The Forgotten Indian Soldiers of Dunkirk, WWII

- BBC News, Sept. 13, 2021.

The remarkable evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk was a pivotal moment in World War Two. What is not well known is the story of nearly 300 Indian soldiers who were also part of the contingent. Over the course of nine days in May 1940, more than 338,000 Allied forces were evacuated from the beach and harbour at the French port city of Dunkirk as the German military bore down on them.

In this sea of European servicemen was Major Mohammad Akbar Khan, an Indian soldier.

On 28 May, he led 300 Indian soldiers and 23 British troops in an orderly column along the bombed-out harbour to the East Mole, the nearly mile-long wooden jetty which featured in Christopher Nolan's epic 2017 film, Dunkirk.

- What actually happened at Dunkirk?
The imposing 183cm (6ft) tall soldier returned to India after the war and later became a senior officer in the new Pakistan army when British-ruled India was divided into India and Pakistan in August 1947. He was made a military aide to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the man who founded Pakistan, wrote more than 40 books, and met Chairman Mao on a visit to China.

Indian soldiers like Major Akbar who were evacuated from Dunkirk have been completely forgotten, according to British historian Ghee Bowman. He spent five years in five countries, tracking down lost archives and photographs from family albums and talking to descendants of the soldiers. The Indian soldiers belonged to the 25th Animal Transport Company, who had travelled 7,000 miles (11,265 km) with their mules to help the British army. All but four of them were Muslim.

They wore khaki, tin helmets, caps and pagris (turbans). They carried no weapons, because none had been issued when they left Punjab six months before they landed in France. In the bitter winter in France, the British army needed mules to replace motorised vehicles to carry supplies. But as they lacked "animal-handling skills", the Indian troops were deployed to help them.

Some five million Commonwealth servicemen joined the military services of the British Empire during the war. Almost half of them were from South Asia. What happened with the Indian soldiers in Dunkirk has been unclear...

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-forgotten-indian-soldiers-of-dunkirk/ar-AAOpfA2