Second World War

FIBIS resources

• "Indian Army Prisoners of War in the Second World War" by Hedley Sutton FIBIS Journal, No 12 (Autumn 2004). For details of how to access this article online, see FIBIS Journals.

An alphabetical listing by surname of nearly 900 Indian Army personnel who became prisoners of war between 1941 and 1945 is available at the British Library. Most were held by the Japanese, with some held by the Italians.The vast majority are Europeans, but a handful of Indians are recorded; plus a few Indian Medical Service nursing sisters

Also see

• POW Camps in India-Second World War

Service Records

• For the British Army, see British Army-Army personnel serving after January 1921
• For the Indian Army, see Indian Army-Records

British Library holdings

India Office Records

• IOR/L/MIL/14/143 3 Sep 1939-30 Jun 1948. Indian Army Officers Casualty Returns: Alphabetical lists of casualties by death among British officers and warrant officers of the Indian and Burma Services 3 Sep giving rank, age, unit, date, place and cause. Possibly may provide information additional to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database information (refer below).
• IOR/L/MIL/17/5/4247-4285 Indian Army: Second World War 1932-1947

Other

The History of the Second World War is a 75 volume official history published by HMSO 1949-1976, consisting of 28 volumes in the United Kingdom Civil Series, 21 volumes in the United Kingdom Medical Series and 26 volumes in the United Kingdom Military Series . Details are set out in this Wikipedia page and the link Hyperwar: British Official Histories.

A subcategory of the United Kingdom Military Series is the 5 volume series War Against Japan

• War Against Japan, Volume 1: The Loss of Singapore, Kirby, S. Woodburn et al. London: HMSO, 1957.
• War Against Japan, Volume 2: India's Most Dangerous Hour, Kirby, S. Woodburn et al. London: HMSO, 1958.
• War Against Japan, Volume 3: The Decisive Battles, Kirby, S. Woodburn et al. London: HMSO, 1961.
• War Against Japan, Volume 4: The Reconquest of Burma, Kirby, S. Woodburn et al. London: HMSO, 1965.
• War Against Japan, Volume 5: The Surrender of Japan, Kirby, S. Woodburn et al. London: HMSO, 1969.

Part of the United Kingdom Medical Series is the publication The Army Medical Services, Campaigns, Volume 5: Burma, Crew, Francis A. E. London: HMSO, 1966

Regimental Histories

• Fourth Indian Division by Lieut-Colonel GR Stevens OBE, published c 1948. "The 4th was one of the most celebrated Divisions of WW2, combining some of the most illustrious Regiments of the British and Indian Armies. It travelled 15,000 miles and suffered 25,000 casualties during its five years of service in Eritrea, Syria, the Western Desert, Tunisia, Italy and Greece. It particularly distinguished itself at Cassino".

Also see Historical books online below.

Medals

• Geoff Sullivan’s Geoff's WO 373 Lists: Recommendations for Honours and Awards, WW2, includes
  • Burma and India
  • Malaya And Singapore, Java, Hong Kong

External links

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission includes searchable database.
• WW2Talk Forum. A Message Board for most aspects of the War.
• World War II Forum, an American site. A Message Board for most aspects of the War, with an American focus.
• WW2 People’s War "An archive of World War Two memories-written by the public, gathered by the BBC". Written between June 2003 and January 2006. www.bbc.co.uk. If you can't find an article you are looking for, Google "BBC-WW2 People's War" and your search term.
• The Indian Army 1939-47: Experience and Development. The Second World War Military Operations Research Group

Middle East and North Africa

• Refer Historical books online, below
• An Indian POW in Italy Satyen Basu, a doctor from Calcutta, joined the Indian Medical Service early in the Second World War and served with the Allied forces in Iraq, Syria and North Africa. His unit surrendered near Tobruk in 1942 and he was transported to a POW camp in southern Italy, not far from Naples. amitavghosh.com. Scroll to the bottom of the page for Part 1. A Doctor in the Army by Satyen Basu (Calcutta 1960) is available at the British Library
• Several Pakistani Generals were Italian POWs Officers of the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade during the Battle of Ghazala 1942 were captured when their brigade was overrun by the Afrika Korps on the very first day of the battle, and sent to POW camps in Italy, and later Germany. (retrieved 26 May 2014)

