History
Sikh Soldier: Battle Honours, Gallantry Awards
A Book Review by T. SHER SINGH
The two volumes of "Sikh Soldier", by Narindar Singh Dhesi, have been collectively chosen as the sikhchic.com "Book of the Month" for Septenmber, 2010.
SIKH SOLDIER: BATTLE HONOURS [Volume One], by Narindar Singh Dhesi. Naval & Military Press, U.K., 2010. Paperback, pp vi + 192, £11.95. ISBN: 9781845748913
SIKH SOLDIER: GALLANTRY AWARDS [Volume Two], by Narindar Singh Dhesi. Naval & Military Press, U.K., 2010. Paperback, pp vi + 448, £14.95. ISBN: 9781845749057.
A few years ago, I found myself frantically preparing for a lecture I had been asked to give at the Imperial War Museum in London on the subject of Sikh awardees of the Victoria Cross.
I had done my research over several months, and was now already in London, England, with a dilemma - I desperately needed some critical info to complete my presentation, but it was nowhere to be found. I had gone through my own library which had a reasonable collection of books on Sikh military history, but with no luck.
I had scoured all of my other resources which were easily accessible to me ... always leading to a dead-end.
And then, quite by chance, I came across a tome in the hands of an acquaintance - it was a manuscript, yet to be published, of a detailed catalogue of awards and honours received by Sikh military heroes through world history. He said he had it on loan and wouldn't let it go out of sight - understandably, I might add.
I glanced through it hurriedly and within minutes found all the information I had been looking for those last few months - facts, figures, names and all that I needed.
Needless to say, in the weeks and months that followed, I sought out the author. When I did track him down, he most graciously gave me a copy of his work for my personal reference library ... it has been an invaluable and oft-used addition ever since.
He did tell me then that he was actively looking for a publisher.
Well, finally, there's good news.
The monumental work by Narindar Singh Dhesi has finally been published and is now finally available to the public.
Divided into two volumes - the publishers are the renowned Naval & Military Press in United Kingdom - the first is titled "Sikh Soldier: Battle Honours", and the second, "Sikh Soldier: Gallantry Awards".
Before I had the pleasure of digging into these volumes, I - a layman in these matters - had no idea that there was a distinction, within military parlance, between ‘honours' and 'awards', leave alone any clue as to what it was.
The Foreword to Volume One tells us succinctly that Battle Honours are:
" ... a military tradition. They are an official acknowledgement to military units for their achievements in specific wars or operations of a military campaign. They are usually presented in the form of a name of a country, a region or a city where the regiment's distinguished act took place, together with the year when it occurred. Originally, a regiment's colours (standards) were practical tools for rallying troops in the battlefield. Since 1784, regiments have been authorized to bear battle honours on their colours for displaying the unit's past distinctions and thus represent the regiment's history and commemorate its dead. Presented by the head of the state, they are treated with great reverence. Battle honours can normally be found engraved, painted or embroidered on the Regimental Colours (for infantry units) or the Regimental Guidon (for cavalry regiments) ..."
Volume Two, in its Foreword, however tells us that
"... Since ancient times, soldiers have been honoured for gallantry in battle. Over the years and in different societies, such honours have taken many forms but since the 1850s, specific acts of bravery 'in the face of the enemy' by British and Imperial forces have been recognized by the award of a range of wearable decorations. These provide a visible indication both of the bravery of the recipient and of its recognition by the government and nation ..."
The sheer ambit and reach of what Narindar Singh has attempted and achieved has never been tried before.
I have a treasured possession from my teen years - a frayed and dog-eared copy of "The Sikhs: Portrait of Courage", a 1965 publication of the Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Khalsa Defence Council of Delhi State.
It was a valiant attempt for the time to provide a brief essay on the military history of the Sikhs (author unknown), followed by a litany of the campaigns in which Sikh braves have been involved in modern history, and their respective awards and honours.
Unfortunately, the primary focus of the book was post-independence India. The list of "Honours, Awards and Decorations for Outstanding Gallantry" is limited to the years 1947 to 1965 - there has been no update since then.
Though the citations and extracts provided therein are good summaries, neither the information they provided nor the honorees and awardees they covered are exhaustive.
Similarly, ‘the Roll of Honour‘, listing the Sikh heroes killed in action at the close of Portrait of Courage, starts with October 1947 and runs out in 1965. Only those who sacrificed their lives in India's post-independence wars with its neighbours during the period are covered.
Narindar Singh's two volumes of "Sikh Soldier", however, covers the full gamut of the period after Maharaja Ranjit Singh, bringing us well into the new millennium.
Thus, even the so-called Anglo-Sikh Wars of the 1840s are given decent coverage.
