Subterranean Sepoys: Life in the Trenches for the Indian Army on the Western Front

Five volunteers acting in a drama about life in the trenches

Volunteers create a dramatic performance based on the stories they discovered of life in the trenches

First World War: Then and Now

11/12/2013

Wandsworth Common

Wandsworth

Tara Arts Group Ltd

£9900

"Tara Arts aimed to offer listeners of the radio play a rich and intimate personal sense of the Indian soldier’s epic and disturbing experience."

Jonathan Kennedy, Executive Producer, Tara Arts

Volunteers explored the hidden history of Indian soldiers who served alongside British troops on the Western Front.

Led by the theatre group Tara Arts, working in partnership with the UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA), the project focused on trench warfare on the Western Front during the first year of the First World War. By November 1914, one third of the British Army serving on the Western Front had been recruited from India.

Twelve volunteers examined how Indian troops adapted to the hardships of life in the trenches. They also looked at how the young soldiers from the Indian and British armies learned to work together.

The first part of the project involved research led by UKPHA, who arranged visits to the Imperial War Museum, the National Archives and other heritage organisations. The volunteers became history detectives, working with specialists to delve into and transcribe the letters, diaries and official records they found.

At workshops volunteers considered the emotional and psychological impact that life in the trenches had on the Indian soldiers and these ideas inspired the creation of a radio play and education pack. Excerpts of the radio play were used within the BBC documentary ‘Forgotten Heroes’.