¹ As transcribed by Sipahi Gasthip Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), France, to Pir Sahib Akhbar Khan Badshah, Jhelum, Punjab, India, 4 July 1916, Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, 1915–1916 [hereafter CIM 1915–1916], Military Department Papers, Asia and Africa Collection, British Library, L/MIL/5/827, Part 5, Part 6

² Concern over the low pay of Indian soldiers and the difficulty of the Indian Army in obtaining funds for a significant increase in wages until 1921 (when the pay of sipahis was increased from Rs. 11 to Rs. 16 per month) led to the implementation of a raft of irregular payments over and above the regular wage. The most systematic form of irregular payments was batta, which was initially implemented to cover fluctuations in the price of grain, but which became a fixed payment worth Rs. 2 anna 8 per month in 1887 and Rs. 5 in 1914. Individual British officers were even encouraged to provide gifts to their soldiers as part of the batta system and as a way of reinforcing the special bond between the ‘native’ soldier and his white superior. See Roy, Kaushik, Brown Warriors of the Raj: Recruitment and the Mechanics of Command in the Sepoy Army, 1859–1913 (New Delhi: Manohar, 2008)Google Scholar.

³ In peacetime George Hamilton, the secretary of state for India between 1895 and 1903, estimated the number of soldiers of the Indian Army being flogged annually at ‘one in two thousand’ or one in every other battalion. This figure probably increased during the First World War. No official records were kept but at least one case is known of a sipahi being flogged in Mesopotamia (recorded because he was attached to a British battalion) and officers, perhaps inspired by the frequency of the practice in the Indian Army, wrongly administered the punishment to other colonial troops from the Caribbean. See Oram, Gerard, Worthless Men: Race, Eugenics and the Death Penalty in the British Army During the First World War (London: Francis Boutle, 1998)Google Scholar, and Smith, Richard, Jamaican Volunteers in the First World War: Race, Masculinity and the Development of National Consciousness (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004)Google Scholar.

⁴ ‘Under stress of necessity many Indian soldiers during their stay in Europe have learned to read and write their own languages, and primers and spelling books come in large quantities from India to [soldiers in] the Army.’ Captain E.B. Howell, 11 December 1915, Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, 1914–1915 [hereafter CIM 1914–1915], Military Department Papers, Asia and Africa Collection, British Library, L/MIL/5/827, Part 8.

⁵ Abdul Jaffar Khan (Hindustani Muslim), Signal Troop, Sialkot Cavalry Brigade, France, to Dafadar Inayat Khan, Rohtak, Punjab, India, 20 August 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 7. The expression ‘ca ne fait rien’ also entered the everyday speech of British, Dominion, and American soldiers (as ‘san fairy ann’, ‘san ferry ann’, ‘sanfarian’, etc.). Downing, W.H. et al., Digger Dialects (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 183Google Scholar. Kimber, Hugh, San Fairy Ann (London: Robert Holden & Co., 1927)Google Scholar.

⁶ Kipling's versions originally appeared, without any acknowledgement of their provenance, in the American Saturday Evening Post between May and June 1917. Kipling's private diary and correspondence, however, reveals that he had been tasked to write a propaganda piece to counter any ‘seditious’ or pro-Indian nationalist sentiment in the United States of America, and was provided with extracts of sipahis’ real letters as a guide to what soldiers were thinking. See Pinney, Thomas (ed.), The Letters of Rudyard Kipling, Volume 4: 1911–1919 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999), pp. 374–375CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ ‘Towards the end of September 1914 the Lahore and Meerut Divisions of the Indian Army, with the normal complement of British troops included, began to arrive in France. The Force was disembarked at Marseilles and after a few days’ rest there was conveyed by train to Orleans. The route chosen for the troop trains was a circuitous one leading through Toulouse and other places in southwestern France. While the force was in transit a member of the Indian Revolutionary Party [Ghadar Party], if it may be so called, was arrested in Toulouse, and upon examination his pockets were found to be stuffed with seditious literature intended for dissemination among Indian soldiery.

‘The authorities, thus set upon their guard, decided that, at least during the stay of the Indian troops in Europe, their correspondence must be subjected to systematic examination, and cast about as [sic] a suitable person to appoint as Indian Mail Censor. It was not easy to find anyone possessing anything like the requisite qualifications, but eventually Second Lieutenant E. B. Howell, a member of the Political Department of the Indian Civil Service, who chanced to be serving in France as an interpreter attached to a regiment of Indian cavalry, was chosen and directed to undertake this duty.’ Captain E. B. Howell, ‘Report on Twelve Months’ Writing of the Indian Mail Censorship’, 7 November 1915, Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, 1914–1918 [hereafter CIM 1914–1918], Military Department Papers, Asia and Africa Collection, British Library, L/MIL/5/828, Part 1.

