The French Embassy on Tuesday hosted the screening of 'The Forgotten Army', a documentary by Delhi-based journalist Mandakini Gahlot which explores India's historic participation in World War I.
Led by military historian Rana Chhina of the United Service Institution of India, the film traverses from rural Punjab, where descendants recall stories of ancestors long gone, to the battlefields of France and Belgium.
Speaking on the occasion, Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India, said, "In this year marking the centenary of the Armistice of World War I, we all pay tribute to these valiant men who came from all parts of India to fight for our freedom."
Envoys from other countries also participated in the screening.
Last week, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu was in France to participate in the commemoration and to the Paris Peace Forum.
Naidu also inaugurated the Indian Armed Forces Memorial in the town of Villers-Guillain.
Over a 100 years ago, nearly 1.5 million men from across India were recruited to fight in the greatest war humanity had ever witnessed. They were professional soldiers from undivided Punjab, engineers from Bengal, and labourers from Northeast.
They fought in every major theatre of the war in Europe, including France, the Middle East and Africa, and nearly 75,000 amongst them lost their lives.
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