Vorlage:Underconstruction Vorlage:Infobox Military Unit
The Indian Army during World War II numbered in 1939, just under 200,000 men.[1] by the end of the war it would become the largest all-volunteer force in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in August 1945.[1] These men served in divisions of infantry, armour and airborne forces. They fought on three continents in Africa, Europe and Asia, winning 31 Victoria Crosses.[1]
The Indian Army fought against the Italian Army in Ethiopia. In Egypt, Libya and Tunisia against both the Italian and German Army and after the Italian surrender fought the German Army in Italy. However the bulk of the Indian Army was committed to the fight against the Japanese Army, first during the defeat in Malaya and the retreat from Burma back to the Indian border. Then after resting and refitting the victorious advance back into Burma, part of the largest British Empire army ever formed. These campaigns cost the lives of over 36,000 Indian servicemen and another 34,354 more were wounded.[2]
The Indian Army was an experienced force having since World War I, fought in the Third Afghan War and two major campaigns in Waziristan, during 1919–1920 and 1936–1939 and in smaller disputes on the North West Frontier. There was no shortage of manpower to call upon, but they did suffer from a shortage of skilled technical personnel and the conversion of the cavalry force to a mechanized tank force had only just began, which was always hampered by the ability to supply them with adequate tanks and armoured vehicles.
Organization
The British Indian Army of 1939, was different from the Indian Army during World War I, it had been reformed in 1922, moving away from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments.[3] Overall the army was reduced to 21 cavalry regiments and 107 infantry battalions.[4]The field army now consisted of four infantry divisions and five cavalry brigades.[5] There was a covering force of 12 infantry brigades to protect the North West Frontier from incursions and one third of the infantry, 43 battalions were allocated to internal security and to aid the civil power.[5] In the 1930's, the Indian Army began a programme of modernization, they now had their own artillery the Indian Artillery Regiment and the cavalry had started to mechanise.[6] By 1936, the Indian Army had committed to supplying in wartime a brigade each for Singapore, the Persian Gulf, the Red sea, Burma and two for Egypt.[7] But by 1939, further reductions had reduced the Indian Army to 18 cavalry regiments and 96 infantry battalions, in total 194,373 men including 34,155 non combatants.[8] They could also call upon 15,000 men from the frontier irregular forces, 22,000 men from the Auxiliary force, 19,000 from the Territorial Force and 53,000 from the Indian State forces.[8]
The Indian Army started World War II under prepared and short of modern weapons and equipment.[9] It had not expected to be involved in any hostilities and had been advised after the outbreak of war in Europe, by the British government that it was unlikely to be required at all.[9] So it was with some surprise when the 4th Infantry and 5th Infantry divisions were requested to serve in the North African and East African Campaigns and four mule companies to join the British Expeditionary Force in France.[9]
1940
In May 1940, agreement was reached between the British and Indian governments over the formation of another five infantry and one armoured divisions, which became the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th infantry and the Indian 31st Armoured Divisions. These new divisions were intended to be used in the defence of Malaya (9th Division) and Iraq (6th, 8th and 10th Divisions), the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade, from the armoured division was to go to Egypt but the formation of the rest of the armoured division was put on hold, because of the shortage of armoured vehicles.[10]
1941
In March 1941, the Indian government revised the defence plan for India. Concerned with what the Japanese were planning and the requirement to replace the divisions sent overseas, seven new armoured regiments and 50 new infantry battalions were needed for five new infantry divisions that were formed the 14th, 17th,19th, 20th, 34th and the two armoured formations Indian 32nd Armoured Division and 50th Indian Tank Brigade.[11]
1942
With the previously formed divisions mostly committed overseas in 1942, the army formed another four infantry 23rd, 25th, 28th, 36th and the Indian 43rd Armoured Division.[12] However events during 1942, and the Japanese conquests meant the the 28th division was not formed and the units earmarked for it were used to reform the divisions depleted in the retreat from Malaya.[12] The 36th division uniquely, was created as a British Indian Army formation, but was formed from British brigades that had reached India from Malaya and Burma.[12] The final division formed in 1942, was the Indian 26th Infantry Division which was hastily formed from the various units in training or stationed near Calcutta.[12] After the perceived poor performance in the withdrawal from Malaya and Burma, it had been decided that the existing infantry division formation were over–mechanized. To counter this the 17th and 39th divisions, were selected to become light divisions of only two brigades which would rely more on animal transport and four wheel drive transport.[12] By December 1942, agreement was reached that India, should become the base for offensive operations. Support should be in place for 34 divisions, which would include a fighting strength of two British, one West African, one East African, 11 Indian divisions and what was left of the Burmese army.[13]
1943
The plans for 1943, included the formation of another infantry division an airborne division and a heavy armoured brigade. In reality only the Indian 44th Armoured Division, which was formed from the 33rd and 43rd armoured divisions, came into being.[12] There was a change to the infantry division formation, when they received two extra infantry battalions as divisional troops.[12]
A committee was set up in 1943, to report on the readiness of the army and suggest improvements. Its recommendations were:
- The infantry should have first claims on cadet officers and educated recruits, the quality of officers and non commissioned officers (NCO) should be improved and there should be an increase in pay.