⁹ Mazumder, Rajit K., The Indian Army and the Making of Punjab (Delhi: Permanent Black, 2003), p. 258Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Kipling, Rudyard, The Eyes of Asia (Gloucester: Dodo Press, 2011; reprint), p. 6Google Scholar.

¹¹ Omissi, David, Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldier's Letters, 1914–18 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999), pp. 16–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹² The term is used as early as August 1915, when the censor at the time (E. B. Howell) makes mention of a chain letter from Medina circulating among the troops. Howell did not see fit, however, to include the text of the letter in his fortnightly reports.

¹³ An excerpt from the third of the letters Katz studies. It was written in Maghribi script (so presumably originated from North Africa) in 1779. Katz, Jonathan G., ‘Shaykh Ahmad's Dream: A 19^th-Century Eschatological Vision’, Studia Islamica, No. 79 (1994), pp. 163, 167–168Google Scholar.

¹⁴ Katz, ‘Shaykh Ahmad's Dream’, pp. 157–158.

¹⁵ A fuller discussion of this German propaganda can be found in Leibau, Heike, ‘The German Foreign Office, Indian Emigrants and Propaganda Efforts Among the ‘Sepoys’ in Roy, Franziska, Leibau, Heike and Ahuja, Ravi (eds), ‘When the War Began We Heard of Several Kings’: South Asian Prisoners in World War I Germany (New Delhi: Social Science Press, 2011)Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Professor Salenka, ‘Ihr tapferen Kreiger von Indien!’ (Ye Brave Warriors of India!), 16 October 1914, in Roy et al. ‘When the War Began’, pp. 111–112.

¹⁷ The testimony of approvers during the ‘Hindu-German Conspiracy Case’ of 1917–18 (also referred to as the ‘San Francisco Conspiracy Case’) reveals that the German Consular attaché, Lieutenant William Von Brincken, purchased a large bundle of a particular Ghadar leaflet, printed on broadsheet and entitled ‘Don't Fight with the Germans, Because They Are Our Friends’, ‘at the end of 1914 or beginning of 1915’. Von Brincken is said to have claimed that ‘these leaflets were to be sent to Germany to be dropped from aeroplanes to the Indian forces in France’. ‘Notes on the Accused’, RG 118, Records of the Office of the U.S. Attorney, Northern District of California, Neutrality Case Files, 1913–1920, [US] National Archives at San Francisco, San Bruno, California, NRHSA Accession #'s 118 72-001, 118-73-001, Box 4, Folder 6.

¹⁸ ‘A letter came from you once before, which I answered. So now I am writing to you a second time. I am now all well by the Grace of God. I am a German prisoner. I hope you will send me an answer quickly on receipt of this, though I know that you have not much leisure.’ Jemadar Id Mohamed Khan, Zossen, Germany, to Jemadar Adjudant Abdulla Khan, 129^th Baluchis, France, 17 August 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 1, Part 6.

¹⁹ Also called Mir Dast and also a Jemadar. Mir Dast VC, however, served in the 55^th Coke's Rifles.

²⁰ It is possible that he may have received the Iron Cross. E. B. Howell was unsure whether he had or not, and the records were destroyed during the Second World War so it's difficult to know for certain.

²¹ Afridi Pathan Havildar, 40^th Pathans, France, to father in Peshawar, 26 February 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 1.

²² Ajrud Din (Pathan–Afridi), Tirah, NWFP, India, to Havildar Gul Badshah, 58^th Rifles, France, 19 October 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 8.

²³ See Ansari, K. H., ‘Pan-Islam and the Making of the Early Indian Muslim Socialists’, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3 (1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Ramnath, Maia, Haj to Utopia: How the Ghadar Movement Charted Global Radicalism and Attempted to Overthrow the British Empire (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011)Google Scholar.

²⁴ Ahmad, Ghulam, The Review of Religions, Vol. II, Nos. 3 and 4 (March and April 1903) (Qadian, Gurdaspur, Punjab: The Anjuman-i-Isha’at Islam, 1903)Google Scholar.

²⁵ Ahmad, The Review of Religions, Vol. II, No. 1 (January 1903).

²⁶ Sevea, Iqbal Singh, ‘The Ahmadiyya Print Jihad in South and Southeast Asia’ in Michael Feener, R. and Sevea, Terenjit (eds), Islamic Connections: Muslim Societies in South and Southeast Asia (Singapore: Institute of South East Asian Studies, 2009)Google Scholar.

²⁷ Ahmad, The Review of Religions; Sevea, ‘The Ahmadiyya Print Jihad’, p. 141.

²⁸ ‘Over half a century has passed since the advent of the British in the Punjab and from this long experience we can say that the British Government is an invaluable blessing to the people of this country in general, and to the Muhammadans in particular. Under its peaceful rule the Muhammadans have made a great advance in learning. Their honour, property and lives are safe under its protection, and peace has been established under the country in such a manner that we can hardly conceive any improvement upon it.’ ‘A Proposal for the Utter Extinction of Jehad’, Review of Religions, Vol. II, No. 1 (January 1903), p. 21.

