Summary:
The book analyses Indian contributions to Second World War in the context of the Indian Independence movement. At the outbreak of Second World War, Royal Indian Army had 194,373 soldiers, Royal Indian Air Force had 285 officers and men and Royal Indian Navy had 1,846 sailors. At the end, Royal Indian Army had 2,065,554 soldiers, Royal Indian Air Force had 29,201 Officers and men and Royal Indian Navy had 30,748 sailors. Out of nearly 2.5 million Indian soldiers deployed on the side of the Allies, close to 90,000 were killed or maimed. This does not take into account deaths of Indians who fought on the the Axis side and civilian deaths during the war.
The book opens on 3 September 1939 with the Lord Linlithgow's announcement(without consulting Indian political leaders), that India was at war with Axis powers. There are detailed accounts of different battles Indian soldiers were involved in albeit under British command (Sidi Barrani, Cassino, El Alamein, Kohima, Imphal to list some). Because Britain was an imperialist power at that time, it closely follows the principal actors of Indian Independence movement - Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Jinnah, Bose, Ambedkar, Savarkar and their interactions with British. It is not surprising to read about British leaders (Winston Churchill, Leo Amery, Linlithgow) come across as caricatures relying on Indian population and economy as an inexhaustible resource to fund British effort during the duration of hostilities while at the same time undercutting Congress' demands for Indian Independence.
It is surprising to read though, for all their bluster, about the unpreparedness of British when it came to using Royal Indian Army in defending their possessions. As with British, every major power that came into contact with Royal Indian Army soldiers treated them as racially inferior whether they be Allies (Britain, US, Soviet Union) or Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan). Participation in Second World War has influenced the subsequent events in South Asia starting with the enmity between Muslim League and Congress under British through Partition and ending with frequent wars that India and Pakistan have engaged in.
Synopsis:
The book goes through Second World War and Indian Independence movement in parallel tracks, the underlying commonality being Indian involvement in Second World War. It gives a good overview of the major events that happened with the Second World War and Indian Independence movement:
August 1939
Hitler signs pact with Stalin as his conquest of Europe gains speed. Britain is worried about the pact's influence on its Indian possessions especially with regards to Soviet Union encroaching into Afghanistan and from there onward to India. To keep Japan out of the reach of Axis powers, Britain tries mollifying it by closing Burma Road for some months even though Chiang-Kai Shek's Chinese Nationalists were being supplied through that route.
September 1939
Viceroy Linlithgow announces India is at war with Axis powers. After meeting with various actors in Indian Independence movement with the exception of Congress, he announces that Federal provisions of 1935 Government of India Act stands suspended for the period of the war. This sets the tone for British approach for the duration of the Second World War. Churchill and Linlithgow take every opportunity to deny Congress its claim of speaking for India as a whole. As such, they provide platforms to individuals outside Congress who command sizable following: Ambedkar, Savarkar, Jinnah, Princely states. All those leaders come to the conclusion that Congress does not speak for the whole of India and that they are the spokesmen for their specific constituencies. This also enables British to successfully divide and rule the actors pushing for Indian Independence while at the same time positioning all the non-Congress leaders in the warm embrace of the British. For war recruitment, British subscribe to the martial castes theory - some castes are more suited to war than others and recruit primarily among Sikhs, Muslims, Gurkhas and Rajputs. With increased manpower requirements of Second World War, they find it tough going to fulfill requirements. Towards the end, they expand the recruitment to other classes - Dalits and other castes from the South.
July 1940
August 1940
Linlithgow refuses an agreement on transfer of power and only commits to expanding his Executive Council to include Indian representatives that different parties nominate and also form a War Advisory Council. With the rejection of 'Poona Offer', Gandhi's position of civil disobedience is strengthened within Congress during Second World War.
October 1940
Gandhi anoints Vinoba Bhave as the person who will break the law by uttering 'It is wrong to help the British War effort with men or money' and kick starting the civil disobedience movement. All the senior Congress leaders are arrested. Into this political vacuum steps in Muslim League which takes this opportunity to build upon its organizational reach and capabilities. In 1937 elections, Muslim League was shocked at its performance, vis-a-vis Congress, in Muslim majority provinces. With Congress out of the picture, Muslim League works to become the sole representative of Muslim interests across India.
