My Country

[ravinderjeet]

Subject: My Country



Its a real story of an Indian soldier who faced one of the deadliest Military Leader the modern world has seen so far...

15 Aug 1936 was not the independence day for India nonetheless it has been printed in the pages of world history and worth sharing with our countrymen.

It was Berlin Olympics and India had to play the mighty Germany in the Hockey finals. Just before the match the Indian Coach, Pankaj Gupta, got the then Congress Flag in the dressing room. All the players saluted it and sang Vande Mataram, the then National Anthem of India. When India reached the finals it was presumed by the Germans that another gold medal was just a matter of time. Germany was presumed to be winner. To boost the morale of his team, the Dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler himself came to witness the match. By half time India was leading 1-0. The playing conditions were not conducive for India in the second half. Fearing defeat the ground was deliberately wet by the ground staff which would not suit the sub-standard shoes of Indian players. The captain of Indian team was Dhyan Chand, who was facing difficulty in running with his shoes in the wet ground. Dhyan Chand took of his shoes and started playing barefoot. India won the final and the Gold medal by 8-1, out of which 6 Goals were scored by Dhyan Chand himself. Hitler, left the stadium in between the match as he could not see his team losing. When Hitler came to know about the magic of Dhyan Chand, he expressed his will to meet Dhyan Chand. Dhyan Chand could not sleep the whole night. The next morning he found Hitler in front of him. Dhyan chand was numb and so as every body, thinking as to what would follow next in lion's den. Hitler looked at the rotten shoes of Dhyan Chjand and asked-
"what else you do?"
Dhyan Chand: I am in Army.
Hitler: what is your rank?
Dhyan Chand: I am Lance Nayak
Hitler: Come to germany I will make you Field Marshal.
Dhyan Chand was in flux, whether it was an instruction or offer. Breaking his silence of few seconds Dhyan Chand Replied," India is my County, and I am fine there".
Not even the Generals of Hitler's Army had audacity to reply back to him. It was then Hitler took his eyes of Dhyan chand's shoes and said," as you feel good", and walked off. That was the pride and honour a lance nayak of the Indian Army bore in his attitude. Indian Hockey may be in a bad shape today, but Major Dhyan Chand has become immortal. Above all, do the current generation of citizens/soldiers carry the same pride even if they are not Dhyan Chand. You can decide for yourself.

[JSRana]

Many Many Salutes to Major Dhayan Chand.

[dndeswal]

.
Initially, Hitler had a notion that Indians were weak and feeble, unable to fight and that is why a handful of British soldiers were ruling the Indian sub-continent. He did not know how we fought with them in 1857, though the battle was lost.

During World War-II, a portion of Indian Jawans deserted from British Army and sided with Netaji Subhash Chander Bose. All of them were from North India, mainly from Jatland areas of UP, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. When they paraded in the streets of Berlin, Hitler was amazed to see the glimpse of those handsome Jawans. None of them was below 6 feet ! Hitler wondered how Britishers were controlling a nation which had such brave, tall soldiers. He felt that if some more Jawans come to his side, he would definitely be able to crush the British empire all over the world.

During the parade in Berlin, many German girls came close to Indian Jawans and hug them.

This story was told to me by an old man of our village, who had served in INA of Netaji.

[ravinderjeet]

देशवाल जी ,आज भी स्थिति दुसरे विश्व युद्ध वाली ही हे | उन् अंग्रेजों के काले पर्तिरूप और चमचे हम पर शाशन कर रहे हैं और हम आज भी फौज में भरती हो कर सारी उम्र देश की सेवा के नाम पर कुछ पैसों में ही गुजारा कर के निकाल देते हैं ,या फिर देश पर बलिदान हो जाते हैं | पर शाशन करने वाले एश उड़ाते हैं | जाट बेवकूफ कहलाते हैं |

[dndeswal]

.

“The Wonder That was India” written by British author A.L. Basham is the best book if you want to have a glimpse of the glory of India before Britishers came to this land.

Even during Aurangzeb’s time (he died in 1707 AD), India’s share in global trade used to be 23%. Today, it has reduced to hardly 1.5% ! The arrival of East India Company in India ruined the Indian economy. There was a two-way depletion of resources. British used to buy raw materials from India at cheaper rates and finished goods were sold at higher than normal price in Indian markets.