²⁹ ‘Bombay Advocate’, 31 August 1915, in Walter, H. A., The Religious Life of India: The Ahmadiya Movement (Calcutta: Association Press, 1918), p. 120Google Scholar.

³⁰ H. A. Walter, the literary secretary of the National Council of the YMCA of India and Ceylon, investigated the matter on behalf of the YMCA. The work was only published in 1918, however, after Walter died while writing the last chapter of the volume. Walter, Ahmadiya Movement, p. 136.

³¹ Soldiers’ correspondence refers to visits by Frederick Sleigh Roberts, field marshal and Earl of Kandahar, a former lieutenant-governor of the Central Provinces (probably Reginald Craddock), and two of the children of Maharaja Dalip Singh.

³² Nur Ahmed (Punjabi Mussalman), Abbotabad, NWFP, India, to Raffi-ud-din Khan, Assistant Surgeon, Sialkot Field Ambulance, France, 28 May 1917, Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, 1917–1918 [hereafter CIM 1917–1918], Military Department Papers, Asia and Africa Collections, British Library, L/MIL/5/827, Part 4.

³³ Ghulam Haidar Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), Police Pensioner, Shahpur, Punjab, India, to Haqq Nawaz Khan, 18^th Lancers, France, 21 September 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

³⁴ ‘I am going to repeat the orders that His Highness the Khalifa gave me when I left for Europe. He was emphatic that nothing could be eaten which had been strangled or which had been killed by a blow to the back of the neck. He added that we could eat meat killed by Christians or Jews provided that they cut the throat in front. It does not matter whether the Bismillah is said or not. The Jews are most careful and certainly we can eat meet killed by them in confidence but we have to be very careful about the Christians as they generally knock down or strangle their cattle. [. . .] I am a real Mohamedan and act up to my faith. The Sirdar when he spoke to you must have been thinking of the Mohamedans who do not trouble themselves about these things and think all meat is lawful. They have not had proper light vouchsafed to them by which to regard God [sic]. I feel confident about my enlightenment and that it is impossible for me to do anything against His commands. He who breaks God's obediences never thinks of Him.’ Kazi Abdullah Quadiyani (Punjabi Mussalman), Honourary Secretary of the Muslim Mission Society, 41 Great Russell Street, London, to Dafadar Haqq Nawas, 18^th Lancers, France, 21 November 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 9.

³⁵ Ibid.

³⁶ Ibid.

³⁷ Dafadar Haq Nawaz (Punjabi Mussalman), 18^th Lancers, France, to Moulvi Mohamed Sadiq, Sadar Bazaar, Meerut, UP, India, 13 August 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

³⁸ Abdul Sultan Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), 36^th Jacob's Horse, France, to Abdurrazaq Khan, Deolali, Punjab, India, 15 March 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 2.

³⁹ Jemadar Hussein Shah (Pathan), 9^th Hodson's Horse, France, to Pir Badshah, Kohat, NWFP, India, 26 June 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 3.

⁴⁰ Jemadar Abdul Rahim Khan (DM), 36^th Jacob's Horse, France, to Mir Hussein Khan, Hyderabad, India, 7 February 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 1.

⁴¹ Lance Dafadar Sher Mohamed (Punjabi Mussalman), 38^th CIH, France, to Editor of the ‘Khabit’, Delhi, 26 October 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

⁴² ‘Please send me the weekly edition of your paper. I want to see all the proceedings of the All-India Muslim League which no doubt will be recorded in your paper. I am particularly interested in this matter.’ Clerk Mohamed Yusuf (Punjabi Mussalman), Deputy Adjudant General's office, 3^rd Echelon, France, to the Manager of Paisa Akhbar, Lahore, Punjab, India, 3 December 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

⁴³ ‘The Secretary of State for India has come to India and is taking the views of everyone about Self-Government and will make his decision after hearing these opinions. Hindus will get the best of this because, through their education, they have a larger representation. Mohamedans are poorly represented because of their lack of education. Differences of opinion therefore seem likely. The Hindus and about half [of] the Mohamedans want Self-Government while the other half of the Mohamedans don't want it. I believe that Montague Sahib will give a just decision.’ Ali Alam Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), War Hospital, Khendwa (India?), to Malik Khan Mohamed Khan, 36^th Jacob's Horse, France, 15 December 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 6. And: ‘The Secretary of State for India, Montague Sahib, has come to India and is staying at Delhi. Formerly he had declared his intention of visiting the principal towns in India so as to meet the people; but when the Hindus started rioting he said he would not leave Delhi. He gave a whole day to the Mussalmans, conversing with them, and made a favourable impression on them. They feel honoured. The Hindus are agitating for Home Rule, but the Mussalmans are against it and wish the Government to remain as at present as they do not wish for Home Rule. This is the reason for the trouble between the Hindus and Mussalmans. The Hindus have rebelled in various places and in Bengal seditious letters have been found in which it is urged that the unclean races should be driven out of the country or slain. This is what they did in Arrah. Many disturbances are taking place.’ Mohamed Yusuf Ali Khan (Hindustani Mussalman), Amethi, UP, India, to Sowar Ali Khan, Acting Lance Dafadar, 2^nd Lancers, France, 28 November 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 6.

