my own maternal great-grandfather fought in france during the first world war. he was part of the indian colonial army. up to 1000 indian soldiers fought at dunkirk. all of them muslim, most punjabis from what is now pakistan. yet they’ve been whitewashed out of history. as yasmin khan says, “britain didn’t fight the second world war – the british empire did.” #dunkirk
Christopher Woolf and Amulya Shankar: It’s a surprise hit in the US considering the fact that there’s not a single American character in it. America wouldn’t even be fighting in northwest Europe for another four years. But it’s not the absence of an American angle that has caused a minor stink. Commentators in Britain and India are complaining that no Indian soldiers are portrayed in the movie. The knee-jerk response from most Brits and historians is to scoff and say that’s because they weren’t there. It makes no military sense to ship soldiers from India to France. There’s no popular memory of colonial troops there. Even the Ministry of Defence in London initially rejected suggestions that Indian troops were there. But they were. Four companies of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps (RIASC), plus headquarters and support detachments. Perhaps 1,000 men. And their service has literally been whitewashed out of history. More here.