Honour and Fidelity: India’s Military Contribution to the Great War 1914–1918 by Amarinder Singh

Three days after the ‘Great War’ was declared at midnight on the 4–5 August 1914, mobilisation orders were issued to marshal what would become the largest expeditionary force of that war and, arguably, of all wars till date. These instructions were issued by Lord Hardinge— the then Viceroy of India—resulting in Expeditionary Force ‘A’ that embarked for France within the month. Subsequently, there would be an alphabetical array of an amalgamation of Indian troops from all over the country fighting in all major theatres of World War I, including East Africa (Expeditionary Forces B and C), Mesopotamia (Expeditionary Force D), Egypt, Palestine and Syria (Expeditionary Forces E and F), and Gallipoli (Expeditionary Force G).