Naik Darwan Singh Negi, The First Indian Soldier to Win The VC by Allan Stewart [Antique]

ANT136P. Naik Darwan Singh Negi, The First Indian Soldier to Win The VC by Allan Stewart.

Naik Darwan Singh Negi, of the 1st Battalion 39th Garhwal Rifles, won the VC on the night of the 23rd-24th November 1914. The enemys line of trenches had to be taken at all costs, and a gallant little party of two officers and some Afridis, well supplied with bombs, cleared the way for the attacking company. Then Naik Darwan Singh Negi went ahead of his section, leading a bayonet charge from traverse to traverse. Three times he was wounded by bombs that were thrown at him, but he worked down the whole length of some 300 yards of trench with the result that it was captured, a great many Germans killed, and 105 taken prisoner, while two machine guns, a trench mortar and many rifles and other equipment were captured. Naik Darwan Singh Negi was the first Indian soldier to be awarded the VC. He was awarded his VC on the same day as another Indian soldier, and in fact the other soldier was awarded his for an earlier action and is now considered the first Indian VC recipient.

Antique print.

Paper size 11 inches x 8.5 inches (28cm x 22cm)