- Basic training should be increased to nine months followed by two months specialised jungle training.
- The reinforcement system should be improved and drafts should include experienced NCO's
- Infantry brigades should include a British, Indian and a Gurkha battalion.[14]
To assist in the jungle training of the infantry from July 1943, the 14th and 39th divisions were converted to training divisions.[14] The Indian 116th Infantry Brigade provided the specialised jungle training, an infantry battalion would spend from four to six with the brigade, before being sent to the front to replace a tired battalion in one of the fighting divisions.[14]
1944
The planned Indian 44th Airborne Division was finally formed, from the 44th armoured division leaving the 31st Armoured as the only armoured division in the army.[12] The infantry division formation was changed again, they were now standardised with three infantry brigades each, and three infantry battalions assigned as divisional troops.[12] The success of the 116th brigade in training for jungle warfare was recognised and in May 1944, they were joined by the Indian 150th Infantry Brigade training units for jungle warfare. For units going to the western theatres of war the Indian 155th Infantry Brigade was formed to provide their training.[14]
Armoured divisions
The Indian armoured formations suffered from a lack of equipment, it was intended to for an armoured division in the plans for 1940, 1941 and 1942. The shortage of tanks in 1940, formed the shape of the 31st Armoured, it would have one armoured and two motor brigades, which was changed at the end of 1940, to two armoured and one motor brigade. When the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade was sent to Egypt, the British formation of two armoured brigades and a Support group was adopted. In June 1942, the divisions formation was fixed as one armoured and one Infantry brigade. The surplus armoured brigades 50th, 245th, 255th and the 267th now became independent brigades and served in the Burma campaign.[15] In March 1943, the shortage of technical staff forced another review of the armoured force and the 32nd and 43rd armoured divisions were amalgamated to become the Indian 44th Armoured Division.[15] In March 1944, a further review reduced the armoured force to one division the 31st serving in the Middle East and three tank brigades 50th, 245th and 255th for Burma.[15]
Chindits
The Chindits Officially in 1943, the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and in 1944, Indian 3rd Infantry Division were although known as Special Force after 1943 , they were in fact ordinary infantry units arbitrarily selected for the mission based on their availability. There was no selection procedure and they carried out long range penetration raids deep behind the Japanese lines.[16] During the early months of 1945, several of the brigade headquarters and many of the veterans of the Chindit operations were reformed and merged into the 44th Airborne Division (India), while the force headquarters and signals units formed the core of Indian XXXIV Corps. The Chindits were finally disbanded in February 1945.[17]
Women's Auxiliary Corps
The Women's Auxiliary Corps was formed in May 1942, recruits had to be a minimum age of 18 years and their duties were clerical or domestic. In December 1942, the minimum age was reduced to 17 years and 11,500 women had enlisted by the end of the war.[15]
Middle East and Africa
North Africa
Just before the declaration of war one Indian infantry brigade was sent to reinforce the British garrison in Egypt. In October 1939, a second brigade was sent and both were grouped together as the Indian 4th Infantry Division.[8] By March 1940, two additional brigades and a divisional headquarters were sent to Egypt which became the Indian 5th Infantry Division.[8]
During the Western Desert Campaign 4th Division took part in Operation Compass with the 7th Armoured Division together destroyed 10 Italian divisions when they counter attacked and captured Benghazi.[18]
The Allies success against the Italians forced the Germans to reinforce North Africa. The Afrika Corps commanded by Erwin Rommel attacked in March 1941. The 3rd Indian Motor Brigade detached from the Indian 31st Armoured Division, fought a delaying battle at Meikili on 6 April, which allowed the 9th Australian Division to safely withdraw to Tobruk.[19]
June 1941, Operation Battleaxe was launched by the 4th Indian and 7th Armoured divisions to attempt to relieve the garrison of Tobruk.[19]
November 1941, Operation Crusader was launched in another attempt to relieve Tobruk again 4th Indian division were involved.[19]
East Africa
