Reginald Dyer

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Reginald "Rex" Edward Harry Dyer CB (born October 9, 1864 in Murree , India , † July 23, 1927 in Long Ashton near Bristol , England ) was a brigadier general of the British Indian Army . When Amritsar Massacre in 1919 he was in command.

Life

In 1885 Dyer joined the British West Surrey Regiment, in 1887 he switched to the Indian Army. He served during the Burma campaign (1886-1887), the conquest of Chitral ( Chitral expedition 1895), the Mahsud blockade (1900-1902) and the Zakha-Khel expedition (1908). During the First World War (1914-1918) he commanded the Seistan Force , for which he received a military award (MID / Mentioned in Despatches ). In 1916 he received the provisional rank ( brevet ) of brigadier general. After the war he commanded the 8th (Jullundur) Brigade.

Under Dyer's immediate command, fifty hunters (25 Gurkhas and 25 other sepoys ) killed 379 non-violent demonstrators and injured 1,200 in Amritsar on April 13, 1919, according to official reports. Many women and children were among the victims. Around 25,000 people had gathered in a park for a demonstration against the Rowlatt Act . The park was surrounded by walls and, apart from four very narrow side exits, had only one entrance, which Dyer's troops blocked off with armored vehicles. The crowd hadn't even been asked to disperse before.

Dyer was not prosecuted for the massacre. However, shortly afterwards he was replaced as brigade commander and lost his brevet rank without being used accordingly. He took part in the Third Anglo-Afghan War and was again awarded the MID, but finally in 1920 he took his leave of military service as a colonel and returned to England.

While in Great Britain, among others, the Labor Party and Winston Churchill condemned Dyer's behavior at Amritsar, he found approval in some circles: On the initiative of Rudyard Kipling , London's better society in particular raised 26,000 pounds for Dyer on the occasion of his return home. Dyer died in 1927. After his death, an article appeared about him in the British newspaper The Morning Post entitled The man who saved India ( "The Man Who Saved India"). The Westminster Gazette wrote of him: No British action, during the whole course of our history in India, has shaken the Indian belief in British justice like the Amritsar massacre (No British action, during the whole course of our history in India, has struck a severer blow to Indian faith in British justice than the massacre at Amritsar).

Representation in the film

The massacre is portrayed in the feature film Gandhi . Dyer is played by Edward Fox .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Dyer, Reginald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dyer, Reginald Edward Harry (full name); Dyer, Rex Edward Harry (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British military, officer in the British Indian Army
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Murree , India
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1927
Place of death Long Ashton near Bristol , England