India in World War II
Indian troops were also redeployed in former colonies such as Singapore and Hong Kong, with the Japanese surrender in August 1945, after the end of World War II.
"[4][5] There was pushback throughout India to expending lives supporting the colonial British Empire in Africa and Europe amidst movements for Indian independence.
A major famine in Bengal in 1943 led to between 0.8 and 3.8 million deaths due to starvation, and a highly controversial issue remains regarding Churchill's decision not to provide emergency food relief.
The financial, industrial and military assistance of India formed a crucial component of the British campaign against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
[12] India's strategic location at the tip of the Indian Ocean, its large production of armaments, and its huge armed forces played a decisive role in halting the progress of Imperial Japan in the South-East Asian theatre.
[14] After the end of the war, India emerged as the world's fourth largest industrial power and its increased political, economic and military influence paved the way for its independence from the United Kingdom in 1947.
The Indian National Congress, led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel and Maulana Azad, denounced Nazi Germany but would not fight it or anyone else until India was independent.
Unlike the predominately Hindu Congress, the Muslim League rejected the Quit India movement and worked closely with the Raj authorities.
The DSO was a level 2A order-cum-decoration, second only to the Victoria Cross, that could be bestowed only upon commissioned officers for operational gallantry and leadership under conditions of actual combat.
Other high military recognitions included appointments as officers or members of the Order of the British Empire (shortened as OBE and MBE respectively), both of which ranked below the DSO but above the level 3A decorations.
As part of the new concept of Long Range Penetration (LRP), Gurkha troops of the Indian Army were trained in the present state of Madhya Pradesh under their commander (later Major General) Orde Charles Wingate.
As its Imphal offensive failed, harsh weather and disease and withdrawal of air cover (due to more pressing needs in the Pacific) also took its toll on the Japanese and remnants of the INA and the Burma National Army.
In the same theatre, the George Cross was awarded to Mateen Ansari, Islam-ud-Din, Abdul Rahman, and Mahmood Khan Durrani (future Pakistan Army officer).
Siri Kanth Korla, a future division commander of the Indian Army during the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War, was awarded the DSO, the MC, and two Mentions in Dispatches for gallantry in different episodes of this Campaign.
Abrar Hussain, a future divisional commander of the Pakistan Army in the 1965 Indo-Pakistani war, was appointed as an MBE for a similar feat with interned personnel of the 2/10 Baluch in Singapore.
Earlier, the 4th and 5th Indian Divisions took part in the East African campaign against the Italians in Somaliland, Eritrea and Abyssinia capturing the mountain fortress of Keren.
Yashwant Ghadge, Namdeo Jadhav, Kamal Ram, and Ali Haider (future Pakistani Army officer) were awarded the Victoria Cross during the Invasion of Italy.
New aircraft added to the fleet included the US-built Vultee Vengeance, Douglas Dakota, the British Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, Bristol Blenheim, and Westland Lysander.
These six ships and the minesweepers all eventually proceeded to India carrying out various duties in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Cape stations en route.
At midnight on 9 December 1941, HMS Glasgow sank the RIN patrol vessel HMIS Prabhavati with two lighters in tow en route to Karachi, with 6-inch shells at 6,000 yards (5,500 m).
[45][48] On 12 August 1944 the German submarine U-198 was sunk near the Seychelles, in position 03º35'S, 52º49'E, by depth charges from HMIS Godavari and the British frigate HMS Findhorn.
Intelligence and special services groups from the INA were instrumental in destabilising the British Indian Army in the early stages of the Arakan offensive.
Once the Japanese forces were able to break the British defences at Imphal, he planned for the INA to cross the hills of North-East India into the Gangetic plain, where it was to work as a guerrilla army and expected to live off the land, garner support, supplies, and ranks from amongst the local populace to ultimately touch off a revolution.
Prem Kumar Sahgal, an officer of the INA once Military secretary to Subhas Bose and later tried in the first Red Fort trials, explained that although the war itself hung in balance and nobody was sure if the Japanese would win, initiating a popular revolution with grass-root support within India would ensure that even if Japan lost the war ultimately, Britain would not be in a position to re-assert its colonial authority, which was ultimately the aim of the INA and Azad Hind.
As the Japanese situation became precarious, Bose left for Manchuria to attempt to contact the Russians, and was reported to have died in an air crash near Taiwan.
However, faced with the possibility of a massive civil unrest and a mutiny in the Indian Army, the British officials decided to release the prisoners-of-war; in addition, the event became a turning point to expedite the process of transformation of power and independence of India.
Winston Churchill, then prime minister, dismissed these requests in a fashion that Amery regarded as "Hitler-like," by asking why, if the famine was so horrible, Gandhi had not yet died of starvation.
[55] Indian Economist Amartya Sen (1976) challenged this orthodoxy, reviving the claim that there was no shortage of food in Bengal and that the famine was caused by inflation.
[58][59][60] Another such campsite for Polish refugee children was located in Balachadi, it was built by K. S. Digvijaysinhji, Jam Saheb Maharaja of Nawanagar State in 1942, near his summer resort.
[65] In 1944, the Southern and Eastern provinces of Afghanistan entered a state of turmoil, with the Zadran, Safi and Mangal tribes rising up against the Afghan government.
