War Diaries Talk

The Indian Army arrives in France - New Blog Post

  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    http://blog.operationwardiary.org/2014/09/30/the-indian-army-arrives-in-france/

    100 years ago today, the first Indian troops were on their way to Ypres. Read about the conditions they faced when they got there and the immense sacrifice they made in battle.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    They (the diaries, or at least some of them) were actually up last night my time in the western US. I started tagging the 6 Jat Light Infantry from the Meerut Division. Fascinating! Absolutely fascinating! The diary begins in India and describes the trip to Flanders in detail, including a train trip to Bombay, the long sea voyage, another train from Marseille to Orleans, and a final train trip to somewhere near Paris. (I actually couldn't find the actual town mentioned in the diary.) Then marching for two or three days to the Aisne. They got their new rifles in Marseille and at least some warm clothing in Orleans.

    There is also a very interesting mention of three men who were detailed as a butchers' party to go to Rouen to butcher the animals for the regiment and then send the meat to the front. Did these units get special dietary consideration?

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Fantastic! I wasn't expecting them to be there until today at the earliest.

    Re. dietary considerations, yes, many of the units required meat to be slaughtered and prepared in a specific way. Have a look at this photo from our collections: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205214253

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Very interesting. This also explains the references to the men cooking their rations for the day.

    I'm wondering how we should deal with the different terms for ranks when tagging individuals. So far, I've come across a few individuals named in casualty listings. I'm assuming they are officers because they are mentioned by name, and the author lists them separately from what he refers to as rank and file (rather than other ranks). I've used the Other option under Rank for these men, but is there a better way to do it?

    I haven't been able to make out what the actual rank is because the author's handwriting is often rather difficult to read--the type where you can make out words because of the context but unfamiliar terms are hard to work out.

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  • HeatherC by HeatherC moderator in response to cgastwein@aol.com's comment.

    This is a really good point, because of course there were different ranks in the Indian Army. There's a good explanation here http://www.cwgc.org/foreverindia/fact-file/what-were-the-ranks-in-the-indian-army.php and all I can suggest is anyone doing an Indian Army diary keeps this list to hand and uses the British Army equivalent of the Indian Army rank given. I think this is better than using "other" even if not strictly correct?

    Maybe at some point we can get these added to the list but I don't think that's going to be easy for the moment.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Heather, Great reference! Thank you. I'll follow your suggestion and use the British Army equivalent for ranks with the Person tag.

    I didn't really like using Other. It sort of feels like cheating the soldier of his due recognition, but it seemed preferable at the time to using the wrong term.

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Thanks, Heather. I'll post that link up for reference.

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  • nosnibor3 by nosnibor3

    Thanks for the list of Indian Army ranks - most useful! My sister-in-law is from Nepal, so I thought I would tag the Gurkhas.

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    I'm going to tag a Gurkha diary too - my grandfather served with them during the Second World War.

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