⁴⁴ Leibau, ‘The German Foreign Office’.

⁴⁵ Green, Nile, Islam and the Army in Colonial India: Sepoy Religion in the Service of Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴⁶ Ibid, pp. 71–85.

⁴⁷ Such as the post-colonial and transnational cult of Zindapir studied by Pnina Werbner. Werbner, Pnina, ‘Murids of the Saint: Migration, Diaspora and Redemptive Sociality in Sufi Regional and Global Cults’ in Talbot, Ian and Thindi, Shinder (eds), People on the Move: Punjabi Colonial and Post-Colonial Migration (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ India's Contribution to the Great War. Published by Authority of the Government of India. (Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent, Government Printing, India, 1923).

⁴⁹ For the pre-colonial and early colonial history of munazaras, see Powell, Avil A., Muslims and Missionaries in Pre-Colonial India (Richmond: Curzon, 1993)Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ Jones, Justin, ‘The Local Experiences of Reformist Islam in a “Muslim” Town in Colonial India: The Case of Amroha’, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 43, No. 4 (2009)Google Scholar.

⁵¹ ‘A certain calamity is coming which will involve both the open country and also large cities. It will so assail the servants of God as to render them helpless. It will cause destruction to men, to mountains, to trees and to rivers. At the first stroke of this calamity the earth will be turned upside down, and rivers of blood will flow in a swift current. Those who were wont to sleep in linen white as the jessamine flower will in the morning find themselves sprinkled with blood like the plane tree. They will be robbed of understanding, and even the birds of the air will be distraught, and the nightingales will forget their song. That time will be a terrible one for travellers. They will lose their way in their distraction. The blood of men will flow in streams, like torrents issuing from the mountains. Spirits and human beings will disappear. The Tzar himself will be reduced to a spirit of lamentation. It will be [a] sign from God like the Day of Judgement, and even the heavens will wage war. Do not hastily throw doubt on my prophesy, oh people, without understanding. Events will prove its truth. It comes from me from God, and will certainly come to pass, watch with patience and see. Do not think that there is any escape. The tyranny that has ruled the world must pay the price.’ Transcribed pamphlet by Maulvi Mohamed Ali Khan. Nur Ahmed (Punjabi Mussalman), Abbotabad, NWFP, India, to Raffi-ud-din Khan, Assistant Surgeon, Sialkot Field Ambulance, France, 28 May 1917, CIM 1915–1916, Part 4.

⁵² Snowball letter: Sipahi Gasthip Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), France, to Pir Sahib Akhbar Khan, 4 July 1916.

⁵³ Ibid.

⁵⁴ Ibid.

⁵⁵ Ibid.

⁵⁶ India's Contribution to the Great War.

⁵⁷ Havildar Umr-al-Din Khan (Pathan–Orakzai) [unit not stated], France, to Subedar Niamat Ullah Khan, Co. No. 4, 1^st Sappers and Miners, France, 23 August 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 5.

⁵⁸ Abdul Alim (Hindustani Mussalman), Signal Troop, Sialkot Cavalry Brigade, France, to Risaldar Farzand Ali Khan, 6^th Cavalry Depot, Sialkot, India, May 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 5.

⁵⁹ Fyazuddin, Printer (Muslim Rajput), Aber Lali Steam Press, Agra, UP, India, to Mirza Hasain Beg, 38^th Central India Horse, France, 7 October 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 8

⁶⁰ Havildar Umr-al-Din Khan to Subedar Niamat Ullah Khan, 23 August 1915.

⁶¹ Ibid.

⁶² Sowar Rahmat Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), 15 Lancers, Pavilion Hospital, Brighton, England, to Hazrat Sahib Pir Faqir Shah, Peshawar, NWFP, India, 6 December 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 8.

⁶³ ‘Pir’ Dil Khan (Pathan–Mahsud), 129 Baluchis, France, to Naik Mir Gul Khan, Secunderabad Brigade Hospital, France, 2 September 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 5.

⁶⁴ Abdul Ghani (Punjabi Mussalman), Murree Hills, Punjab, India, to Mohamed Ismail Khan, private servant to the Officer of Lahore Indian Stationary Hospital, Marseilles, France, 16 November 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 8.

⁶⁵ Mohamed Ghans (Dekhani Muslim), Signal Troop, Secunderabad Cavalry Brigade, to Abdul Ghafur, 26 Light Cavalry, Bangalore, India, 3 July 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 6.

