Hira Singh: When India Came to Fight in Flanders
| Hira Singh by |
| Hira Singh (or Hira Singh : When India Came to Fight in Flanders) is a short novel by Talbot Mundy, originally published (under the title Hira Singh's Tale) as a four-part serial in Adventure Magazine in October and November 1917, and published in book form in 1918 by Cassell (London) and Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis). — Excerpted from Hira Singh on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. |
Preface [edit]
I take leave to dedicate this book to Mr. Elmer Davis, through whose friendly offices I was led to track down the hero of these adventures and to find the true account of them even better than the daily paper promised.
Had Ranjoor Singh and his men been Muhammadans their accomplishment would have been sufficiently wonderful. For Sikhs to attempt what they carried through, even under such splendid leadership as Ranjoor Singh's, was to defy the very nth degree of odds. To have tried to tell the tale otherwise than in Hira Singh's own words would have been to varnish gold. Amid the echoes of the roar of the guns in Flanders, the world is inclined to overlook India's share in it all and the stout proud loyalty of Indian hearts. May this tribute to the gallant Indian gentlemen who came to fight our battles serve to remind its readers that they who give their best, and they who take, are one.
T. M.
One hundred Indian troops of the
British Army have arrived at Kabul,
Afghanistan, after a four months'
march from Constantinople. The men
were captured in Flanders by the
Germans and were sent to Turkey in the
hope that, being Mohammedans, they
might join the Turks. But they
remained loyal to Great Britain and
finally escaped, heading for Afghanistan.
They now intend to join their
regimental depot in India, so it
is reported.
New York Times, July, 1915
