the city. It is split in two parts: in the southern plot there are burials, whereas in the northern one there is a memorial with panels containing the remains of 200 soldiers who were cremated, as the Hindu tradition demands. Overall, Monastir Road Indian Memorial bears 520 Indian soldiers, thus classified according to their religion: 384 Hindus, 107 Muslims, 26 Sikhs, and 1-3 Christians. More precisley, according to the Commonwealth War Grave Commission data the Hindu was the majority of the Indian troop servicemen (74%), whom a 20% of the fellows belonged to the lowest caste Hindus, while the minorities were represented by Sikhs (26 people who served in the army as soldiers or drivers in the Punjabi units), Muslims who were 20% of the overall dead, Christians, and 31 Gurkha soldiers from Nepal. Back in the past many people from this country decided spontaneously to join the British army, even though they have never been ruled by the United Kingdom. The Gurkha unit is still a proud of the British army, and they are well known all around the world for their military prowess. However, data also confirm that Indian troops consisted in Mountain Artillery such as 24th Punjabs, 10th Jats, Bhopal Infantry, and 6th Gurkha Rifles. These units were assisted by a southern one called 80th Carnatic Infantry. The Indian army used only mules to transport the weapons, and many Hindi lower caste people were implied to do groveling and manual works such as water carriers, bearers, sweepers, laborers, washers, cooks, grooms, carpenters, blacksmiths, saddle makers. All these jobs are easily identifiable on the graves inscription, as the British put on them Hindi words such as dhobi, bhisti, langri, khalasi, syce, jamadar, sepoy,
lascar. Indeed, all the Indians who belonged to the lower castes were not even considered as part of the army. The Salonika campaign started in October 1915 when a combined Franco-British force composed by two large brigades was sent to Salonika, after the Greek Prime Minister had called on their aid. The purpose of the expedition was to help Serbians in stopping the German-Bulgarian advance, but the allied troops came when the Serbian army was already defeated. From October 1915 to the end of November 1918, the number of the British Salonika Force losses amounted to 2,800 deaths in action, 1,400 from wounds. The Salonika front was a fierce war zone, in which 4,200 people also died for diseases such as malaria, and so on. As far as concerns Indians people, instead, they were most likely immune to the malaria, therefore in many cases the cause of their decease had to do with the illnesses related with the cold weather, e.g pneumonia, pleurisy, and tubercolosis, as it is often mentioned in the data under this definition “died of sickness�. Monastir Road Indian Memorial graveyard is a useful point both in connecting two countries to their past, and in showing how much they have been relations throughout the history. In actual fact, from Philip and Alexander the great era, Indians have always contributed actively, until the recent world wars, in helping Greece and Europe for their misfortunes This silent witness reminds us the sacrifice of Indians who fought for the freedom of Macedonia from Bulgaria, perhaps without not even knowing in which part of the world they were.
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