed down thru the generations, that he carried his injured commanding officer (CO) 5 miles to safety.  In my research, it so turned out that the men did indeed carry their CO Col. GHF Kelly 5 miles to be buried in the cemetery at Beuvry Cemetery, I am assuming my ancestor was one of those men! 





In 1917, the regiment was sent to Basra/ Mesopotamia to take part in the Ottaman empire offensive.  During the ‘Battle of Daur’, General Maude mentioned him Despatch (November 2, 1917).  In Kut Al Amara, he eventually got wounded with a bullet lodged in his spine.  He was sent home as a war-wounded and soon afterwards, he succumbed from his war injuries during the second wave of the Spanish Flu (Oct-Nov, 1918)





  • Mention-in-Despatch Certificate





34th Royal Sikh Pioneers War Record made entirely from shells collected in various battles of WW1 




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COVID & The Spanish Flu, An Interesting Parallel…
		
	
	

		






There is no doubt that the current global COVID-19 health crisis is fluid, perplexing, dramatic, unsettling, paralyzing, and all-consuming; with countless images and data of people hooked up to ventilators or in body bags, healthcare workers & first responders in full PPE, (exhausted in some cases), deserted and empty streets, masked and gloved people and officials, rumors of shortages, etc., are omnipresent 24/7, in all news outlets, social media, concerned welfare calls, expert opinions and analysis, governmental or public health briefings, in unemployment numbers, in obstructed routines, etc.  Although some details are useful and informational, inspiring and even funny, but mostly forbidding, confusing, and conflicting! What’s confounding is the level of disruption, uncertainty, unpredictability and paranoia that prevails.  I wonder why our emotions are so heightened this time around?  Doesn’t the seasonal Flu kill more people annually?  What about more deadlier outbreaks like Swine Flu, SARs, MERs and Ebola, haven’t they become somewhat unmemorable & an illness of the past? It’s odd how we are indifferent and unconcerned to some maladies, yet so irrational and fearful of others?  Is it because its novel (no pun intended) & unfamiliar, and we haven’t developed any coping mechanism for? Or is it more innate and is triggering our reptilian brain and our instinctive survival mechanism?  Could it be even more primordial, perhaps it lays bare the cosmic truth about death, that we ultimately are not in control of how and when we die?










Also, what’s uncanny is the similarity that exists between ‘COVID-19’ crisis and the ‘Spanish Flu’ Influenza’ outbreak from only a 100 years back!  Both respiratory diseases (one coronavirus and the other H1N1) are so analogous that barring the period attire, one can easily swap pictures, posters and advice, and in my opinion one wouldn’t even know the difference!  Also, now overhearing my father, recount over the phone for his friends, the suffering from fall/autumn of 1918-19, as shared by Manji (his beloved grandmother who also lost her husband to this affliction within a short span of returning home to recuperate from the injuries to his spine that he sustained fighting in WW1), I hear him say, “Manji said there were so many deaths, when you returned from one funeral, the next funeral would be ready for cremation”.  I was stunned by this revelation and the poignant, sobering and soul-stirring picture these works painted, that are also so reflective of what we are seeing with the disturbing COVID-19 scenario!  Unfortunately that was the reality of the times and a common suffering, misfortune and depravity that many people and families share globally. I also noted that he called the infirmity ‘Katak di Bimari’ or ‘Illness of Katak’ (Katak, in Punjabi is the eighth month of the Desi calendar, 30 days long, with the first day falling on October 15th and the last day on November 13th), which my father later clarified that because there was absence of formal education and even lack of English language knowledge in the masses, perhaps Manji (and the locals) described this pestilence in Punjabi dialect which they were familiar & comfortable with, and one which made sense to them.  










