By Pratap Chhetri
Exactly a hundred years ago, the first global conflict – World War I ended after an armistice was reached between the Allied powers and Germany on November 11, 2018 in a railway carriage in Compiegne in France. But it was not until the next year that the War officially ended with the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles which laid the groundwork for another global conflict twenty years later. Since then November 11 is observed as Armistice Day signifying the end of mankind’s first pogrom with itself.
Never before in the history of mankind had such death and destruction permeated countries and societies across the world and Europe in particular. Nine million soldiers died, another 21 million were wounded while 5 million civilians died from disease, famine and exposure. But even today the world has not learnt of the horrors of war and conflict. U Thant, the first Asian Secretary General resonate correctly stated, “In modern war there is no such thing as victor and vanquished… There is only one loser and the loser is mankind”.
India and the Great War
Undivided India drafted over 15 lakh people for the War. There were over 9 lakh soldiers; the remaining 6 lakh were followers, labourers and non-combatants of varied roles. Over 74,000 soldiers died on the battle front in various theatres of the war – France, Turkey and Mesoptamia, earning 9200 decorations which among others included 11 Victoria Crosses. Since records were obscure for the non-combatants, the War Office figures from 1920 which records the number of deaths at 17,347 is most certainly an underestimate.
Yet the Indian narrative remains largely untold and forgotten. Though Indian soldiers played a decisive role in many battles, Western academics and historians have always dealt with the Great War as a ‘white-man’s narrative,’ forgetting the significant contributions of ‘the non-whites’ or ‘men of colour’ towards the War. But India too has also shied away from taking credit and trumpeting its contribution for a long time because the War was fought for imperial defence under British colonial yoke. India’s fight for self rule which quickly gained momentum after 1919, perhaps, overshadowed India’s role in the Great War. Field Marshal Auchinleck being aware of India’s phenomenal role, asserted in 1942 that the “British couldn’t have come through the First and Second World Wars if they hadn’t had the Indian Army”. Even after Independence, it took over 68 years for an Indian Prime Minister to visit the Indian Memorial at Neuve Chapelle in France where the names of 4742 Indian soldiers and labourers with no known graves are inscribed.
Whatever the circumstances, India’s contribution was phenomenal. Indians fought right from the start to the finish. It was the first time in India’s history that soldiers of the Raj, state troops of Indian states, auxiliaries and labour force from all corners of the country – North, South, East and West and even from North East India participated in the War which changed the course of world history. Since 2014, there has been renewed interest in the Indian participation and its wider role both in government and academia. The Indian contribution is being discussed and written about, thanks largely to the efforts of India’s oldest think tank United Services Institution of India and its Centre – the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research. USI-CAFHR’s Secretary, Rana Chinna who has painstakingly pieced together India’s stellar role. His efforts have been recognised both by the British and Belgian Governments that have honoured him. Indians academics like Santanu Das of King’s College, London and Radhika Singha of JNU have also done commendable work. Vedica Kant’s visual narrative of the Indian engagement and Shrabani Basu’s book are eye openers for the general reader.
North East India and the Great War
The Great War that lasted from 1914 to 1918 is remembered with horror and grief. But for the thousands who served as paid volunteer labourers as a part of the Indian Labour Corps during 1917-18 in France on the Western Front from the then primitive North East India – a region that had been annexed by the British just a few decades prior to the start of the Warm – the journey was epic. It was an adventure into a hitherto unknown world. For these tribal men who had never seen modern civilization and whose contacts with the outside world were limited, the War was a blessed opportunity that opened the horizons of their world, enlightening them and the societies, they came from. The War acted as a catalyst that hastened the advent of modern civilization and aided the growth of education and spread of Christianity in faraway North East India. Most importantly political consciousness began to slowly dawn amongst the Nagas, Khasis, Garos and Lushais as a result of their first exposure to modern civilization. Football – the favourite game in the region was brought back by the men of the Labour Corps, who first played the game in France a hundred years ago.
Around 8000 men from present day North East India were a part of the 50,000 strong Indian Labour Corps recruited by the British from the non-martial races and tribals of present day Eastern and North Eastern India in early 1917 to serve as labourers and porters in the theatres of the action in France on the Western Front. These Labour Corps were christened according to the regions they came from – Garo Labour Corps, Khasi Labour Corps, Lushai Labour Corps, Manipuri Labour Corps, Naga Labour Corps etc.
