Today is a hundred years since WWI broke out. It was supposed to be the Great War, the war to end all wars with 10 million soldiers dead, but it didn't. Only twenty one years later, there was another world war.
WWI was a horrific global battle with armories of tanks, planes and heavy machine guns used for the first time, along with steel-plated steam monsters sailing the ocean filling ports with dread. Soldiers suffered grievious wounds in battle from mechanical tactics and weapons never before used and for which the opposing sides were totally unprepared. Penicillin was not yet discovered and wounds festered in a manner unimaginable today. The best the wounded could count on was some limited morphine if at all. Britain's colonials were liberally used as cannon fodder on the front. Sixty five thousand Indian soldiers died and so did a similar number of Canadians. At the height of the war about 1.3 million Indian troops were engaged, the avarage soldier earning 11 rupees a month. The Indian forces were liberally funded by super rich maharajas.The Nizam of Hyderabad for example, paid for a whole squadron of air force planes for which he was presented with a downed German fighter plane. The Indian soldier's loyalty to the British king rather than to India was so fierce that when a postcard of King George was distributed to them to write on and send home, it was counted as the best gift they could ever receive and kept aside as a they would a medal. Do readers know of the involvement of any Goans in this war? Clifford D'Souza British historian, spoke on the subject at the Heritage Project conclusion in London but he would have probably included only the East African Goan role. The Commissioner of Bombay did exhort the Goan community in Bombay, substantial even in those days, to form a Lusitanian unit, but there is no information on what came of it. I am sure some Goan Kings Commissioned Officers as well as non com ranks in the British Indian Army would have seen action in the European, Middle East as well as Far Eastern theatres. Valmiki Faleiro's book on gallant and eminent Goan armed forces personnel would have mentioned this. Portugal entered the war midway in 1916 after Germany declared war on it. Portugal had a treaty with Great Britain since 1386 and were pressured to join, German ships caused blockades and harassment of Portuguese shipping and there were German threats to Portuguese possessions in Africa. Of Portuguese colonies, only Angola, Cabinda (then a separate colony) and Mozambique entered the war. Goa had no occasion to be dragged in except to provide supplies and a transit port to the mother country's war shipping. Excluding the African colonies, only 8,000 Portuguese soldiers lost their lives in the war. I would appreciate for historical perspective, information of any Goan connection with this Great War. Roland Toronto. Sent from Samsung Mobile
