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In the second in our three-part series Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe traces the exploits of the Ceylonese who fought in World War 1
Courage under fire
The Passage Fund, it appears, facilitated the overseas transfer of a significant percentage of Ceylonese volunteers. Clearly, the vast bulk of Ceylonese volunteers who enlisted were from Christian backgrounds.

Furthermore, according to statistics of the selected colleges, Ceylonese volunteers amounted to 71 % or 235. Although, they were less than 1% of Ceylon's population at the time, Burghers accounted for 56% or 186 of Ceylonese volunteers. The majority ethnic group in Ceylon, the Sinhalese, amounted to about 12% or 41 while the minority Ceylon Tamils, alongside Malays and Colombo Chetties, equalled around 3% or 8.

Many of these volunteers served and fought in the most gruesome battles and campaigns of the First World War, and recorded their extraordinary experiences in letters and memoirs.

Frontline experiences
It is a little known fact that numerous Ceylon volunteers fought in some of the bloodiest battles and campaigns of the First World War. For instance, on the Gallipoli Peninsula at Cape Helles on April 25, 1915, a Ceylon volunteer in the Royal Munster Fusiliers recalled the extremely bloody 'V' beach landing: "This was pure slaughter, but on they came, boat after boat and down the gangways went the troops on the 'Clyde' led by their valiant officers, all to meet the same fate. It was an inspiring although ghastly sight, never to be forgotten, to see the magnificent Dublins and Munsters force the landing on that small formidable stretch of beach, dominated at point blank range by the enfilading Turkish fire. ...where was the glory of war? Men who had spent their lifetime training as soldiers piteously mowed down as they stormed that beach mostly without exchanging a shot."

Also at Gallipoli, on the hills off the Suvla Bay beach-head near Teke Tepe, John Still, who enlisted in the 6th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, wrote in his book, A Prisoner in Turkey, that his battalion: "... reached the highest point and the furthest point that British forces from Suvla Bay were destined to reach." John Still was captured by Turks and remained a prisoner of war reminiscing about Ceylon until the war ended. Some time after the war John Still became the President of the Ceylon Planters Association (CPA).

Christmas eve
In June 1915, Sergeant W.E. Keyt of the British Columbia Horse wrote, "The draft I came out with had hardly been in France a day, when we were in the most desperate fighting I have seen so far. The 24th of May will never be forgotten by me. You will have some idea of the intensity of the fighting when I tell you we lost over 359 out of 800. Men all around me were knocked to pieces by a terrific artillery bombardment."

W.E. Keyt was later offered an officer commission and was also awarded the Military Cross for bravery on Hill 70 in France. The sinking of the ill-fated troop transport, SS 'Ville de la Ciotat' on Christmas Eve 1915 was perhaps the most catastrophic loss of life in the Ceylonese experience throughout the entire war.

The incident claimed the lives of 14 Ceylonese volunteers and was referred to in the History of Royal College: "The 9th December, 1915, will live long in the memory of the Ceylonese. It was the day on which 'Ville de la Ciotat' sailed away with the largest number of students to take part in the War... It was a scene of joy and tears." However, 16 days later on December 24, tragedy struck the ill-fated SS Ville de la Ciotat which had 44 Ceylonese volunteers on board on its way from Port Said to Marseilles, when it was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine in the Mediterranean Sea.

Survivor's memories
Carl Arndt, a survivor of the tragedy, who later enlisted in the 24th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, recalled: "...when a deafening noise just below, told us that we were torpedoed. Our fat steward dropped the plates, and was the first to run upstairs, but Tyler stood at the bottom, and stayed what would have been a panic, 'Steady, boys, steady, keep your heads.' We passed up quite orderly and calmly got up to the deck to our boats.

"We had been drilled and knew where to go. My boat was No.1, but when I got up to it, I found it crowded with some of the Lascar crew. I put on my life belt and had just time to jump into the boat, as it was being lowered. But our boat was being badly launched, and since the ship was moving, it was being dashed against the sides of the ship.

"I knew the end would come. Our boat not only went to matchwood, but it also upset No. 3 boat, and that too got smashed. Three other of our boys went down with me, and never came up. When I came up, I found a boat above me, but a dive down and up again sideways found me on top gasping for breath. I dashed past the No.5 boat, they could not save me, I was going so fast.

"I prayed and committed my soul to God. I then found a Lascar in dire straits, and by luck we picked up an oar, and both of us stuck to it. But he was pretty exhausted and drowned before me - I was too far gone to help him. I then swam up to a plank. Then you came before me. I saw you getting ready for carols. It was half past ten in that cold numbing water, and in Ceylon half past two. Two boats passed me, but could not pick me up.

"I was fearfully cold, and to add to it I was wearing my nine pounder boots. I knew I could stick on to the plank, but the cramp was getting me all over, my fingers were losing their grasp, and I had to call out for help. I fought myself for being a coward. I called out again but to no purpose. I then kept quiet and finally gave up my soul to God. I forget everything then, I didn't know what happened, until I was picked up after being an hour in the water. It was a miracle.

"Thirty of us were saved, twenty of whom were picked up in the water. Fourteen of us lost their lives. Well, an English boat picked us up within four hours of these events, and we were soon made cosy and happy."

It is ironic that later in the war, Carl Arndt yet again survived another ordeal on his way back from Europe to Ceylon when the ship he was on was reportedly torpedoed again in the Mediterranean.

In the distant theatre of Mesopotamia, Private Walter De Moor, who in 1916 enlisted in the Royal West Surrey Regiment, recollected the irony of his first combat experience: "It put me in mind of one of those big field days we had in camp at Diyatalawa plus some shells tearing over our heads."

Gallantry medals
Lieutenant Basil Arthur Horsfall of S. Thomas' College was one of three Ceylon volunteers awarded the British Empire's highest gallantry medal, the Victoria Cross. His senior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Rickman described the event:

"In the action fought on 26 and 27 March, 1918, the Battalion was holding the ridge between Ablainzeville and Moyeuneville... The enemy attacked very heavily. Your son was commanding the left platoon of my left company. The next battalion prolonged the line towards Moyeuneville, and were driven off the ridge, but your son continued to hold the position.

"I received a message from him saying that he had been driven back, but that he was counter-attacking; which he most successfully did, driving the enemy back, and gaining his objective, he being wounded severely at the time... Throughout the day, very heavy fighting was continued: twice your son left his position, but each time he counter-attacked driving the enemy back.

"He held his ground though his company had lost 135 out of 180 engaged. In the evening, when both my flanks were driven in on my headquarters, I sent written instructions to your son to retire to the line Ayette... During the retirement he was unfortunately killed close to the ridge which he had so gallantly held for two days.

His body had to be left where he fell, and the ridge has been in the possession of the enemy ever since. But his splendid example and devotion to duty undoubtedly saved a very critical situation."

Private Kruger Van Sanden of the KRRC, who served on the Western Front was captured and interned as a Prisoner of War (POW) in Germany until the war's end. He later found that his brother, Private Harris G. Van Sanden, who served with him in the KRRC in the same incident he was captured, was not wounded but killed in 1918.

Kruger later described what happened: "About poor Harry's death, it is very sad indeed. When we went over the top to capture the German 'pill-boxes,' he was about ten yards away from me, right in front of the machine gun, and I saw him topple over, being hit in the head. The stretcher-bearer shouted out to me, he got a 'Blighty,' and I was jolly glad to see him go away in the stretcher to the aid-post."

These comprehensible interpretations demonstrate the amazing and varied experiences of Ceylon's volunteers at the frontline. Arguably, for a small colony its record of service to the British Empire transpired to be an interesting one.

(To be continued next week)

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