The book can be bought at flipkart for Rs. 349 only:

http://www.flipkart.com/books/033043909x

Today, we say that we are independent. But are our economic policies also independent?

I advise all of you to read “The Wonder That was India”.

.

[DrRajpalSingh]

.

“The Wonder That was India” written by British author A.L. Basham is the best book if you want to have a glimpse of the glory of India before Britishers came to this land.

Even during Aurangzeb’s time (he died in 1707 AD), India’s share in global trade used to be 23%. Today, it has reduced to hardly 1.5% ! The arrival of East India Company in India ruined the Indian economy. There was a two-way depletion of resources. British used to buy raw materials from India at cheaper rates and finished goods were sold at higher than normal price in Indian markets.

The book can be bought at flipkart for Rs. 349 only:

http://www.flipkart.com/books/033043909x

Today, we say that we are independent. But are our economic policies also independent?

I advise all of you to read “The Wonder That was India”.

.

Nice information. Thanks Deswal ji.

[vikda]

Dhyanchand is the biggest ICON any game can have, given his extreme talent, values and conditions from which he rose. Dhyanchand could not have achieved in the game more than what he did, even if he was born in Germany because of the fact that he already reached to immortal heights even playing for/in India so there was nothing more left to be achieved. Sports has recently been included as a category for Bharat Ratna and Govt should not dilute it by giving it to more than one sportsperson (Dhyanchand) as of now , like they did for other categories by giving it to the likes of Rajiv Gandhi etc.

[lrburdak]

I have read it and I have a personal copy of this book. The most important thing about this book is that it is free from the typical bias of Indian historians.

Regards,




.

“The Wonder That was India” written by British author A.L. Basham is the best book if you want to have a glimpse of the glory of India before Britishers came to this land.

Even during Aurangzeb’s time (he died in 1707 AD), India’s share in global trade used to be 23%. Today, it has reduced to hardly 1.5% ! The arrival of East India Company in India ruined the Indian economy. There was a two-way depletion of resources. British used to buy raw materials from India at cheaper rates and finished goods were sold at higher than normal price in Indian markets.

The book can be bought at flipkart for Rs. 349 only:

http://www.flipkart.com/books/033043909x

Today, we say that we are independent. But are our economic policies also independent?

I advise all of you to read “The Wonder That was India”.

.

[lrburdak]

Wahid Saleh ( mailto:Wahid_saleh@yahoo.com ) has sent following feed back to this thread:

--------------------------------

It is mentioned in the thread that the Indian soldiers deserted the army. This is not true. If you think the following is worth publishing, pls add it to the thread.

regards,
Wahid Saleh
The Netherlands

“The Indian soldiers did not desert the. They were prisoners of war recruited by the Germans.

For an articles on “Indian in the Netherlands”, I was looking for information of Indian soldiers of the German army (known also as Hitler's secret Indian army) who were stationed in the Netherlands. I think it was in August 1999 when Ambassador Menon informed me that the embassy had a copy of a video of an old TV programme on this subject aired by one of the Dutch TV stations.

Iper, Flanders etc. have memorials for Sikh soldiers who fought in WW I died in Belgium. I visited them in the hope of getting some information of WW II also. For WW I and Indian army in Belgium check the following links:
- Commemoration of Sikh Soldiers in Tyne Cot (Iper,Belgium) on 11th November
http://sikhsindia.blogspot.com/2010/11/commemoration-of-sikh-soldiers-in-tyne.html
- Lions of the Great War
http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/lionsofthegreatwar.htm

I was able to contact a gentleman in Texel (an island in the North of the Netherlands) who as a child played with the Indian soldiers. In August 2008 the Dutch Historical Newspaper (Historisch Nieuwsblad) published a long article about the Indian soldiers in Zandvoort. The following links will also provide additional information.
- Hitler's secret Indian army
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3684288.stm
- Subhas Chandra Bose in Nazi Germany
http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv7n1/Bose.htm “

[DrRajpalSingh]

I have read it and I have a personal copy of this book. The most important thing about this book is that it is free from the typical bias of Indian historians.

Regards,

Friend,

I second your findings regarding the book.

Further, I would like to inform you that "The Wonder that Was India" Volume II by AAA Rizvi is equally good book. Both volumes have been published by Rupa and Co. in paper back edition and are easily available for Indian readers in affordable price.

Regards