LAST HORSEMAN HERO GOBIND SINGH RATHORE /2ND LANCERS - WHO WON VICTORIA CROSS IN TANK BATTLE

A MILE A HALF OF FIRE

NOTHING WOULD DETER GOBIND SINGH RATHORE FROM DELIVERING THE MESSAGE. 

NOT ENEMY FIRE, 

NOT HIS DEAD HORSE, 

NOT EVEN SHEER EXHAUSTION..

George Soper Painting - 1918

LAST VICTORIA CROSS AWARDED FOR ACTION ON HORSEBACK

A look at the 'Tide Of Iron' historic battle on the Western Front

Cambrai: Building Up To Battle

Mud, blood, and slaughter pretty much summed up the British experience of war during much of 1916 and 17.

After a disastrous first day on the Somme  on July 1, 1916, the campaign turned into a five-month slog.

The British doggedly fought on, through worsening weather conditions, to eventually take the high ground which had been the objective on the opening day.

Historian Hew Strachan has said that British commander Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig must be blamed for not preventing more slaughter when his planned breakthrough failed.

The Battle of Cambrai rumbles to life

The Battle of Cambrai was an all-important battle not only because it was an effort by the allied forces to break the Hindenburg Line of the Germans, but also because it was there that tanks were used successfully for the first time in the history of warfare. The attack began at 6.20am on 20 November as the artillery began shelling. With this stunning overture, the tanks advanced into the fog. The gentle incline made things very easy for the drivers, while the infantry marvelled at the ease with which the tanks rolled over the barbed wire as they followed them into battle, as did the men inside.

 As the days passed and the casualties mounted, Haig finally realised the necessity to fall back and form a line for the winter. He ordered a retreat on 3 December and by 7 December the lines had settled, with both sides having made considerable gains and losses in territory.

The British casualties numbered 44,207 killed, wounded or missing. The number of German losses has proved harder to calculate, with estimates ranging between 41,000 and 53,300. The battle has proven to be one of the most fertile grounds for myths of the First World War to form, but what is clear is that crucial lessons were learned in how important communication and co-operation between different divisions was.

A lack of support in reserve, a lack of communication, and that terrible desire to overreach led to the attack’s failure. While it may have been the first large-scale tank offensive in the war, this landmark came at a terrible cost to both sides.

235th Brigade (47th Divisional Artillery) water their horses near Flesquieres, 24 November 1917. Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

Diaries reveal how Indian soldier delivered urgent messages under heavy fire despite his horses being shot

Born on December 7, 1887, Gobind Singh Lance-Daffadar of the 2nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse) had bagged the Victoria Crosss, highest Commonwealth award for gallantry valour “in the face of the enemy” given to members of the armed forces of British territories.

Damoi in Nagore district has a population of 500. When one enters the village and starts looking for Gobind Singh's house, one realises that he's rather famous as “VC Sahab” (Victoria Cross Sahab). And suddenly people are eager to accompany you to his house, a weathered “haveli” he built after his retirement. Painted in sky blue colour, this haveli, built on 70 bighas of land, has 12 rooms with traditional arches over long baradaris. 

When a visitor steps into the courtyard, he is greeted by two big frames of his painted portraits in army fatigues, his proud eyes behind bushy mustaches gazing intently at you. The portraits hang outside a room with four windows where he breathed his last.  At present his daughter-in-law Kamal Kanwar lives there. Gobind was keen to study but his village had no school. So, he was admitted to prestigious Chowpasni school situated in Jodhpur,175 km from his village. After returning from the World War I he resumed his studies. During those days women hardly went to school but he made his wife, Jattal Kanwar, study till fifth standard in the same school. Most of the time, Gobind served away from home. At the time of his death, Gobind had extracted an assurance from his wife that she will never compromise with son's studies. Ganga Singh Rathore, who was just five when Gobind died, went on to become a brigadier. Thanks to initiatives of his family now the village has a senior secondary school. Singh survived the war and died at 55 in 1942.

He joined the British Indian Army along with his brother Amar Singh in 1910. When the Great War broke out, the unit had to be deputed to Europe. Both brothers volunteered to go, but their officer advised that one should stay back to look after the family. Amar stayed back, and Gobind left for France. He was 29 when he became a Lance in the 28th Light Cavalry. He was later attached to 2nd Lancer which was also called Gardner’s Horse.

A group of Indian recruits of the 2nd Lancers Cavalry regiment during a musketry drill.
C. 1914-18
Composed of native Hindus, Gardner's Horse participated in the Great War where Govind Singh Rathore from Rajputana won the 1st and only Victoria Cross for the reg.

The story goes thus: 

On the night of 30 November and December 1, 1917, east of Peizieres, France, the 2nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse) unit of the British Indian army was surrounded by enemy German forces in Epehy, France, at the height of the Battle of Cambrai. The unit was cut off from its brigade, headquartered six miles away, on the outskirts of Peizieres. Someone had to ride a horse to Peizieres to deliver a message about the unit’s siege by the Germans. 

At this time volunteers were called for to carry a message giving the position of the regiment to the headquarters on the outskirts of Piezeire. Singh and Sowar Jot Ram were selected and given two different routes. Both of them started immediately on a gallop. Jot Ram was killed as he tried to make his way to the destination. Singh was given the open more difficult route which was under constant enemy fire. He had traveled about half a mile of the lower ground when his horse was killed by machine-gun fire.

A 1920 painting by Thomas Flowerday Clarke titled The second ride of Lance Dafadar Gobind Singh, VC at Peizieres France Dec 1, 1917.

