April 2005

THE EMPIRE’S WAR EFFORT

3 India

British India comprised the present day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh whilst Burma was also administered from India. The Government of India was neither fully independent nor fully subordinate to London.

The Army in India' comprised rotating units of the British Army In India' consisting of British officers and other ranks (ORs) and The Indian Army' consisting of British and Indian officers holding the King's Commission, Indian and Ghurkha officers 76,953 British all ranks and 239,661 Indian all ranks were serving in India, The latter included 34,767 reservists and 45,660 non- combatants.

During the war 877,668 Indian combatants and 563,369 non-combatants (including labour corps) were recruited, all voluntarily as conscription was not in force. Some 242,667 British and 1,096,013 Indian all ranks were sent overseas from India to nine theatres of war or Imperial garrisons In addition 42,430 British ranks were sent from India to England most of whom went on to serve in theatres of war, As the war progressed the Indian Army was more and more looked upon as an imperial Reserve' as the following commitments show:

An Indian Corps of two infantry divisions served in France from October 1914 until the end of 1915 when it was transferred to the Middle East. An Indian Cavalry Corps served in France from late 1914 until early 1918 when it was sent to Palestine^

Two infantry brigades took part in the abortive landings at Tanga and remained in East Africa, being brought up to approximately divisional strength. They were replaced by African troops in 1916.

In September 1914 the Indian Government agreed to the replacement by Territorials of all but nine of the British battalions that then remained in India, It also undertook to replace British regular garrisons overseas including Suez. These measures enabled the formation in the UK of further regular divisions.

An Indian brigade fought in the Gallipoli campaign.

Two divisions and the bulk of two cavalry divisions served in Egypt and Palestine together with Indian battalions that replaced most British battalions in several British divisions.

Four Indian battalions were attached to British brigades in Salonika for a time.

Four Indian divisions and a cavalry division fought in Mesopotamia.

All this time the Indian Army was responsible for the defence of India and internal security there, cynically, defending India against the Indians. It is as well to remember that Indian Army brigades always included a British battalion and that the artillery was all-British, no one wanted a repetition of the Indian Mutiny!

The total number of Indian casualties including followers was 121,598. No distinction is made between battle and non- battle casualties, for example the total included '...53,485 Died from all causes', but non-battle casualties exceeded battle casualties. Casualties to British personnel including those in units sent from India are excluded.

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION

A First World War Military Cross winner was executed after the Second World War for war crimes. Masaharu Homma was Japanese and was born on 27 November 1887. He joined the Imperial Army as an infantry lieutenant in November 1907.

During the First World War Japan was a British ally. After some fighting Japan took over the German possessions in China and in the North Pacific while Japanese naval units served in the Mediterranean. The Japanese took the opportunity to push into China even more while their great power rivals were distracted elsewhere, and did a profitable trade in armaments

Having graduated from the Japanese War College, their equivalent of the British Army's Staff College, and having been promoted captain, Homma served as an observer with the British Army on the Western Front. He was attached to the headquarters of Plumer's Second Army and with the East Lancashire Regiment though my sources fail to mention with

which battalion. He was awarded the British Military Cross in December 1919 for his services on the Western Front. Being a foreigner his award did not appear in the London Gazette.

Between the wars Homma rose to be a lieutenant general seeing varied service including being an instructor at the Japanese War College, being military attaché in Britain from 1930 to 1932 and serving in China. During the Second World War he commanded the forces that conquered the American-held Philippine Islands defeating no less a person than Douglas McArthur.

Lieutenant General Homma was allegedly responsible for the 'Death March' on Bataan in April 1942, in which thousands of American and Filipino prisoners of war were force marched twenty-five miles. The unfortunate prisoners went five days without food and their only water came from roadside ditches. Prisoners who collapsed exhausted were shot or bayoneted. After the war Homma was tried as a war criminal and shot in April 1946. His apologists have tried to blame the Bataan death march on his subordinates but Japan is a society where it is notoriously hard to decide who is responsible for any particular action.

J.Lethbridge

 

 

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Unfortunately we have no books in the library relating to the talks for the next few months. However one of my favourites is There's a Devil in the Drum by J F Lucy (number 182 in the library list). First published in 1938, it is an excellent account by a Southern Irishman who joined the British Army pre-Great War of his recruit days and his early service in France. His battalion suffered heavy casualties, including his brother who was killed serving in another company in the same battalion. He was later commissioned and returned to France but it is his account of the early fighting that really stands out in my mind.

Bob

 

The Bulletin of the Birmingham Branch of the WFA

Compiled by Bob Butcher

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