January 1941
Bose escapes from home confinement and makes his way to Peshawar and then lands in Berlin on an Italian passport under the name Orlando Mazzotta.
March 1941
US extends Lend Lease system to India. It allows for generous US financing for purchasing military equipment and mobilizing for the war.
June 1941
Germany launches Operation Barbarossa attacking Soviet Union. In response to entreaties from German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop to strike out for India to take advantage of weakened Britain, Hitler responds that any further action on Britain's India empire will come only after the war with Soviet Union. By defeating Soviet Union, Hitler expects to force Britain into an agreement. In India, Communist Party of India switches from opposing Britain (when Soviet Union was allied with Germany) to supporting it (when Germany attacked Soviet Union).
August 1941
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and Churchill issue Atlantic Charter. FDR views Britain as desiring to hold onto its imperialistic possessions after the end of Second World War at America's expense and leans on Churchill to include all of British Empire possessions in Atlantic Charter, to provide them self rule at the end of the war.
September 1941
Churchill refuses applicability of Atlantic Charter to possessions in British Empire and tweaks joint declaration with Roosevelt to justify his refusal.
December 1941
February 1942
March 1942
April 1942
Japanese conduct air raids in Madras, Vizag and Kakinada.
August 1942
Congress passes Quit India resolution calling for British to leave the country. Britain arrests all the Congress leaders and puts them in Jail. Muslim League uses the power vacuum to become the spokesperson for all Muslims in Muslim majority provinces in India.
December 1942
Japanese relieve Mohan Singh of his INA command and place him under arrest.
January 1943
Bengal famine.
July 1943
Bose becomes the leader of INA and expands recruitment to includes Tamils from Malaya. In Burma, Wavell scales down the mechanization of Royal Indian Army to fit the terrain and forms a new Indian Light division that is more maneuverable in jungle environment. He and Stilwell also institute rigorous training and minimize disruptions to unit cohesion by not removing pieces of Royal Indian Army to train new recruits. As a result, battle effectiveness of Indian units increases manifold and it shows in the fight against Japanese in Imphal and Kohima.
October 1943
Bose announces the formation of Provisional Government of Azad Hind.
July 1944
INA takes on significant casualties in the fight for Kohima and Imphal. After these two battles, the effectiveness of INA as a fighting force is diminished.
May 1945
Royal Indian Army recaptures Rangoon.
June 1945
British hold Simla Conference to discuss self-rule in India.
August 1945
Japanese plane carrying Bose crashes in Formosa (Currently in Taiwan).
February 1946
Royal Indian Navy mutinies on HMS Talwar ship in Bombay to protest the poor quality of rations and racial discrimination by British officers. Royal Indian Army is sent for peace keeping operations in Vietnam and Indonesia.
March 1946
Cabinet mission consisting of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander visits India to discuss transfer of power.
August 1946
Muslim League calls Direct Action Day to reject Cabinet Mission recommendations leading to around 4000 deaths in Calcutta alone.
September 1946
Communists kick off Tebhaga campaign to support sharecroppers in Bengal.
October 1946
Punnapra Vayalar uprising resulting in 270 deaths prevents State of Travancore from seceding.
February 1947
Lord Mountbatten is appointed as Viceroy of India and Britain announces it would withdraw from India no later than June 1948.
14 August 1947 - Pakistan gains freedom
15 August 1947 - India gains freedom
At the beginning of Second World War, the lack of training and funding to maintain battle ready units in Royal Indian Army reflected in its initial losses and defeats. As a result of these initial losses, opinion formed of the inferiority of the fighting capabilities of Indians and became difficult to dislodge even after subsequent battlefield successes. Britain wanted India to provide men and material for its war effort without putting in the required investment that goes into building up a fighting army. At the beginning of the war, Britain and Viceroy of India signed a cost sharing agreement by which Britain would maintain a sterling account that would be credited based on overseas services rendered and military stores supplied by Royal Indian Army. As a result, the more fighting Royal Indian Army did, the bigger the sterling balance account became but the account could not be used till the end of the war. With Britain demanding ever more men and material from India, the Indian government resorted to inflationary financing (printing new money against the sterling balances) to keep up with the demand. This was one of the reasons behind the Bengal famine of 1943, in addition to others (Churchill's genocidal racism against Indians, specifically Hindus being another).
