Wednesday, October 03, 2007
The Indian Armies During World War II
As some of you may have been doing, I had watched the recent PBS documentary series The War by Ken Burns. I had liked Burns’ previous documentaries, especially the one he did on the U.S. Civil War. I wasn’t completely disappointed, although I suppose I had thought the documentary would be similar to the Civil War one.
That one showed the “big picture” of the war combined with the stories of individual soldiers and civilians. This recent film gives us a more intimate portrait of the war coming from individual participants and spectators (all American, of course). For those who prefer a more over-arching view, they may be disappointed. Yet, for many people today, this intimate approach may just be the way to understand that conflict of 60-plus years ago.
War isn’t just the detailed study of battalions and regiments moving along lines of combat. It’s also the story of individual soldiers and the experiences and feelings that they go through. This approach gives a “you-are-there” feel that usually gets lost when we see just the Big Picture.
My favorite documentary on the Second World War would still be The World At War, a British production done back in the 1970s and narrated by Laurence Olivier. Like Ken Burns’ The Civil War, this too combined the over-arching approach with individual stories. It had the added advantage that many of the major figures were still alive and were interviewed to get their perspectives. The last time I saw this program was 20 years ago, and I would have to commit a good chunk of my time today if I want to see it again since it has 26 episodes!
Going back to The War (which runs at half that time), someone else who was watching had heard that there were Indian soldiers who fought at Monte Cassino in Italy. This person had asked why Indian troops weren’t fighting against Japan as well. I had said that I’d let them know later. Well, I decided that I’d not just answer this person but share my insight on the Indian Army in World War II with the rest of you.
Going back to the original question, yes, Indian troops did fight against the Japanese in India, Burma and Malaysia. They also fought against the Germans in North Africa and Europe. Before anyone forgets, India was still a British colony (for the most part). The French (Pondicherry), Portuguese (Goa) and other European countries had minor colonies, but, the British held almost all of the Indian Subcontinent as their own “jewel in the crown.”
As such, whenever the British went to war, their colonial armies (of which the Indian Army was one) fought along with them. The British Commonwealth (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) also had the option to join the fight, which they did during both World Wars. (In fact, when World War II started, and the U.S. was still neutral, many Americans actually crossed into Canada to join in the fight. Irony of ironies is that, during the Vietnam conflict, many Americans entered Canada to dodge the draft and escape having to fight!)
So, when the Second World War began in September 1939, the British colony of India declared war against Germany just as the home nation of Great Britain did. This meant that the Viceroy of India did the actual declaration. The Indian people had no say in the matter. Yet, no one completely objected to this declaration. Many of India’s leaders such as Nehru (the future Prime Minister of India) and Jinnah (the future founder of Pakistan) were all for the war. Pacifists like Gandhi mostly kept mum. Nehru, for one, knew what monsters the Nazis were, so he was all for it.
Thus, the British-led Indian Army went to Europe to fight against Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, they were caught in the debacle that became Dunkirk when the Germans surrounded the British Expeditionary Force in France, and the British were barely able to escape. The Indian Army would later fight in North Africa as well in order to protect the British Empire there.
Then came the Japanese invasions. The plural is not a typo. We in the U.S. mostly know about the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor and the subsequent loss of the Philippines and the outer island territories (Guam, Wake), but the Japanese actually attacked on several fronts. They invaded and captured the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and Burma and the Malay Peninsula (Malaysia). The latter two were British possessions.
Singapore was the capital of Malaya and was called “The Gibraltar of the East.” The only problem was that the British had only thought of protecting Singapore from the sea. The Japanese entered (and captured) this colonial redoubt by land – on bicycles! By 1942, the Japanese were on the eastern border of India and were threatening to invade through the jungles there.
Meanwhile, in the rest of India, the natives were restless. The Viceroy at that time was Lord Linlithgow, an idiot if there ever was one. He was a typical pompous colonial master who didn’t think it was necessary to consult with Indian leaders for anything. So, if he wanted to declare war against Japan, he could do as he well pleased. After all, he was the Viceroy!
