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Bbc 1 Documentary Ww1+ Ww2 Sikh Contribution; WARTIME SIKH SOLDIERS
Topic Started: Oct 28 2010, 10:40 PM (438 Views)
SIKHLION
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Hi Guys , wanted to post some info about a programme about the Sikh contribution in World War 1 & World War 2.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2010/wk45/unplaced.shtml#unplaced_sikh

Documentary to be shown on Tuesday 9th November at 11.20PM on BBC 1

One of the less well-known facts about the First World War is that more Indians volunteered to fight for Britain than all the Scots, Welsh and Irish combined, and up to a third of those Indian troops were Sikh, with 100,000 witnessing action in the European trenches by the end of the war.
In the Second World War, 2.5 million Indians fought in the British Indian Army, with the Sikhs again hugely over-represented in the medals for valour, including Victoria Crosses.
Remembrance – The Sikh Story examines why soldiers from a minority Indian faith (Sikh) played such a hugely disproportionate role in the fight for a country they'd never visited, and a King they'd never seen, and also explores how the Sikhs' valiant fighting abilities drew the admiration of their fellow Tommies in the trenches
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Deleted User
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Hello and welcome SIKHLION :)
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Deleted User
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Hi Sikhlion.

I read something on this subject a while back. There are many heroes from both conflicts but sadly we rarely get to hear about the brave contributions and sacrifices that were made by other ethnicities.

Thank you for bringing this to the forum. ;)
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Deleted User
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Great post, I will be setting the timer for this one.
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Deleted User
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welcome sikhlion, i too will set the timer/recorder for this one !
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Caractacus
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welcome to the forums, this seems like it will deifnitely be worth a watch, cheers :)
British by birth, English by the grace of God.


“St George he was for England, and before he killed the dragon, he drank a pint of English ale, out of an English flagon.”

"In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
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Wigone
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Welcome SikhLion, looking forward to that documentary.
They don't like it up 'em.
Don't tell them your name Pike.
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scotsguy
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wellcome sikh!,ill be watchin!...if i remember right,they would always send the scots in first!...why?...coz they were always fighting,even amongst themselves!.
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Deleted User
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cant wait to see it, love this sort of thing, little known war facts and different cultures getting their voices heard, who fought for britain.
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SIKHLION
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Thanks for the warm welcome guys
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Frankie4Fingers
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Thanks for the notification & welcome, great to see more Sikhs getting involved...top job!!
Posted Image
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Deleted User
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Thanks for the heads up and welcome to the forum!
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U.B.A.
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Won't miss this...cheers for the heads up fella.
"...NOR SHALL MY SWORD SLEEP IN MY HAND."

E.D.L......THE THIN RED LINE
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Silo
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Welcome bro, thanks for the useful info, will definately be watching and recording this. I didn't know this many Indians fought in the WW1 and WW2, hopefully this documentary will do lots of good to change those of a rascist mindset ans seek to educate them more. +1 for Great Britain! Nice one!
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SIKHLION
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Guys , just a reminder about the programme which is on tomorrow night (Tues 9th Nov) on BBC 1 at 11.20 PM. About the Sikh contribution in World War 1 & World War 2.

http://anonym.to?http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2010/wk45/unplaced.shtml#unplaced_sikh

should be good!


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cheers mate. will record it. welcome to the forum by the way.
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donsilbers
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Look forward to seeing it on YouTube.
info activism tactics

http://www.informationactivism.org/en/viewonline

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Deleted User
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Thanks for the reminder mate. :)
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The Swine
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SIKHLION
Oct 28 2010, 10:40 PM
Hi Guys , wanted to post some info about a programme about the Sikh contribution in World War 1 & World War

One of the less well-known facts about the First World War is that more Indians volunteered to fight for Britain than all the Scots, Welsh and Irish combined, and up to a third of those Indian troops were Sikh, with 100,000 witnessing action in the European trenches by the end of the war.
In the Second World War, 2.5 million Indians fought in the British Indian Army, with the Sikhs again hugely over-represented in the medals for valour, including Victoria Crosses.
Remembrance – The Sikh Story examines why soldiers from a minority Indian faith (Sikh) played such a hugely disproportionate role in the fight for a country they'd never visited, and a King they'd never seen, and also explores how the Sikhs' valiant fighting abilities drew the admiration of their fellow Tommies in the trenches
My grandfather fought alongside them on the Somme and would never hear a bad word said against them.