⁶⁶ Nur Mohamed (Pathan), 38 Central India Horse, France, to Sultan Mohamed Khan, Turangazai, Peshawar, NWFP, India, 26 July 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 6.

⁶⁷ [Honorary?] Captain Malik Muhammad Mumtaz (Pathan), Staff, Secunderabad Brigade, France, to Khan Niaz-ud-din Khan Sahib, Jalandhar, Punjab, India, 10 September 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 7.

⁶⁸ According to several letters, it was the appeals of French women and the French government that finally caused the Indian Army to relax its stance on interracial sex and marriage.

⁶⁹ Attempts to stop the sexual interaction of Indian wounded at Brighton and British women resulted in forms of collective protest and even the attempted assassination of a British officer.

⁷⁰ The first ‘bantam battalions’ of men who failed to exceed the minimum height requirement of 5’3’ were established in Britain as early as 1914.

⁷¹ ‘The average physique was good enough, but the total included an astonishing number of men whose narrow and misshapen chests, and other deformities or defects, unfitted them to stay the more exacting requirements of service in the field. [. . .] Route marching, not routine tours of trench duty, made recurring casualties of these men.’ Captain J.C. Dunn, 2^nd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, in Smith, Jamaican Volunteers, p. 14.

⁷² New Haven Chronicle, 14 October 1915. Smith, Jamaican Volunteers, p. 104.

⁷³ Smith, Graham, When Jim Crow Met John Bull: Black American Soldiers in World War II Britain (London: I. B. Taurus, 1987), p. 199Google Scholar.

⁷⁴ Anon. (Lourd, Katherine), Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914–1915 (Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1915), pp. 97–98Google Scholar.

⁷⁵ Smith, Jamaican Volunteers, pp. 113–117.

⁷⁶ As part of its intriguingly named ‘Mixed Race Season’, aired in October 2011.

⁷⁷ This is evident from both the reports of Colonel Bruce Seton, the Commander of the Kitchener Hospital (Report on the Kitchener Indian Hospital, Brighton, Colonel Sir Bruce Seton Papers, European Manuscripts, Asia and Africa Collection, British Library, MSS Eur/F143/66), and soldiers’ correspondence from the hospital. For example, ‘Formerly we used to go into town, but the men began to misbehave badly and we were stopped from going. Now only the sick go to the town. If anyone climbs the wall and stays out he gets a dozen lashes. We are let out into the town once a month—and then only two or three men with two or three white soldiers. For this we have only ourselves to thank, for had those rascals not misbehaved we should still be allowed to go out every day. In the days when there was no restriction two or three men used to spend a couple of nights or more in this town. They were given a dozen lashes, but this did not prevent them from behaving as before.’ Assistant Shopkeeper Tulsi Ram (Punjabi Hindu), Kitchener Indian Hospital, Brighton, England, to a friend, Peshawar, NWFP, India, 12 August 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 4.

⁷⁸ ‘The state of affairs here is this. Ten annas are equal to one franc. So by paying 6, 7 or 8 francs the [French] women get men to have carnal intercourse with them. So that for little money sexual pleasure is sold, especially by Drabis [men of the Transport Corps] and Sikhs [who] have got a lot of money from this.’ V.S. Pranje (Maratha), I.S.M.D., Lahore Indian General Hospital, France, to Pirdan Singh, Ward Orderly, Depot, 54^th Poona Horse, Ambala, Punjab, India, April 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 3.

⁷⁹ Kot Dafadar Wazir Khan (Punjabi Musalman), Meerut Cavalry Brigade, France, to Mother, Shahpur dist., Punjab, India, 23 May 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 5.

⁸⁰ ‘I am off to Paris which has been hitherto “out of bounds” to everyone but officers. Now we (up to Dafadars) can go. Paris is a city of fairyland and God will give us an opportunity of seeing it. I will write [to] you all about it. Whatever happens do not let anyone know about this. I intend to enjoy whatever pleasures there are. Don't let anyone know that Jai Singh is spending Rs. 250 in four days. If father heard of it he would be very angry. I should like to marry in France but I am afraid the family would be ashamed. You can marry very fine girls if you like.’ Jai Singh (Hindu Jat), 6^th Cavalry or 19^th Lancers, France, to Sirdar Singh, Lahore, Punjab, India, 6 November 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

⁸¹ Nabi Buksh (HM) [unknown regiment], Kitchener Indian General Hospital, Brighton, England, to Frarijie Esq., Head Clerk, Cantonment Magistrate's Office, Neemuch, NWFP, India, 12 June 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 4.

⁸² Nazir Ullah (Hindustani Muslim), c/o Rev. N.G. Leather, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, to Risaldar Satter Shah, 34^th Poona Horse, France, 11 April 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 3.

