Themed London Bus Remembering the sacrifice of Indian Soldiers in WW1

Creative commons - labelled for Re-use

“Quoted stats from various sources”

changes

1.4 million Individuals, the forgotten heroes of WW1

Did you know that India provided the largest force ever assembled in history (IWM) with around 1.4 million individuals during WWI?

Nearly 74,000 Indian Soldiers died, 67,000 wounded and 10, 000 missing during the First World War.

Join us in remembering and commemorating all those who sacrificed their lives for us so that we could live in peace.

Military Honours Including Victoria Crosses

Indian troops during WW1 won over 13,000 awards for gallantry including 11 Victoria Crosses.

India provided 3.7 Million tons of Supplies

Huge amounts of supplies were shipped from India during the war to various forces around the world. In addition to supplies, India provided 40 field ambulances, 6 clearing hospitals, 35 stationary hospitals, 18 general hospitals, 9 x-ray sections, 8 sanitary sections, 7 advanced depots, and 1 general medical store depot. India also provided 2,327 doctors, nurses, and 720 nursing orderlies.

 

The true cost of WW1 to India and today’s terms-

According to calculations by famous economist J C Kumarappa, the Indian share of deployment costs for its soldiers was Rs. 1300 crore. A similar amount of Rs.1200 crore was spent in expenses on the war, which led to a figure of Rs.5700 crore, which was many times larger than the British estimate of Rs.1600 crore. Hence, the true cost of war to India could be well into hundreds of billions in today’s terms. https://thewire.in/history/britans-debt-to-india-is-a-very-complex-story

Years after the cease-fire had been signed; other financial costs of war continued but were not accounted for. Such costs include compensating families of those killed; disabled and displaced soldiers should have been considered.

  • “As a colony of Great Britain, India was already contributing people and goods to the war effort. In 1917, India offered a gift to its colonial rulers—an extra $500 million for the war.” (https://prezi.com/em7gebhefqz6/the-first-world-war-and-economic-impact-on-india/)
  • “The services of India an estimated at a value of $240,000,000 for the two and half years that the war will have lasted at the close of the present financial year.” Calculating the pre-war insurance, afforded by India’s expenditure on the army of £14,000,000 (or $70,000,000) a year, at fifteen year’s purchase he fixes its value to the Empire at £210,000,000 or $1,050,000,000 in 1918.” (http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/englands-debt-lajpat.pdf - page xv) (https://archive.org/details/englandsdebttoin00lajpuoft)

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