When Indian and Chinese troops saved Hong Kong from Japan

[desiman]

On a trail to discover the footprints of Indian troops in China in the last two centuries, a senior Indian military official has stumbled upon many instances when Indian sepoys fought alongside the Chinese against foreign invasion.

The presence of Indian troops in China under Portuguese and British had a fascinating history which was well catalogued and preserved in Chinese museums, Col G Jaishankar, defence attaché, Indian Embassy, said while making a presentation on 'Indian Troops In China' at the Indian Cultural Centre in Beijing on Wednesday.

In his research, the first by an Indian official about presence of Indian troops in China, Col Jaishankar found out how the Indian and Chinese troops fought together to stave off Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, contrary to the tense stand-off that followed after the 1962 India-China war.

The attack by Japan took place on December 8, 1941, a day after Pearl Harbour bombing in the Second World War. Scores from the Sikh and Rajput regiments died while defending Hong Kong, he said.

The Commonwealth War Grave Commission has identified 585 Indian troops who perished in the battle.

In his voluntary research, Col Jaishankar came across a host of interesting details about how the Indian Sikh regiment came to the rescue of officials of 11 countries who were surrounded in Peking, (then Beijing) during 1898 Boxer uprising.

Few Indians and Defence Attaches of different embassies here were invited for his presentation. Indian Ambassador to Beijing S Jaishankar also attended the event.

When Indian and Chinese troops saved Hong Kong from Japan - India - DNA

 

[BRICS]

Hong Kong war diary - Indian units:- Hong Kong War Diary

The link says Rajput & Punjab Regiments!!!!!

There is a large list of names - Singhs, Khans, etc......

 

[Pak_Sher]

If India is that close to China why India creates such a hype against China to buy huge quantity of arms and is making ballistic missiles to target China?

Why does the Indian Navy does naval exercises with Japanese Navy in simulating a common enemy?

 

[rajusri]

If India is that close to China why India creates such a hype against China to buy huge quantity of arms and is making ballistic missiles to target China?

Why does the Indian Navy does naval exercises with Japanese Navy in simulating a common enemy?

Because Chinese already done that.

 

[Vibs]

If India is that close to China why India creates such a hype against China to buy huge quantity of arms and is making ballistic missiles to target China?

Why does the Indian Navy does naval exercises with Japanese Navy in simulating a common enemy?

Used to be close buddy. Both have been ancient civilizations living side by side with no major conflicts. Up until 1962. And the Indians mentioned in the article above would also have included a lot of people now in Pakistani Punjab.

 

[acetophenol]

If India is that close to China why India creates such a hype against China to buy huge quantity of arms and is making ballistic missiles to target China?

Why does the Indian Navy does naval exercises with Japanese Navy in simulating a common enemy?

then does it makes any sense to you that why india and pakistan are such enemies despite being the part of the same country a long time ago?

 

[SpArK]

The forgotten history of Indian troops in China
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For 55 days, the Boxers laid siege to the heart of Beijing.

The rebels, mainly young Chinese farmers and workers, kept more than 400 foreigners holed up in Beijing’s Foreign Legation Quarter. The siege was the dramatic denouement of months of anti-Imperialist and anti-Christian sentiment that swept across China at the turn of the 20th century. Known as the Boxer Rebellion, the events cast a long shadow on Chinese history throughout the 20th century, invoked by later nationalists in their own fight against Imperialism.

The history of the Boxer Rebellion is well known. What isn’t is the crucial role played by troops from British India in lifting the siege, which eventually paved the way for the occupation of Beijing by foreign troops.

Indian regiments made their way to the foreign quarter “crawling through the Imperial sewage canals”, undetected by the Boxers, and were the first troops to come to the aid of the besieged foreigners.

The lifting of the siege was one of only several key instances where Indian troops left an unlikely mark on the course of Chinese history in the early twentieth century.

This forgotten history of regiments from British India has been retraced by Colonel G. Jaishankar, who is currently serving as the Defence Attaché in the Indian Embassy in Beijing.

“Our leaders have been talking about ancient historical and cultural links, but little is known about the far more recent history of Indian troops in China,” he said in Beijing on Wednesday, at a presentation on the history of Indian regiments in China.

On August 4, 1900, a relief force of more than 3000 soldiers from Sikh and Punjabi regiments left Tianjin, part of the larger eight-nation alliance that was dispatched to aid the besieged quarter, where 11 countries had set up legations. Indian troops were also dispatched to guard churches and Christian missionaries, the targets of the Boxer uprisings.

Among the Indians, there was sympathy for the Boxers, Colonel Jaishankar said. Gaddhar Singh, a Rajput who was in Beijing in 1900-01, empathised with Chinese grievances in his accounts, arguing it was an entirely justified peasant rebellion.

The British also dispatched Indian regiments to China leading up towards the Opium War, which ended with the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 and the opening up of Chinese ports to the British.

The British deployed Sikh soldiers as law enforcement officers in ports like Shanghai, where their trading companies had set up a large presence by the early twentieth century. The Sikh soldiers were feared by the Chinese with their imposing figures, so much so that the British deemed that they did not even need guns when on duty, Colonel Jaishankar said, citing records from the time.

The history of Indian troops in China is one that is ignored in Chinese accounts, and is likely a sensitive legacy considering they were often deployed against the Chinese.

It is, nevertheless, a shared history that both countries should remember, Colonel Jaishankar said. “We should not run away from history,” he said. “But we are too swamped with recent events to take an objective look.”

Shared experiences

There were also positive lessons to be remembered by both countries with shared colonial experiences, he stressed.

An example is the Battle of Hong Kong during the Second World War, when Indian and Chinese troops fought together against the Japanese.

The 585 Indians who lost their lives are still remembered today in Hong Kong’s war cemeteries.

Another case in point was in 1994, when the Indian army returned a bell that was looted by British troops from Beijing’s Temple of Heaven when the city was ransacked by foreign troops following the Boxer Rebellion. The bell was later put up for display by the Chinese military.

“The Battle of Hong Kong was a unique event,” Colonel Jaishankar said. “That was the first time in history,” he noted, “that Indian and Chinese troops fought on the same side.”

The Hindu : News / National : The forgotten history of Indian troops in China

 

[Rafi]

A sizable number of those soldiers defending HK would have been Pakistani.

 

[VCheng]

A sizable number of those soldiers defending HK would have been Pakistani.

LOL! In 1900? Did you even read the piece?

 

[blackops]

A sizable number of those soldiers defending HK would have been Pakistani.

the word pakistan was not known to this world till 1947

 

[FreekiN]

the word pakistan was not known to this world till 1947

Most of the Pak Military after 1947 had its roots from World War 2 with the Indian Military as a whole.

 

[Rafi]

LOL! In 1900? Did you even read the piece?

Those veterans and their military traditions formed the nucleus of the Pakistani Armed Forces.

 

[Mo12]

Those veterans and their military traditions formed the nucleus of the Pakistani Armed Forces.

souce??????

 

[desiman]

Those veterans and their military traditions formed the nucleus of the Pakistani Armed Forces.

are you freaking kidding me, this article has NOTHING to do with Pakistan but you somehow have to troll for sure. India-China relations go far deeper than many Pakistanis would like, it is only time until relations between the two giants gets even more stronger.

 

[VCheng]

Those veterans and their military traditions formed the nucleus of the Pakistani Armed Forces.

By the same token, was it not Muhammad Bin Qasim's army who formed the nucleus of the Pakistani Armed Forces? ROFL!

It is one thing to be patriotic, it is quite counter-productive if one is blinded by it.