Indian soldiers of WW1 remembered in Germany

Until recently there was nothing to identify the quiet, leafy spot where Jafarullah Mohammad and Mata Din Singh were buried. The two servicemen were among thousands of Indian volunteers who fought for Britain in the first world war, and were captured at sea or on the western front.

For more than 80 years the German graveyard where Mohammad, Singh and 204 other Indian volunteers are buried was forgotten. But today the war cemetery in Wünsdorf, in a forest 40km south of Berlin, is to be officially reopened.

The restoration is a recognition of the role played by troops from undivided India, who fought in the bloody battles of Ypres, Neuve Chapelle and Loos. Many died. Others ended up interned in German prisoner of war camps.

"Very few people are aware of the role Indian troops played in both world wars," Peter Francis of the Commonwealth Graves Commission said. "In some Indian units the casualty rate was 80%. In three days' fighting in Neuve Chapelle in 1915, for instance, some 4,200 Indian soldiers perished." Most of the soldiers and sailors buried at Wünsdorf died of disease while stationed at the PoW camp in the nearby town of Zossen. The Nazis later used the area as a vast military training camp.

After the second world war, the Russians took over the camp, including the graveyard - using the surrounding heathland for mock tank battles. Locals, meanwhile, looted the headstones; the plot disappeared under rhododendrons and fallen oaks. It was only after the fall of the Berlin Wall that British officials were able to gain access to the site.

Diplomats from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will attend today's rededication ceremony, as well as officials from Russia and France, to honour Tartar soldiers who are buried on the same site.