100 years ago #OnThisDay (3 Sept), a gallant last stand took place at a place called Samawa in Iraq. 30 Dogras of C squadron of 10th Hodson’s Horse were surrounded by overwhelming odds.

1/8 They had become stranded during a retreat from a railway station inside a carriage of an armoured train. They continuously engaged the attacking force (about 4000 strong) in the hope that the main camp would hear the firing and send a relief force.

2/8

Wounded Indian soldiers from the Western Front in 1914-15 were treated at military hospitals in England. One of them, the Lady Hardinge Hospital, was located at Brockenhurst. This is quite possibly the only period photograph of an Indian soldier being cremated. The hospital was named after Lady Hardinge, wife of the Viceroy of India, who died shortly before war broke out.

Jemadar Chint Singh of the 2/12 Frontier Force Regiment was captured at Malaya along with thousands of other Indian soldiers in February 1942. The next three years would be hellish. He was one of the lucky few who survived being in Japanese captivity. He also left behind a memoir 'None of us had the slightest idea of the terrible time which lay ahead.' 3000 Indian POWs were landed at New Guinea in May 1943. 'The Japanese had two cargo boats and we were kept in a dreadful condition throughout the journey.'