Poem ~ First VC's of Indian Army - Tuesday, 08 December 1914

 Source: File: Darwan Sing Negi.jpg, Subterranean Sepoys -A Radio Play about Life in the Trenches for the Indian Army on the Western Front. [online] Available at: <http://trenchindians.com/sepoys-in-wwi/#sthash.0hFydd0o.dpbs> Accessed: 8 December 2014].

  Source: File: Khudadad Khan.jpg, Khudadad Khan, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khudadad_Khan > Accessed: 8 December 2014].

With the King-Emperor’s approval,

Members of the Indian army Corps,

Were awarded the Victoria Cross -

To be the first for just gallantry,

In the Indian Expeditionary army.

In the 1^st Battalion of 39^th Garwal Rifles

Naik Darwan Singh Negi was posted

Near Festubert, France –

During the night of 23-24 November,

The regiment set to make clear,

And retake some occupied trenches.

In a strategy that would become

Standard, the Garwal rifles

Attacked, to flank either side

Of one occupied trench –

They moved down and in -

Firing, bombing and bayoneting

To clear away their enemy.

With the first, Naik Darwan Singh Negi

Stepped forward, about each curve

Of the trench - under return fire from

Rifle and grenades, at close range.

Naik Darwan Singh Negi fought,

Despite being wounded twice,

In the head and in the arm -

By fight's end the man was seen,

Covered from head to foot,

Quite stained with his blood.

The VC for Naik Darwan Sing Negi

Given for great gallantry fighting

In face of enemy - on 5 December,

King George V had asked Negi

What he might do for him.

Came an unhesitant reply

For a homeland request.

Where he lived -

There were no schools.

Might one be made?

The process of this appeal,

Was immediately begun.

On 31 October in Belgium,

The onslaught of the Germans,

To gain French ports,

First had to get around Ypres,

The Belgium town.

129^th Duke of Connaughts

Own Baluchis had arrived

And rushed out to support,

The pressured British -

With two companies,

Stationed in  Hollebeke Sector

About the village of Gheluvelt.

Still outnumbered, companies

Suffered increasing casualties.

Two machine gun teams

Had been kept operational,

Throughout the day -

Halting enemy breakthroughs.

One man of Sepoy rank,

Khudadad Khan.

Found himself in great adversity.

One machine gun fell from action,

Hit by a shell, while a British

Detachments Officer was wounded.

The machine gun position,

Was then overrun and the men,

Fell under bayonets and bullets -

With the exception of Sepoy Khan,

Who was left for dead.

Alone and badly wounded,

The Sepoy stayed at his station,

Until night – despite his wounds,

crawling back To his regiment.

Due to his, and the Baluchis actions,

The Germans were held back,

Until British and Indian reserves,

Arrived - thereby the line,

Was fully strengthened

And the ports safety ensured.

Sepoy Khudadad Khan,

Was the first South Asian

To receive the Victoria Cross -

On the same day as

Naik Darwan Singh Negi.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1914. India’s First VC’s -Gallant Deeds. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 8 Dec. p.8. Col.6. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11275709/Daily-Telegraph-December-8-1914.html [Accessed: 8 December 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 08 December 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11275709/Daily-Telegraph-December-8-1914.html

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