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Brits commemorated the animals who lost their lives in world wars by building a memorial ' Animals in War Memorial ' in London. But it seems that they have forgotten the contribution of Indian soldiers who were made to fight for their colonisers. This post seeks to generate awareness among people about the Indian contribution in the allied victory.
In fact, every sixth soldier fighting for the Brits was from the Indian subcontinent. India contributed with more soldiers than Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa combined.
53,486 Indian soldiers lost their lives, 64,350 were wounded and 3,762 went missing or were imprisoned. Nearly 9,000 died due to severe winters in France. Apart from men and material, India also contributed with 100 million pounds of wealth. Not just combatants, there were 43,737 men who worked in the Indian Labour Corps. Within weeks of the war being declared, India also supplied 70,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition, 600,000 rifles, motors and machine guns. The total value of India’s war contribution amounted to £ 80,000,000. That's about ₹ 7,420,800,000 in today's money. British continued to drain Indian money and manpower which resulted in death of 3 million Indians due to famines. This fact was never highlighted. The army was forgotten.
The Britain along with some other major powers who overlook India as a third world country have forgotten the Indian contribution in their prosperity. The India which once contributed 26% of world GDP before the arrival of British was exploited so much that after their departure India could contribute just 4% of world GDP.
So, I think it's a moral responsibility of Britain to commemorate the Indian soldiers who fought for them in world wars.
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