After the units were deployed to Middle East in the beginning of Second World War against Italians, they became comfortable with desert warfare. In the absence of proper training and retention practices, Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief of Royal Indian Army would then shift pieces of battle ready divisions to train other newly recruited soldiers and its nearby possessions in South East Asia under orders from Britain. Because of the unwillingness of Britain to fund the mobilization of war where Royal Indian Army was involved, Viceroy had to come up ways to recruit, train and deploy it while making sure the financial decisions to achieve those aims did not weaken the ongoing war effort. Furthermore, the ineffectiveness of the Royal Indian Army units at the beginning was a function of conflict in priorities between the Middle Eastern Command (which saw Middle East as its theater and expected Royal Indian Army to stay and fight in that theater) and Royal Indian Army (which expected to defend India and nearby British possessions in South East Asia). As a result, battle effectiveness of Royal Indian Army remained low throughout the Middle Eastern campaign.
It took British in India till the Burma campaign to realize the what good training, nutrition and sound battle tactics could do for the battle effectiveness of the Royal Indian Army. In the same vein, the rise and fall of Japanese attacks against Royal Indian Army was a testament to lessons learned in boring but crucial fields of organization, nutrition and training. Japanese overran Royal Indian Army units in Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore because those units were poorly trained and lacked unit integrity (some pieces of a Royal Indian Army division would be sent to Italy and some would be retained in South East Asia). As a result, when the Japanese attacked, the Royal Indian Army units fled. As the organization, training and nutrition improved, Royal Indian Army units gave an excellent account of themselves in the battle for Kohima and Imphal which is especially notable given the fight-to-the-death approach displayed by Japanese soldiers.
The end of Second World War ensured that battle hardened soldiers would be returning to their home towns, bringing with them new experiences, organizational and fighting skills. As the book points out, there is a correlation between districts in India with higher number of men with combat experience in Second World War and elevated levels of ethnic cleansing during Partition. The defeats that Allies suffered in Europe in the beginning of Second World War also caused a huge dent in the perception of British military dominance that sustained its Empire in India. In that sense, Churchill (and other Conservatives) may have found it difficult to hold onto India after Second World War for which, absent US pressure, they laid the ground by their divide and rule policies between 1939 - 1940. The financial position of Britain at the end of Second World War would have made it impossible to keep its colonial possessions and satisfy its domestic obligations, at the same time. The push by Congress, Muslim League and other parties for full independence thus received a boost from the Second World War even though Britain ended up on the victorious side. Significant credit has to be given to US for pressuring Britain to divest itself of its imperial possessions and following through on it. Given the mendicant position that Britain found itself in vis-a-vis US, that pressure was very effective.
The downside of the British delusion to hold onto India after Second World War showed up in Partition and its gory events. Because British did not envision an exit strategy for its imperial possessions in India and Pakistan, they were not prepared when they were put in a position to get out of India and Pakistan. Their lack of forethought showed in the short time provided to nascent governments-in-waiting of India and Pakistan to prepare for the Partition. The divide and rule approach of the British empowered religious (Hindu Mahasabha, Muslim League), Caste (Ambedkar), Language (Periyar) and Princely (Hyderabad, Travancore) factions at the expense of a secular approach (Congress) and encouraged their delusions by giving them a significant say in the future affairs of India and Pakistan. While that approach provided British with the reasoning to postpone any discussions of independence of its colonial possessions, it also made compromises for these factions, when it happened, particularly painful. Congress and Muslim League, being the principal parties at the time of independence share the blame for letting Partition get as serious as it did. But, the genesis of and lion's share of the responsibility for Partition lies with the British.