As I further my research into the perils of ‘Spanish Flu’ in India, I am finding that although it is very well pictorialized in the West, photos from Indian subcontinent was hugely lacking. This felt odd given that Indian deaths accounted for 1/5th of the 50 million deaths worldwide!  Also, India had a large contingent of soldiers in WW1 and in the epicenter France where this disease broke out, what was I missing?  I know experts called it the ‘forgotten pandemic’ and it certainly seemed true from the Indian experience. Also now that are read these two write-ups – 1) Arnold David’s paper titled ‘Death and the Modern Empire: The 1918-19 Influenza Epidemic in India’,  where he states that “the impact of the disease was overshadowed by the prior encounter with bubonic plague, by military recruitment and the war, and by food shortages and price rises that pushed India to the brink of famine”, and 2) Angana Chakrabarti’s article “102 yrs before COVID-19, India braved The Bombay Fever pandemic that killed over 10 mn’,  she calls ‘Spanish Flu’ ‘Bombay Fever’ or ‘Bombay Influenza’!  I wonder if the depravations that existed in colonial India were so grave that people didn’t see ‘Spanish Flu’ as a distinctive disease and also the various colloquial names used to describe the disease takes away from knowing the true human tragedy in India?  While we ponder on this, there is no doubt that Spanish Flu came to India in three waves (like the rest of the world), mainly – 










  1. The first wave manifested in May/June 1918 in the dock workers at the Bombay port.  It lasted about 4 weeks and devastated Bombay (or Mumbai) and which the local British health officer, J.A. Turner, professed at the time “it came to Bombay like a thief in the night” (Chakrabarti, 2020).  Symptoms reported were fever, bone pain, bronchial inflation, congestion, eye pains and a general feeling of malaise.
  2. The second wave, the most lethal & fatal, targeted young men between ages of 20 to 40 years old (of which my aforementioned great-grandfather was one of its fatalities), came to India and Punjab in September 1918 and lasted till December 1918.  
  3. The third and final wave came in 1919.





In closing, although it’s unknown with COVID-19, what the next few days, weeks or months are going to look like, or how it may show up in history’s storyline & timeline, I am confident in the human spirit and its resilience.  Also, history is witness that mankind has overcome many endemics, epidemics and pandemics, so certainly we will prevail over this too.  For now, please head the warnings of the experts, wash your hands, and stay safe.  















References –






























	


	



			
				


			

			
Mystery Of The Medal Solved…
		
	
	

		














I had a conundrum with one of my ancestors’ medal.  At first glance it is an inconsequential, flimsy medal; a red enameled cross with a ceramic white center with the letters SS surrounded by a gold wreath of sorts.  It doesn’t resemble any known British campaign medal of the time.  Plus, I hypothesized, given its lackluster and diaphanous quality, it to be an insignificant regimental honor given for a sporting competition or some leisure activity.  So you can imagine my astonishment and disbelief when my friend Tejpal shared it to be the Russian Imperial medal ‘The Order of St. Stanislas’ (Orden sv. Stanislava, Орденъ Св. Станислава).  A medal of great historical significance and quite a collector’s item!  





Wait.  What? A dynastic Russian award from the times of the Tsar/Czar!  What? How did my ancestor, an Indian soldier of the British-Indian army, ever get such a decoration?  In what way would he have had contact with any Russian?  As the name of the ancestor is not inscribed on the medal, could it be from Babaji Sawan Singh’s 2nd Afghan war times which was fought to drive Russians out of Afghanistan?  Or was it from Babaji Indar Singh’s generation when Russian empire was part of the ‘triple alliance’ on the Western Front?  It so turns out that during the First World War about 350 ‘Orders of St Stanislas’ were awarded to British and Indian troops!  Iain Smith, my connection from the UK based ‘Sikh Pioneers and Sikh Light Infantry Association’, stated that “at the end of the war, the Allied states made a point of making reciprocal awards of medals to their fellow Allies. You often find lists of medal awards in the London Gazette with British and Indian soldiers receiving French, Belgian, Serbian, Romanian or Russian medals. You are very lucky still to have the medal”. 










Hold on.  When was the Russian Revolution?  Wasn’t the Russian imperial family deposed in 1917 (while the Great war ended in 1918)?  So, was this awarded under Czar Nicholas II’s reign or by the Russian provincial government that took over when the Czar abdicated?  Although, getting my head around Tsar Nicholas II, ’House of Romanov’ or ‘Lenin’s Bolshevik Revolution’ was overwhelming but it really brought history to life!  Now those boring and monotonous classes of world history (and historical events) had context and connection. Wow!  By now you must be wondering.  What is this award?  From my research it appears that this royal decoration has origins in Poland where it was awarded for ‘chivalry and exemplifying christian virtues’. Then sometime in 1831, it entered the Russian honor system and was given out to both military personnel and civilians for their distinguished service.  In 1844, after undergoing a few revisions and redesigns ( including splitting it into 3 classes), it started to be given out to non-christians as well.  It remained in place in Russia for some time in 1917, when the ‘Provincial Government of Russia’ came into power after the abdication of the Czar.  However, once the ‘Bolsheviks’ took control, all imperial and dynastic award were suspended and discontinued.  The original medal as it would have been awarded to my great grandfather would have been a ‘Bath’ cross with four double-headed eagles (representing the Russian empire) with swords at each angle (all made of gold), with a circular wreath of green laurel holding the white enameled medallion with red SS in the middle.  Plus, it would have been finely crafted in the workshops of highly skilled goldsmiths, silversmiths and enamelers!  