The Italian conquest of British Somaliland started on the 3 August 1940, the 3/15th Punjab Regiment were amongst the forces on hand and the were quickly reinforced from Aden by the 1/2nd Punjab Regiment on the 7 August. After the battle of Tug Argan the British force were forced to withdraw, the 3/15th Punjab forming part of the rearguard. By the 19 August the British and Indian battalions were evacuated to Aden. British ground losses were 38 killed, 102 wounded, and 120 missing, compared to Italian casualties of 465 killed, 1,530 wounded, and 34 missing.[20]
In December 1940, the Indian 4th Infantry Division was rushed from Egypt to join the Indian 5th Infantry Division in the Sudan. From February to April 1941, the Indian 4th and 5th Infantry Divisions took part in the Battle of Keren,[18] during which Subadar Richhpal Ram 4/6th Rajputana Rifles was awarded the Victoria Cross.[21] By the end of the campaign the Italian forces had been cleared from Eritrea and Abyssinia 220,000 of them becoming prisoners of war.[18]
Iraq and Persia
In 1941, forces were required to participate in the Anglo-Iraqi War, to safeguard the overland supply route to the Soviet Union.[9] In April the Indian 8th Infantry Division landed at Basra and marched on Baghdad securing Iraq for the Allied cause from the pro German Rashid Ali[18]
Operation Barbarossa the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, placed the Persian oil feilds in danger from the advancing German Army. In August 1941, the Indian 8th and 10th Infantry Divisions invaded southern Persia to secure the oil installations.[18]
Syria and Lebanon
On 22 June 1941, 5th brigade , Indian 4th Infantry Division, part of the British 1st Cavalry Division and six Free French infantry battalions captured Damascus from the Vichy French forces.[18]
South-East Asia
Hong Kong
The Japanese Army attacked Honk Kong on the 8 December 1941, less than eight hours after their attack on Pearl Harbor, among the defenders were the 5/7th Rajput Regiment and the 2/14th Punjab Regiment. The garrison held out for 18 days before being forced to surrender.[19]
Malaya
As in Egypt, the Indian Army dispatched one infantry brigade to Malaya just before the start of the war.[8] By 1941, all training and equipment was geared to fight in North Africa and the Middle East and the forces in Burma and Malaya had been depleted to supply reinforcements to the forces in the west.[9] So in the spring of 1941, the Indian 9th Infantry Division was sent to Malaya,[22]
On 8 December, the Japanese Army attacked the Malayan peninsula,[19] the defenders now included the Indian 9th and the Indian 11th Infantry Divisions, the Indian 12th Infantry Brigade and a number of independent battalions and units of Imperial Service Troops. The 11th Indian division fought the Battle of Jitra 11–13 December, the Battle of Kampar 30 December–2 January, the Battle of Slim River 6–8 January 1942. The 44th Indian Infantry Brigade and the 45th Indian Infantry Brigade had arrived as reinforcement in January 1942. The 9th Indian Division and the 45th Brigade fought the Battle of Muar 14–22 January.
Singapore
The Battle of Singapore 31 January–15 February ended with the capture of 9th and 11th Indian Divisions and the 12th, 44th and 45th brigades. During the battle for Singapore Indian units fought in the Battle of Bukit Timah and the Battle of Pasir Panjang.
Burma
At the same time the 9th Division was sent to reinforce Malaya, in the spring of 1941, an infantry brigade was sent to reinforce Burma followed by a second brigade later in the year.[22] On 8 December the Japanese Army invaded Burma from Siam.[19] Withdrawing to India the last British and Indian escaped from Burma in July 1942.[19]
Japanese conquest of Burma
The Battle of Bilin River was fought in February 1942, by the Indian 17th Infantry Division. The 17th Division held the Japanese at the Bilin River for two days of close-quarters jungle fighting. The Japanese tactics were to outflank, and eventually with encirclement imminent, they were given permission to fall back. The division disengaged under cover of darkness and began a Vorlage:Convert retreat along the dusty track to the Sittang bridge.[23] The Battle of Sittang Bridge followed after which 17th Division lost most of its artillery, vehicles and other heavy equipment.[24] Its infantry manpower was 3,484 just over 40% of its establishment, though it was already well under-strength before the battle started.[25] Battle of Pegu Battle of Yenangyaung
Burma Campaign 1942-1943