Muslim League didnt have rivals to its power in the newly formed Pakistan and as such, did not have sufficient bench strength in political leadership behind Jinnah. Congress was forced to come to grips with multiple factions (Hindu Mahasabha with its full throated fanaticism and culpability in the assassination of Gandhi made itself a non-factor in the early days after Indian Independence) and as such, developed a bench strength in leadership that came in handy when developing representative institutions for India. That made the difference between Pakistan being subjected to military dictatorships on a regular basis and India consistently operating under civilian control of military. Hindu Nationalists' hankering for a Hindu Rashtra (mirroring Islamic Republic of Pakistan) is in line with political alliances prior to Independence where Jinnah and Savarkar would find themselves on the same side against Congress' insistence to be the representative of all Indians irrespective of religion. However, Hindu Nationalists' insistence on it even after seeing the failure of Pakistan as a state across the border is puzzling.
Other books of interest:
War and Peace in Modern India: A Strategic History of the Nehru Years - Srinath Raghavan
The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan - Ayesha Jalal
Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier's Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World War II - Brendan Koerner
Churchill's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India during World War II - Madhusree Mukherjee
The book analyses Indian contributions to Second World War in the context of the Indian Independence movement. At the outbreak of Second World War, Royal Indian Army had 194,373 soldiers, Royal Indian Air Force had 285 officers and men and Royal Indian Navy had 1,846 sailors. At the end, Royal Indian Army had 2,065,554 soldiers, Royal Indian Air Force had 29,201 Officers and men and Royal Indian Navy had 30,748 sailors. Out of nearly 2.5 million Indian soldiers deployed on the side of the Allies, close to 90,000 were killed or maimed. This does not take into account deaths of Indians who fought on the the Axis side and civilian deaths during the war.
The book opens on 3 September 1939 with the Lord Linlithgow's announcement(without consulting Indian political leaders), that India was at war with Axis powers. There are detailed accounts of different battles Indian soldiers were involved in albeit under British command (Sidi Barrani, Cassino, El Alamein, Kohima, Imphal to list some). Because Britain was an imperialist power at that time, it closely follows the principal actors of Indian Independence movement - Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Jinnah, Bose, Ambedkar, Savarkar and their interactions with British. It is not surprising to read about British leaders (Winston Churchill, Leo Amery, Linlithgow) come across as caricatures relying on Indian population and economy as an inexhaustible resource to fund British effort during the duration of hostilities while at the same time undercutting Congress' demands for Indian Independence.
It is surprising to read though, for all their bluster, about the unpreparedness of British when it came to using Royal Indian Army in defending their possessions. As with British, every major power that came into contact with Royal Indian Army soldiers treated them as racially inferior whether they be Allies (Britain, US, Soviet Union) or Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan). Participation in Second World War has influenced the subsequent events in South Asia starting with the enmity between Muslim League and Congress under British through Partition and ending with frequent wars that India and Pakistan have engaged in.
Synopsis:
The book goes through Second World War and Indian Independence movement in parallel tracks, the underlying commonality being Indian involvement in Second World War. It gives a good overview of the major events that happened with the Second World War and Indian Independence movement:
August 1939
Hitler signs pact with Stalin as his conquest of Europe gains speed. Britain is worried about the pact's influence on its Indian possessions especially with regards to Soviet Union encroaching into Afghanistan and from there onward to India. To keep Japan out of the reach of Axis powers, Britain tries mollifying it by closing Burma Road for some months even though Chiang-Kai Shek's Chinese Nationalists were being supplied through that route.
September 1939
Viceroy Linlithgow announces India is at war with Axis powers. After meeting with various actors in Indian Independence movement with the exception of Congress, he announces that Federal provisions of 1935 Government of India Act stands suspended for the period of the war. This sets the tone for British approach for the duration of the Second World War. Churchill and Linlithgow take every opportunity to deny Congress its claim of speaking for India as a whole. As such, they provide platforms to individuals outside Congress who command sizable following: Ambedkar, Savarkar, Jinnah, Princely states. All those leaders come to the conclusion that Congress does not speak for the whole of India and that they are the spokesmen for their specific constituencies. This also enables British to successfully divide and rule the actors pushing for Indian Independence while at the same time positioning all the non-Congress leaders in the warm embrace of the British. For war recruitment, British subscribe to the martial castes theory - some castes are more suited to war than others and recruit primarily among Sikhs, Muslims, Gurkhas and Rajputs. With increased manpower requirements of Second World War, they find it tough going to fulfill requirements. Towards the end, they expand the recruitment to other classes - Dalits and other castes from the South.
