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Early life and assigmentsDyer was born in Murree, in British India, now in Pakistan. He spent his childhood in Shimla and received education at the Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore. In 1885, he was commissioned into the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), and served in riot control duties in Belfast (1886) and the Third Burmese War (1886–87). He was then transferred to the Indian Army, initially joining the 39th Bengal Infantry, later transferring to 29th Punjabis. He served in the latter in the Black Mountain campaign (1888), the relief of Chitral (1895) and the Mahsud blockade (1901–02). He was then transferred to 25th Punjabis where he served in the Zakha Khel Expedition (1908). He commanded the 25th Punjabis in India and Hong Kong. During World War I (1914–18), he commanded the Seistan Force, for which he was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Companion of the Bath (CB). In 1919, about a month after the Amritsar incident, in the Third Anglo-Afghan War, his Brigade relieved the garrison of Thal, for which he was again mentioned in dispatches. 5th Brigade at Jamrud was his last command posting for a few months in 1919. Amritsar Massacre
The civilians had assembled at Jallianwala Bagh to participate in the annual Baisakhi celebrations which are both a religious as well as a cultural festival of the Punjabis. The Bagh-space comprised 6–7 acres and was walled on all sides except for five entrances, four of them being very narrow and admitting only a few people at a time. The fifth entrance was blocked by the armed soldiers and by two armoured cars armed with machine guns, although these vehicles were unable to pass through the entrance. Upon entering the park, the General immediately ordered troops to fire directly upon the assembled gathering; firing continued till his troops' ammunition of 1650 rounds was fully exhausted. [1] The firing continued unabated for about 10 minutes. [2] From time to time, Dyer "checked his fire and directed it upon places where the crowd was thickest" [3]; he did this not because the crowd was slow to disperse, but because he (the General) "had made up his mind to punish them for having assembled there." [4] Some of the soldiers initially fired in the air, at which General Dyer shouted: "Fire low. What you have been brought here for?." [5] Later, Dyer's own testimony revealed that the crowd was not given even the slightest warning to disperse and he felt no remorse for having ordered his troops to fire. [6] "The worst part of the whole thing was that the firing was directed towards the exit gates through which the people were running out. There were small 3 or 4 outlets in all and bullets were actually rained over the people at all these gates.... and many got trampled under the feet of the rushing crowds and thus lost their lives.......even those who lay flat on the ground were fired upon." [7] Murder statistics and The Butcher of AmritsarThe official reports quote 379 dead and over 1,000 injured. However, public enquiry estimates, [8] figures from Government Civil Servants in the city [9] as well as counts from the Home Political [10] cite numbers well over a thousand dead. According to Home Political Deposit report, the number was over 1000, with more than 1200 wounded. [11] Dr Smith, a British civil surgeon at Amritsar had indicated over 1800 casualties. [12] These massive casualties had earned general Dyer the infamous epitaph of The Butcher of Amritsar in India. It has been repeatedly pointed out that the actual figures were delibrately suppressed by the government for political reasons. Threatening languageOn the day following the fateful massacre, Mr Kitchin, the Commissioner of Lahore as well as General Dyer, had both used threatening language. The following is the English translation of Dyer's Urdu Statement directed at the local residents of Amritsar on the afternoon of April 14, 1919, a day after the Amritsar massacre . You people know well that I am a Sepoy and soldier. Do you want war or peace?. If you wish for a war, the Government is prepared for it, and if you want peace, then obey my orders and open all your shops; else I will shoot. For me the battle-field of France or Amritsar is the same. I am a military man and I will go straight. Neither shall I move to the right nor to the left. Speak up, if you want war? In case there is to be peace, my order is to open all shops at once. You people talk against the Government and persons educated in Germany and Bengal talk sedition. I shall report all these. Obey my orders. I do not wish to have anything else. I have served in the military for over 30 years. I understand the Indian Sepoy and Sikh people very well. You will have to obey my orders and observe peace. Otherwise the shops will be opened by force and Rifles. You will have to report to me of the Badmash. I will shoot them. Obey my orders and open shops. Speak up if you want war? You have committed a bad act in killing the English. The revenge will be taken upon you and upon your children. [13] Reaction to Amritsar massacre
The House of Lords and the Morning Post (England) and some section of Britons at home, however, supported the massacre. General Dyer resigned in 1920. Return to EnglandOn his return to England, General Dyer was presented with a purse of 18,000 pounds sterling, a huge sum in those days, which emerged from a collection on his behalf by the Morning Post (England), a conservative, pro-Imperialistic newspaper, which later merged with the Daily Telegraph. A Thirteen Women Committee was constituted to present the Savior of the Punjab with sword of honour and a purse. This single incident incensed the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore so much that he renounced his knighthood in protest. The Morning Post had supported Dyer’s action on grounds stating that the massacre was necessary to "Protect the honour of European Women." [24] Morning Post curiously blamed Mr Montegu, Secretary of State (India), and not General Dyer for the cold-blooded massacre and asked for his court trial. Mr Montegu, on the otherhand, in his long letter to the Viceroy, went to the very heart of the matter, passing the blame squarely on Michael O'Dwyer, and frankly admitting "I feel that O’Dwyer represents a regime that is doomed." DeathReports that Michael O’Dwyer was responsible for General Dyer’s downfall came to be highlighted after Dyer's return to England. [25] General Dyer could not enjoy a comfortable sleep even for a day after the Massacre of Jallianwala Bagh. [26] After the Amritsar massacre incident, his health failed and in 1921 he was stricken with paralysis and never recovered. He died at Long Ashton, near Bristol, on July 23, 1927 of Atherosclerosis and cerebral hemorrhage. In the final moments of his life, he is reported to have murmured: "but I don’t want to get better. Some say I did right, while others say I did wrong. I only want to die..... and know of my maker whether I did right or wrong." [27] Michael O'Dwyer in support of DyerImage:ODwyer.jpg Sir Michael O'Dwyer. As the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab from 1912 till 1919, Dwyer supported Dyer's actions at the time [28] and is now believed to have premeditated the massacre.[29] Michael O'Dwyer (second picture on right, below), the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab supported General Dyer for his actions and had termed the massacre as a "correct" action." [30] In his book India as I Knew it, Michael O'Dwyer had remarked in 1925: "The Punjabis were quick to take to heart the lessons that the revolution is a dangerous thing." [31] But the later developments demonstrated how far Mr Michael O'Dwyer was wrong in his assessment of the Punjabis. A few years later, O'Dwyer was shot dead in Caxton Hall in the heart of London on March 13, 1940, by a Punjabi revolutionary and freedom fighter, Sardar Udham Singh, as an act of revenge for the Amritsar massacre in particular and his rule of political repression in Punjab in general. [32] References
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