Indians Were At X'mas WWI Truce!

The German and British sides, along with the Indian soldiers, met at halfway points, on no man's land and gave the Indian soldiers sweets and Christmas trees and they offered biscuits and cognac in return.

IMAGE: Indian bicycle troops at a crossroads on the Fricourt-Mametz Road, Somme, France, July 1916. Photograph: Kind courtesy John Warwick Brooke/Wikimedia Commons

Unlike the brutal combat we see today in war zones, in World War I, there were wonderful and elegant Christmas truces in the trenches in Europe.

These very humane and gentlemanly truces saw soldiers from both sides -- French, British, Germans, Austrian Hungarians, Russians -- unofficially, cross over to meet, socialise, carol together, exchange little gifts, smoke in each other's company and actually go arm and arm in the spirit of Christmas bonhomie, like they hadn't just been fighting each other bitterly weeks before.

This year marks the 110th anniversary of the first of those WWI truces that The Times newspaper, London, calls 'a great modern Christmas story.

For the Christmas truce of 1914, along the Western Front, it is now quite evident that Indians were around too! Not surprising considering about a million Indians fought in WWI.

The British authorities, courtesy Princess Mary, only daughter of King George V, who was a World War I nurse, handed out little Christmas gift tins in 1914 to their soldiers at the battlefront.

These brass embossed tins contained smoking kits and a Christmas card from the king, queen and princess. And also bore a picture of Princess Mary in them.

IMAGE: The Illustrated London News illustration of the Christmas Truce: 'British and German Soldiers Arm-in-Arm Exchanging Headgear: A Christmas Truce between Opposing Trenches'.
The subcaption reads 'Saxons and Anglo-Saxons fraternising on the field of battle at the season of peace and goodwill: Officers and men from the German and British trenches meet and greet one another - A German officer photographing a group of foes and friends.' Photograph: Kind courtesy A C Michael/Wikimedia Commons

Research by military historian Peter Doyle, at Goldsmiths, University of London, reported in The Times, unearthed that the little tins contained spices too, for some, which was solid evidence that Indians were out there at this warfront.

The iwm.org.uk (external link) (Imperial War Museum site) also records that it was decided that the tins handed out had to be different for Sikhs, Hindus and bhistis (camp staff who handed out water and did other miscellaneous tasks) and would include spices and sugar candy.

IMAGE: British and German troops meet in no man's land during the unofficial truce. Photograph: Kind courtesy Robson Harold B/Wikimedia Commons

Delving further into the mystery of the spice tins, Doyle approached German historian Robin Schafer, who looked into their archives and discovered that there were reports in German newspapers of curious, excited German soldiers coming across to see the Indians, because they had never met any Indians before.

And the German and British sides, along with the Indian soldiers, met at halfway points, on no man's land and gave the Indian soldiers sweets and Christmas trees and they offered biscuits and cognac in return.

They discussed shooting technique and a German soldier named Wilhelm Althoe recorded 'Some Indians gifted us figs (and) a shiny metal box (the Princess Mary boxes) with spices'.

So far both Doyle and Schafer have not recovered photographs of these historic meetings.

But they are hopeful they might exist because what a treat it would be, in the 110th anniversary year, to find evidence of German, Indian and British fraternisation, on the sidelines of World War I.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com

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