July 1940
- In response to Linlithgow's announcement about Indian participation in Second World War, Rajaji convinces Congress to come out with 'Poona Offer', to make a deal with British about supporting them during the war, against Gandhi's explicit wishes for staying out of Second World War entirely because of non-violence, that will then provide a pathway for Indian Independence at the end of the war.
- Bose is sent to Prison and after he begins a fast unto death, gets transferred to his home in November 1940.
August 1940
Linlithgow refuses an agreement on transfer of power and only commits to expanding his Executive Council to include Indian representatives that different parties nominate and also form a War Advisory Council. With the rejection of 'Poona Offer', Gandhi's position of civil disobedience is strengthened within Congress during Second World War.
October 1940
Gandhi anoints Vinoba Bhave as the person who will break the law by uttering 'It is wrong to help the British War effort with men or money' and kick starting the civil disobedience movement. All the senior Congress leaders are arrested. Into this political vacuum steps in Muslim League which takes this opportunity to build upon its organizational reach and capabilities. In 1937 elections, Muslim League was shocked at its performance, vis-a-vis Congress, in Muslim majority provinces. With Congress out of the picture, Muslim League works to become the sole representative of Muslim interests across India.
January 1941
Bose escapes from home confinement and makes his way to Peshawar and then lands in Berlin on an Italian passport under the name Orlando Mazzotta.
March 1941
US extends Lend Lease system to India. It allows for generous US financing for purchasing military equipment and mobilizing for the war.
June 1941
Germany launches Operation Barbarossa attacking Soviet Union. In response to entreaties from German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop to strike out for India to take advantage of weakened Britain, Hitler responds that any further action on Britain's India empire will come only after the war with Soviet Union. By defeating Soviet Union, Hitler expects to force Britain into an agreement. In India, Communist Party of India switches from opposing Britain (when Soviet Union was allied with Germany) to supporting it (when Germany attacked Soviet Union).
August 1941
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and Churchill issue Atlantic Charter. FDR views Britain as desiring to hold onto its imperialistic possessions after the end of Second World War at America's expense and leans on Churchill to include all of British Empire possessions in Atlantic Charter, to provide them self rule at the end of the war.
September 1941
Churchill refuses applicability of Atlantic Charter to possessions in British Empire and tweaks joint declaration with Roosevelt to justify his refusal.
December 1941
- After a lot of back and forth, Britain releases all Congress people after finding no way out of the stalemate.
- Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and United States enters the war.
- Japanese forces overrun Hong Kong and Malaya, defeating Royal Indian Army. General Archibald Wavell, who is the Commander in Chief of Royal Indian Army, severely underestimates Japanese threat primarily because of his racial view that Japanese troops are inferior. Another reason for the defeat of the Indian Army divisions in Hong Kong and Malaya was that some of them were shifted from Middle East and were expected to be proficient in jungle warfare, after having been involved in desert warfare, without any additional training.
- Germany and Italy agree to the formation of Free India Legion under the command of Muhammad Iqbal Shedai. At its peak in February 1943, it had 2000 men under arms.
January 1942
Captain Mohan Singh of I/14th Punjab Battalion forms Indian National Army (INA) in Burma.
February 1942
- Japanese forces overrun Singapore, defeating Royal Indian Army. Out of the 45000 soldiers who surrendered in Singapore, 20000 desert to join INA.
- Bose starts his broadcasts on Azad Hind Radio.
- In a bid to loosen Gandhi's stance on not supporting the war, Chiang-Kai Shek travels to meet Gandhi but the meeting does not go well. His meetings with Nehru and other Congress people yield better results.
March 1942
- Japanese forces capture Rangoon, defeating Royal Indian Army. This threatens Burma Road which is an overland route supplying Chiang-Kai Shek's Chinese Nationalist army in his fight against Japanese. Without Burma Road, supplies to Chiang's army have to be airlifted over Himalayas. US supports Chiang's fight against Japanese, seeing it as a good way of tying up Japanese military and thereby gaining an upper hand in Pacific. US sends Joseph Stilwell to take over the operations to keep the Burma Road open.