⁸³ Inayat Ali Khan (Hindustani Muslim), Depot, 6 Cavalry, Sialkot, Punjab, to Abdul Jabbar Khan, 6^th Cavalry, France, 2 February 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 2.

⁸⁴ Naubet Rai (father) (Punjabi Hindu), Rawalpindi, Punjab, India, to Mehta Deoki Nandan, Supply and Transport Agent, Marseilles, France, 18 June 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 4.

⁸⁵ Anwar Shah (Punjabi Mussalman), Camel Corps, Suez, Egypt, to Aurangzeb Shah, Signal Troop, Lucknow Cavalry Brigade, France, 18 August 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 7.

⁸⁶ ‘Is this the effect of the climate of France, that is washes all love out of the heart and makes it hard like a stone? Have you become a perfect “gentleman”? Turn aside any thought of becoming a “Gentleman”!’ Anon. wife (Punjabi Mussalman), Ludhiana, Punjab, India, to Jemadar Khan Shirin Khan, No. 1 Base Remount, Rouen, France, 4 April 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 3.

⁸⁷ Ahmed Ali (Punjabi Mussalman), 5^th Cavalry, Risalpur, NWFP, India, to Yakub Khan, Mhow Cavalry Brigade, France, 28 September 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 8.

⁸⁸ ‘I swear to you that although I have been in France for two and a half years, I have not even taken so much as a cup of tea in a “hotel”. I swear also that up till this moment I have committed no evil deed in France and nor am I a Christian. I am your true son, and your advice is plainly written on my heart.’ Mohamed Feroz Khan, Ward Orderly (Punjabi Mussalman), Ambala Cavalry Field Ambulance, France, to father, Chaudhuri Ghulam Ahmad, Sialkot dist., Punjab, India, 7 December 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

⁸⁹ Ajab Khan (Pathan), 38^th CIH, France, to Amir-ud-Din, Peshawar, NWFP, India, 14 October 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

⁹⁰ Mohamed Khan (Hindustani Mussalman), 6^th Cavalry, France, to Ahmed Khan, 12^th Infantry, Calcutta, India, 28 May 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 3.

⁹¹ Mohamed Khan (Hindustani Mussalman), 6^th Cavalry, France, to Dafadar Ghans Mohamed Khan, Rohtak, Punjab, India, 18 June 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 3.

⁹² Mohamed Khan (Hindustani Mussalman), 6^th Cavalry, France, to Dafadar Manvah Khan, 5^th Cavalry, Risalpur, NWFP, India, 20 August 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 4.

⁹³ Anwar Shah (Punjabi Mussalman), Camel Corps, Suez, Egypt, to Aurangzeb Shah, Signal Troop, Lucknow Cavalry Brigade, France, 18 August 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 7.

⁹⁴ The Turkish ships were actually led by German battleships operating under a Turkish flag, but it was intended to be a declaration of war from the Ottoman empire.

⁹⁵ Few sipahis distinguished between ‘Turkey’ and the wider ‘Ottoman empire’. I will use the two terms interchangeably for that reason.

⁹⁶ Although it was an infantry division, 15^th Lancers were attached to it as ‘Divisional Reconnaissance’.

⁹⁷ X.Y. [name censored], a Mohammedan Native Officer in France, to brother in India, 1914, CIM 1914–1915, Part 1.

⁹⁸ The earliest example is from February 1915, but it was from a soldier in India rather than France. ‘Remember this one thing, that the Sultan Badshah is one of us. We hear that the German Badshah has become a Mussulman. You are a wise man, understand and think over this. Then draw your own conclusion. Islam is a good thing. You are out of our reach nor can we help you. But we pray much.’ Pathan Sepoy, 55^th Rifles, Kohat, NWFP, India, to a friend, 58^th Rifles, France, 15 February 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 1.

⁹⁹ Risaldar Zabida Khan (Pathan), 1^st Lancers, attached 19^th Lancers, France, to Risaldar Major Munshi Akram Khan, 1^st Lancers, Risalpur, India, 17 April 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 3.

¹⁰⁰ Abbas Ali Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), 38 CIH, France, to Karam Ali Khan, Abdullapur, Sultanpur PO, Mirpur dist., Kashmir State, 8 January 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 1.

¹⁰¹ Sowar Gul Mohamed Khan (Pathan), Baghdad, Mesopotamia, to Mohamed Nur Khan, 38^th CIH, France, 18 October 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

¹⁰² ‘Muhamedan of Punjab’ serving in France to his brother in India, 6 February 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 1.

¹⁰³ Sowar Ajab Gul (Pathan), 38^th CIH, France, to Bhai Ahmed Pul, Peshawar, NWFP, India, 22 December 1916, CIM 1917–1918, Part 1.

