Now for WW2...
Out of 31 Victoria Crosses awarded in the Burma front, 28 VCs were awarded to Indians.
A portrait of Tulbahadur Pun, Victoria Cross (VC).
Pun was awarded a VC at Mogaung on the night of 6/7th June 1944. After his comrades were killed around him, he single handedly charged a group of Japanese who were dug in 30 yards away across open ground, firing a bren gun from the hip he overcame the enemy and captured their position and two light machine guns.
Men of the 2/6th Gurkha Rifles who served with equal distinction in Italy. The second photograph shows a Gurkha soldier proudly displaying his feared Khukri - a Nepalese dagger. A Gurkha and his khukri are an extremely dangerous combination for the enemy. Circa World War II.
5/5 Marathas in Italy, late 1944 or early 1945. Machine gunners with Vickers MMG's setting up pre-established fields of fire for a defensive position. The bulbous devices on the muzzles of the Vickers are recoil accelerators designed to minimize jamming during sustained fire.
Madras Sappers and Miners work on a 'corduroy' road east of Kohima, on the Jessami track, August 1944. Timber provided a cheap way of producing a reasonably durable road surface for those hard-to-reach areas where mule or air transport was not enough.
Engineers of the 8th Indian Division rest on the morning of 12 May 1944. They spent the previous night clearing enemy mines planted on the Gustav Line, allowing infantry and armour to break through during the drive that would take the Allies north to Rome.
Jawans (soldiers) of the 4th Indian Division, right after Operation Crusader. These Jawans were virtually the only fresh troops available to the Allies, in the advance towards the capture of the Libyan port of Derna in December 1941.
A Sikh-manned Bren gun team of the Fourth Indian division participating in manoeuvres prior to Operation Compass, the December 1940 offensive against the Italian Army in the desert of Western Egypt and Eastern Libya.
4.2" mortar crews of 5/5 Marathas, the machine gun battalion of the 8th Indian Division, in action in Italy. Machine gun battalions manned the Vickers machine guns and heavy mortars that supported infantry divisions.