Haifa day: Deterioration of memorial in Basra distresses families of martyrs

The deterioration of the Basra War Memorial in conflict-hit Iraq has caught the attention of those who are aware of the history of the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I (1914–1921) and also of the families that lost their dear ones. The memorial was built for the 40,500 service personnel from the Commonwealth who died in the war. A large number of them were Indians, and many were from the Mysore Imperial Lancers, whose exploits in WWI, especially in the liberation of Haifa, have been etched in the annuls of modern warfare.

As the Haifa Liberation Day is observed worldwide, including at the Haifa Memorial in Bengaluru on Wednesday (September 23), those chronicling the sacrifice of the Mysore Lancers have expressed grief over the recent disclosures in the United Kingdom that revealed destruction to tombstones.

“Recent information shows destruction of at least 3,000 tombstones in Basra. Campaigns by families of deceased soldiers are now seeking public help in collecting further evidences of destruction,” said journalist Anil Raje Urs, who recently released his book ‘Mysore Lancers – Valour in the World War I’, in which he traces the Lancers’ journey and exploits in West Asia’s deadly battle fields of WWI.

The Mysore Lancers, the armed force of the erstwhile Mysore princely State, was part of the Indian Expeditionary Force, which troops from other princely States were a part of. Initially deployed to guard the critical Suez Canal in 1915-17, they were part of war efforts later, participating in several conflicts with the Ottoman and German forces in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), Jerusalem, Gaza and Haifa.

The exploits of Mysore Lancers in the Liberation of Haifa on September 23, 1918, is seen in the context of modern warfare in which the Lancers overcame the Ottomans and Germans. “The troops from Mysore were without any modern weapons. They were sent to attack the Turks who were perched in Mt. Carmel with their machine guns and naval guns. With their raw courage, they braved the heavy machine gun fire to silence the Turks,” said Mr. Urs, related to late Col. J. Desraj Urs, the commander of Mysore Lancers in WW I. The Indian forces, including the Mysore Lancers, were involved in the rescue of Abdu’l-Baha, the eldest son of Baha’u’llah, the founder of Baha’I faith at Haifa.

Mr. Urs’s book in Kannada traces interesting information, sourced from palace records, on the preparation before the Mysore Lancers left for West Asia. “With available records, I was able to trace about 15 families whose members had taken part in WWI. Many more are yet to be traced,” said the author.

Despite the public acknowledgement of the contribution of Mysore Lancers, the Basra war memorial did not have accurate details of a large number of Indian soldiers. The Commonwealth War Grave Commission also acknowledges it. The Commission’s website says that names of most of the men of the Indian Army who it commemorates were not accurate since war records at the time had not been properly compiled. Since then an accurate list of names has been compiled in the CWGC’s Iraq Roll of Honour in the U.K., waiting for a time when condition on the ground allow a more permanent solution.