- In response to repeated US demands to grant Independence to India, Churchill sends Sir Stafford Cripps on a mission to discuss transfer of power to India. Upon completion of his tour, Cripps mission releases its recommendations about an Executive Council under the Viceroy that would be responsible for Indian self-rule. Congress wants the Executive Council to have the power to overrule the Viceroy while Britain wants the Viceroy's power to be absolute. The differences in understanding and the mistrust between Muslim League and Congress kills any hope that the recommendations would be put into action. Churchill is elated at this turn of events - Cripps mission showed US that Britain was serious about transferring power to India but Indians were fighting among themselves to take advantage of it.
April 1942
Japanese conduct air raids in Madras, Vizag and Kakinada.
August 1942
Congress passes Quit India resolution calling for British to leave the country. Britain arrests all the Congress leaders and puts them in Jail. Muslim League uses the power vacuum to become the spokesperson for all Muslims in Muslim majority provinces in India.
December 1942
Japanese relieve Mohan Singh of his INA command and place him under arrest.
January 1943
Bengal famine.
July 1943
Bose becomes the leader of INA and expands recruitment to includes Tamils from Malaya. In Burma, Wavell scales down the mechanization of Royal Indian Army to fit the terrain and forms a new Indian Light division that is more maneuverable in jungle environment. He and Stilwell also institute rigorous training and minimize disruptions to unit cohesion by not removing pieces of Royal Indian Army to train new recruits. As a result, battle effectiveness of Indian units increases manifold and it shows in the fight against Japanese in Imphal and Kohima.
October 1943
Bose announces the formation of Provisional Government of Azad Hind.
July 1944
INA takes on significant casualties in the fight for Kohima and Imphal. After these two battles, the effectiveness of INA as a fighting force is diminished.
May 1945
Royal Indian Army recaptures Rangoon.
June 1945
British hold Simla Conference to discuss self-rule in India.
August 1945
Japanese plane carrying Bose crashes in Formosa (Currently in Taiwan).
February 1946
Royal Indian Navy mutinies on HMS Talwar ship in Bombay to protest the poor quality of rations and racial discrimination by British officers. Royal Indian Army is sent for peace keeping operations in Vietnam and Indonesia.
March 1946
Cabinet mission consisting of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander visits India to discuss transfer of power.
August 1946
Muslim League calls Direct Action Day to reject Cabinet Mission recommendations leading to around 4000 deaths in Calcutta alone.
September 1946
Communists kick off Tebhaga campaign to support sharecroppers in Bengal.
October 1946
Punnapra Vayalar uprising resulting in 270 deaths prevents State of Travancore from seceding.
February 1947
Lord Mountbatten is appointed as Viceroy of India and Britain announces it would withdraw from India no later than June 1948.
14 August 1947 - Pakistan gains freedom
15 August 1947 - India gains freedom
At the beginning of Second World War, the lack of training and funding to maintain battle ready units in Royal Indian Army reflected in its initial losses and defeats. As a result of these initial losses, opinion formed of the inferiority of the fighting capabilities of Indians and became difficult to dislodge even after subsequent battlefield successes. Britain wanted India to provide men and material for its war effort without putting in the required investment that goes into building up a fighting army. At the beginning of the war, Britain and Viceroy of India signed a cost sharing agreement by which Britain would maintain a sterling account that would be credited based on overseas services rendered and military stores supplied by Royal Indian Army. As a result, the more fighting Royal Indian Army did, the bigger the sterling balance account became but the account could not be used till the end of the war. With Britain demanding ever more men and material from India, the Indian government resorted to inflationary financing (printing new money against the sterling balances) to keep up with the demand. This was one of the reasons behind the Bengal famine of 1943, in addition to others (Churchill's genocidal racism against Indians, specifically Hindus being another).
After the units were deployed to Middle East in the beginning of Second World War against Italians, they became comfortable with desert warfare. In the absence of proper training and retention practices, Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief of Royal Indian Army would then shift pieces of battle ready divisions to train other newly recruited soldiers and its nearby possessions in South East Asia under orders from Britain. Because of the unwillingness of Britain to fund the mobilization of war where Royal Indian Army was involved, Viceroy had to come up ways to recruit, train and deploy it while making sure the financial decisions to achieve those aims did not weaken the ongoing war effort. Furthermore, the ineffectiveness of the Royal Indian Army units at the beginning was a function of conflict in priorities between the Middle Eastern Command (which saw Middle East as its theater and expected Royal Indian Army to stay and fight in that theater) and Royal Indian Army (which expected to defend India and nearby British possessions in South East Asia). As a result, battle effectiveness of Royal Indian Army remained low throughout the Middle Eastern campaign.
