Comments on: The Indian Army in WWII Italy

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:19:33 +0000

Lizzy, I too admire the fighting spirit of the Indian soldiers who fought and sacrificed for the liberation of your country and all of Nazi-occupied western Europe during WW2. They were -, as the Germans found out to their regret, brave, resourceful, and ferocious warriors whose contributions to the fight are often forgotten or overlooked. This is lamentable, and I believe that military history will one day correct this. That will be right and just. But I note in your tone an implication that the title of “saviors” of your country awarded to the British and the Americans is somehow undeserved and inaccurate. Do not beguile yourself from reality this way. Ask the elders of your country who were atually there in 1944-45. The British and American boys who WERE the saviors of your country “snowed under” the contributions of all others not with false press and propaganda, but with blood and the bodies of their dead. As a former soldier, I ask you to remember that the truth is reflected on tombstones. I’m sure you’ve been to Britain. Come to my country someday and visit Arlington or other military cemeteries to see how many futures ended on the soil of yours. Ron

By: the_lizzz

the_lizzz — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 15:17:03 +0000

Hi, I am Dutch, born 1956 at the border between The Netherlands and Germany. I have just watched the video’s and I am moved to tears. My father fought at Indonesia against the Japanese. When I asked him about the war he said he doesn’t know anything about Indian soldiers. I personally think the role of the Indian soldiers got snowed under by the American and British who were hailed as our “saviours”. I am from after the war, si I don’t know anything about it. I saw The English Patient twice, as I am a big Naveen Andrews fan. I always thought it was all fictional, until I recognised the fresco’s in the church that Kip showed to Hannah. Later on I recognised much more from the surroundings, the nature and the buildings. I have been to Italy when I was 18 and I remember the country vividly. Watching these video’s sent cold shivers along my spine. I have seen the cities, the artwork, the archeology there and I was thinking this:”The Indian have saved the Romans!” At least cultural. I am so sad I never knew anything about the great offerings the Indian people made to my part of the world, Europe. I wanted to let you know that I know now and am deeply grateful and I also wanted to ask your permission to copy and save this to my own website on Livejournal, because I feel the strong urge to bring back people from all cultures, races, religions and traditions together again. Because once we all were ONE. Namaste. With love and light, Lizzy.

By: Parmdan

Parmdan — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 03:27:49 +0000

Thank you so much for this. My maternal grandfather was in the INA. I have a picture of him with Netaji that I keep on the wall. I also had another relative who fought in WWII in Italy… some of the stories he told me were amazing. It’s sad that they had to be on opposite sides.

By: Rupa, QoP

Rupa, QoP — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 03:26:18 +0000

I think you meant the Indian Army – INA refers to the Indian National Army – led by SC Bose – who fought against the British.

Oh jeez, yeah. I actually wasn’t sure about that abbreviation and I looked it up in Wikipedia before I was going to post, but I got distracted for a little while. When I came back to my computer I just hit post and forgot to change it. Thanks for the correction

By: saira

saira — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:07:03 +0000

Great post! While I had always known that my great-uncle fought in Italy I only recently learned of the existence of some pictures he had kept from his time there. The most notable pictures featured a smiling Italian woman with a baby (makes me sort of wonder…). I haven’t watched all of the videos yet but I wonder if there is much in the way of documentation regarding the relationships that Indian soldiers may have cultivated with local folk?

By: Omar Khan

Omar Khan — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:51:19 +0000

Very interesting post on a subject that needs a lot more research work. There are even French postcards from World War I of Indian troops who fought in that country. Some of the context and voices around Indian soldiers from Punjab who fought in World War II can be found here too: http://www.harappa.com/shah/shah0.html – just press the World War II button and you will see home movie footage of recruiting and the voices of fighters.

By: ente

ente — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:47:46 +0000

Thanks so much for posting this. Wonderful stuff.

By: melbourne desi

melbourne desi — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:28:41 +0000

This is a great post Vinod! Both my grandfathers were in the INA during WWII, although neither of them saw combat. One was in the Military Engineer Service and the other worked on troop logistics from India

I think you meant the Indian Army – INA refers to the Indian National Army – led by SC Bose – who fought against the British.

By: Om

Om — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:25:02 +0000

A friend of mine whose father fought in WWII sent me an interesting dissertation by a US Army Major, containing lots of details on the role of the Indian Army in Africa and Asia. Here’s the link to the pdf file: http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/p4013coll3&CISOPTR=1209&filename=1210.pdf

The same guy also discusses parallels between the British campaign in Mesopotamia in WW1 (which, as he points out, was “primarily an Indian Army operation”), and the current Iraq war. The link for that is: http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usacsl/Publications/S04-07.pdf

By: Sriram

Sriram — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:15:25 +0000

Thanks for this post, Vinod. This is a chapter of the diaspora’s history about which I know absolutely nothing. I’m looking forward to checking out the clips.