By Anoop Bose, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
India was the undisputed ‘Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire’. In 1901, George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (better known as ‘Lord Curzon’), the prodigious Eton-educated Viceroy of India and ‘an imperialist heart and soul’ aptly pontificated, ‘As long as we rule India, we are the greatest power in the world. If we lose it, we shall drop straightaway to a third-rate power.’
During the Second World War, the British had unwavering hegemony over vast territories in India, including over five hundred autonomous Princely States.
On 3rd September, 1939, the Conservative British Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain officially declared war on Germany. The Indian Army at the outset of the war numbered just under 200,000 men.
By the time the war ended in August, 1945, it had become the largest ‘volunteer army’ in history, comprising over 2.5 million men in arms.
The Indian Army fought on the continents of Africa, Europe and Asia in varied theatres of war. The war cost the lives of over 87,000 Indian servicemen, whilst 34,354 were wounded and 67,340 became prisoners of war.
In recognition of their indomitable valour, Indian troops earned some 4,000 decorations and 18 members of the Indian Army were awarded the coveted Victoria Cross.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army Field Marshal Claude John Eyre Auchinleck (popularly known as ‘The Auk’) fittingly declared that the British ‘couldn’t have come through both wars (World War I and II) if they hadn’t had the Indian Army.’ The monumental British Prime Minister Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill also paid glowing tributes to the ‘unsurpassed bravery of Indian soldiers and officers’.
By the year 1944, the German armies were virtually in control of most of mainland Europe. The Allies knew only too well that a successful invasion of Europe was pivotal to winning the war.
The German Chancellor Adolf Hitler was fully conscious of this fact and was expecting the invasion of north-western Europe in the spring of 1944. He constructed a formidable chain of fortifications, including colossal gun emplacements, described as the ‘Atlantic Wall’, using over 1.2 million tons of steel, 17 million cubic metres of concrete and 6 million mines and the aid of over 200,000 forced labourers.
The cost of the French portion of the Atlantic Wall was a staggering 3.7 billion Reichsmarks, equivalent to US $206 billion in modern times.
On the morning of 5th June, 1944, General Dwight David ‘Ike’ Eisenhower, who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, gave the go-ahead for the largest single amphibious military operation in human history, code-named ‘Operation Overlord’.
An awesome armada of 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to stealthily cross the English Channel for the invasion, despite treacherous weather conditions.
That night, 822 aircraft crammed with paratroopers headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were pressed into service to provide air cover and support for the invasion.
At the break of dawn on 6th June, 1944 (D-Day), the Allied forces landed along a 50-mile (80 km) stretch on the beaches of Normandy, located on the northern coast of France.
By the day’s end, 155,000 Allied troops — Americans, British and Canadians — had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches divided into five sectors viz. Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
The wily Germans were caught totally by surprise and the absence of their celebrated commander Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (popularly known as the ‘Desert Fox’), who was on ‘sick leave’ at his magnificent home ‘Villa Lindenhof’ in scenic Blaustein in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, celebrating the 50th birthday of his wife Lucia Maria ‘Lucie’ Mollin, added to their woes.
When the invasion came, Hitler was literally in deep slumber at ‘The Berghof’, his redoubtable mountain retreat in Obersalzberg atop the market town of Berchtesgaden in the idyllic Bavarian Alps.
His Generals, including Field Marshal Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army in Western Europe, did not muster up the courage to wake him up lest he flew into a fit of monstrous rage.
At first, Hitler, labouring under the delusion that the invasion was a clever feint intended to distract the Germans from the real intended blow in the Pas-de-Calais region, refused to release nearby divisions to join the counterattack and reinforcements had to be organised from farther afield, causing inordinate delays and frustrating his key strategy of pushing the ‘little fish back into the pond’.
He also procrastinated in calling for armoured divisions to bolster the German defence. In addition, the Germans were hampered by the effective Allied air offensive, which obliterated many key bridges and forced the Germans to take long detours, as well as the efficient Allied naval support, which helped safeguard the advancing Allied troops.
By the end of June, 1944, the Allies had 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles ashore in Normandy that marked the genesis of the liberation of Western Europe under the Nazi yoke.
Indian troops played a crucial role in the Normandy invasion and many of them distinguished themselves in combat.
The 1972 Bollywood blockbuster ‘Lalkaar’ was unique in its depiction of the stellar role of Indian pilots in the war and offered a minuscule glimpse of the heroic contribution of Indian air warriors in the Normandy operations.
At a solemn memorial function in St Andrew’s Garden in Gravesend, Kent, UK, on 28th November, 2014, an eight-foot bronze statue of the decorated fighter pilot Squadron Leader Mohinder Singh Pujji, cast at a cost of £70,000, was unveiled by Air Vice Marshal Edward Jackson Stringer of the RAF who proclaimed, ‘We remember a stunning record, a fine pilot and a fantastic officer. This is an absolutely magnificent sculpture which captures this very fine man.’
What we’re also remembering and commemorating with this memorial are all those who came and fought on the right side in the Second World War and fought for the freedoms that we cherish today.
