Book Review
By Sudhir K Arora
Garhwal Aur Pratham Vishwa Yudh – Author Devesh Joshi
The 24th of November is a landmark day in the annals of Garhwali valour. This year, 24 November will mark 110 years of the Victoria Cross winning action of Naik Darwan Singh Negi in the bloody trenches of Festubert in France during the First World War. A section of the Allied trenches in the front line of Festubert had been taken by the Germans. The 1st Battalion 39th Garhwal Rifles was tasked to recapture these. Garhwali valour and the Commanding Officer’s tactical ingenuity made history. The assault was launched at 0300 hours on the morning of 24 November 1914, with brave Garhwalis charging and clearing the Germans out of the trenches by launching a hail of bullets and grenades, the leading men lunging into the Germans with their bayonets. The Garhwalis achieved their objective by dawn, in the process taking 100 prisoners. This success was not without cost. The battalion lost one Garhwali Officer and 18 Riflemen killed, while 77 were wounded. Among the leading men was Naik Darwan Singh Negi, invariably the first or among the first to push around each successive traverse, all the while facing enemy fire at close range. Despite being wounded twice in the head and also in his arm, he did not rest till the trenches were securely in Garhwali hands. For this act of most conspicuous bravery in the face of severe enemy fire, Naik Darwan Singh Negi was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest gallantry award in the British Empire. He also had the distinction of being the first Indian to receive the award in person from King George V, the King Emperor, when he visited the Indian Corps in France on 1 December 1914.
The history of Garhwalis in the First World War needs to be retold so that their gallantry is recorded for posterity. This has been done ably in the book Garhwal Aur Pratham Vishwayudh by Devesh Joshi. By writing in Hindi, he has made this stirring saga available to a much wider audience.
When the First World War broke out in August 1914, the Garhwal Rifles Regiment was but two battalions strong. It was also a very young regiment (originating in 1887). By October 1914, the situation in France had turned dire for the British and an Indian Corps was dispatched to France, comprising two infantry divisions – 3rd (Lahore) Division and 7th (Meerut) Division – and the 9th (Secunderabad) Cavalry Brigade. The 1st and 2nd Battalions 39th Garhwal Rifles formed part of the Garhwal Brigade under the Meerut Division (the other two brigades were the Dehradun Brigade and the Bareilly Brigade). By the time they arrived, the British frontline was under severe pressure and the inadequately-clothed, untrained for trench warfare Indians were flung into battle in the icy slush of Flanders, France.
Negi, Victoria Cross
Scant months after their notable action at Festubert, on 10th March 1915 young Rifleman Gabar Singh Negi displayed gallantry of the highest order at Neuve Chapelle during an attack by the Second Battalion on German positions. He was part of the leading bayonet party and was in the forefront of the fighting. When the commander of his party was killed, he took over and saw the action to its successful culmination, in the process killing many of the enemy. He was killed in this action, fighting till the end most gallantly. For his conspicuous gallantry, he was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.
Negi, Victoria Cross
(Posthumous)
The extent of casualties being very high, the battalions were temporarily amalgamated and designated “The Garhwal Rifles” (the two Garhwali battalions lost 14 officers, 15 VCOs and 405 other ranks killed in France alone). They also won two of the only 11 Victoria Crosses awarded to Indian soldiers in the First World War. Lt Gen Sir James Willcocks, commanding the Indian Corps in France, had this to say about the Garhwalis in his book “With the Indians in France”: “The 1st and 2nd Battalions both did splendidly on every occasion in which they were engaged… the Garhwalis suddenly sprang to the very front rank of our best fighting men… nothing could have been better than their elan and discipline”.
After leaving France, the Garhwalis saw action in Egypt (on the Suez defences) as also in Macedonia. Later, in 1917, the re-constituted 1st and 2nd Battalions saw action against the Turks in Mesopotamia, notably at Ramadi and Sharqat. At Khan Baghdadi on 25-26 March 1918, the 2nd Battalion encircled and forced a Turkish column to surrender (consisting of 300 all ranks, complete with its Divisional Commander and staff).
As due recognition of their fighting prowess in the Great War, Battle Honours “La Bassee”, “Armentieres”, “Festubert”, “Neuve Chapelle”, “Aubers”, “France and Flanders 1914-15”, “Egypt”, “Macedonia”, “Khan Baghdadi”, “Sharqat” and “Mesopotamia” were conferred on the Regiment.
No account of Garhwalis in the First World War will be complete without mention of the contribution of Tehri State (Garhwal then comprised Tehri Garhwal and ‘British’ Garhwal – modern Pauri). This tiny state sent 7,000 young men (comprising 36% of males in the State between the ages of 18 and 25 years) to war, enrolling in both the Garhwal Rifles as well as their own Tehri Imperial Service Sappers (an engineer unit maintained by the State, post-Independence being amalgamated with the Bengal Sappers based in Roorkee). This unit, under 2nd Lieutenant (later Captain and Military Cross winner) Rana Jodha Jang Bahadur, gave an excellent account of itself in the War.
The scale of the military effort of just Pauri (‘British’) Garhwal can be gauged from the fact that of the total male population of the district of around 70,000 men between ages 20 and 40 years (of whom just about 35,000 were deemed to be fit for military service), over 13,000 men enrolled in the Army – a ratio of around one of every three men! Of these, 539 all ranks of the Garhwal Rifles laid down their lives in action. As a mark of recognition to Garhwali valour in the First World War, the Garhwal Rifles were conferred the distinction of being titled ‘The Royal Garhwal Rifles’ – one of only eight Indian Army units conferred this honour.
The author (who has earlier in 2022 written a book on First World War hero Capt Dhum Singh Chauhan) deserves to be congratulated for a very well researched account of Garhwal in the First World War and making a significant contribution to recording the martial history of ‘The Land of Forts’.
(The reviewer is a military historian and can be reached at sudhir.aroraddn@gmail.com)
