Bot at 11:40, 15 December 2022

2022-12-15T11:40:43Z

New page

{{short description|Recipient of the Victoria Cross}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Khudadad Khan
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1888|10|20}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1971|03|08|1888|10|20}}
| image = Khudadad khan vc1915.jpg
| caption = Newspaper story about Sepoy Khudadad Khan
| nickname =
| work =
| birth_place = [[Dab, Pakistan|Dab]], [[British Punjab|Punjab]], British India (now [[Chakwal]], [[Pakistan]])
| death_place = [[Mandi Bahauddin]], [[Punjab, Pakistan]]
| allegiance = {{flag|British India|23px}}
| branch = {{army|British India|23px}}
| serviceyears =
| rank = [[Subedar]]
| unit = [[129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis]]
| commands =
| battles = [[First World War]]
| awards = [[File:UK Victoria Cross ribbon bar.svg|30px]] [[Victoria Cross]]
| relations =
| laterwork =
}}

'''Subedar Khudadad Khan,''' [[Victoria Cross|VC]] (20 October 1888 – 8 March 1971)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/foreverindia/stories/khudadad-khan-ghulam-haider-hollebke-east-africa.php |title=Khudadad Khan and Ghulam Haider of the 129th (Duke of Connaught's Own) Baluchis |website=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]] |access-date=31 August 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815032105/http://www.cwgc.org/foreverindia/stories/khudadad-khan-ghulam-haider-hollebke-east-africa.php |archive-date=15 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2014/10/award-of-victoria-cross-to-khudadad-khan-1.html |first=Margaret |last=Makepeace |title=Award of Victoria Cross to Khudadad Khan |work=Untold lives blog |publisher=[[British Library]] |date=31 October 2014 |access-date=7 August 2017}}</ref> was a Pakistani and the recipient of the [[Victoria Cross]] (VC), the highest military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces. During the [[First World War]], on 31 October 1914 at [[Hollebeke]], [[Belgium]], 26-year-old Khan, serving in the [[British Indian Army]], performed an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

He was the first British Indian subject to earn the Victoria Cross, after members of the [[British Indian Army]] became eligible for the Victoria Cross in 1911, replacing the [[Indian Order of Merit]] first class.<ref>{{Cite book|author= P E Abbott & J M A Tamplin.|title=British Gallantry Awards.|page=161. Nimrod Dix & Co, London, 1981}}{{ISBN|0-902633-74-0}}</ref>

==Life==
Born on 20 October 1888 in the village of [[Dab, Pakistan|Dab]] in [[Chakwal District]] of the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]], [[British Raj|British India]] (now Pakistan) in a [[Punjabi Muslim]] [[Rajput]] family of [[Minhas]] Clan, Khudadad Khan was a [[Sepoy]] in the [[129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis]], [[British Indian Army]] (now 11th Battalion The [[Baloch Regiment]] of [[Pakistan Army]]). The battalion formed part of the [[Indian Corps]], which was sent to France in 1914 to reinforce the British forces fighting on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] during the [[First World War]].

In October 1914, when the Germans launched the [[First Battle of Ypres]], the newly arrived 129th Baluchis were rushed to the frontline to support the hard-pressed British troops. On 31 October, two companies of the Baluchis bore the brunt of the main German attack near the village of Gheluvelt in [[Hollebeke]] Sector. The out-numbered Baluchis fought gallantly but were overwhelmed after suffering heavy casualties. Sepoy Khudadad Khan's machine-gun team, along with one other, kept their guns in action throughout the day, preventing the Germans from making the final breakthrough. The other gun was disabled by a shell and eventually, Khudadad Khan's own team was overrun. All the men were killed by bullets or bayonets except Khudadad Khan who, despite being badly wounded, had continued working his gun. He was left for dead by the enemy but managed to crawl back to his regiment during the night. Thanks to his bravery, and that of his fellow Baluchis, the Germans were held up just long enough for Indian and British reinforcements to arrive. They strengthened the line, and prevented the German Army from reaching the vital ports; Khan was awarded the Victoria Cross.{{sfnp|Thatcher|1932|pp=13–17}}{{sfnp|Ahmed|1998|pp=173–178}}

=== Official citation ===
{{blockquote|[[George V of the United Kingdom|His Majesty the KING-EMPEROR]] has been graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned soldier of the Indian Army for conspicuous bravery whilst serving with the Indian Army Corps, British Expeditionary Force: —

4050, Sepoy Khudadad, 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis.