China-Burma-India (CBI)

• Also see Burma-Military
• Map of Battle Areas of Burma in 1942-1945 probertencyclopaedia.com
• Carl Weidenburner’s China - Burma – India: Remembering the Forgotten Theater of World War II. A 'portal' type site with a large number of links.
• Gary Goldblatt’s CBI Order of Battle: Lineages and History
  • Ex-CBI Roundup online compiled by Clark King & Gary Goldblatt. This website will eventually be the online respository of all issues of the Ex-CBI Roundup from December 1946 through July 2009.
    • Ex-CBI Roundup July 1955 page 28 contains a List of “Air Corps Bases in CBI” for India, Burma and China
• Steve Rothwell’s The Burma Campaign
• Burma Star Association
• World War II Forum, an American site includes The CBI Theater The China-Burma-India Theater, including naval action in the Indian Ocean. Has links to the previous site, which is stated to be a "companion" website.
• Japanese conquest of Burma, December 1941-May 1942 historyofwar.org
• Battle of Kohima Wikipedia; [Buckingham] Palace honours Battle of Kohima veterans Includes some newsreel footage. 9 November 2012 www.bbc.co.uk
• Second World War: 60th Anniversary: Battle of Kohima (24 page pdf) www.army.mod.uk
• Chindit Chasing, Operation Longcloth 1943 The 13th King's Liverpool Battalion formed the British half of the infantry soldiers for the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade that year. Steve Fogden’s extensive website. Includes a section on cemeteries and memorials.
• Stewart Cochrane’s Black Watch RHR Chindit , dedicated to Pte.William "Cocky" Cochrane 
 
2nd Battalion, The Black Watch in Burma
• British Army Lieutenant Desmond F. Earley, Essex Regiment pdf, html version. He fought the Japanese in Assam in 1944. The Second World War Experience Centre
• Obituary: John Prendergast 1910-2008 The Telegraph 03 March 2008. He took part in the Arakan (Burma) campaign as second in command of 1/15th Punjab Regiment ( 1/15 PR) and was then given command of 3/6th Rajputana Rifles, part of 19th Indian Division (in Burma). He was awarded a DSO for the Burma campaign. His books include an autobiography Prender’s Progress: a soldier in India, 1931-47, available at the British Library
• The Telegraph Obituary of Major-General Derek Horsford (1917-2007). He was promoted to command the 4th Battalion 1st Gurkha Rifles in 1944 at Kohima in the Burma campaign.
• "'Greatest battle' veterans forgotten" by Manimugdha S Sharma, April 29, 2013 Times of India Alternative version with different photograph. Kohima
• "That battle under the cherry tree" by Kishalay Bhattacharya May 8, 2013 The Hindu Kohima-Imphal
• "Sikhs in Burma Campaign" and "About Viscount Slim" (scroll down) from mattoid.com
• The Indian Air Force in the Second World War bharat-rakshak.com
  • In the Skies of Calcutta : A tribute to Maurice Pring by Joydeep Sircar . Details the bombing of Calcutta in December 1942
• Policing Wartime Calcutta [WW2] by Peter R. Moore oldmartiniansassociation.co.uk
• Memories of Madras - The Summer of 1942 The Hindu 3 January 2012
• Listen to the 1992 interview with Harold Douglas James British officer served with 3/2nd Bn Gurkha Rifles with 3 Column 77 Bde during First Chindit Expedition in Burma, 1943. Imperial War Museums
• Listen to the 2008 interview with Gawain Thomas Alexander 'Gavin’ Douglas , born 1914. British officer served in India, with British and Indian Army, 1935-1940; trained as pilot with RAF in India, 1941-1942; served as flying instructor with RAF in India, 1943-1944, served with 28 and 60 Sqdns, RAF in Burma, 1/1945-5/1945; commanded 34 Sqdn in Burma, 5/1945-10/1945; commanded 28 Sqdn, RAF in Burma and Malaya, 1945- 1946; commanded 152 Sqdn, RAF on North West Frontier of India, 1946-1947 Imperial War Museums.
• WW2 People’s War "An archive of World War Two memories-written by the public, gathered by the BBC" includes categories India and Burma www.bbc.co.uk
  • "Marching on to Laffan's Plain" by Alan Shaw , the experiences as an officer of the Corps of Royal Engineers `"The Sappers", first in the UK, then for nearly four years with the imperial Indian Army in Central India, Ceylon and the Burma campaign. Chapter 3 At the very end of this chapter, the author received orders to proceed to India or Burma. Ch 4 Arrived in India May 1942, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9 , Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13, Ch 14
• A Story of War Colin Diarmid Campbell Dunford Wood, kept war diaries continuously from early 1939. Initially with the 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment in Waziristan, he later joined the Royal Air Force, flying in Iraq, India and Burma (where he flew the last Hurricane out, before the advancing Japanese) and Europe
• The Mumblings of Edward Sparkes Contents page Flt Lt Edward D S N Sparkes was in the RAF and arrived in India in the latter part of 1943 in the chapter Ashore in Bombay. He subsequently joined X Squadron Royal Indian Air Force and served in Burma until he was invalided back to England in 1945
• Military Cross-Mick Muldoon-“The Surfboard Commandos” dnw.co.uk
• Joseph Robert Milner describes his time in India and Burma performing primarily clerical duties c 1945 to 1947. He was drafted for India page 19 of this document. His time in India and Burma is described in this document ronbaileyscarvings.com
• 152(Hyderabad) F Squadron 1939-1967 Served in India from 19th December 1943 as part of Calcutta’s defence and later moved to the front. Disbanded at R.A.F. Risalpur in 1947
• "Browsing Through a Treasure House: The Literature of the Burma Campaign" by Gordon Graham. From the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 2011 pdf, html version Abstract (archive.org version)
• 7 Wonders of India: Kohima War Cemetery Video on YouTube
• Taukkyan War Cemetery Burma Video on YouTube