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my local corner shop (not being sterotypical) is run by a sikh family, and there truly some of the nicest people ive ever met, cant say a bad thing about them. and well good for getting recipies from.
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U.B.A.
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Thanks to whoever run this post up again...I've just set my recorder.
"...NOR SHALL MY SWORD SLEEP IN MY HAND."

E.D.L......THE THIN RED LINE
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1882
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Look forward to watching it !

I read some where that the head of the Sikhs in Britian stated that he could rase a Battalion of 700 + to fight to serve in the British Army, this was around 5 years ago when the maninning was very low. His idea went up the chain to the CRE and they binned it due to (Community Cohession) e.g it would have upset muslims ! ffs! If I can find the link I will post it up here ..cheers!
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lionsingh
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Other links

http://www.info-sikh.com/SSPage1.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ8eKggnDhQ
http://vimeo.com/7519582

Common Interest - HistoryDescription:Pre-Independence : Sikhs Contribution to Freedom & Promises Made

The Sikhs played a pioneering role in India's struggle for independence from the British. They made sacrifices wholly out of proportion to their demographic strength (the Sikhs make up less than 2% of the Indian population).

(Figures below provided by Maulana Abul Azad, President of the Congress Party at the time of Indepedence.)

Out of 2125 Indians killed in the atrocities by the British, 1550 (73%) were Sikhs.

Out of 2646 Indians deported for life to the Andaman Islands (where the British exiled political and hardened criminals) 2147 (80%) were Sikhs.

Out of 127 Indians sent to the gallows, 92 (80%) were Sikhs.

At Jalliawalla Bagh out of the 1302 men, women and children slaughtered, 799 (61%) were Sikhs.

In the Indian Liberation Army, out of the 20,000 ranks and officers, 12,000 (60%) were Sikhs.

Out of 121 persons executed during the freedom struggle, 73 (60%) were Sikhs

BATTLE OF SARAGARHI

The Battle of Saragarhi is considered one of the greatest stories of collective bravery in human history. The contingent of twenty-one soldiers from the 36th Sikhs was led by Havildar Ishar Singh, and held off an Afghan attack of 10,000 men for several hours. All 21 Sikh soldiers chose to fight to the death instead of surrendering. In recognition of their supreme sacrifice, the British Parliament rose to pay them respect, and each one of them was awarded the Indian Order of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross). The battle has been compared to the Battle of Thermopylae, where a small Greek force faced a large Persian army of Xerxes (480 BC).

Saragarhi Day, is a Sikh military commemoration day celebrated on 12 September every year annually to commemorate The Battle of Saragarhi. Sikh military personnel and Sikh non-military people commemorate the battle around the World every year on September 12.

WW1 ,WW2

In the last two World Wars 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109.045 were wounded. They all died or were wounded for the freedom of Britain and the World, enduring shell fire with no other protection but the turban, the symbol of their faith.

INDIAN ARMY

In 1931 Adolf Hitler had seen the strength of the Sikh regiment in the war of France. Hitler had given a speech for the Sikhs to join the Nazis, but most of regiment had kept their loyalty towards the British because the empire had always given large amounts of land, money, and provided them to stay in other countries.

