By Lord Ashcroft
Subadar Khudadad Khan VC
Khudadad Khan had the distinction of two notable ‘firsts’ in the world of gallantry honours: he was the recipient of the first VC awarded to a Muslim and also the receiver of the first such decoration made to an Indian. He was born on October 26, 1888 in Jhelum, Punjab, India (now Pakistan). He was from a family of Pathans who came originally from the North West Frontier, bordering Afghanistan.
Khan had enlisted as a sepoy (the equivalent to a private) in the 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis, Indian Army, in October 1906 at a time when the regiment was recruiting on the North West Frontier.
In August 1914, Sepoy Khan was initially sent to the Suez Canal Zone but he was then diverted to France because of the urgent need for more Allied soldiers. He was among 20,000 Indian troops sent to the front line to help the exhausted BEF try to stop the Germans from capturing the strategic ports of Boulogne in France and Nieuwpoort in Belgium.
Into The Trenches
On October 18, 1914, he moved with the Ferozepore Brigade from Orléans, France, to be attached to the British Cavalry Corps that was attempting to hold the line between Zandvoorde and Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium. …