Photographs

• Photographs taken in India 1943-44 by Major E Brookman flickr.com. He is stated to be a RAPC [Royal Army Pay Corps] officer
• Photograph : Truck crossing a river on a raft. India or Burma early 1940s . The raft was probably made of bamboo. flickr.com (tmv_media)

Singapore and Malaya

• Fall of Malaya and Singapore from The Rising Sun, part of Ron Taylor’s Britain at War website
• FEPOW Community Far East Prisoners of War, part of Ron Taylor’s Britain at War website
• Singapore National Library e book entry They Died For All Free Men by Surjan Singh available to read online as Limited Preview. The tags for this book include include India. Army; Sikhs- Singapore; World War, 1939-1945--Registers of dead—Singapore; World War, 1939-1945--Registers of dead--India; Soldiers' monument--Singapore. This book is also available at the Imperial War Museums, with this catalogue entry
• IWM catalogue entry with details of the service history of Lieutenant J Gordon Smith platoon commander in the 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (12th Indian Infantry Brigade, 11th Indian Division) from (?) July 1941 in Singapore and Malaya, his eventual capture in late January, 1942 and his time in the camps on the Burma - Siam railway. His memoir is War Memories: A Medical Student In Malaya And Thailand
• Eric Lomax obituary (1919-2012) The Guardian 10 October 2012. A member of the Royal Signals, he was in Singapore at the surrender and became a POW working on the Burma-Siam railway. His memoir is The Railway Man, now also released as a movie of the same name.
• Obituary: Ron Burton 09 October 2013 The Telegraph. He was Sergeant, 125 Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery (125 ATR), taken prisoner after the fall of Singapore.
• "Cover-ups and the Singapore Traitor Affair" by Peter Elphick 28 November 2001- presented at the Fall of Singapore 60th Anniversary Conference, National University of Singapore, 16-17 February 2002. A Captain in the Indian Army, Patrick Vaughan Heenan was executed on Friday 13th February 1942, two days before Singapore surrendered, for being a traitor. ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission)