For some time Singh lay still close to his horse, then judging he was no longer watched, he got up and began to run on foot. Immediately there was a burst of machine gun fire upon him. He trembled over as if shot and waited before getting up again and running. By repeating this process varied by wriggling along the ground, he reached the brigade headquarters.

A return message had now to be sent and he volunteered to take this too. He was given another horse and started back taking the high ground south of the valley until he reached the German post. Then dipping down and across the sunken road he had covered two-thirds the distance when his horse was shot and he had to make the rest of his way running and falling.

An hour later when another message had to be sent from the regiment, and although he was exhausted and wounded, Singh came forward again. He was told that he has already done his share but he insisted that he knew the ground better than anybody else. On the strength of this, the Adjutant allowed him to go. This time he started from the lower end of the road, turned right and passed ‘Catelet Copse’ and went straight through the barrage in Épehy. Halfway through Épehy, his horse was cut in half by a direct hit from a shell just behind the saddle. Singh then ran on and eventually got into the dead ground and made his way out of the sight of the enemy to Pezières. Thoroughly exhausted and badly wounded he arrived there at 11.55 AM. He volunteered to make the journey a fourth time but was not allowed to do so. For his conspicuous bravery and unwavering devotion to duty in saving his regiment and fellow men, Singh was awarded the VC.


For his determination, Rathore was given the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest gallantry award for valour “in the face of the enemy” to members of the armed forces of British territories.

Gobind Singh Rathore received his medal from the King on the 6th February 1918, at Buckingham Palace and following his investiture he was presented with a silver plate and a gold watch at a reception given in his honor. Those present at the reception included two officers of the Indian Cavalry who were visiting London as guests of the nation, as well as General Sir O’Moore Creagh VC, who had earned his VC in an action at Kam Dakka, on the Kabul River, in 1879 during the Afghan War and Lieut.-Gen. Maharajah Sir Pratap Singh ji. It was later presented to 2nd Lancers by Govind’s son, Brig Ganga Singh (1937-1999). Ganga joined the Regiment as a recruit; rose to command its B Squadron, then 2nd Lancers, and, finally, an Infantry and an Armoured Brigade.

His citation for the VC in the London Gazette of January 11, 1918, reads: “For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in thrice volunteering to carry messages between the regiment and brigade headquarters, a distance of over 1 1/2 miles over open ground which was under the observation and heavy fire of the enemy. He succeeded each time in delivering his message, although on each occasion his horse was shot dead and he was compelled to finish his journey on foot.”

After the war, Singh was promoted to Jemadar in the 28th Cavalry and served in the army until 1934. He passed away two days after his 55th birthday, on the 9th December 1942, at Nagaur, Rajputana, and his body was cremated in his home village of Damoi. The medal is currently displayed by his regiment 2nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse), Indian Army.

Almost a century and a continent away, Col Rajinder Singh Rathore’s heart swells with pride every time he tells the story of his grandfather’s heroism and the fact that he is the third Rathore to be in the same unit. Rajinder Singh’s father, Ganga Singh, also served in the 2nd Lancers. Posted with a brigade near Tezpur in Assam, Rajinder says,

“We grew up on stories about my grandfather’s role in the Battle of Cambrai. He even got a second nomination for the Victoria Cross but then, the Cross is given only once.”

Rathore was born into a farming family in Damoi village, Rajasthan. He joined the British Indian army along with brother Amar Singh in 1910. When the Great War broke out, the unit had to be deputed to Europe. Both brothers volunteered to go to the War, but their officer advised that one should stay back to look after the family. Amar stayed back, and Rathore left for France.

Besides the Victoria Cross, Rathore  was awarded 100 acres of land in Punjab. After Partition, the land fell in Pakistan. By then, Gobind and Amar Singh had passed away. Amar Singh’s son Tez Singh petitioned the Indian government to give them an equal measure of land in Rajasthan.
Col Rajinder also recollects his grandfather studying up to Class V after the war. “He never went to school. After he got the Victoria Cross, he wanted to study. His commanding officer agreed and arranged for his study till Class V,” he says.

His son Late. Brigadier Ganga Singh also served with the regiment of his gallant father.

Carrying forward the legacy of his family 53-year-old Col Rajinder Singh like his father Ganga Singh and grandfather Gobind Singh also belongs to prestigious 2nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse). Proud  Rathore who is currently posted in the 52 Infantry Brigade Jammu (LOC), told Deccan Herald over phone: “Every time people talk about the heroic deeds of my grandfather my heart swells with pride. I appreciate the British Government's innovative way of preserving the priceless stories of the heroes in their digital archives. Now, people from all over the world can easily access his information. However, such initiative should be replicated by the Indian and the Rajasthan governments .”

Unhappy at the response of state and Central governments, family believes that bravery of Singh needs  bigger recognition in his own country. Expressing his concern, Col Narpat Singh Rathore (retd), another grandson of Gobind Singh who presently lives in Jaipur, told Deccan Herald: “We still remember the bravery tales of my grandfather narrated by my father. He had told me that Ganga Singh was nominated second time for the VC. But it is given only once.

Although his bravery stories are archived in the digital library a memorial in his village can be built or a defence academy could be dedicated to him, so that people, especially the new generation, can recognise his work."

This account of his actions was written by James Price Lloyd of the Welsh Regiment, who served with Military Intelligence. After the war, the government to destroyed all the archives relating to this propaganda (section MI 7b (1)). They were regarded as being too sensitive to risk being made public.

Remarkably these documents have survived in the personal records of Captain Lloyd. Many of these papers are officially stamped, and one can trace the development of many individual articles from the notes based on an idea, to the pencil draft which is then followed by the hand-written submission and the typescript.