OXFORD, England — Two and a half million soldiers drawn from Britain’s empire in South Asia fought in World War II.
But they are missing from many British commemorations and accounts of the war — an absence reinforced by Christopher Nolan’s new film “Dunkirk,” which does not feature any of the Indian soldiers who were present at the battle.
The Indian soldiers at Dunkirk were mainly Muslims from areas of British India that later became Pakistan.
They were part of the Royal India Army Service Corps — transport companies that sailed from Bombay to…