In closing, although, ours is a denuded medal that is stripped of its decoration of gold crown, eagles, and swords (perhaps for its extrinsic value), it is a magnificent reminder of my ancestor’s valor, heroism, sacrifice, and for being brethren in arms in the trenches of an awful war.  It tells of a tremendous story of resilience in the battlefield for which he was recognized by a foreign sovereign/government.  What an exquisite and priceless piece of history which I will cherish all my life!










Other Interesting stuff –





  1. Our medal has a mismatched ribbon! For some reason, a family member swapped out the ribbon with the one from 1911 Delhi durbar.  Hopefully, I can correct it in future once I procure  the correct ribbon.
  2. Did you know historians did not chronicle WW1 records until 1922 (4 years after the war ended)?  Therefore, they may have failed to properly document the accounts of Indian soldiers especially the ones who perished before the war records were tabulated.  Thus my great grandfather’s story in an incomplete one! (Thank you Tejpal for this information





References – 





http://www.theaerodrome.com/medals/russia/osts.php





http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/wr.php?main=inc/a_foreign_russian





http://nicholsonadvisory.com/imperial-royal-order-of-st-stanislas

	


	



			
				


			

			
Caste and Clan Clarification …
		
	
	

		

Growing up I was acutely aware that I belonged to a Sikh family and was different from the population at large.  Although there were quite a few Sikhs in the different Air Force stations that my father got posted to, we were still a small number.  I remember my father looked different from other fathers because of his turban, my mother was taller than all my friends mothers’ & wore salwar-kameez as opposed to saris, their penchant for speaking Punjabi to each other (and their delight when other folks spoke their mother-tongue) while switching to other dialects in public. Plus, the unfettered liberty my classmates/friends took in cracking Sikh jokes also added to one feeling distinctive.   





Having said that what I was not much cognizant of the clan/caste differentiation that is so deeply rooted & entrenched in the psyche, traditions, beliefs and sentiments of the society and people of the subcontinent.  I think my first recollection of this stratification was thru my school curriculum where the ‘Laws of Manu’ was taught in history and sociology classes.  Although, as a minor, I didn’t see much evidence and any questions I had regarding caste/clan was countered with a very healthy discourse that the Sikh Gurus departed from such practice(s), and in the formation of the ‘Khalsa Panth’ (Sikh religion) the last Guru homogenized the religion by abolishing the clan/caste delineation by instituting that all men were to be called ‘Singh’(Lion) and women as ‘Kaur’ (Princess) as their last name.  Regardless, awareness of caste/clan social order crept in subtly and perhaps thru socialization!  For instance, during our annual vacation trip to Punjab, it was customary for my grandparents to take us to our ‘Pind’ (village), not only to mingle with our rural cousins, expose us to our ‘Jat’ roots, visit our farms, but also to socialize us to the ways of the ‘Jats’!  It was expected that as children of prominent ‘Jat Sikh’ family of our village, we not only needed to be familiar of our rural land holdings, what the land grew, when was the harvest season, etc.  Any talks of selling these lands were quickly hushed and made known that there is no Jat without land (farms that is).  For me the unspoken bias regarding inter-clan/caste dynamics came into prominence during my sister’s wedding.  My sister was marrying a ‘Khatri’ Sikh, and the idea that my parents even sanctioned it to take place was very unpalatable for many of our relatives.  They made their opposition & disapproval to this union known, with some being very vocal whilst others grumbling behind closed doors.  This was a bit of surprise to me given she was marrying a Sikh guy (and the only other example I know of a marriage that was opposed was that of my cousin who married a ‘Gupta’ but I thought that antipathy was because she married outside the religion!).  Now that after two decades of marriage my sister and her husband are divorcing, the same polarity & dogmatism is surfacing with our relatives surfacing their original opposition to this marriage. I realized that the clan/caste lines in India is very dominant and it transcends religion and time.  Powerful stuff!





