BHARATIYA MARTYRS LIBERATED HAIFA IN ISRAEL
Ramakant Tiwari
Grand narrative that modern Israel has sacrifice of 900 brave Indian soldiers in their foundation who graciously martyred themselves to liberate strategic port of Haifa from 402 year old occupation of Islamic Ottoman Empire of Turkey in 1918, during concluding years of World War I, is little known worldwide. Approximately 1,50,000 Indian soldiers including those specially despatched by Maharajas of Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad participated in the operation. As Turks were heavily fortified supported by German and Austrian armies, British Army decided to withdraw to avoid large number of casualties and pressurized Indian soldiers to withdraw. However, Indian soldiers mounted on horses and armed merely with swords and spears, rejected withdrawal and decided to attack Ottoman Muslims. In spite of Muslims being armed with machine guns and cannons, Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers fought fiercely and their cavalry bravery witnessed capture of Haifa on Sept. 23, 1918. This was the only victory in world military history led by Major Dalpat Singh MC wherein a fortified town was liberated after 402 years of Islamic slavery by a Cavalry on gallop ! In this battle that lasted only one and half hour, Lancers captured 1532 Turkish soldiers, 11 machine guns, 17 guns and two navy guns. Capt. Bahadur Amar Singh Jodha and Jamadar Jor Singh were awarded Indian Order of Merit for their unique bravery, devotion and martyrdom. The brave Major Dalpat Singh who sacrificed himself, was anointed as ‘Hero of Haifa’, conferred upon Military Cross and the entire saga of bravery is described in history textbooks of Israel. British Army then carried on with capturing other territories of Palestine and soon a nation, Israel was born. More than 900 Indian soldiers sacrificed themselves in Haifa battle, were cremated with military honours by the Israelis in various cemeteries across Israel. Their graves and memorials are very well looked after by the Government of Israel even today.
On Sept. 23, 2016, a memorial function was organized at Teen Murty Crossing in New Delhi, tributes were paid to the martyrs by HE Ambassador of Israel Daniel Carmon, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi. A seminar too, was organized at Teen Murty Bhavan auditorium with Indresh Kumar delivering keynote address.
Indo-Israel Friendship Forum celebrates HAIFA DAY every year at ten locations i.e. Ramla in Israel, New York in USA, Durban in South Africa, Hongkong in China and at five locations in Mumbai, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Hyderabad and Delhi in Bharata. The memorial at Teen Murty Chowk has three life-sized statues sculpted in 1922 representing three States of Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad who had participated in the battle to liberate Israel from Turkish occupation. Bharatiya Army raised 61st Cavalry by merging Jodhpur and Mysore regiments in memory of Haifa martyrs. In 2009, President of Bharata and Chief of Naval Staff paid tributes at the memorial followed by goodwill visit to Haifa port by four Naval warships to pay tributes to the martyrs. Now it has been decided to jointly celebrate Sept. 23 as Haifa Day in the country every year by Indo-Israel Friendship Forum and Forum for Awareness of National Security (FANS) under the pioneership of Shri Indresh Kumar, National Executive Member of RSS.
Shri Indresh Kumar heralded the call to strengthen commercial, cultural and defence cooperation between India and Israel, Teen Murty Chowk be renamed as ‘Teen Murty Haifa Mukti Chowk’, undertake ‘Patriotic Tourism’ to border areas and mingle with security forces to boost their morale and celebration of centenary year of Haifa liberation in 2018 in a big way in both countries.
3 Responses to “BHARATIYA MARTYRS LIBERATED HAIFA IN ISRAEL”