The Official History Of Indian Armed Forces In The Second World War 1939-45, put together by the history division of ministry of defence in eight volumes, which had been finished and forgotten for decades, finally got reprinted by Pentagon Press and released at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses on 30 October 2012. The defence ministry’s effort was welcomed by scholars and historians.
The Army’s strength at the beginning of World War II, was about 200,000 men. By the end of the war in August 1945, it had become the largest volunteer Army in history, rising to over 2.5 million men. Serving in formations infantry, armour and a fledgling airborne force, they fought on three continents — Africa, Europe and Asia.
However, the bulk of the Indian Army was committed to fighting the Japanese Army, first during the British defeats in Malaya and the retreat from Burma to the Indian border; later, after resting and refitting for the victorious advance back into Burma, as part of the largest British Empire army ever formed. These campaigns cost the lives of over 36,000 Indian servicemen, while another 34,354 were wounded, and 67,340 became prisoners of war. In March 1944, Japan initiated an offensive into India and advanced as far as Kohima in Nagaland.
The British appreciated the valour of Indian soldiers during the World War II with the award of some 4,000 decorations. Twenty-eight Indian personnel were awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), while 8 were awarded the George Cross (GC). Victoria Cross is the highest award for exceptional bravery the face of the enemy for Commonwealth armed forces, while George Cross is the highest gallantry award for civilians as well as for military personnel for actions not against the enemy. Originally awarded only to living personnel, posthumous awards were allowed from 1905. Another rule of this award being only for whites was broken in World War I, when the British had to accept and acknowledge the bravery of Indian soldiers.
Most of the Indian regiments and descendants of those Indian soldiers who participated in World War II — apart from the those which were transferred to form the Pakistan Army on partition — have constantly and repeatedly ensured India’s integrity, amply disproving unfounded doubts nursed by some of India’s founding political leaders.
The members of the Advisory Committee, under chairman, Dr Bhisheshwar Prasad, secretary, ministry Of defence for collating this history were Dr Tara Chand, Dr S.N.Sen Prof. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Prof. Mohamed Habib, Dr R.C.Majumdar, Lt. Gen. Sir Dudley Russell, Lt. Gen. K.S.Thimayya, Lt. Gen. S.P.P.Thorat and military advisor to the high commissioner of Pakistan in India. Many more Armed Forces officers and scholars were involved in putting together the campaigns.
Greatly impressed by the fighting capability of Indian troops, British officers in Indian regiments swore by them. Their epitomes were those like Field Marshal Sir William Joseph Slim and General Sir Claude Auchinleck — a commendable field commander and multi-linguist in Indian languages — was most highly regarded. However, during World War II, Auchinlech’s successor, the pompous, publicity-crazy Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, “1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein”, was one who certainly did not like Indians. No wonder, because Montgomery was a favourite of then British Premier Winston Churchill — rabidly anti-Indian — who reportedly opined: “Indians are a beastly people with a beastly religion”.
It was in 1995, when Allied countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of their victory of World War II, that UK invited Indian VC awardees to attend the ceremonies and then prime minister John Major hiked their pensions to £100, but by that time there were very few still alive.
In October 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron, announced that £50 million would be spent by this government to observe the centenary of the start of World War I in August 2014.
It is a fact of history that the Indian Army then was the second largest component of the Allied forces. Indians arrived in Europe to join the war within a month of the outbreak of hostilities and more Indians died in World War I (69,000) than in any other conflict in the 20th Century.
Immediately after Independence, Indian Army was drastically downsized to less than half of what it was then — about 11,00,000 today — and officers’ salaries were slashed. And forget about acknowledging Indian Army’s World War II role, even giving due acknowledgement of it defending the country in numerous conflicts after Independence by way of timely increases in salaries, not only were Armed Forces Chiefs pushed far down in the order of precedence over the years, the recent anomaly in the grant of Non Functional Upgradation of pay to defence forces has caused serious command and control and functional problems, severely impacting progress of infrastructure development in border areas and social infrastructure in the hinterland.
The Official History Of Indian Armed Forces In The Second World War deserves to be read widely by both Indians and scholars/historians of Allied nations.
For Indians because this war was a major factor which hastened India’s independence. Because, while it has never been acknowledged officially, the fact remains that after World War II, it was the Royal Indian Navy’s mutiny which shocked the British.
Grave apprehension of what could happen if it spread to the very professional Indian Army, convinced them to wisely swiftly exit safely.