Obviously, this rubbed leaders like Gandhi and Nehru the wrong way. They disliked the whole idea that all 300 million inhabitants of India had no say as to when they can fight or not. So, they declared that the British “Quit India” – a nation-wide strike where most of India’s commerce and transportation practically shut down. Mind you, this was in the midst of the Japanese invasion, so the British had more than they could handle. Their solution was to arrest the whole lot and put them in prison for the duration of the war. The only Indian leaders who did get help were those of the Muslim League led by Jinnah who would later cash in his chips when he clamored for the creation of Pakistan.
To add to all of this confusion, there was the matter of the Indian National Army (INA). The British-led Indian Army was a colonial invention where the officers were British while the rank-and-file soldiers were Indians. On the other hand, the Indian National Army was entirely led by Indians. The founder of the INA was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, a militant member of India’s Independence Movement. (He had once held the presidency of the Indian National Congress whereupon Gandhi quit the Congress in protest.)
Bose was virulently anti-British (and maybe even anti-American) who was also most likely woefully naïve. In early 1941, he escaped from India and met Hitler in Berlin to ask that he form an army of Indian prisoners of war to fight with the Nazis against the British. Later, in 1943, he went to Japan (via German submarine) and met with Japanese leaders to help form an army in Southeast Asia. This army of former Indian POWs became known as the Indian National Army (INA), and their flag was the current flag of India. (The Ken Burns film showed the Indian flag representing Indian soldiers at Monte Cassino. Actually, those Indians fought under the Union Jack!)
The INA fought alongside the Japanese in the invasion of India in the jungles of the northeast (Assam, Mizoram and Nagaland). The most important places where they fought were at Imphal and Kohima. Kohima was especially remembered because the garrison that held it was completely surrounded by the Japanese Army (and the INA), but, like the Americans at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, the defenders at Kohima held out long enough to be relieved.
Elements of the INA also fought with the Germans during the defense of Berlin against the Soviet Red Army. In fact, Hitler in his bunker had a few choice words about the ability of these Indian soldiers. Needless to say, he didn’t think much of them.
Meanwhile, the (British) Indian Army fought bravely at places like Monte Cassino in a largely untenable position. Among the soldiers who fought there was an actual maharajah. In fact, among the colonial Indian troops were the private armies of the Indian princely states, but only one of them was actually led by their king.
These princely states with their maharajas were the linchpin behind the British Empire in India. They made up one-third of the subcontinent and had limited power, but the British used them (and they allowed themselves to be used) to help control India with only several hundred thousand British civil servants. Be that as it may, most of these royal Indian soldiers fought just as bravely as their colonial counterparts.
In an interesting side note, when the (British) Indian Army entered Burma and Malaya, they took a page from Alexander the Great during his invasion of India over two thousand years ago. When Alexander’s army crossed over the Hindu Kush Mountains (in Afghanistan) into the plains of the Punjab (currently in Pakistan), they found that they couldn’t cross the Indus River. There were no trees to chop down to make rafts or boats. So, they improvised and bundled the reeds that grew along the riverside into flotation devices and swam or floated across. During the Second World War, when the Indian Army had to cross the Irrawaddy River in Burma, they too bundled long sticks together and used them as flotation devices just as Alexander’s army did those many years ago!
As the war dragged on to the eventual Allied victory, the INA soldiers were captured and Subhash Chandra Bose became a wanted war criminal. He was able to escape, but lost his life in a plane crash. (Most of his supporters back in India refused to believe that he died, but the Japanese still claim that they have his ashes.)
After the war, three members of the INA stood to be court-martialed by the British, but their plight became a cause célèbre for the Indian independence movement. Even though people like Nehru didn’t have any sympathy for Bose or the INA and their alliance with the Axis powers, they saw the court-martial as another colonial imposition by the British. The three soldiers were eventually found not guilty.
When India was finally given independence in 1947, the Indian Army was divided between India and Pakistan. (One-tenth of the military and equipment went to Pakistan.) This new Pakistani Army turned out to be the only stable institution in the new nation which is why Pakistan has been ruled by the Army for most of its existence.
On the other hand, the Indian Army remained under civilian control, as it is in the U.S. and Great Britain. Also, unlike in Pakistan, which is almost entirely Muslim, the Indian Army is as diverse as India itself. In fact, in the 1971 Bangladesh War, the Indian Army was led by three generals who came from three different religions – Sikh, Parsi and Jew.