It’s worth recording that over 17,000 Indians volunteered to join the RAF alongside 25,000 Indians who fought in the Indian Air Force, a staggering statistic not well known enough today in the UK.
Pujji belonged to the maiden batch of 24 Indian pilots who had accepted to receive a Volunteer Reserve commission with the RAF. He received his RAF wings on 16th April, 1941 and joined the renowned No. 56 Operational Training Unit at RAF Sutton Bridge, where he underwent advanced fighter pilot training on the Hawker Hurricane.
He saw active service with No. 43 Squadron RAF, the formidable ‘Fighting Cocks’ fighter squadron. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on 17th April 1945, which was followed by a personal letter of congratulations from Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park.
The DFC citation read, ‘Flight Lieutenant Pujji has shown himself to be a skilful and determined pilot who has always displayed outstanding leadership and courage.’
In August, 2010, Pujji’s autobiography ‘For King And Another Country’ was released. He died at the Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent at the age of 92 on 18th September, 2010 following a massive stroke.
Another distinguished Indian pilot was Kolkata-born Wing Commander Karun Krishna Majumdar, the father of the Indian Air Force (IAF) whose medals proudly adorn the IAF Academy at Dundigal, near Hyderabad.
His maternal grandfather was Womesh Chunder Bonnerijee, the first President of the Indian National Congress. Because he was over six feet tall and robust, he acquired the nickname ‘Jumbo’ and was particularly known for his superlative piloting skills and indomitable spirit.
In 1932, he travelled to England and took admission in the famed Royal Air Force College, Cranwell. In 1933, he returned to India as a trained pilot. Majumdar was awarded the DFC on 10th November, 1942.
In May, 1944, the treasured American photographic magazine ‘Life’ featured him as one the world’s 12 most outstanding airmen. His portrait was painted by the celebrated English artist Dennis William Dring.
In June, 1944, Majumdar joined No. 268 Squadron RAF, a photo-reconnaissance squadron, at RAF Gatwick, whilst the Normandy operations were in full swing.
In his first operational flight on 10th June, 1944, he made a reconnaissance of the Seine River and carried out ground-strafing of German targets. On 23rd January, 1945, Majumdar was awarded a Bar to his DFC for his exemplary role in the Normandy operations.
Thus he became the most highly decorated Indian pilot of the Second World War. On 17th February, 1945, Majumdar participated in an aeronautical show at Walton, near Lahore, in a Hawker Hurricane which had a dismal past record of mechanical problems.
Roaring into the air before a large assemblage, he executed some high-level turns and then performed a daring acrobatic manoeuvre involving a dive. During the dive, the aircraft developed a debilitating snag and crashed headlong into the ground killing Majumdar instantaneously.
He was only 31! The following epitaph is etched for posterity on the marble headstone of his grave at Lahore:
“Go, passers-by / And do if you can / as he did / A Man’s part / In defence of liberty.”
A large number of Indian troops drawn from the finest Regiments in the Indian Army landed at Normandy on D-Day as part of diverse British Divisions and Brigades such as the British 6th Airborne Division, the British 3rd Infantry Division, the British 27th Armoured Brigade, the British 50th Infantry Division, the British 8th Armoured Brigade and the British 79th Armoured Division.
They fought with extraordinary bravery and many like the Amritsar-born Lance Daffadar Puran Singh of the Indian Armoured Corps were martyred on French soil.
The mortal remains of Puran Singh, who died on 2nd September, 1944 at the age of 32, lie interred in the Champenoux Communal Cemetery at Meurthe-et-Moselle in France.
Indian troops also fought alongside the German armies in the war. Driven by a fervent desire to terminate British rule in India, 3000 Indian prisoners of war and expatriates in Europe joined the ‘Free India Legion’ (popularly known as the ‘Azad Hind Fauz’ or the ‘Tiger Legion’ because of its distinctive ‘leaping tiger’ emblem) which was established by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to win India’s independence by waging war against Britain.
The Legion was stationed in Lacanau (near Bordeaux) at the time of the Normandy invasion and remained there for two months after D-Day fighting the Allies.
On 15th August, 1944, the Legion pulled out of Lacanau to make its way back to Germany. It was in the second leg of this journey, from Poitiers to Chateauroux, that it suffered a number of casualties, including the notable and extraordinary death of Lieutenant Kalu Muzaffar Khan whilst engaging French forces.
The Legion also engaged with American tanks and other armour at Nuits-Saint-Georges that saw 6 American tanks destroyed or damaged during a series of ambushes and attacks by the Legion before they began retreating across the Loire to Dijon.
The Legion began to get regularly assaulted by the French Resistance, suffering a large number of casualties including those of Lieutenant Kalu Manjor Ram and Captain Mela Hari Ram.
The Legion moved from Remiremont through Alsace to Camp Heuberg in Germany in the winter of 1944, where it was stationed until March, 1945.
A number of awards were conferred upon the Legion during this phase of the retreat for their steadfast combat with the Allied forces.
It was disbanded at the end of the war and many legionnaires were shipped back to India to face prosecution at the hands of the British authorities. The rest is history!