A highly important part was also played by the Indian troops in withstanding the Japanese attack and in driving them out of the territories they had occupied on India’s frontier. General Sir William Slim, Commander of the 14th Army, which completely destroyed Japan’s military power in South-East Asia, bore testimony to the wonderful services of the Indians in this epic struggle. “India was,” he observed in 1946,”our base, and three quarters of everything we got from there. The best thing of all we got from India was the Indian army. Indeed, the campaign in Burma was largely an Indian Army campaign. The bulk of the fighting troops and almost the whole of those on the lines of communication were soldiers of the Indian Army, and magnificent they were. India, too, trained and sent us our reinforcements.”‘ The pre-war strength of the Indian Army was 182,000. By the middle of 1945 the Army numbered over 2,000,000 men although recruitment had continued all along on a voluntary basis. The casualties in the ranks of the Indian troops numbered 180,000, of whom “one in six was killed besides 6,500 merchant seamen, who were either killed or missing.” In addition, bombing caused 4,000 civilian casualties. There would have been larger casualties but for the yeomen service rendered by the members of the Civil Defence Corps, numbering at one time 82,000.
There was a proportionate increase in recruitment to the officer class, including both King’s Commissioned officers and Viceroy’s Commissioned officers. The Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun made provision for 600 cadets, compared with 200 before the war, and other Officer Training Schools were opened. Though there were only 400 Indian Officers at the outbreak of the war, the number of Indian Commissioned and King’s Commissioned officers had risen to more than 10,000 at its close. There was a large increase in the number of training schools of all descriptions to bring about the fuller mechanisation of the Army and secure more efficient training.
The Indian Artillery was also greatly expanded and developed. Valuable services were rendered by the Corps of Indian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, formed on Ist May, 1943, for the repair, recovery and maintenance of the technical equipment of the Indian Army; the Indian Signal Corps, formed in 1922 and greatly expanded during this war; the Indian Army Medical Corps, formed in 1943; and the Women’s Auxiliary Corps numbering over 10,000, formed to release soldiers and technicians for more active duty. The Royal Indian Navy, with its personnel raised from 1,200 officers and men at the commencement of the war to about 30,000 by the beginning of 1944, had notable services and exploits to its credit. The Indian Air Force (started in 1932 and subsequently designated the Royal Indian Air Force), with strength augmented from 200 to 27,000, and equipped with modern aircraft, both fighters and bombers, fought gallantly over Burma from 1942 onwards. India also made very large contributions to the Allies in arms, ammunition, equipment and various other kinds of the war effort by speeding up the production of steel. Indian shipyards built 2,000 small vessels during the war, with a total tonnage of 100,000 tons. Large numbers of Indian railway wagons were sent to the Middle East.
The lndian States were liberal in their help. Besides supplying more than 375,000 recruits for the fighting forces of India, they provided men for technical work, and important materials, such as steel, blankets and other kinds of woollen cloths, silk for parachute manufacture, webbing cloth, and rubber products. The total financial contributions of the States exceeded Rs. 65,000,000. About half the total contribution to the Viceroy’s Fund came from them.
India’s Participation in Efforts for Peace
Having made this immense contribution towards the achievement of victory by the Allied powers, India showed a genuine interest in the solution of the problems of tormented humanity and became actively associated with the organizations working for international security and peace. She was associated with the principal organs and specialised agencies of the United Nations Organization. She is a signatory to its charter and is an original member of it. One of her representatives became the Chairman of the Social and Economic Council of the U.N.O. and rendered much valuable assistance in the difficult initial stages. Her representatives all played very important parts in the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
In the 1946 session of the U.N., Indian representatives took an independent line on some major issues. They succeeded in making the U.N. take up the question of the treatment of Indians in South Africa against the opposition of the United Kingdom and the U.S.A. India also tried persistently to protect the rights of politically backward peoples in the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations. But in 1947, on two matters in which she was directly interested, that is, her election to the Security Council and the dispute with South Africa, she did not succeed in gaining what she hoped for. She continued, however, to participate actively in the work of the United Nations. As tension developed between the two great groups of world powers, one under the leadership of the U.S.A. and Great Britain, and the other under the U.S.S.R. (Russia), India wisely proclaimed her policy of not identifying herself with either group. She also came to have her diplomatic representatives, of various ranks and designations, from Ambassadors to Consuls and Commissioners, in different countries abroad. Similarly foreign countries stationed here their representatives, diplomatic or consular.
India not only participated in many International Conferences like the Pacific Relations Conference (1943-1944), the World Trade Union Conference (February, 1945), the Commonwealth Relations Conference (February March, 1945), the World Trade Union Congress (September, 1945), the Subject Peoples Conference (London, October, 1945), and the International Labour Conference at Geneva (July, 1947), but also organized the Asian Relations Conference (New Delhi, 23rd March-2nd April, 1947). She also exchanged delegations and missions and entered into various treaties with other countries. Associations interested in India sprang up in foreign countries, e.g. the National Committee for India’s freedom, formed on 25th October, 1943, with headquarters at Washington, the Australian India Association formed in October, 1943, and the Indo-Iranian Cultural Society, Teheran, founded in 1944.