It is also in India that one will find the ultimate memorial for all fallen soldiers everywhere. It’s at Kohima in northeastern India where the plaque can be found. The inscription reads:
When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today
That one showed the “big picture” of the war combined with the stories of individual soldiers and civilians. This recent film gives us a more intimate portrait of the war coming from individual participants and spectators (all American, of course). For those who prefer a more over-arching view, they may be disappointed. Yet, for many people today, this intimate approach may just be the way to understand that conflict of 60-plus years ago.
War isn’t just the detailed study of battalions and regiments moving along lines of combat. It’s also the story of individual soldiers and the experiences and feelings that they go through. This approach gives a “you-are-there” feel that usually gets lost when we see just the Big Picture.
My favorite documentary on the Second World War would still be The World At War, a British production done back in the 1970s and narrated by Laurence Olivier. Like Ken Burns’ The Civil War, this too combined the over-arching approach with individual stories. It had the added advantage that many of the major figures were still alive and were interviewed to get their perspectives. The last time I saw this program was 20 years ago, and I would have to commit a good chunk of my time today if I want to see it again since it has 26 episodes!
Going back to The War (which runs at half that time), someone else who was watching had heard that there were Indian soldiers who fought at Monte Cassino in Italy. This person had asked why Indian troops weren’t fighting against Japan as well. I had said that I’d let them know later. Well, I decided that I’d not just answer this person but share my insight on the Indian Army in World War II with the rest of you.
Going back to the original question, yes, Indian troops did fight against the Japanese in India, Burma and Malaysia. They also fought against the Germans in North Africa and Europe. Before anyone forgets, India was still a British colony (for the most part). The French (Pondicherry), Portuguese (Goa) and other European countries had minor colonies, but, the British held almost all of the Indian Subcontinent as their own “jewel in the crown.”
As such, whenever the British went to war, their colonial armies (of which the Indian Army was one) fought along with them. The British Commonwealth (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) also had the option to join the fight, which they did during both World Wars. (In fact, when World War II started, and the U.S. was still neutral, many Americans actually crossed into Canada to join in the fight. Irony of ironies is that, during the Vietnam conflict, many Americans entered Canada to dodge the draft and escape having to fight!)
So, when the Second World War began in September 1939, the British colony of India declared war against Germany just as the home nation of Great Britain did. This meant that the Viceroy of India did the actual declaration. The Indian people had no say in the matter. Yet, no one completely objected to this declaration. Many of India’s leaders such as Nehru (the future Prime Minister of India) and Jinnah (the future founder of Pakistan) were all for the war. Pacifists like Gandhi mostly kept mum. Nehru, for one, knew what monsters the Nazis were, so he was all for it.
Thus, the British-led Indian Army went to Europe to fight against Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, they were caught in the debacle that became Dunkirk when the Germans surrounded the British Expeditionary Force in France, and the British were barely able to escape. The Indian Army would later fight in North Africa as well in order to protect the British Empire there.
Then came the Japanese invasions. The plural is not a typo. We in the U.S. mostly know about the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor and the subsequent loss of the Philippines and the outer island territories (Guam, Wake), but the Japanese actually attacked on several fronts. They invaded and captured the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and Burma and the Malay Peninsula (Malaysia). The latter two were British possessions.
Singapore was the capital of Malaya and was called “The Gibraltar of the East.” The only problem was that the British had only thought of protecting Singapore from the sea. The Japanese entered (and captured) this colonial redoubt by land – on bicycles! By 1942, the Japanese were on the eastern border of India and were threatening to invade through the jungles there.
Meanwhile, in the rest of India, the natives were restless. The Viceroy at that time was Lord Linlithgow, an idiot if there ever was one. He was a typical pompous colonial master who didn’t think it was necessary to consult with Indian leaders for anything. So, if he wanted to declare war against Japan, he could do as he well pleased. After all, he was the Viceroy!
Obviously, this rubbed leaders like Gandhi and Nehru the wrong way. They disliked the whole idea that all 300 million inhabitants of India had no say as to when they can fight or not. So, they declared that the British “Quit India” – a nation-wide strike where most of India’s commerce and transportation practically shut down. Mind you, this was in the midst of the Japanese invasion, so the British had more than they could handle. Their solution was to arrest the whole lot and put them in prison for the duration of the war. The only Indian leaders who did get help were those of the Muslim League led by Jinnah who would later cash in his chips when he clamored for the creation of Pakistan.
