HOMAGE TO 993 INDIAN SOLDIERS WHO DIED DEFENDING FRANCE DURING WORLD WAR – I Commemorated in the Mazargues War Cemetery, Marseilles, France. - By K J S Chatrath

HOMAGE TO 993 INDIAN SOLDIERS WHO DIED DEFENDING FRANCE DURING WORLD WAR – I

Commemorated in the Mazargues War Cemetery, Marseilles, France. - By K J S Chatrath

Published 2017. Price Rs 400 (B&W), (In colour on glossy paper- on order 2 extra charges)

Indian forces arriving in France during World War-I from September 1914 landed at Marseilles a port city in south of France. The Military Cemetery in Mazargues of this town has 993 Indian burials/ commemorations. A walk in the cemetery shows that sadly 783 of these were non-combatants who did not carry any weapons and were fodder for enemy’s guns. 70% of these 783 were Followers, Lascars, Firemen, Greasers, Stretcher Bearers, Trimmers, Cooks etc.No, there is not just one story of the dead Indian martyrs lying in the Mazargues cemetery. Each of the 993 martyrs was the hero of his own story comprising his family, in the far away village in India from where he came and his dreams and experiences. Only if we have time to find out.  

This book carries a foreword by Prof. Chetan Singh, Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, India.