PERMALINK
MONDAY, MAY 09, 2005 05:17:52 PM
JOSY JOSEPH
July 10, 1944. 5th Maratha Regiment's Yeshwant Ghadge, all of 22, was caught in a mortal combat in the Upper Tiber Valley of Italy. Except for his commander, his platoon had been wiped out by enemy machine-gunners. With no alternative left, Ghadge rushed the machine gun nest, lobbing grenades, knocking off the gun and the gunner. He charged, shot another enemy. With no time to change his magazine, Ghadge clubbed to death two remaining enemy gunners. Ghadge finally fell to an enemy sniper.
India's memories of the World War II are made of such tales of exceptional valour. Fought for the British masters, it was India's biggest and worst war.
It was also a war where Indians were on either sides.
While some 2.5 million Indians fought the war for British rulers, a few thousand men and women joined the Germany-Japan-Italy (Aix Powers) alliance, under Subhash Chandra Bose, hoping to overthrow the British rulers from India.
Bose's venture was romantic and is an awe-inspiring chapter in India's freedom struggle.
But for most of the Indians who donned uniforms during World War II, it was only to earn their daily bread.
Though the war was not India's, Indians were among the most heroic, borne out by the fact that they won over 4,000 gallantry awards, among them almost 20 Victoria Crosses.
Over 36,000 Indians were killed. Official estimates put the wounded at 64,000.
Abdul Hafiz, 9th Jat Infantry, of the British Indian Army and was posted to Imphal, to defend the northeast borders where the Japanese were pushing in.
Just 25, and a Jemadar under British officers, Hafiz led a charge up a bare slope and then up a steep cliff despite machine-gun fire.
He pressed on, eliminated the enemy who vastly outnumbered Hafiz's platoon, but succumbed to his injuries.
Hafiz was awarded the Victoria Cross for the last act of his life.
Similar was the story of 22-year-old Yeshwant Ghadge whose act of exceptional courage came in the Upper Tiber Valley of Italy on July 10, 1944.
His entire section, except the commander, were killed or wounded from machine gun fire. Ghadge rushed to the machine gun location, throwing grenade and knocking off the machine gun and its firer and then shot another.
With no time to change his magazine, Ghadge clubbed to death two other remaining members of the machine gun crew. Ghadge like thousands of his Indian counterparts too fell to an enemy sniper and died.
Many of the Indian VCs were won in Burma and other regions of India's northeast.
If the Japanese forces, along with Bose's Indian National Army, had succeeded in their efforts to push into India the World War II would have had a different meaning for Indians.
But the Indian soldiers, loyal to the master, risked and even gave it up to stall the Japanese.
Some of Independent India's great warriors too were World War II veterans.
Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh earned his first recognition as an outstanding flier in the World War II.
Stationed at Imphal valley, his unit played a key role in resisting a siege. Singh was awarded the Dinstinguished Flying Cross by Lord Mountbatten, the then chief of the South East Asia Command.
While Indians played a pivotal role in safeguarding the northeast and Burma, they were also valiantly in action in places as far as Africa.
The Fifth Indian Division fought against the Italians in Sudan, and against the Germans in Libya.
Indians also played a critical role in protecting the Iraqi oilfields, which had by then become a key installation for the British Empire.
The Fifth Division also was part of the occupational force of Malaya. And later it went to Java to disarm the Japanese troops.
The Fourth Indian Division fought in North Africa, Syria, Palestine, Cyprus and then in Italy.
World War II was also the only occasion when the American troops were ever stationed in Indian soil.
They were deployed all over Northeast, and some units were even based in New Delhi. WW II veterans recall the lavish lifestyles of the Americans, who earned more than even British soldiers.
The Americans also played key role in flying supplies from Calcutta (now Kolkata), Karachi and other ports to Burma, China and other theatres of war in the region.
They also played an important role in developing road network in the northeast.
India was a cultivation base for upping supplies for the Allies.
In Assam a Muslim chief minister encouraged illegal migration from Bangladesh into Assam, and justified it to the British saying these Muslims would help in farming, which in turn was meant for war inputs.
Across the country rationing and shortages were felt.
In Calcutta the great famine of 1943, triggered by rice disease brown spot, was accentuated by the war-time shortages. An estimated 30 lakh people died in the famine.
The war's crippling impact on British Empire eventually helped speed up India's freedom.
But as is wont in India, the legacy of the 2.5 million Indian braves has lost the battle to neglect.
India's only living Victoria Cross winner of WW II, Honorary Captain Umrao Singh, 85 gets a meager Rs 80 as monthly pension.
Umrao Singh had held onto an advanced gun position against four assaults by Japanese troops.
Despite injuries from two grenade attacks, Singh fought on. When he was discovered hours later, bodies of 10 Japanese were lying around him.
Khukris unsheathed, Gurkha troops charge the enemy lines in Burma.
Indian soldiers storm a German trench, after exploding it with hand grenades.
A Lt Colonel from the 20th Indian Division accepts the formal surrender of a Japanese Commander at Saigon, Vietnam, in September 1945.
A group from the 152nd Para Battalion displaying the Japanese flag they captured at Tangkhul Hundung. ( Photograph: Bharat-Rakshak.com )
Madras Sappers and Miners work on a 'corduroy' road east of Kohima, on the Jessami track, August 1944. Timber provided a cheap way of producing a reasonably durable road surface for those hard-to-reach areas where mule or air transport was not enough.
Indian Paratroopers during World War II, with a British officer. Source: Parachute Regiment (India).
The first Indians to parachute - Captain Rangaraj (right) and Havildar Major Mathura Singh (left).
British and Indian troops exchange pleasantries as they meet on the road between Imphal and Kohima following the successful relief of the Kohima box. Circa April 1944.
A truly spectacular image. In the heat of the moment - Indian soldiers storm a German trench, after exploding it with hand grenades. Circa 1945.
An Italian soldier surrenders to a Jawan, during Operation Crusader, of an unnamed Division and Regiment, on 08 December 1941. The purpose of Operation Crusader was two-fold; to relieve Tobruk and destroy the Afrika Korp. First part of the conflict was a success, the second a failure. The battle took place between the Egyptian border and El Agheila in Libya.
An Indian soldier holds a captured Nazi flag. Circa 1945.
Medium artillery guns get unusual attention from their detachments.
Indian paratroopers being dropped at Elephant Point, Burma on 1 May 1945.
Flag captured from the 90th Panzer Light Division at Ruweisat Ridge. Circa 1942.
A Lieutenant Colonel from the 20th Indian Division, accepts the formal surrender of a Japanese Commander at Saigon, Vietnam in September 1945.
A group from the 152nd Para Battalion displaying the Japanese flag they captured while operating against the Japanese Army at Tangkhul Hundung. Circa 1945.