IDSA Special Feature January 2013 Contribution of the Indian Armed Forces to the Second World War: Book Release and Panel Discussion IDSA Special Feature 1 Contents Welcome Remarks................................................................................................................ 2 Arvind Gupta Writing the History of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War: A Brief Overview............................................................................................................................... 4 History Division, Ministry of Defence, Government of India Keynote Address.................................................................................................................. 5 JFR Jacob Panel Discussion Opening Remarks.......................................................................................................... 12 Satish Nambiar Campaign in South East Asia 1941-42 and The Arakan Operations 1942-45.......... 14 Y.M. Bammi Campaign in Western Asia......................................................................................... 23 Rahul K. Bhonsle The East African Campaign 1940-41 and The North African Campaign 1940-43........................................................................................................ 27 P.K. Gautam Explore the Socio-Economic Impact of the Second World War.............................. 33 U.P. Thapliyal Reclaiming Our Legacy............................................................................................... 35 RTS Chhina Summaries of the Eight Volumes...................................................................................... 38 Amit Kumar Contribution of the Indian Armed Forces to the Second World War 2 Welcome Remarks Arvind Gupta Respected General Jacob, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, eI would like to welcome you to this function organized to release the reprints of the eight volumes of the Official history of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War 1939- 45. I am particularly grateful to Gen. Jacob for having agreed to deliver the Keynote Address today and to share his reminiscences of the Second World War. Gen. Jacob is one of the most distinguished and loved soldiers of India. Commissioned in 1942, he made a sterling contribution to the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. Author of many books, he has contributed through his writings to the evolution of strategic thinking in the country. He has been generous with the IDSA contributing to IDSA’s activities in numerous ways. Given his gamut of experience through participation in campaigns in the Middle East, Burma and Sumatra in the Second World War, we are privileged to have him with us at today’s function. The History Division of the Ministry of Defence deserves appreciation for having taken the initiative to reprint the Official History of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War this year. As the Foreword written by Dr. Dhanedhar puts out, the then Government of India in 1945 set up a War Department Historical Section to collect material for the writing of the history of the operations conducted by the Indian Armed Forces in different theatres of the war. It is interesting to note that even after the partition of India, the Section was re-named as the Combined Inter-Services Historical Section, India and Pakistan, which was a joint venture of India and Pakistan. According to the original plan, the official history was to appear in about 20 volumes in three series. The first volume covered the fighting in North Africa and the subsequent volumes dealt with campaigns in other theatres. The work was done in a systematic manner. Dr Bisheshwar Prasad was the General Editor of the official history. An Advisory Committee under the Defence Secretary was set up. Its members included historians, several Generals as well as the Military Adviser to the Pakistan High Commission in India. Some of those who were in the Advisory Committee included Dr. R.C. Majumdar, Lt. Gen. K.S. Thimayya and Lt. Gen. SPP Thorat. The books were printed in the fifties and have since gone out of print. The History Division of the MoD commissioned the Pentagon Press to reprint these volumes. You would agree that this is a great initiative on the part of the Ministry of Defence. The following volumes have been reprinted and being released today: IDSA Special Feature 3 1. India and the War 2. Expansion of the Armed Forces and Defence Organisations 1939-45 3. Campaigns in Western Asia 4. East-African Campaign 1940-41 5. The North African Campaign 1940-43 6. Campaigns in South East Asia (1941-42) 7. The Arakan Operations (1942-45) 8. Post War Occupation Forces : Japan and South East Asia Brief summaries of these volumes have been circulated. Britain could not have fought the Second World War without exploiting the men and material available in India. The political parties were opposed to British exploitation. As one of the summaries provided notes, an offshoot of the British effort was the formation of a small nucleus of Indian officers at lower ranks during the War effort. As the jackets of the