On 31st October, 1914, at [[Hollebeke]], [[Belgium]], the British Officer in charge of the detachment having been wounded, and the other gun put out of action by a shell, Sepoy Khudadad, though himself wounded, remained working his gun until all the other five men of the gun detachment had been killed.|London Gazette, 7 December 1914.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28999 |page=10425 |supp=y |date=7 December 1914}}</ref>}}

He was awarded the medal on the same day as [[Darwan Singh Negi]] VC; but is regarded as the first Indian recipient, as the latter's VC action was of later date.

=== Later life and legacy ===
Khan retired as a [[Subedar]] in 1929, after which he settled in the Punjab. He made several visits to Britain in connection with the Victoria Cross, including the Victoria Cross centenary review parade in Hyde Park, London, in June 1956. He died on 8 March 1971 aged 82,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/67229 |title=Khudadad Khan |last=Bancroft |first=James W. |publisher=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|year=2004|access-date=9 January 2021}}</ref> and is buried in Chak No. 25, [[Mandi Bahauddin]]. His Victoria Cross is on display at his ancestral house in Village Dab (Chakwal), Pakistan.{{refn|group=note|There is some controversy as to whether the medal on display is genuine. According to contemporary newspaper reports Khudadad Khan's original VC was stolen from him in Rawalpindi in 1950, and a police report was lodged at that time but the medal was never recovered. In 2011, there were reports in Pakistan that the original VC was 'for confidential sale' with a jeweller in [[Haripur, Pakistan|Haripur]] area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://haripur.olx.com.pk/medal-victoria-cross-1914-for-sale-iid-68882112 |title=Victoria Cross 1914 for sale |work=[[OLX]] |access-date=25 April 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710175814/http://haripur.olx.com.pk/medal-victoria-cross-1914-for-sale-iid-68882112 |archive-date=10 July 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://omrite.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/national-treasure-for-sale.html |title=National Treasure for Sale |work=omrite.blogspot |date=11 March 2011 |access-date=25 April 2012}}</ref>}}

A statue of Khudadad Khan is at the entrance of the [[Pakistan Army Museum]] in Rawalpindi.<ref name="PMM">{{cite web |url=http://www.museum.com/jb/showdia?id=2235 |title=Subedar Khuda Dad Khan |work=Pakistan Army Museum Collections |access-date=27 February 2012}}</ref>

In 2016 a play by [[Ishy Din]], ''Wipers'', about Khudadad Khan's feat was put on in a number of English theatres.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/uk-regional/article/BWW-Review-WIPERS-Belgrade-Theatre-Coventry-May-12-2016-20160516 |title=BWW Review: Wipers, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, |last=Ell |first=Jenny |work=broadwayworld.com|date=12 May 2016|access-date=9 January 2022}}</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
;Citations
{{Reflist}}
;Bibliography
* {{cite book |title=[[The Register of the Victoria Cross]] |edition=3rd |year=1997 |publisher=This England |isbn=978-0-906324-27-1}}
* {{cite book |title=History of the Baloch Regiment 1820-1939 |first=Maj.-Gen. Rafiuddin |last=Ahmed |year=1998 |location=Abbottabad |publisher=The Baloch Regimental Centre |isbn=1-84734-130-6}}
* {{cite book |title=[[VCs of the First World War]]: 1914 |first=Gerald |last=Gliddon |publisher=Budding Books |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-84015-006-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Harvey |first=David |author-link=David Charles Harvey |title=[[Monuments to Courage]] |year=1999 |publisher=Kevin & Kay Patience}}
* {{cite book |title=History of 11th Battalion, the Baluch Regiment |first=Lt.-Col. I. A. |last=Qureshi |year=1966 |location=Lahore |publisher=The Allied Press}}
* {{cite book |title=The Fourth Battalion, Duke of Connaught's Own, Tenth Baluch Regiment in the Great War |first=W. S. |last=Thatcher |year=1932 |location=Cambridge |publisher=The University Press |isbn=1-84734-752-5}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |url=http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/india/medals/VC/1KDKhan.html |title=Sepoy Khuda Dad Khan |work=The Victoria Cross (in India) (1912–1947) |publisher=[[Winthrop University]] |location=[[Rock Hill, South Carolina|Rock Hill]], South Carolina |archive-url=https://onlinedealbazar.com/ |archive-date=30 September 2007}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Khudadad}}
[[Category:Indian World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Chakwal District]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War I]]

Khudadad Khan - Revision history

Bot at 11:40, 15 December 2022