How Indian soldiers were subjected to medical neglect while fighting for the Empire in World War I

At the turn of the 20th century, infected wounds and communicable diseases were the greatest scourge of armies, taking the lives of more soldiers than explosives or steel. In the American Civil War (1861–65) sickness claimed approximately two-thirds of the estimated 620,000 soldier deaths. Two-thirds of all British deaths in the Boer War (1899–1902) were attributed to disease. Across much of the planet during World War I, germs continued their deadly work. Seven times as many Turkish soldiers died of disease as from wounds, and in the protracted campaigns ranging across East Africa, disease was the major killer of Europeans, Indians, and Africans.

At the start of August 1915, the Indian force in East Africa numbered some 17,000 men. But disease had so ravaged the men that only 4,000 were fit for duty. One member of the British cabinet lamented at a meeting to discuss future operations in East Africa, “One Indian Regiment, the 13th Rajputs, is suffering to such an extent from malaria and debility that they will never be of any more use in the field.” The sudden onset of extreme temperatures also presented a very real danger to armies. During the Carpathian Winter Campaign, between January and April 1915,...

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