During their rule over North East India the British had crafted a policy through which they could place demands for forced labour from tribes – for use as porters and building works as well as expeditionary and punitive missions against other tribes. It was perhaps this policy that the then Chief Commissioner of Assam Archdale Earle might have counted upon for recruitment to the Labour Corps when he said ‘‘eight to ten thousand able bodied hill men,” would be recruited for France in response to the Secretary of State, India’s letter in early 1917 to the Viceroy asking if India could supply labour for the Western Front in France.
The North East Labour Corps was recruited in 1917 in various places, with a promised pay of Rs 20 per month and the exemption of payment of house tax and forced labour for life. The contract period was initially for a year, which could be extended. It is interesting to note that early Christian missionaries in some cases helped the British administrators recruit labour for the War when their own efforts failed. Pettigrew’s persuasive recruitment of 1200 Tangkhul Nagas for the 22nd Manipur Labour Corps is a well documented case. The Kuki Rebellion (Uprising) of 1917-1919 or Zou-Gal was perhaps the largest ever uprising against the British in North East India by any tribe in the region. The cause – fresh recruitment for labour for France. By the summer of 1918 most of the Labour Corps returned to their homes as valiant heroes. Amongst all the tribes, the Nagas were the first to realize the need for unity. Men who returned from France in 1918 formed a socio-political association called the Naga Club with branches in Kohima and Mokokchung. 1918. In 1928 this same Association sent a representation to the Simon Commission asking them the right of choice of self determination after the British left India. In a sense The World Wars first brought about Naga unity.
The Labour Corps provided essential services to the army such as cooking, laundry, moving supplies and stores, burying the dead, unloading ships and trains and repairing roads and railways. They worked behind the frontlines but Indian labourers were often used for more dangerous work close to the action such as building fortifications or moving ammunition.
Hundreds of labourers were victims to long-range shelling, air raids, and enemy action during the German Spring Offensive in 1917-18. Many died of Illness particularly during the influenza pandemic of 1918. On the Western front, the Indian Labour Corps were given doses of treacle and opium, twice weekly to ease their discomfort during the winter months. Yet many succumbed to pneumonia. Many died on the long journey to France on foot, rail and ships. Though there are no exact estimates of deaths a conservative estimate was anywhere from 300 to 400 souls. The names of men of the Labour Corps who died during the War are inscribed in various Memorials such as Neuve Chapelle in France, Basra Memorial in Iraq and Heliopolis Memorial in Egypt etc.
Vernacular memoirs of Sainghinga (Indopui 1914-1918 – Mizote Fance ram kal chanchin), a Lushai clerk with the Lushai Labour Corps and of Kanrei Shaiza(Āpuk Āpaga Rairei Khare, France Khavā , 1917-18), a Tangkhul Naga interpreter of the Manipur Labour Corps and the diary of Angom Porom Singh, the first Meitei convert who headed the Meitei contingent of the Manipur Labour Corps vividly describe the arduous journey by rail and ship and of life in the Western Front. Memories of the French sojourn are captured in the form of poems and folk songs of the Mizo, Khasis, Tangkhuls, Semas and Lothas and are sung even today by youngsters. Wanphrang Diengdoh’s documentary on the Khasi Labour Corps, ‘We Did Not Choose,’ which portrays the effect of the War on the Khasis and its ramifications deserves accolades. It is the only documentary on the Labour Corps till date from the region.
The collective amnesia in North East India about the Labour Corps is slowly clearing up. On Nov 6-7 the World War-I Tangkhul Naga Labour Corps Association, formed by descendants of the Labour Corps organised the Centenary Celebration of the War in Ukhrul Manipur, in their own poignant way, remembering their forefathers who left the hills to go to France. A memorial was unveiled at a large gathering which included representatives from the British and French governments. The Tangkhuls must be commended for their efforts, as they are the only community that have formed such an Association to remember men of their community. Memorials to men of the Labour Corps can be found in Aizawl, Shillong and Tura, all of which were erected in the early 1920s. In April last year, finally, a monolith dedicated to the Naga Labour Corps was erected in Kohima. Efforts are underway by groups based in Imphal to have one dedicated to men of the Manipur Labour Corps.
There is a great need by scholars from the region to examine the role of the Labour Corps in the socio-political development discourse of their communities. Focused studies can bring out a better understanding the overall impact that War had on communities. This is a part of our history which we should all take pride in – lest we forget.