¹⁰⁴ There is another letter written by the same author which is not quite as ambiguous. It begins with a standard pledge of loyalty towards the King-Emperor—‘It is necessary to point out also that our religion does not permit us to perform any bad habits. Further our religion teaches us to be in accord with our King.’ But the verses within the letter convey a different message: ‘In the garden of this world what grievances can be urged against the hunter

When the flowers themselves place thorns on my resting place?’

This is my condition. What more can I say? The evils of this world have entered into my soul. I ask why this should be and tell you the simple truth:

‘Those on whom I relied have turned their face away from me.

What grievances can I urge against an enemy when friendship is such!

None whatever! It is the fashion of the times!’

Hamidullah Khan (Hindustani Mussalman), Contractor, Inderkot, Meerut City, UP, India, to Kot Dafadar Mohamed Wazir Khan, 18^th Lancers, France, 5 May 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 5.

¹⁰⁵ Hamidullah Khan (Hindustani Mussalman), Contractor, Inderkot, Meerut City, UP, India, to Kot Dafadar Mohamed Wazir Khan, 18^th Lancers, France, 18 May 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 5.

¹⁰⁶ Khan, Dada Amir Haider, Chains to Lose: The Life and Struggle of a Revolutionary, Volume 1. Edited by Gardezi, Hasan N.; preface by V.D. Chopra (New Delhi: Patriot Publishers, 1989), p. 80Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁷ Another account records that the Korans were placed ‘upon the heads’ of the sipahis taking the oath, but that, while possibly true, was written by a soldier from another regiment reporting on hearsay.

¹⁰⁸ Maulvi Ghulam Sarvar (Punjabi Mussalman), 15^th Lancers, attached 27 Lancers, Remount Depot, Sagar, UP, India, to Talib Hussain Khan, 18^th Lancers, France, 26 September 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

¹⁰⁹ Ibid.

¹¹⁰ Ashrafali Khan (Hindustani Mussalman), 6^th Cavalry, Sialkot, Punjab, India, to Dafadar Fateh Mohamed Khan, Signalling Instructor, 6^th Cavalry, France, 24 March 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 4.

¹¹¹ Ghulam Sarvar to Talib Hussain Khan, 26 September 1917.

¹¹² Safdar Ali Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), 15^th Lancers, attached 27^th Lancers, Sagar, UP, India, to Signaller Jalib Hussain Khan, 18^th Lancers, France, 17 July 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 4.

¹¹³ Ashrafali Khan (Hindustani Mussalman), 6^th Cavalry, Sialkot, Punjab, India, to Dafadar Fateh Mohamed Khan, Signalling Instructor, 6^th Cavalry, France, 24 March 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 4.

¹¹⁴ Fateh Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), Lyallpur, Punjab, India, to Fateh Ahmed, Supply and Transport No. 5 Base Supply Depot, France, 30 June 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 6.

¹¹⁵ Lance Dafadar Mahmud Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), Banadar Abbas, Persia, to Dafadar Mohamed Khan, 18^th Lancers, France, 11 May 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 5.

¹¹⁶ ‘I asked concerning Haq Ghulam because I had sent 3 or 4 petitions about the 15^th Lancers and had received no reply. I knew all about the matter from the first, but I did not wish to distress you with it. I hear now that they will all be released, please God, before I return. If not, then, as soon as I return to India, I will again agitate about their release. Nothing can be done from here at the present time, but do not be anxious everything possible is being done on their behalf. A certain man here has received a letter in which it is stated that Sultan Hussein of Hangu and his fellows have been released as the result of an appeal made on their behalf by Risaldar Sahib Dost Mohamed Khan of the 37^th Lancers. Don't be anxious God will certainly be merciful. It is not as though only one man was involved. There are many men involved and some of them are important personages.’ Lance Dafadar Sabaz Ali Khan (Pathan), Signal Troop, Lucknow Cavalry Brigade, France, to Alim Hussein, Ustarzai, Kohat, NWFP, India, 3 October 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 8.

¹¹⁷ Niazi is one of the largest Muslim castes in Mianwali district.

¹¹⁸ ‘I am in the Remount Depot here and you must have heard how our regiment was imprisoned and I was among the prisoners. Now Government has released us and broken up our regiments into parts. Some of us have been sent to Hissar, Sagar and Sihore and the men who were not imprisoned were made into a separate wing and another wing has been made of Sikhs and Jats. There is great excitement there about recruiting. The Deputy Commissioner of Mianwali had a meeting to which all the lumberdars of the district came. The Deputy Commissioner told them to supply recruits and the lumberdars of the Nayazi refused. The Deputy Commissioner then dismissed 3 of them, the lumberdars of Datke, Ukri, and Shahbag Khel. 107 recruits were collected at the meeting.’ Sowar Kunda Buksh Khan (Pathan), 15^th Lancers, Sihore, UP, India, to Ghulam Hasan Khan, 36^th Jacob's Horse, France, 14 September 1917, CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

¹¹⁹ ‘At the time there were a few companies of Pathan infantrymen who were notorious for their dirty tactics and even sabotage at the Front—the story was that there were only a few companies in a mixed infantry battalion and therefore could not openly defy the authorities [. . .] the Pathan units were put in the middle or rear of the line so they could not desert. But whenever they were ordered to maintain firing, the Pathan units instead of shooting at the enemy would take aim at the British units in front of them. While this could not be proved definitively, some soldiers had been wounded in the back by bullets fired from the rear. The Pathans were suspected of this mischief and immediately removed from the Front and brought back to Basra where they were assigned to various guard duties such as watching over prisoners of war, supplies, etc.’ Khan, Chains to Lose, p. 81.