One can glean from a quick glance through these pages that Ranjit Singh had been careful in the composition of his army by focusing primarily on Sikh and Muslim troops. He did make an exception for the Dogra Hindus because he expected them to be as loyal to the Sikhs as Ranjit had been generous and gracious to their leaders.
Well, the Dogras weren't.
With 7 Infantry Battalions, 2 Cavalry Regiments, 19 Light Artillery Pieces, 3 Heavy Field Guns, and 55 Heavy Garrison Cannons under the command of the Dogras - Suchet Singh, Hira Singh and Gulab Singh - they betrayed the Sikhs at crucial junctures. They had entered into a written agreement with the British long before the "wars", whereby the Dogra traitors would be rewarded with the state of Kashmir by the British as payment for their treachery.
The rest is history - and that history, sadly, continues to limp on to this day!
[Today's Karan Singh, the current titular Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir, is a direct descent of those very Dogra scoundrels, and his position and wealth a direct product of their kameenapan.]
Nothing thereon is missed - the Mutiny of 1857, China, Abyssinia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Sudan, Burma, Ghana, East Africa ... and we're still in the 19th century.
All the way to the Iraq War of our time.
Sgt. Uday Singh was with Charlie Company 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment of the U.S. Army when he was deployed to Iraq. On December 1, 2003,
"... Uday was in the lead Humvee of his platoon as a gunner while out on reconnaissance in Habbaniyah, when the platoon came under fire. Uday was the first to return fire, and kept the insurgents pinned down until reinforcements arrived. However, in the continuing fire fight, he was hit with a gunshot to his head and subsequently died whilst being transported to the hospital."
Awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, his ashes are buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Washington D.C.
Narinder Singh's Sikh Soldier, Volume Two also informs us that his Khanda-adorned gravestone can be found in Section 60, Gravesite No. 8122 at Arlington.
These two volumes will be of immense value to anyone looking for information - true, accurate, complete - about the real heroes of almost all of the wars fought in the last century-and-a-half, and more.
Not the fictitious, self-glorifying pablum doled out by Hollywood, but tales of real heroes.
There is one version, for example, of what happened in Peking and 19th century Hong Kong, Damascus and Mesopotamia, Anzac and Gallipoli, Baghdad and the North-West Frontier, Ypres and Flanders, El Alamein and Tobruk, Monte Cassino and Florence, San Marino and Greece, Malaya and WWII Hong Kong, Singapore and Burma, Mandalay and Rangoon Road ...
It's the romantic and romanticized version you'll find in films like "The Bridge Over the River Kwai", "Tobruk", "Gallipoli", etc., etc. John Wayne meets Alec Guiness meets William Holden meets Mel Gibson ... and we're told how brave and grim-faced these oh-so-good-looking Yanks and Brits and Aussies and Kiwis were in saving the world on each occasion.
Nowhere, nowhere, will you find even a mention of the real people who fought the toughest battles, overcame the most insurmountable hurdles ... on the real battle-fronts, sacrificing their lives in the hundreds of thousands in other people's wars - wars that the Europeans got into with fearsome regularity in their fierce races against each other to colonize and plunder the world.
But, you WILL find true tales of extreme bravery and real valour in the pages of Narindar Singh's monumental work.
It will inform you unabashedly - even though it should turn French faces red today, if they had any self-respect and a smidgen of decency - that in 1952, the President of France awarded its greatest honour, ‘The Legion of Honour‘, to ace fighter-pilot Sardar Hardit Singh Malik.
Hardit Singh fought with the legendary Red Baron in the air-space over France, and in protecting it, achieved a stupendous NINE victories in the air!
All, while wearing a turban!
Later, in the 1950s, France welcomed him again as new India's Ambassador to France. And he proudly wore his glorious turban throughout his stay in gay Paree!
There's much to be learnt from Sikh Soldier, no matter what your orientation is, or which aspect of Sikh or military history you are interested in.
The two volumes are liberally illustrated with historical photos, even though they are small and in black-and-white - albeit through necessity, I'm sure.
But I would like to hope that there will be a second edition of these volumes soon in the offing. With a more extensive array of relevant photos to give us a better idea of the locations, conflicts and personalities we are being introduced to in these pages.
If such an edition does materialize, a proper index to each volume and a keener proof-reader's eye weeding out typos, would be definite assets to this extraordinary contribution.
I have no compunction in recommending these two volumes as a ‘must‘ addition to each Sikh household's library, no matter how small or limited it is.
I also look forward to more from Narindar Singh Dhesi.
He is no ordinary traveler through Sikh history.
