THE VILLAGE THAT WENT TOWAR
Dr. Irfan Malik was just five years old when he left his native Nottingham in England to visit his ancestral village of Dulmial in Pakistan. Aside from the heat and the dust and privations of this small agricultural village in the Salt Range region of the Punjab, 160 kilometres south of Islamabad, one particular detail registered in his young mind: a British cannon, mounted on a marble plinth “in recognition of services rendered by all ranks from this village” during the First World War.
It was only many years later that Malik, a GP, decided to investigate the extent of Dulmial’s contribution to the Great War, following a chance conversation with a patient who was researching Commonwealth troops.
In the four years since, working with historians in England and Pakistan, Malik has discovered the village sent a staggering 460 soldiers — including his two greatgrandfathers — to fight.
The warriors of Dulmial, a predominantly Muslim village in what was then pre-partition India, were dispatched all over the world: from the Western Front to Tehran to Basra in present-day Iraq. Eight of them never came home; those that did, returned with their chests glittering with medals.
“This was a massive contribution and almost every male in the village who was able to, joined the army,” Malik, 49, says. “They wouldn’t have understood where or why they were going but they would have been loyal to their rulers.”
During this year’s commemorations, which mark the centenary of Armistice Day, the Royal British Legion is focusing in particular on the huge sacrifice made by soldiers across the Commonwealth.
Some 1.5 million Muslim, Sikh and Hindu men volunteered with the Indian Expeditionary Force and, as a result of their bravery, were awarded 13,000 gallantry medals, including 11 Victoria Crosses. British India also supported the effort with 3.7 million tons of supplies, 40 field ambulances and nearly 4,500 doctors.
To honour this contribution, the RBL has produced a special khadi poppy, made with the spun cotton cloth popularized by Gandhi.
For men like Malik, his family connection to the First World War has fallen through the cracks of history. He admits growing up in Britain he used to regard Armistice Day as purely a “white Christian thing.”
“Had I known this history as a kid I would have been more British and felt like I had more of a stake in Britain,” he says.
According to documents unearthed by Malik, British recruiters first arrived in Dulmial in 1914 offering £30 — the equivalent of three years’ net pay — to would-be soldiers. A Belgian missionary school nearby ensured many in the village could already read and write in English, while they were also subjected to a physical inspection. Hard hands and a stern visage were deemed of vital importance — the men of Dulmial had both.
The village has a long, proud military history dating back several centuries.
Among the recruits was Subedar Mohammed Khan, Malik’s paternal greatgrandfather, a celebrated soldier who had been awarded medals fighting for the 33rd Punjab Regiment on the frontiers of British India. In 1911, Subedar Khan had already been selected to visit Britain for the coronation of King George V, and was present later that year when the monarch attended the Delhi Durbar.
His other great-grandfather was Capt. Ghulam Mohammed, about whose achievements less is known.
Malik has discovered both men signed up to fight for the British in 1914 and, although already nearing the end of their careers, they were kept behind in India.
All of the men in Dulmial were to serve in the Punjab Regiment during the war, aside from 46 who joined the 27 th Light Cavalry. Malik has established that around 50 of the Dulmial troops ended up on the Western Front — among them, Lance Naik Ismail Khan, who was killed during the Battle of Loos in September 1915.
Following the declaration of peace in 1918, the men of the Punjab Regiment returned home to their farms and families. But such was the contribution of Dulmial that the British authorities approached Capt. Ghulam Mohammed (no connection to Dr. Malik’s great grandfather), its most decorated soldier, to ask how he would like the village to be honoured.
A career soldier, Capt. Mohammed eschewed the British offers of land, money and water facilities and instead chose the cannon which remains in the village today.
In 1925, the 1.7 ton British naval cannon was transported by oxen cart to Dulmial, where it was presented as a gesture of thanks by Field Marshal William Birdwood.
Locally, Dulmial is now known simply as the “village with the gun.”
THEY WOULDN’T HAVE UNDERSTOOD WHERE OR WHY THEY WERE GOING, BUT THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN LOYAL TO THEIR RULERS. — DR. IRFAN MALIK