To add to all of this confusion, there was the matter of the Indian National Army (INA). The British-led Indian Army was a colonial invention where the officers were British while the rank-and-file soldiers were Indians. On the other hand, the Indian National Army was entirely led by Indians. The founder of the INA was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, a militant member of India’s Independence Movement. (He had once held the presidency of the Indian National Congress whereupon Gandhi quit the Congress in protest.)
Bose was virulently anti-British (and maybe even anti-American) who was also most likely woefully naïve. In early 1941, he escaped from India and met Hitler in Berlin to ask that he form an army of Indian prisoners of war to fight with the Nazis against the British. Later, in 1943, he went to Japan (via German submarine) and met with Japanese leaders to help form an army in Southeast Asia. This army of former Indian POWs became known as the Indian National Army (INA), and their flag was the current flag of India. (The Ken Burns film showed the Indian flag representing Indian soldiers at Monte Cassino. Actually, those Indians fought under the Union Jack!)
The INA fought alongside the Japanese in the invasion of India in the jungles of the northeast (Assam, Mizoram and Nagaland). The most important places where they fought were at Imphal and Kohima. Kohima was especially remembered because the garrison that held it was completely surrounded by the Japanese Army (and the INA), but, like the Americans at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, the defenders at Kohima held out long enough to be relieved.
Elements of the INA also fought with the Germans during the defense of Berlin against the Soviet Red Army. In fact, Hitler in his bunker had a few choice words about the ability of these Indian soldiers. Needless to say, he didn’t think much of them.
Meanwhile, the (British) Indian Army fought bravely at places like Monte Cassino in a largely untenable position. Among the soldiers who fought there was an actual maharajah. In fact, among the colonial Indian troops were the private armies of the Indian princely states, but only one of them was actually led by their king.
These princely states with their maharajas were the linchpin behind the British Empire in India. They made up one-third of the subcontinent and had limited power, but the British used them (and they allowed themselves to be used) to help control India with only several hundred thousand British civil servants. Be that as it may, most of these royal Indian soldiers fought just as bravely as their colonial counterparts.
In an interesting side note, when the (British) Indian Army entered Burma and Malaya, they took a page from Alexander the Great during his invasion of India over two thousand years ago. When Alexander’s army crossed over the Hindu Kush Mountains (in Afghanistan) into the plains of the Punjab (currently in Pakistan), they found that they couldn’t cross the Indus River. There were no trees to chop down to make rafts or boats. So, they improvised and bundled the reeds that grew along the riverside into flotation devices and swam or floated across. During the Second World War, when the Indian Army had to cross the Irrawaddy River in Burma, they too bundled long sticks together and used them as flotation devices just as Alexander’s army did those many years ago!
As the war dragged on to the eventual Allied victory, the INA soldiers were captured and Subhash Chandra Bose became a wanted war criminal. He was able to escape, but lost his life in a plane crash. (Most of his supporters back in India refused to believe that he died, but the Japanese still claim that they have his ashes.)
After the war, three members of the INA stood to be court-martialed by the British, but their plight became a cause célèbre for the Indian independence movement. Even though people like Nehru didn’t have any sympathy for Bose or the INA and their alliance with the Axis powers, they saw the court-martial as another colonial imposition by the British. The three soldiers were eventually found not guilty.
When India was finally given independence in 1947, the Indian Army was divided between India and Pakistan. (One-tenth of the military and equipment went to Pakistan.) This new Pakistani Army turned out to be the only stable institution in the new nation which is why Pakistan has been ruled by the Army for most of its existence.
On the other hand, the Indian Army remained under civilian control, as it is in the U.S. and Great Britain. Also, unlike in Pakistan, which is almost entirely Muslim, the Indian Army is as diverse as India itself. In fact, in the 1971 Bangladesh War, the Indian Army was led by three generals who came from three different religions – Sikh, Parsi and Jew.
It is also in India that one will find the ultimate memorial for all fallen soldiers everywhere. It’s at Kohima in northeastern India where the plaque can be found. The inscription reads:
When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today