Borneo

• The Telegraph Obituary of Philip Crosland (1918-2012). In October 1938 he joined The Statesman in Calcutta. He became a member of the Calcutta Light Horse. During World War 2 he accompanied the 2nd Battalion 15th Punjab Regiment to Sarawak and other parts of Borneo from May 1941. He became a Japanese POW April 1942-September 1945.
• Klemen L’s Dutch East Indies 1941-1942, now oocities.org, from the archived geocities .com website includes
  • The Invasion of British Borneo in 1942. There is brief mention of the 2/15 Punjab Regiment
  • The Use of Armoured Vehicles on Borneo, 1941-1942 from the section What’s new. There is brief mention of the 2/15 Punjab Regiment

Indonesia (Sumatra)

• Chapter 9: "The Last Voyage and End of My Sea Career" from his autobiography Lest I Forget by Khwaja Sayeed Shahabuddin. In March, 1942 he was a Cadet on the 'Chilka' on the way to Padang in Sumatra to evacuate families and troops from Sumatra when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. He subsequently became a POW until the end of the war. His story continues to Chapter 20.

Hong Kong

• Hong Kong from The Rising Sun, part of Ron Taylor’s Britain at War website
• Obituary of Colonel Tony Hewitt www.telegraph.co.uk 17 Aug 2004 descibes the escape of three men in 1942 from a Japanese P.O.W. camp, following the fall of Hong Kong in December 1941, for which Anthony George Hewitt, and Captain Robert Douglas Scriven of the Indian Medical Service were awarded the Military Cross
• Hong Kong War Diary - a project that documents the 1941 defence of Hong Kong
  • Search Garrison: Hong Kong Defenders, December 1941-August 1945 Includes Indian Army Units and Indian Medical Service
• The Battle of Hong Kong 1941: A note on the literature and the effectiveness of the defence by Lawrence W C Lai, University of Hong Kong , Discussion paper series, July 2000 html version, original pdf

Miscellaneous

• Axis and Allied Propaganda to Indian Troops by Herbert A Friedman (psywarrior.com)
• History of SOE Political Warfare Section, Force 136 including the setting up of a rumour-mongering network in India and the organisation of the Indian Field Broadcasting Units for the production of frontline propaganda. psywar.org. Same article WW2Talk Forum

Historical books online

• India in World War II. Details of the Official History of the Indian Armed Forces In the Second World War by the Combined Inter-Services Historical Section (India & Pakistan), published in the 1950s and 1960s. From "HyperWar: World War II on the World Wide Web". HyperWar describes two volumes in the Medical Services series, however there are seven in total. The complete Medical Services series is v. 1. Administration.--v. 2. Medicine, surgery and pathology.--v. 3. Campaigns in the Western Theatre.--v. 4. Preventive medicine (nutrition, malaria control and prevention of diseases).--v. 5. Statistics.--v. 6. Medical stores and equipment.--v. 7. Campaigns in the Eastern Theatre. Further details of the series generally in the Book Survey by Stone&Stone. A set of eight volumes was reprinted in 2012. Many of the Official History publications are available at the British Library. The online transcription publications on HyperWar are
  • The Royal Indian Navy 1939-1945 by Instructor Lieutenant D.J.E. Collins, B.A.L.T. Indian Navy. 1964
  • East African Campaign, 1940-41 by Bisheshwar Prasad 1963
  • The following books are descriptions only
    • The Retreat from Burma, 1941-42 by Bisheshwar Prasad 1954. Note: Preface and Contents only
    • The Reconquest of Burma Volume I: June 1942-June 1944 by S.N. Prasad, K.D.Bhargava, P.N. Khera, 1958. Note: Contents only
    • The Reconquest of Burma Volume II: June 1944-August 1945 by P.N. Khera, S.N. Prasad, 1959. Note: Contents only

The following volumes may be viewed online on the Digital Library of India website.

