Posted on 05/11/2013 6:09:50 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
HAIFA, Israel: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has laid a wreath at the memorial of Indian soldiers here, appreciating the decision of the local municipality to include stories of these soldiers in its history textbooks.
Paying tribute to the soldiers, Gehlot said that he wanted to visit the memorial during his trip to Israel to pay his respects to the fallen soldiers on behalf of the people of his state.
A large number of Indian soldiers sacrificed their lives in this region during the World War I and nearly 900 are cremated or buried in cemeteries across Israel.
The Indian Army commemorates September 23 every year as Haifa Day to pay its respects to the brave Indian soldiers of the cavalry regiment of Indian Army consisting of Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad lancers who helped liberate the city in 1918.
Residents of the Israeli city also celebrate Haifa Day the same day with a series of cultural programmes during the week.
Captain Aman Singh Bahadur and Dafadar Jor Singh were awarded the Indian Order of Merit (IOM) and Captain Anop Singh and 2nd Lt Sagat Singh were awarded the Military Cross (MC) as recognition for their bravery in this battle.
Major Dalpat Singh (MC) of Jodhpur Lancers is known in the annals of history as the 'Hero of Haifa' for his critical role in the Liberation of the city. He was awarded a military cross for his bravery.
Haifa municipality during last year's celebrations had said that it will include the stories of the Indian soldiers in local history textbooks so that the youngsters could appreciate their role in liberating the city from Turks after almost 402 years.
He appreciated Haifa municipality's decision to include stories of brave Indian soldiers in its history textbooks.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Haifa_(1918)
The Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers are now represented by 61st Cavalry Regiment, in the Indian Army and still commemorate the battle every year on the 23 September as Haifa Day.
Great history. Thanks.
That’s nice that Israel is commemorating a battle that occurred on its soil during the Ottoman era. When people think of that theater of war during WW I, they usually think of Lawrence of Arabia, and the other contributors to the Allied fight fall into the shadows of history.
From this secondary link:
—A captured German officer
Indian troops also fougth at Monte Cassino during WW2 and suffered very heavy casualties. Served in the Burma-China-India theater (CBI) during WW2 and helped halt a Japanese invasion of their own country.
I know that they also fought elsewhere during WW2 but not sure enough to positively list the countries, though I thought some served in No. Africa and possibly Iran/Iraq.
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