Sick, cold and out-gunned, the infantry divisions of the Indian Expeditionary Force were used as cannon fodder
A 100 years ago, about 16 million people died in the deadly conflict called the First World War. 74,187 were Indians.
They were soldiers who fought for the British against the Germans in Western Europe, East Africa, Mesopotamia and the North West frontier. These were no ordinary battles.
The Flanders Fields of Belgium - lush, placid, rolling countrysides today - were fields of death a century ago. Here, Indian soldiers were among the first victims of chemical warfare in military history, as they defended the town of Ypres against a German onslaught.
As waves of sinister chlorine gas came rolling in, the Indian jawans were asked to urinate in their turbans and press them to their faces. Many died a miserable death in trenches, German artillery shelling the biggest killer.
Sick, cold and out-gunned, the infantry divisions of the Indian Expeditionary Force were used as cannon fodder. A year after being deployed, they were withdrawn to Egypt in October 1915 with two Indian cavalry divisions remaining on the Western Front.
At the centre of Ypres is the stunning Menin Gate where those Indian soldiers killed far, far away from home are honoured every evening in a small ceremony, for having stood shoulder to shoulder with their allied comrades.
A small Indian memorial was constructed here belatedly in March 2011. The use of the emblem of India here though is a historical inaccuracy, as the soldiers fought as members of the British Army and many of the regiments which participated in the war here, became part of the Pakistani Army after Partition.
In a region scattered with war memorials, the secular nature of Indian soldiers stands out. Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus are honoured next to one another. It was only when a dead soldier was identified that the last rites could be performed, according to his religion.
The role of Indians in the First and Second World War are now forgotten chapters of our history. But in the heart of Delhi, the imposing Indian Gate has inscribed on it the names of all those more than 70,000 Indian soldiers killed in a war that redefined the nature of conflict.