Between 1939 and 1945 India changed to an extraordinary extent. Millions of Indians suddenly found themselves as soldiers, fighting in Europe and North Africa but also - something simply never imagined - against a Japanese army threatening to invade eastern India. Many more were pulled into the vortex of wartime mobilization. Srinath Raghavan's compelling and original book gives both a surprising new account of the fighting and of life on the home front. For Indian nationalists the war has tended to be seen as a distraction from the quest for national independence - but Raghavan shows that in fact the war lay at the very heart of how and why colonial rule ended in South Asia. By seeing the Second World War through Indian eyes, Raghavan transforms our understanding of the conflict - with famous battles such as those in North Africa and Iraq reinterpreted, as well as fascinating and little known campaigns such as the destruction of Italian northeast Africa. Time and again, it was Indian troops that made Britain into a global power and, as the war came to an end, it was the Indian army that fought the final battles which marked the end both of the Japanese empire, and of the British.

This book focuses on the British Commonwealth armies in SE Asia and the SW Pacific during the Second World War, which, following the disastrous Malayan and Burma campaigns, had to hurriedly re-train, re-equip and re-organise their demoralised troops to fight a conventional jungle war against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). British, Indian and Australian troops faced formidable problems conducting operations across inaccessible, rugged and jungle-covered mountains on the borders of Burma, in New Guinea and on the islands of the SW Pacific. Yet within a remarkably short time they adapted to the exigencies of conventional jungle warfare and later inflicted shattering defeats on the Japanese. This study will trace how the military effectiveness of the Australian Army and the last great imperial British Army in SE Asia was so dramatically transformed, with particular attention to the two key factors of tactical doctrine and specialised training in jungle warfare. It will closely examine how lessons were learnt and passed on between the British, Indian and Australian armies. The book will also briefly cover the various changes in military organisation, medical support and equipment introduced by the military authorities in SE Asia and Australia, as well as covering the techniques evolved to deliver effective air support to ground troops. To demonstrate the importance of these changes, the battlefield performance of imperial troops in such contrasting operations as the First Arakan Campaign, fighting along the Kokoda Trail and the defeat of the IJA at Imphal and Kohima will be described in detail.

Field Marshall Viscount Slim holds a special place in modern military history. He soundly defeated the Imperial Japanese Army in Burma in 1945, retaking the strategically important Burma Road, and safeguarding the Chinese Theater from sure culmination. By all accounts, Slim is a military genius, having achieved this notable victory even after the Japanese 15th Army pushed Allied troops all the way back to India. The historical records attribute Slim’s success to his superior ability to lead soldiers in combat, but they tell only half the story. By tracing Slim’s implicit process of theoretical thinking, using an observe, interpret, hypothesize, test, and prescribe action framework, this story demonstrates that Slim’s genius came from a combination of his abilities to lead and think theoretically. Specifically, in the case of Slim, his ability to think theoretically afforded him the opportunity to develop a new operational approach-a paradigm shift of sorts-and his leadership made it possible to motivate his men to employ that approach. The author asserts that it is the presence of these two abilities in a single man that make him a superior military commander.

This book examines how India was placed and placed itself in the world during the first half of the 20th century in a period of global turmoil and set against the subcontinental contest for independence. In situating India in the world, it looks not just at current foreign policy studies, but also at geopolitics, World War experiences, theoretical and strategic approaches, early foreign policy institutional transitions and the role of Indian civil and foreign diplomatic services. The work explores history and theory with a focus on cosmopolitanism beyond nationalism. The use of extensive sources from archives in UK and Russia — especially in different languages, mainly German and Russian — lends this volume an edge over most other works. The book will be useful to professional academics, historians including military historians, security specialists, literary specialists, foreign policy experts, journalists and the general reader interested in international issues.

United States Army surgeon John H. Grindlay served in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II in 1941-1944. Drawing on his unpublished war diary and letters, this book sheds new light on the conduct of battlefield medicine in the tropics and provides a new perspective on such personalities as General Joseph W. Stilwell, the famed "Burma Surgeon" Dr. Gordon S. Seagrave, and Chiang Kai-shek. Stilwell's famous 1942 "walkout" retreat from Burma to India is covered, along with the 1943 Allied return to Burma to push the Japanese from the Ledo Road connecting northeast India to southwestern China.

This researcher examined the evolution of warfare in an unforgiving environment, necessitating an innovative method of warfare never attempted on a large scale. It details the early history of air supply and support near the end of WWI up to and including the war in Europe in 1939 and the expanding war in Asia following the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent offensives in southeast Asia. The China-Burma-India Theater (CBI) became an important component of Allied efforts. Low in Allied priority, the difficulties encountered by the Southeast Asia Command (SEAC) increased. Burma, a British colony, was a region with few all-weather roads; the only rail lines available were in enemy hands 150 miles inside Japanese lines. Temperatures reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit with rainfall as much as 200 inches per year. Additionally, the nearest friendly seaport was more than 500 miles away. The Allied offensive, scheduled for the spring of 1944, incorporated a multi-pronged ground attack on three different Japanese fronts. To achieve success, it was essential to develop the only logical means of sustainability for ground forces: Air Supply and Support. Described herein are the efforts of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF), creating a singularly unique air unit: Air Commando 1. The coordination of Allied tactics and doctrines were worked out with a clear delineation of the chain of command. When Air Commando 1 arrived in India, the framework that became the Allied offensive, codenamed “Operation THURSDAY” was laid. For the survival of soldiers contracting one of the numerous diseases (Burma has the largest number of snakes per square mile) or suffering from combat related wounds and injuries, it was essential to receive quick medical attention. It was in the CBI that SEAC established an effective method of air evacuation that made the difference between life and death. The research unearthed most of the heretofore publicly unknown aspects of the campaign, explored in the author’s thesis, which indicate that the first sustained effort of air supply and support deep within enemy-held territory established a vital method of warfare deployed in subsequent wars.

This collection of seventeen essays based on archival data breaks new ground as regards the contribution of the Indian Army in British war effort during the two World Wars around various parts of the globe.

Barkawi re-imagines the study of war with imperial and multinational armies that fought in Asia in the Second World War.

The RAF Regiment was created in the early years of World War II for the active dedicated defense of RAF airfields and installations. This book concerns the Regiments operational history in South-east Asia Command and draws on the diaries and recollections of the men who served in that theatre. It is strongly supported by maps and diagrams from official records. The Regiment played a vital and significant role in the two major battles for Burma, Imphal and Meiktila. The struggle at Imphal ranks alongside Stalingrad and Alamein in its significance for the defeat of the Axis. From humble beginnings, the Regiment in Burma had by 1945 become a highly-trained specialist ground force capable of defensive and offensive action. The successes of the 14th Army were founded on the support of the transport, fighter and bomber squadrons. The RAF could not have done this as effectively without the confidence that its airfields and vital installations were safe under the constant vigilance of the RAF Regiment.