New Delhi, November 12, 2005 (UNI)

An Indian Army delegation is currently visiting France and Belgium to attend commemorative services for the Indian soldiers who died on the Western Front during the First World War.

While in France, the team-- led by Major General AK Lamba, ADG- (Ceremonial and Welfare) at the Army Head Quarters-- took part in a memorial service and wreath-laying ceremony at Neuve Chapelle and at the Indian Monument at India Gate memorial.

In Belgium, the team participated in a remembrance ceremony at the Indian Memorial Monument above the Menin Gate-- a world famous landmark through which all soldiers marched to the battlefield.

The team also took part in commemorative ceremonies at the French National Cemetery at St Charles de Poteze, and services at St Martin Cathedral, St George's Memorial Church, Belgium Memorial, Special Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate and Rememberance concerts at St Martin's Cathedral and Onze Lieve Vrouwe Kerk Poperinghe.

Today, the team visited Hollebeke, the place where the Indian soldiers got into action for the first time.

The team is also scheduled to visit the tomb of Sher Singh at Zandvoorde Military Cemetery.

Close to 65,000 Indians died during the First World War between 1914 and 1917. While Indian soldiers fought and died all over the world during the War, nearly 90 per cent of the Indian casualties took place in a small area located around Ypres near the border between Belgium and France.

Ypres is a small Flemish market town just over the border from France and quite similar to many towns in Belgium. The scene of some of the worst fighting of the War, Ypres was described as being all the horrors of the Somme and the hell of Verdun. The consequences were drastic with 500,000 dead in an area of 25 sq kms. After the War, Ypres became one of the most important European memorials.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission tends to the graves at the Indian corner of Bedford House Cemetery on the road to Lille. On each November 11, the Anniversary of the Armistice, the Belgians gather within the Saint Martins Cathederal to pray for the dead of the many lands that came to rest in their soggy soil.