Son of an Akali freedom fighter (Sardar Waryam Singh) - a real Akali, that is; not the wimps who have usurped the term in today's India - Narindar Singh was born in Kenya in 1940. He moved to England as a teenager in 1957 and joined the British Army.
Now in retirement from the army and subsequent business ventures, he lives at Southend-on-Sea in England.
It would be a blessing to the Sikhs worldwide if he continued to research and record other chapters of our military history, and in even greater detail.
All of us, Sikh and non-Sikh alike, need to learn more on the subject.
The books are available at the following sites:
http://www.naval-military-press.com/sikh-soldier-battle-honours.html
http://www.naval-military-press.com/sikh-soldier-gallantry-awards.html
September 5, 2010
Conversation about this article
1: Taran (London, United Kingdom), September 05, 2010, 3:02 PM.
Thanks for sharing this. I would like to read these books. Never heard about Hardit Singh Malik. But I guess there must be plenty of brave-heart Sikhs like him whose sacrifices did not get due recognition and honour. But also it's a great effort by Narindar SIngh Dhesi who has put together all of the information for us.
2: Mai Harinder Kaur (Seattle, U.S.A.), September 05, 2010, 6:05 PM.
A very interesting article. I have a personal interest in military history, especially Sikh military history. I think gathering all these honours and awards in one place might even convince the U.S. military that it would be in their best interest not to keep Sikhs out. I would very much like to know the identities of the soldiers in the photograph and the painting.
3: G.G. Singh (Unionville, Ontario, Canada), September 06, 2010, 12:46 AM.
Received my copy of volumes 1 & 2 last week. Being a collector of medals awarded to Sikh Regiments (pre 1920), I figured it would compliment my reference material nicely. A quick thumb through vol. 2 and I've already noted a bunch of omissions and awards wrongly attributed (e.g., 15th Sikhs, Egypt: Indian Distinguished Service Medal attributed to the 14th Sikhs.) The books will peak the interest of the average reader but are a bit weak as a reference for serious collectors. For the latter, I'd recommend: 1) "Honours and Awards, Indian Army 1914-1921"; 2) "The Indian Distinguished Service Medal", by Rana Singh Chhina; 3) "Reward of Valor: The Indian Order of Merit. 1914-18", by Peter Duckers.
4: N.S. Dhesi (United Kingdom), September 07, 2010, 4:49 AM.
Dear Mr G G Singh ji: I thank you for pointing out the wrongly attributed IDSM to the 14TH Sikhs rather than the 15TH Sikhs. I did extensively consult the works, which you have mentioned; in fact, two of the works are mentioned in the Acknowledgements to Vol. 2. However, the canvas of the gallantry awards to the Sikh soldier is so large that even after the publication of the book, I am still unearthing more gallantry citations. So far I have covered The Victoria Cross, The Indian Order of Merit, The Military Cross, The Indian Distinguished Service Medal, The Military Medal, The Distinguished Flying Cross, Medaille Militaire (France), The Legion of Honour (France), The Purple Heart, The Silver Star, The Bronze Star, The Burma Gallantry Medal, The George Cross, The Empire Gallantry Medal, The George Medal, Al Valore Militare (Italy) The Distinguished Service Order, The British Empire Medal, Order of the British Empire, Croix de Guerre (France) Croix de Guerre ( Belgium) The Cross of St. George (Russian) The Param Vir Chakra, The Ashoka Chakra, The Mahavir Chakra, The Vir Chakra, The Kirti Chakra and the Shaurya Chakra. As you can see, the awards were not only made to the Sikh Soldier of all arms of the Indian Army but also to the Sikh Soldier serving in the colonial forces. In fact I have just unearthed the gallantry award of Distinguished Conduct Medal, an award that was awarded only to members of the British army, was awarded to four Sikh gunners of the Hong Kong and Singapore Artillery during the First World War in the Middle East. These will be added with some more gallantry citations in the revised edition. Regarding the bunch of omissions which you mention, or any other good reader has access to, please contact me and I would add them to the revised edition. Dear Sir, if you read the last sentence of the Introduction of Vol. 1, I write: "If this book inspires someone to take up an exhaustive study and record of the martial history of the Sikh Soldier, I shall consider the effort well rewarded." In the meantime, please send me the additions so we can do justice to the gallant Sikh Soldier. GurFateh.
5: N. Singh (Canada), September 07, 2010, 11:52 AM.
