WW I and the 'other' Bhagat Singh who led 23rd Cavalry’s rebellion against the British

The recruitment of Indian soldiers serving in the British Army into the Independence struggle was one of the key objectives of the Ghadar Party. In order to send young Indians to the front lines of World War I, the British were actively recruiting them. Indian soldiers were to be used by the Ghadar Party to destroy British control.
Bhagat Singh azadi ka amrit mahotsav

Bhagat Singh of the 23rd Cavalry, Frontier Force. (Image Courtesy: Government of India archives)

Photo : Mirror Now Digital
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
  • 1.7 million Indian ‘sepoys’ were enlisted to fight for the British in the First World War.
  • British used Indian revolutionaries as an excuse to justify colonial massacres and press censorship.
  • From the first few weeks of July 1914, mobilising the Imperial reserve in India was essential to Britain's war strategy.
New Delhi: We all know the charismatic revolutionary Bhagat Singh who made the supreme sacrifice for his nation and we still remember him for his revolutionary ideas and the strategic but peaceful attacks on the British meant to get their attention.
However, there was another freedom fighter Bhagat Singh from Punjab, who led a rebellion right under the nose of the British but remains forgotten amid the sea of many brave sons of the soil.
The story of this Bhagat Singh began in July 1914, when the biggest war in the history of humanity by then broke out. Almost the whole of Europe, along with parts of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, found themselves in a conflict with each other, including Indian colonisers, Great Britain.
It was then, that the British decided to involve the Indian soldiers, whom they saw as expendables, in their war and the 23rd Cavalry, Frontier Force was roped in. The Frontier Force of the British Army was actually created under Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab and consisted of Indian soldiers in it.
The 23rd Cavalry, Frontier Force consisted of half a squadron of Dogras, one of Hindustani Muslims, half of Punjabi Muslims, half of Pathans, and one and a half squadrons of Sikhs, and among them was one Bhagat Singh, born in Rurhiwal district of Amritsar District.
Bhagat Singh was a soldier in the 23rd Cavalry of the British Army and joined the Frontier Force to fight in the First World War. To consider how important the 23rd Cavalry was to the British, it was the personal escort of Punjab Governor Michael O’Dwyer, the man who four years later went on to order the most shocking and bloodiest crushing of the history of the Indian Independence movement, at the Jalianwala Bagh massacre.
Bhagat Singh was a devout soldier and loyal to his duty but the atrocities committed by the British were leaving a mark in his heart.
He met Prem Singh of Sur Singh village, a member of the Ghadar Party, in the latter weeks of 1914, and decided to join the struggle for Indian freedom. However, he was told that he would better serve the Indian cause from within the British Army than stay out of it.
On the Pacific Coast of America, the Ghadar Party was established with the express purpose of liberating India from the yoke of British slavery. Indian immigrants who had relocated to the Pacific Coast of North America in search of employment were the source of the Ghadar Party's inspiration. The colonial authorities' racial and cultural views, discriminatory immigration laws, and flawed legal processes that limited Indian citizens' admittance into the United States and Canada sparked the Ghadar Movement.
It was a truly unique effort by the worthy sons of the Indian motherland in a period of uncertainty.
The recruitment of Indian soldiers serving in the British Army into the Independence struggle was one of the key objectives of the Ghadar Party. In order to send young Indians to the front lines of World War I, the British were actively recruiting them. Indian soldiers were to be used by the Ghadar Party to destroy British control.
At the specified hour, the sowars of the 23rd Cavalry were convinced to march out and join the armed uprising.
Bhagat Singh and his associates sent the Ghadar Party leaders, a sword as a sign of their commitment and loyalty to the cause of the Indian Independence Movement and the involvement of the 23rd Cavalry.
A delegation from the Ghadar Party was sent to each cantonment in northern India. November 30, 1914, was the planned date for the general insurrection.
British officers were fully unaware of the 23rd Cavalry men's participation in the Ghadar Party's intended rebellion at the time.
In the meantime, the United Provinces (now Madhya Pradesh) received the 23rd unit. The 23rd Cavalry's Sikh troopers were being transported to the front lines on May 13, 1915, from Nowgong Cantonment in United Province (now MP). As fate would have it, bombs detonated in a wooden box belonging to one of the soldiers at Harpalpur Station when they were travelling.
The sowars' intention to join the Ghadar movement was exposed to the authorities by this explosion. Others were later detained, and the British officials learned that they had connections to the Ghadar Party.
As a result, 18 men were taken into custody. An army court martial was held in Dagshai, close to Shimla. The death penalty was applied to Bhagat Singh. He was executed by hanging in Ambala Jail on September 3, 1915. The British even banned him from meeting his family during his final hours.
End of Article