Die in battle, do not despair: the Indians on Gallipoli, 1915
by Peter Stanley
published by Helion & Company in association with the United Service Institution of India, 2015
ISBN 978 1 910294 67 3
Hardback, 302pp plus appendices, sources, index. Illustrated.
“Die in battle, do not despair” is, without question, the best work of military history that I have read for a considerable time. Brilliantly researched, fluently written and fascinating to read, I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the Gallipoli campaign, the British Army in India, the Indian Army or even the Great War in general.
There is a tendency to regard Gallipoli as an Australian affair. The larger British and French contingents, and even the New Zealanders, often take a back seat. The fact that Indian troops played a vital part in the campaign is so overlooked as to have become invisible: “Die in battle, do not despair” is an excellent corrective, putting the Indian contribution into context. Some 16,000 Indian troops served in the campaign, and of these, 1,600 lost their lives. The mountain artillery and mule trains at ANZAC; the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade (eventually mainly Gurkhas) at Cape Helles, and the Gurkhas in the ultimately unsuccessful attack on Sari Bair are all covered.
Peter Stanley takes us through the complex background to the British Army in India and the Indian Army, from which we learn much of broad range of ethnic and religious differences around which the army organised and with which it coped so well. We are taken through the move of an Indian Expeditionary Force to the Suez Canal defences of Egypt, where the warm relationship between Anzacs and Indians first began and which was to prove so valuable on the rocky slopes of Gallipoli. The majority of the book concerns the fighting from April 1915 onwards: the stories of extraordinary bravery and fortitude in terrible conditions (arguably conditions which better suited the Gurkhas and Indian troops with experience of the North West Frontier than lads from Melbourne or Manchester) are many, and are inspiring. We read of the fascinating relationships between British and Indian officers, and between officer and man in a situation where they were forced to share hardships. We learn of British concerns about the loyalty of the all-Muslim units and that some were removed from Gallipoli because of these concerns, even though many Muslim troops were serving in non-Muslim units with great distinction. We read of the minutiae of day to day life on Gallipoli for the Indian soldiers, as well as of the battles and losses.
Some good maps, and excellent collection of photographs complete the work. A quite brilliant book, and beautifully produced in high quality paper.
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