The Arakan Campaign which began in December 1942, conducted by what at the time was an improvised formation Indian 14th Infantry Division was a failure. The average British and Indian soldier was not properly trained for fighting in jungle, which together with repeated defeats adversely affected morale. This was exacerbated by poor administration in the rear areas. Drafts of reinforcements sent to replace casualties were found in some cases to have not even completed basic training.[26] There were also question asked about the ability of the Indian Army's high command, which led to the creation of the position of Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command, leaving the army high command to concentrate on internal security and administration.[27]
Burma Campaign 1944
Operation U-Go Battle of the Admin Box Battle of Sangshak Battle of Imphal Battle of Kohima
Burma Campaign 1944-1945
Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay Battle of Ramree Island Operation Dracula
- Indian 3rd Infantry Division
- Indian 5th Infantry Division
- Indian 7th Infantry Division
- Indian 11th Infantry Division
- Indian 14th Infantry Division
- Indian 17th Infantry Division
- Indian 19th Infantry Division
- Indian 20th Infantry Division
- Indian 23rd Infantry Division
- Indian 25th Infantry Division
- Indian 26th Infantry Division
- Indian 36th Infantry Division
- Indian 39th Infantry Division (formerly British 1st Burma Division)
- Indian 44th Armoured Division (reformed as Indian 44th Airborne Division)
Europe
Italy
The Allies landed in Italy 9 September 1943, the Indian 4th Infantry Division, Indian 8th Infantry Division and Indian 10th Infantry Division were all involved during the campaign.[19]
India
Aftermath
For the Indian Army World War II, would be the last time they fought as the British Indian Army, as it was soon followed by independence and partition in 1947.[28] After partition the old army was divided between the new Indian Army and the Pakistan Army. On 3 June 1947, the British Government announced the plan for the partition of the sub–continent between India and Pakistan. On 30 June 1947, the procedure for the division of the armed forces was agreed upon. Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck, then Commander-in-Chief, India, was appointed Supreme Commander to ensure smooth division of units, stores and so on. It was announced on 1 July 1947, that both countries would have operational control of their respective armed forces by 15 August 1947.[29]
See also
Notes
References
- Louis Allen: Burma: The Longest War. Dent Paperbacks, 1984, ISBN 0-460-02474-4.
- Martin Brayley, Mike Chappell: The British Army 1939–45 (3): The Far East. Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-84176-238-5.
- Ashley Jakson: The British Empire and the Second World War. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, ISBN 1-85285-417-0.
- Basil Liddle Hart: History of the Second World War. G P Putnam, 1970, ISBN 0-306-80912-5.
- William Roger Louis, Judith M Brown: The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Twentieth Century Volume 4 of The Oxford History of the British Empire. Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-19-924679-3.
- Robert Lynan, Howard Gerrard: Iraq 1941: the battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad. Osprey Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-84176-991-6.
- Tim Moreman, Duncan Anderson: Desert Rats: British 8th Army in North Africa 1941-43. Osprey Publishing, 2007, ISBN 1-84603-144-3.
- Frederick William Perry: The Commonwealth armies: manpower and organisation in two world wars. Manchester University Press ND, 1988, ISBN 0-7190-2595-8.
- John F Riddick: The history of British India. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, ISBN 0-313-32280-5.
- William Slim: Defeat Into Victory. 1956, ISBN 1-56849-077-1.
- Ian Sumner: The Indian Army 1914-1947. Osprey Publishing, 2001, ISBN 1-84176-196-6.
Vorlage:Indian Divisions in World War II
- ↑ a b c Sumner, p.25
- ↑ Marika Sherwood: Colonies, Colonials and World War Two. BBC History, abgerufen am 8. Oktober 2009.
- ↑ Sumner, p.15
- ↑ Louis & Brown, p.284
- ↑ a b Sumner, p.13
- ↑ Louis & Brown, p.285
- ↑ Perry, p.101
- ↑ a b c d e Perry, p.102
- ↑ a b c d e Sumner, p.23
- ↑ Perry, p.103
- ↑ Perry, pp.103–104
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Perry, p.108
- ↑ Perry, p.112
- ↑ a b c d Perry, p.111
- ↑ a b c d Perry, p.1114
- ↑ Jackson, pp.376–377
- ↑ Brayley, p.22
- ↑ a b c d e f Riddick, p.115
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Riddick, p.116
- ↑ The Invasion of British Somaliland. Stone & Stone online database of World War II, abgerufen am 5. Oktober 2009.
- ↑ Rajputana Rifles Regiment. Indian Army, abgerufen am 6. Oktober 2009.
- ↑ a b Perry, p.107
- ↑ Slim, p.17.
- ↑ Slim, p.18
- ↑ Liddle Hart, p.218
- ↑ Allen, p.115
- ↑ Perry, p.110
- ↑ Perry, p.119
- ↑ Noor A Husain: The Evolution of The Pakistan Army. Pakdefence.info, abgerufen am 6. Oktober 2009.