Sikhs make up 10–15% of all ranks in the Indian Army and 20% of its officers,[58] whilst Sikhs only forming 1.87% of the Indian population, which makes them over 10 times more likely to be a soldier and officer in the Indian Army than the average Indian. The Sikh Regiment is one of the highest decorated regiment of the Indian Army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses, 21 first class Indian Order of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross), 15 Theatre Honours and 5 COAS Unit Citations besides 2 Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, 5 Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras and 1596 other gallantry awards.The highest-ranking General in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Advanced plans by the MOD to raise an Infantry UK Sikh Regiment were scrapped in June 2007 to the disappointment of the UK Sikh community and Prince Charles of Britain.
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1Pat
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Kafir
Welcome Lionsingh,

I attribute remembrance to all Allied and Commonwealth soldiers who fought to preserve the freedom we abuse today. I remember an American soldier saying, that during conflict he realised that freedom was not something you were just given , it was something that was fought for and you must keep fighting for.

I look forward to the documentary.
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tobias malachi
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Welcome Sikhlion
Watched some thing on here some time back about the Sikh's at war, I have always had a great deal of respect for the Sikh nation instilled in me by my father, I have set the timer
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lancashirelad
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Im not disrespecting the Sikhs before anyone says owt, its just the line more Indians enlisted than all the Scots, Irish and Welsh put together, thats probably because there are a lot more Indians, after World War1 many Scottish, Welsh and Irish communities were decimated as well as English ones to, also youll probably find more than 100,000 Scots, Welsh and Irish didnt just fight on the western front as well as Gallipoli and the Middle East, they actually died there.
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made in England
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Im in no doubt the loyalty of Indians was unquestionable towards Britain but its debatable to how many volunteered compared to the British.
Most of the Indian soldiers fought in the Mesopotamian and the middle East where as aprox 150,000 saw action on the Western front, this was known as the 9th Division and suffered horrific and senseless casualties along with hundreds of thousands of British, Australian, Canadian, NZ and SA troops including my Gt grandfather who was killed in action at Ypres in which i visited quite some years ago now and found his name on the Menin gate.
"Our ancestors took this land. They took it and made it and held it. We do not give up what our ancestors gave us. They came across the sea and they fought here, and they built here and they're buried here. This is our land, mixed with our blood, strengthened with our bone. Ours!"

Nations which go down fighting rise again, those who surrender tamely are finished

Midsomer the last great bastion of Englishness ....Brian True-May

Werian se Angelcynn
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SIKHLION
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nice to see the positive response to the post . thanks
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SIKHLION
Nov 9 2010, 06:59 PM
nice to see the positive response to the post . thanks
What else did you expect?
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SIKHLION
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well, because i am new to the forum i was not sure if anyone would be interested or not but after reading the responses and other posts i now know that there are many members that are interested about military history which is great.
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jayfer72
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Kafir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqcbgkvwmqU&feature=fvw
another one for you SL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_OHpi3euro&NR=1
another one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwEHrIOwkKE&feature=related
Edited by jayfer72, Nov 9 2010, 10:03 PM.
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Sikh_supporter
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Its a real pity they don't have Sikh regiments in the British army anymore (like the Gurkhas ). They would have loads of lads joining up and be only to happy to mix it up with the medieval Afghans and Taliban muzzies . Hell if I was 18 again I wouldnt mind joining up !!!
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Deleted User
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That was a good documentary. It was good to still see young Sikhs joining up in the Armed forces .
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English Angel
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Yes I watched it too and thought it was very good
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SH!T!!!! i missed it, whats the re-play thinggy for the bbc?

i knew there was something i was waiting for on the box, ended up changing channel and missing it, damn sky tv, too much to choose from! even though most is crap!
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BRITISHnPROUD
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Just watched the programme
In the British Publics context, things like this programme will make huge ground in showing the "Ignorant" that just because a man is Black British it doesnt mean hes Anti British ie Islamist , Jihad etc , i say that because if you talk to many people in the UK they are very quick to judge the book by its cover ie hes Black Asian so he must be a Bomb thrower , the problem is our peple aren't interested in digging out the truth ie reading or investigating for themselves .

