A HERO OF INDIA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 12, 9 October 1918, Page 6

A HERO OF INDIA

REMARKABLE EXPLOIT THAT WON

THE V.C,

HIS RACE WITH DEATH

(By Lieut. Nihal Singh, in the "Commonweal.")

The gallant exploit of tho latest Indian V.C., Yemadar Gobitid Singh, who, accompanied by a number of Indian officers on leave from France, has been paying a brief visit to. London, has electrified his countrymen in the 'Empire's capital. Since it is unlikely that more than the official notification, which skives a bare skeleton npcount of the incident, without flesh and blood, will be published in India, it may be of interest to give a detailed account of the heroic deed of our fighter. I called on tho Indian hero at the magnificently appointed house in South Kensington (London), where Indian officers are entertained as the guests of tho British nation, to 'hear from his own lips the details of the story of his bravo deed. He is rather thin and quite tall f>? a Ro.jput, and has the clear-cut, intelligent features of the Rathorns. I found him surrounded by a number of his comrades, who recently showed the Germans that the Indian cavalry is ready to fight with them at any time, nnd able to sicqiiit itself with glory. A bright fire burned in the largo grate in the (lining room, where, in the years gone by, a Royal Duke used to ept his meals. TV Rnjnut V.C. spoke, to me in simple Hindi, jerkin!? out his sentences in soldier fashion. So shy was he that his comrades had often to supplement his narrative.

Story of tho Exploit. The squadron to which the Yemadar is. at preoent attached foiind itself completely cut off from, , the armies operating against the' Germany during the recent "push" at Cambrai. Encircled by the enemy on three sides, with a canal or river (I could not make out which) on the fourth, tho men entrenched themselves, determined to save themselves or to die.' The in commapd, finding it imperative to pet into communication with the General Staff, asked for a volunteer to carry his dispatch to headquarters. It was out of the question to tnke the stream route. The only altcrimtivowas to break through the German lines. That mpant bravinpr the enemy iire over n distance of a mile and a h?lf. ' Mounted on his stp?d, a brave Indian fpred f>rth into No Man's Land. He had not pone very far when German bullets riddled him and his horso. One after another seven Indians 'followed this volunteer, and all shared his , fate. Gobind Singh, then a lancedafadar,saw eight Indians mercilessly shot by the Germans. His Eathore blood boiled in him, and he begged to be allowed to carry, the dispatch stated on his charger. He galloped at full fpeed into No Man's Land, making straight as a bullet for his objective. The German machine-guns were at once trained on him. So accurate wns their aim that they described, with bullets, on either side of the animal, r curve the shape of his leg, not far from where it hung down from the saddle.' The horse fell some six hundred yards short of the destination. Nothing daunted, the brave Rathorn ran t.ho whole distance on foot, an-1 arrived at the Headquarters with tho dispatch without;' having received a single wound.

Tho Roturn Rids. The commandant's letter called for a reply. Gobind S'ingh offered to take it back to the trench, over the mile and a half stretch raked by German fire. Mounted on the horse than belonged to the general's orderly, he salfied forth on his return journey. Ho was instantly greeted with a fusillade of machine-gun fire. About hali-way across "No Man's Land" his. horee fell under "him, and he ran for dear life. Tile Germans gave chase, firing all tha time. But Gol)ind Singh wag fleet of foot, and kept well ahead of them. Aftor a-few moments that seemed an eternity, counter-fire ifrom the isolated Indian squadron drove back the pursuers, and Gobind Singh jumped into the trench with his comrades. For "fi&> second time ■he had cheated the Germans of their prey.