books show, the History Division has published 25 volumes covering not only the campaigns of the Indian Army but also the history of the Indian Air Force, the Corps of Engineers and a series of volumes on the medical services. Post independence, the History Division has published histories on Operation Polo (Hyderabad 1948), Operation Vijay (Goa 1961), the Congo Operation, J&K operations, the India Pakistan War of 1965 and many other volumes totalling in all 15. The contribution of the Indian Army to the victory of the allied forces in the Second World War is immense. Unfortunately, this has not been sufficiently highlighted. The younger generation needs to be reminded of the sacrifices made by their forefathers. The reprint of these volumes will also give a stimulus to historical research in India. We hope to work closely with the History Division of the MoD to explore how best we can move forward on some joint projects. Thank you and Jai Hind. Dr. Arvind Gupta is Director General of IDSA. Contribution of the Indian Armed Forces to the Second World War 4 Writing the History of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War: A Brief Overview History Division, Ministry of Defence, Government of India In 1945, when the Second World War was nearing the end, the Government of India set e up an office to collect and collate material for writing the history of the operations conducted by the Indian Armed Forces in various theatres of War. This office was subsequently designated as the War Department Historical Section. Maj. Gen. TN Corbett, CB, MC was appointed as the Director. In August 1946 Brig. Cordon took over as the Director. Meanwhile, in March 1946, the Section was shifted to Shimla as the climate of Delhi was not considered conducive for quality academic work. However, in 1951, the Section was shifted back to Delhi. Meanwhile, the partition of the country took place and the Section was re-designated as the Combined Inter-Services Historical Section (India & Pakistan). The writing of the history of the Second World War now turned out to be a joint effort of India and Pakistan. Vigorous efforts to write the history of the Second World War started in 1948 after Dr. Bisheshwar Prasad, a reputed academic, was appointed as the Director of the CIS Historical Section. He planned the history in 25 Volumes, seven of which were devoted to the medical services. Some noted historians like Dr. Tara Chand, Dr. RC Majumdar, Prof. KA Nilakanta Shastri, Dr. SN Sen and Prof. Mohamed Habib were associated with the vetting of these volumes and some senior military officers like Lt. Gen. Sir Dudley Russell, Lt. Gen. KS Thimayya and Lt. Gen. SPP Thorat were also associated in the Advisory Committee. The reputed publishing house, M/s. Orient Longman, undertook the publication of these volumes. In course of time many of these volumes went out of print. Although efforts were made to reprint some of these volumes earlier, but due to procedural complications the efforts failed. Full credit goes to Dr. Reva Dhanedhar, the present Director of the History Division, who, overcoming many hurdles, succeeded in getting these eight volumes on the Second World War reprinted. But for her keen interest these volumes may not have been reprinted. In this effort, the encouragement received by her from Shri Upmanyu Chatterjee, formerly JS (Trg) & CAO, and Shri Rabindra Prasad, Director (Trg), has also to be appreciated. It is hoped that the wide publicity given to these reprinted volumes would arouse keen interest among academics and army personnel in matters military. M/s. Pentagon Press deserves all appreciation for reprinting these volumes in a beautiful manner and at a very moderate price. In the end we thank you all for your kind participation in this endeavour. IDSA Special Feature 5 Keynote Address JFR Jacob Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director General and distinguished members of IDSA I see in the audience a lot of friends, there is Satish Nambiar who was one of the first into Dhaka in December 1971; he fought his way there. I was there that day of the surrender. Then there is my friend Bammi, who is an old friend of mine as was his brother. I know Dr. Thapliyal, and Bhonsle; they are all friends of mine and I welcome you all and thank you for coming. I am not going to talk on strategy, the war and that sort of stuff. These are for the experts. I am not. I just took part in the war and I am a soldier. I’ll give you a soldier’s story. A soldier’s story which will put into the picture our experiences; and a human story of war quite different from the battles of Garhwalis etc. I am not talking that. There are all the experts who would talk on that. I’ll give you a story which is sometimes humorous, sometimes human, and I hope it would be of some interest. It will give you a picture of what fighting in a long war is. You guys have not had the experience of a long war. It is quite different. I spent five years continuous, it’s a long time. I got off once for two weeks leave, that’s all and a couple of times we go to FATC in Mathura with the Indian running ledger accounts of my men to get the pay endorsed.