¹²⁰ ‘Towards the end of September 1914 the Lahore and Meerut Divisions of the Indian Army, with the normal complement of British troops included, began to arrive in France. The Force was disembarked at Marseilles and after a few days’ rest there was conveyed by train to Orleans. The route chosen for the troop trains was a circuitous one leading through Toulouse and other places in south-western France. While the force was in transit a member of the Indian Revolutionary Party [Ghadar Party], if it may be so called, was arrested in Toulouse, and upon examination his pockets were found to be stuffed with seditious literature intended for dissemination among Indian soldiery.

‘The authorities, thus set upon their guard, decided that, at least during the stay of the Indian troops in Europe, their correspondence must be subjected to systematic examination, and cast about as [sic] a suitable person to appoint as Indian Mail Censor. It was not easy to find anyone possessing anything like the requisite qualifications, but eventually Second Lieutenant E. B. Howell, a member of the Political Department of the Indian Civil Service, who chanced to be serving in France as an interpreter attached to a regiment of Indian cavalry, was chosen and directed to undertake this duty.’ Howell, ‘Report on Twelve Months’ Writing of the Indian Mail Censorship’, 7 November 1915, CIM 1914–1918, Part 1.

¹²¹ Howell, 23 January 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 1.

¹²² Some of the original staff assigned to the chief censor's office at Boulogne never appeared, and Howell had particular difficulty translating Gurumukhi.

¹²³ It took until 14 November 1917 before absolutely every letter was redirected to the censor's office. CIM 1917–1918, Part 5.

¹²⁴ Howell, 4 February 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 1.

¹²⁵ ‘It was felt that it would be quite unfair to withhold the whole of a long letter containing as often as not what the writer believed to be his last will and testament, simply because here and there through the letter advice was given to younger relatives to stay at home or not to leave the village, or to be guided by the direction of so and so, or not to join the army.’ Howell, 28 August 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 5.

¹²⁶ Howell, 15 February 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 1.

¹²⁷ Howell, ‘Report on Twelve Months’ Writing of the Indian Mail Censorship’, 7 November 1915, CIM 1914–1918, Part 1.

¹²⁸ The fictional letters were serialized in the American Saturday Evening Post between May and June 1917, and then later published in the ‘Sussex Edition’ and then as ‘Eyes of Asia’.

¹²⁹ The surviving reports are incomplete, and not ordered, but each one begins with instructions on how it ought to be properly destroyed: ‘This Summary should be kept under lock and key in suitable custody or destroyed by fire if not required for record.’ Middle East Military Censorship: Fortnightly Summaries Covering Indian Troops, September 1942–April 1943, Public and Judicial Papers, Asia and Africa Collection, British Library, L/PJ/12/655, File 2336/42.

¹³⁰ Anon. (Sikh), Military Hospital, England, to Brother, India, 14 February 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 1.

¹³¹ Nur Mohamed (Pathan), 38 Central India Horse, France, to Sultan Mohamed Khan, Turangazai, Peshawar, NWFP, India, 26 July 1916, CIM 1915–1916, Part 6.

¹³² Snowball letter: Sipahi Gasthip Khan (Punjabi Mussalman), France, to Pir Sahib Akhbar Khan, 4 July 1916.

¹³³ Ram Jawan Singh (Hindustani Hindu), Kitchener Indian Hospital, Brighton, England, to Mr Jacques Derel, 5^th Avenue Victor Hugo, Vernon, France, 26 September 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 6.

¹³⁴ Clerk Mohamed Yusuf to the Manager of Paisa Akhbar, Lahore, 3 December 1917; Ali Alam Khan to Malik Khan Mohamed Khan, 15 December 1917; Mohamed Yusuf Ali Khan to Sowar Ali Khan, 28 November 1917.

¹³⁵ Balwant Singh (Sikh), French Post Office 39, France, to Pandit Chet Ram, Kang, Amritsar dist., Punjab, India, 29 October 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 7.

¹³⁶ Faqir Khan (Swati Pathan), 33^rd Punjabis, attached 40^th Pathans, France, to Lal Khan, Machand, NWFP, India, 24 August 1915, CIM 1914–1915, Part 5.