Sikh Soldier - At War Volume 5 [Paperback]

Indians have been particularly known to lack a sense of history and it was always the foreign powers who systematically recorded history but obviously from their point of view and leaving big voids. So where was the history of the Sikhs? No-one had really chronicled and documented the history, valour and sacrifice of the Sikhs in a consolidated form. In this book, and in four earlier ones, Mr Dhesi has admirably filled this so obvious void. This book makes compelling reading, dealing methodically, as it does, with the history of the Sikhs starting as the Punjabis of yore and morphing in to 'the Khalsa' and then on to the end of the last century. It brings out how, way back in 1710, Banda Singh Bahadur became perhaps the first to re-establish Indian rule after centuries of subjugation after a fierce battle. Sikhs led by their Gurus fought against Mughal tyranny, particularly their penchant for conversions, and finally in 1798 Ranjit Singh brought an end to the nightmare of eight centuries of foreign invasions and subjugation and allowed the rest of India to breathe in peace by setting up the first Sikh kingdom. The brave Sikhs did much in the twentieth century on battle fields around the world, during WW1, WW2 and the struggle for Indian Independence. To me, the 1897 Battle of Saragarhi is the ultimate in sacrifice and valour, where all 21 defenders were martyred, all given awards and medals for valour and Queen Victoria would go on to say It is no exaggeration to record that the armies which possess the valiant Sikhs cannot face defeat in War. The book admirably chronicles the rise of the Sikhs and the constant universal theme of their valour and sacrifice in defence of their faith, around the world, in the armed forces of many countries they made their own and in the defence of many more. In fact their grit, determination and valour ensured many victories. Reading between the lines, the book brings out that Sikhs by nature are self-respecting, courageous andl³