November

Situated south of the River Thames, the Imperial War Museum’s collections cover both World Wars and all military operations in which Britain or the Commonwealth had been involved since August 1914. Significantly, its archives include Britain’s largest collection of images of Sikh troops. The Victoria Cross awarded to Parkash Singh for his outstanding bravery in the Burma Campaign, as well as his “karra”, can be seen here.

The collection of images depict the Sikh role in the Second World War - Sherman tank crews of the Scinde Horse Regiment, part of the Indian 31st Armored Division in Iraq. In the foreground, a party of Sikhs is being instructed on stripping and cleaning a Browning gun. Also depicted are the men of the 45th Sikhs, 52nd Infantry Brigade, 17th Division, at a tug of war in the First World War.

The portrait is of Nand Singh of the Sikh Regiment who was awarded his Victoria Cross in 1944.

“In the last two wars, 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded for the freedom of Britain and the world during shell fire, with no other protection but the turban, the symbol of their faith”

General Sir Frank Messervy KCSI, KBE, CB, DSO.