I known for a few years now that Sikhs where never our enemy,
only because a lad at my school took the time to explain to us, but not too many are so lucky and go through life wrongly judging , maybe the Sikh community should look beyond peoples ignorance & try & promote that wee bit more i dont know , iam sure they will have their own ideas & thoughts on it .

What i want to add to this thread is that on the theme of the thread & tonights programme ,
We must ALL salute the Sikh community as Patriots , there is no greater honour than a man laying down his life for his country & because of that you all deserve your place in our society .

I have visited a Sikh grave yard at the Somme & the shear number of fallen in that conflict alone tells us of the greatness & honour your community has in resisting all that is wrong in the world & in that i include the islamist terrorist on British soil today.

AS YOU GO HOME TODAY , TURN TO THEM & SAY
FOR YOUR TOMORROW , THEY GAVE THEIR TODAY !!

NS
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Tutaminis legio
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shepherd to the weak
Nov 10 2010, 01:23 AM
SH!T!!!! i missed it, whats the re-play thinggy for the bbc?

i knew there was something i was waiting for on the box, ended up changing channel and missing it, damn sky tv, too much to choose from! even though most is crap!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vys5t/Remembrance_The_Sikh_Story/

Here you go friend.

It was a good documentry.
The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
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BRITISHnPROUD
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Just watched this again and may i add ;
Respects to the RAF lad who recently passed away & condolances to his family & friends ,

LEST WE FORGET
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lionsingh
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Think it is wonderful that The sikhs are getting some recognition for the sacrifices they have made for the UK and fighting for liberty. I always knew it as I was brought up and told many stories...but no-one would believe me at school...So happy that some truth has come out and proud to be British and from a Sikh background.

It is great that the Army are going to gurdwara (Sikh Temples) to recruit and in the documentary 85 joined the services from just one Gurdwara in Southhall. If the Army can continue this project, I am sure many others will join. If Sikh guards are good enough for the Queen...they are certainly good enough for that.

fcuk the extreme white only stormfront nationalists...This is our country as well...and Sikhs will defend it along with other Brits...Sikhs have spilt enough blood to save our freedoms. There are only 25 million or so in the whole world...

Thank the EDL for realising that.
Just in case anyone is not sure who/what are sikhs..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtTOB8L6XRo&feature=related
Edited by lionsingh, Nov 10 2010, 09:58 AM.
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made in England
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Hey SikhLion did you know the first assault against the German held bombed out Abbey at Monte Cassino were a Sikh division along with the 1st Sussex.
However they paid a high price against the battle hardened Fallschirmjager (German Paras) which were experts in fighting in ruins, the 4th Indian div were virtually wiped out, over 3000 killed within a few days of fierce fighting.
To be fair though the German defenders were vastly outnumbered but held their own against the Americans, Canadians, Brits amongst numerous other allies attacking up the slopes towards them and worsened by the fact they had the feared Ghurkas behind and above.
However and Gods how they did it but during the final night the 40 or so surviving paras slipped away leaving only their wounded behind. Giving the allies a very costly victory.
"Our ancestors took this land. They took it and made it and held it. We do not give up what our ancestors gave us. They came across the sea and they fought here, and they built here and they're buried here. This is our land, mixed with our blood, strengthened with our bone. Ours!"

Nations which go down fighting rise again, those who surrender tamely are finished

Midsomer the last great bastion of Englishness ....Brian True-May

Werian se Angelcynn
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1Pat
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BRITISHnPROUD
Nov 10 2010, 05:48 AM
Just watched this again and may i add ;
Respects to the RAF lad who recently passed away & condolances to his family & friends ,

LEST WE FORGET
My thoughts as well.
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lionsingh
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1Pat
Nov 10 2010, 10:34 AM
BRITISHnPROUD
Nov 10 2010, 05:48 AM
Just watched this again and may i add ;
Respects to the RAF lad who recently passed away & condolances to his family & friends ,

LEST WE FORGET
My thoughts as well.
Ditto. Still a gentleman to the end.
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1Pat
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Kafir
Lets remember all allied and Commonwealth troops.
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