Dear Narindar Singh ji: I wanted to let you know how important it is what you are doing, to me. I grew up in the British education system and as a little girl I was constantly exposed to the British pretensions of superiority around their participation in the World Wars. The consistent message was that the rest of the world 'owed' its freedom and safety to the British and we should be forever grateful. The indirect message was that they were superior to us. No mention was ever made of the participation of troops from other countries, except the Americans and the Australians, but never the Sikhs. For years, I carried around this sense of inferiority inside of me ... part of which could be explained as being the landscape of my mental makeup but the rest was definitely environmental. My parents were too caught up in the day-to-day life of immigrants to notice. It wasn't until years later that I learned the truth, and even longer until I was able to hold my head up high. Even to this day some of my caucasian friends and colleagues have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the world was not won by them alone, and that they owe a mountain of gratitude to these men who died for us. Thank you for bringing all this information together, and my hope is that Sikh parents today will make a concerted effort to make these resources available to their children and to instill a sense of pride in them beyond the history of the historical shaheeds ... our history goes beyond the likes of Banda Singh Bahadar, Baba Deep Singh and the early Sikh generals ... into the World Wars, as well as into the modern era with the sacrifices of men like Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra, all in the name of humanity!
6: Gurcharan Singh Kulim (London / Kuala Lumpur ), September 08, 2010, 1:22 PM.
Narinder ji: I received a set of the book about three weeks ago. I have had a great interest in the Sikh military history and have collected some material from Malaysia where I originally come from. Because of work and family commitments, I have not been able to go full-time exploring this area. I hope to start soon.
7: N. S. Dhesi (United Kingdom), September 09, 2010, 2:40 AM.
Gurcharan Singh ji: The Malaysian Sikhs have reason to be proud of their military history. In the words of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, "Malaysian Sikhs' contribution to the history and development of the country is very important and significant". He went on to say that although the Sikh community was relatively small, they had served the country well. Sikhs are members of the security forces such as the police and armed forces, and are also in professional fields as doctors and lawyers, as well as entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens. In the "Sikh Soldier; Battle Honours" on page 61, I list the military exploits of the Malay States Guides during the First World War in Aden. One must not forget the exploits of your namesake, S. Gurcharan Singh, against the Japanese during the Second World War. He was aptly called "The Lion of Malaya". His exploits are well documented in the book "SINGA, The Lion of Malaya". Another book by Sardar Karam Singh, now sadly deceased, called "The Sikh Police Contingent (Custodians of the Empire)" is well documented and of immense value. At the moment I am trying to obtain the photos of the current turban wearing members of the Malaysian Police and the armed forces for my collection and future research, but without any success. I shall keep trying. Good luck with your further research.
8: G.G. Singh (Unionville, Ontario, Canada), September 10, 2010, 5:46 PM.
Narindar Singh ji ... my apologies for coming on a bit harsh, it's my medal collecting goggles that get the worst of me ... i would recommend your 2 vols. to be on the bookshelf of every Sikh home.
9: Gurcharan Singh Kulim (Chigwell, United Kingdom), October 16, 2010, 7:32 AM.
Narinder jI: I see you reside in Southend, which is about 40 minutes drive from Chigwell. We often go to Southend; perhaps you can drop me a line om Chaan Pardesi@aol.com, we can meet up. My number is 07812211793.
10: Jagjit Singh (Hong Kong), November 01, 2010, 4:56 AM.
I would like to buy this set of books. Can they be bought in Hong Kong? Where? It is interesting for me and those like me to discover our lost history. We should also translate these into other languages, so that the information is fully accessible to the world.
11: N.S. Dhesi (United Kingdom), November 02, 2010, 5:31 AM.
Jagjit ji: I am afraid at the moment these books can only be bought from the publishers: SIKH SOLDIER Gallantry Awards, Product Code: 12702. SIKH SOLDIER Battle Honours, Product Code: 12670. Author: Narindar Singh Dhesi. Format: SB vi + 192 pp Illustrated. Available from: http://www.naval-military-press.com/sikh-soldier-battle-honours.html
12: N.S. Dhesi (United Kingdom), March 24, 2011, 7:35 AM.
I am currently in the process of constructing another book - "Sikh Soldier: Policing the Empire". I am searching for the photo of a turbaned Fijian Sikh policeman without any success. Any information regarding Fijian Sikh policeman would be most welcome, including any comments and feedback on my earlier book on Sikh Soldiers. Please feel free to contact me directly at: nindi_singh2000@yahoo.co.uk
13: Harjot Singh (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), January 04, 2016, 4:55 PM.
I have recently uncovered a picture of my great great grandfather, Sardar Jawala Singh, and in the picture he is in military uniform with 5 medals, 2 of which look to be the Indian Order of Merit and the Medal for the Defence of Chitral. The photo is from 1908 and we estimate his age then being in the late 40's. I am looking for help in confirming which medals he was awarded and where he fought. Any help would be greatly appreciated.