Having knowledge of this bias, I was very surprised during my research into my paternal ancestor’s military service in the British-Indian Army that their regiments (23rd and the 34th Sikh Pioneers) were predominantly compromised of Sikhs from the ‘Mazbi’ clan.  The more I researched the more it got confusing with most literature calling all members of the regiments as ‘Mazbis’ as well as modern day experts congratulating me for the bravery of my ‘Mazbi’ ancestors.  Initially all this amusing given my introductory remarks but it became very apparent to me of the disservice this is creating toward the contributions of others that were also part of the regiment, and their participation was going unrecognized!  Although I have lots of questions, mainly around how come my paternal ancestors who were ‘Jat Sikhs’ end up in a regiment of ‘Mazbi Sikhs?  Were they progressive and aspired to the teachings of the Sikh Gurus who attempted to erode these class/caste/clan structures?  or were they ambitious and saw an opening for faster promotion in a regiment of a different clan?  I guess the answer I will never know but I do know that they were brave men and their contribution is immense which I will make entries in future blogposts.











	


	



			
				


			

			
The Raj, Wars and My Paternal Ancestors…
		
	
	

		


 


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Last month was special.  I came across some of my ancestor’s military service documents, commendations, awards/medals, etc., for the empire days (majority of which didn’t survive partition of India and the great migration that ensued in 1947).  I was most excited about two notable documents – First, being a 130 year old enlistment certificate from the reign of Queen Victoria of my great great grandfather Sawan Singh, and second, a WW1 commendation certificate of my great grandfather Indar Singh signed by Sr. Winston Churchill (the then secretary of war). This month we also celebrate the 100th Armistice Day marking the end of World War One.


It reviewing the documents, it appears that on October 5th, 1888, my great- great- grandfather Sawan Singh enlisted in the ‘34th Sikh Pioneers’, an infantry assault regiment of the British-Indian army. I remember Manji (my great grandmother) telling us that Babaji Sawan Singh had a very long and illustrious service, that he was a Subadar-Major (which is the highest rank an Indian could attain in the Imperial armies at that time), and that he was awarded a land grant of 5 Murraba (125 Acres) in the village of ‘GB Chak No. 232’ in Lyallpur district (now in Pakistan).She also talked about all the memorabilia he brought from his various deployments, especially the Chinese storage boxes (Sandooks) and Peking Silk that had to be left behind during the hasty migration of 1947.  My research shows that some of his deployments would have been ‘relief of Chitral’ (1897), ‘Tirah Campaign’ (1897-1898), China ‘relief of Peking and Tientsin’ (1900-1901) following the boxer rebellion, etc.


Indar Singh, my great grandfather, also followed in his father’s footsteps and enlisted in the 34th Sikh Pioneers.  During the ‘Great War’ of 1914-18, his regiment (part fo the 3rd Lahore division) was first deployed on the Western Front and winning the battle honors of Festubert, St Julien, La Bassee, Armentieres, Givenchy, Neuve Chapelle, Ypres, France and Flanders, and then moved to the Middle East in the Mesopotamia Campaign where he fought against troops of the Ottoman Empire.  Manji used to mention that he showed great bravery in the battlefield, and despite being wounded himself, carried his commander to safety.  He returned home shortly thereafter as a war-casualty, and later succumbed to his injuries at home, during the month of ‘Kata’ (Punjabi month that straddles October/November), in 1918 during the deadly ‘Spanish Influenza’ outbreak.  Although Manji was pregnant with my grandfather when he passed away (so he never got to see his son).  Manji stated that he was tall (6’ 4” or 6’5″), good looking, and also a Subadar-Major like his father.  She would also talk about her wedding (she being his second wife), going to Ambala Cantt (the base of his regiment) where he was stationed as a Jamadar-Adjutant (which she pronounced Jamadar-Jitten).  She also shared of her good relations with his first wife Rattan Kaur and her stepdaughter Kamal Kaur (my father also remembers Bhauji Kamal Kaur very fondly).


Although these artifacts & stories made me aware of their rich lives and legacies, it also makes me wonder how they would have been in person.  Although history may not give them the proper dues, I for sure have a greater appreciation, respect and awe of their bravery, sacrifices, and courage.  I salute them and honor their DNA that runs thru my veins.