It took British in India till the Burma campaign to realize the what good training, nutrition and sound battle tactics could do for the battle effectiveness of the Royal Indian Army. In the same vein, the rise and fall of Japanese attacks against Royal Indian Army was a testament to lessons learned in boring but crucial fields of organization, nutrition and training. Japanese overran Royal Indian Army units in Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore because those units were poorly trained and lacked unit integrity (some pieces of a Royal Indian Army division would be sent to Italy and some would be retained in South East Asia). As a result, when the Japanese attacked, the Royal Indian Army units fled. As the organization, training and nutrition improved, Royal Indian Army units gave an excellent account of themselves in the battle for Kohima and Imphal which is especially notable given the fight-to-the-death approach displayed by Japanese soldiers.
The end of Second World War ensured that battle hardened soldiers would be returning to their home towns, bringing with them new experiences, organizational and fighting skills. As the book points out, there is a correlation between districts in India with higher number of men with combat experience in Second World War and elevated levels of ethnic cleansing during Partition. The defeats that Allies suffered in Europe in the beginning of Second World War also caused a huge dent in the perception of British military dominance that sustained its Empire in India. In that sense, Churchill (and other Conservatives) may have found it difficult to hold onto India after Second World War for which, absent US pressure, they laid the ground by their divide and rule policies between 1939 - 1940. The financial position of Britain at the end of Second World War would have made it impossible to keep its colonial possessions and satisfy its domestic obligations, at the same time. The push by Congress, Muslim League and other parties for full independence thus received a boost from the Second World War even though Britain ended up on the victorious side. Significant credit has to be given to US for pressuring Britain to divest itself of its imperial possessions and following through on it. Given the mendicant position that Britain found itself in vis-a-vis US, that pressure was very effective.
The downside of the British delusion to hold onto India after Second World War showed up in Partition and its gory events. Because British did not envision an exit strategy for its imperial possessions in India and Pakistan, they were not prepared when they were put in a position to get out of India and Pakistan. Their lack of forethought showed in the short time provided to nascent governments-in-waiting of India and Pakistan to prepare for the Partition. The divide and rule approach of the British empowered religious (Hindu Mahasabha, Muslim League), Caste (Ambedkar), Language (Periyar) and Princely (Hyderabad, Travancore) factions at the expense of a secular approach (Congress) and encouraged their delusions by giving them a significant say in the future affairs of India and Pakistan. While that approach provided British with the reasoning to postpone any discussions of independence of its colonial possessions, it also made compromises for these factions, when it happened, particularly painful. Congress and Muslim League, being the principal parties at the time of independence share the blame for letting Partition get as serious as it did. But, the genesis of and lion's share of the responsibility for Partition lies with the British.
Muslim League didnt have rivals to its power in the newly formed Pakistan and as such, did not have sufficient bench strength in political leadership behind Jinnah. Congress was forced to come to grips with multiple factions (Hindu Mahasabha with its full throated fanaticism and culpability in the assassination of Gandhi made itself a non-factor in the early days after Indian Independence) and as such, developed a bench strength in leadership that came in handy when developing representative institutions for India. That made the difference between Pakistan being subjected to military dictatorships on a regular basis and India consistently operating under civilian control of military. Hindu Nationalists' hankering for a Hindu Rashtra (mirroring Islamic Republic of Pakistan) is in line with political alliances prior to Independence where Jinnah and Savarkar would find themselves on the same side against Congress' insistence to be the representative of all Indians irrespective of religion. However, Hindu Nationalists' insistence on it even after seeing the failure of Pakistan as a state across the border is puzzling.
Other books of interest:
War and Peace in Modern India: A Strategic History of the Nehru Years - Srinath Raghavan
The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan - Ayesha Jalal
Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier's Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World War II - Brendan Koerner
Churchill's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India during World War II - Madhusree Mukherjee
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