World War I Victoria Cross

First Indian Warrior to receive the Victoria Cross in France, World War I

Victoria Crosshttp://www.historytoday.com/sites/default/files/507594_qqIE4D94.jpg.img_.jpg

The Victoria Cross is Britain’s highest military award for conspicuous battlefield gallantry.November 23, 1914, Battle of Festubert, France.Undeterred by bullets and grenades ripping the night sky, twice wounded in the head and once in the arm, the Indian army Naik (Corporal) steadily moved forward with tactical perfection as part of the first trench raid of World War II. As written in Philip Mason’s authoritative A Matter of Honour, the blood drenched Naik single-handedly bayoneted five Germans and survived to become the first Indian warrior to receive the Victoria Cross on French soil.

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The Germans died for their fatherland in a cold, hostile land at the hands of a diminutive fighter from a faraway land.The Hindu Kshatriya hereditary warrior followed the dharma of his caste.

He was from the northeast Indian region of Garwhal, whose clans are as renowned for their battlefield ferocity as for being law-abiding.

Naik Darwan Singh Negi of the 1st Battalion of 39th Garhwal Rifles served with honor and conspicuous gallantry..
While receiving the Victoria Cross on December 5, 1914, he was asked if he wished for something.
He asked for a school in his district, Chamoli.
The request was granted.
Negi served until 1924, obtaining the rank of Subedar (Warrant Officer), when he took premature retirement, devoting his time to uplift his underdeveloped district in a backward region. He helped war widows, opened a school in his village and got the authorities to provide road and rail links to his village.
On 24 June 1950, he died peacefully of natural causes, in Kafarteer Village, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Lest We Forget

It is worth remembering today that 3.5 million Indo-Pakistani soldiers fought for Western democracy, gaining 38 Victoria and George crosses.

That’s one warrior’s life paying the fare for approximately two South Asian immigrants enjoying democracy in the UK!

The Victoria Cross is the British Army’s highest decoration for conspicuous battlefield gallantry. Its first South Asian recipient was Sepoy Khudadad Khan – Belgium, World War I.

Subadar Khudadad Khan (1888–1971), VC, 10th Baluch Regiment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/subadar-khudadad-khan-18881971-vc-10th-baluch-regiment-182544

Subadar Khudadad Khan (1888–1971), VC, 10th Baluch Regiment

by Henry Charles Bevan-Petman

Khudadad Khan was the first Indian soldier to win the Victoria Cross after eligibility for the award was extended to Indian officers and men of the Indian Army in 1911. In common with half of the men in his regiment, the 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis, Khudadad Khan was a Pathan from north-west India (now Pakistan).

As part of 7th Indian (Ferozepore) Brigade, the 129th Baluchis arrived in France from Egypt during September 1914. While serving in the regiment’s machine-gun detachment on 31 October 1914, ‘at Hollebecke, Belgium, the British officer in charge of the detachment having been wounded, and the other gun put out of action by a shell, Sepoy Khudadad, though himself wounded, remained working his gun until all the other five men of the gun detachment had been killed’ (‘The London Gazette’, 7 December 1914). Khudadad was decorated with the award by George V in January 1915.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/subadar-khudadad-khan-18881971-vc-10th-baluch-regiment-182544