• Medical Services: Administration 1953 barcode 99999990062920 (One of seven titles in the series Medical Services). This volume is also available on the subscription website South Asia Archive. Contents of the book
• Campaign In Western Asia published 1957 barcode 4990010060130 Iraq, Syria and Iran. (One of five titles in the series Campaigns in the Western Theatre)
• The Reconquest of Burma Volume I 1958 barcode 4990010060131. (One of six titles in the series Campaigns in the Eastern Theatre)

• The Tiger Strikes : India's fight in the Middle East by W. G Hingston may be viewed online on the Digital Library of India website, catalogued as The Tiger Strikes. Alternative title: The Tiger Strikes (A record of the exploits of troops from India in the theatre of war of the Middle East during 1940-41.) The narrative of the Eritrean campaign, the battle of Sidi Barrani, and the Syrian campaign. Published for the Government of India.
• The Tiger Kills: The story of the Indian Divisions in the North African campaign by Lieut.-Colonel-W. G. Hingston and Lieut.-Colonel G. R. Stevens may be viewed online on the Digital Library of India website, catalogued as The Tiger Kills. The Western Desert from 1941 onwards, and the Tunisian campaign. Also available as a reprint by Military Library Research Service Ltd (Jun 2004)
• The Tiger Triumphs: The Story of Three Great Divisions in Italy Published by His Majesty’s Stationery Office for the Government of India 1946 "The Fourth, Eighth and Tenth Indian Divisions will forever be associated with the fighting for Cassino, the capture of Rome, the Arno Valley, the liberation of Florence and the breaking of the Gothic Line". Transcribed by Chris Gage ibiblio.org. Alternative version from ourstory.info AFS [American Field Service]
• Four short histories, from a series of at least ten, published under the authority of the Director of Public Relations, War Department , Government of India Archive.org
  • Golden Arrow - The Story of the 7th Indian Division
  • One More River - The Story of the 8th Indian Division. Italy
  • Teheran to Trieste - The Story of the 10th Indian Division
  • Dagger Division - Story of the 19th Indian Division Burma
• Hyperwar: CBI Theater of Operations from "HyperWar: World War II on the World Wide Web".
• Hyperwar: Despatches Published in the London Gazette includes a number relating to Burma and South East Asia, in addition to the Middle East, North Africa, Malaya, etc. from "HyperWar: World War II on the World Wide Web", section "The United Kingdom in the Second World War"
• Crisis Fleeting. Original Reports On Military Medicine In India And Burma 
In The Second World War Compiled and Edited by 
James H. Stone. Office Of The Surgeon General 
Department Of The Army 
Washington, D.C., 1969. Website of the US Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History
• From the field service [American Field Service AFS]
  • Ball Of Fire: The Fifth Indian Division in the Second World War by Antony Brett-James, 1951
  • Burma Diary by Paul Geren published 1943. In 1941 Paul Geren agreed to spend two years at Judson College in Rangoon, Burma, as a short-term missionary under the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. Following the Japanese bombing Professor Geren's classroom became a field hospital as he offered his services as an ambulance driver to Dr. Gordon Seagrave, the famed Burma surgeon. He later trekked to India
  • American Sahib by John Frederick Muehl 1946 He was with the American Field Service, attached to the British Indian Army
  • Victory in Burma published July, 1945 by British Information Services, New York
• Defeat into Victory by Sir William Slim, 1956, about the Burma Campaign, is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Contents, computer page 9
• Text from Navvies To The Fourteenth Army by AH Pilcher c 1947 is available as pdf downloads from the Koi Hai website, located under Memories, the Henderson Family Scroll down to the item dated October 12, 2009. Does not contain the illustrations and maps from the original publication. The author was Col: A H Pilcher who at the outbreak of the second world war commanded the Assam Valley Light Horse. In March 1942 he was put in charge of raising a labour force from the Tea Plantations to build the Manipur/Burma Road to evacuate the 14th Army and also the many civilians who were fleeing Burma. Eventually he raised and commanded a labour force of 82000 This book (55 pages) was published in Calcutta for Private Circulation and was illustrated with black and white plates and line drawing maps. The British Library has a catalogue reference Mss Eur F174/1316, but this is possibly a manuscript, not the printed book. The book is available at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Library, University of London.
• One Hundred Years of Army Nursing : The Story of the British Army Nursing Service from the time of Florence Nightingale to the present day by John Hay Beith 1953 Archive.org. Contains chapters on WW2, including India and Burma.