Chandigarh: Serving and veteran Indian Army officers are outraged over the purported move to re-christen several training companies or units at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun. These are companies or units named after famous World War II battles in which thousands of Indian soldiers fighting under British command died. The renaming is part of the government’s initiative to ‘de-colonise’ the armed forces.>
This indignation followed a January 25 report in The Tribune which revealed that seven of the IMA’s 12 training companies – Kohima, Al Alamein, Miektyila, Sangro, Imphal, Karen and Cassino – honouring famous World War II battles in which Indian soldiers decisively determined the victorious outcome, were being renamed after domestic campaigns conducted after Independence, to vindicate the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s agenda. The new corresponding names included Nathula, Dograi, Chushul, Badgam, Drass, Basantar and Walong. The names of the remaining five companies – Naushera, Poonch, Zojila, Jessore and Sinhgarh – would, however, remain unchanged.>
‘Indians’>
“Any such retitling of these five companies is a downright insult to the memory of thousands of Indian soldiers who fought and died in WWII battles at critical moments of world history to defeat the evil of Nazism and Italian and Japanese fascism,” said retired Major General A.P. Singh, who graduated from the IMA in 1981.>
It is of little or no relevance whatsoever who these soldiers were fighting under, said the two-star armoured corps officer, as they were Indians, and their involvement and bravery in these WWII battles needs to be honoured and remembered in perpetuity, he added.>
Several generations of Chandigarh-based Indian Army officers, most of who were IMA alumni, were equally incensed over the training company renaming plans. Declining to be named, many blamed senior personnel at the IMA and at Army Headquarters in New Delhi, for this forthcoming name changing, holding them ‘directly culpable’ for the ‘foolhardy’ proposal.>
‘Eager to curry favour with the BJP leadership’>
“In all likelihood, senior BJP leaders who have long been demanding the de-colonisation of the Indian military’s practices, conventions and even folklore, were probably not even aware of the IMA training companies’ names or their historical association with the British,” said a one-star officer.>
It’s obvious that some senior Indian Army officers, eager to curry favour with the BJP leadership had suggested this re-naming tactic in a bid to ‘align’ themselves with the government and its Atmanirbhar or indigenous outlook, he added.
Also read: No Takers for Modi’s Plan to ‘Decolonise’ Navy by Introducing Kurta-Pyjama in Dress Code>
One other veteran pointed out that it was, indeed a ‘shame and a travesty’, that the army’s present hierarchy distinguished between the martyrdom of the Indian soldier before and after independence. “The symbolism of these WWII battles, celebrated till now by the IMA, provided a sense of continuity, pride and institutional memory to the Indian Army’s legacy,” fumed a retired colonel-rank officer. Renaming them will only further dilute the essential sense of heritage and history that the IMA has provided to budding officers as part of its curriculum since its founding in 1932, he bemoaned.
The Indian Army spokesperson was unavailable for comment.>
Key role of Indian soldiers
After its establishment by the East India Company in the 18th century, the British Indian Army as it emerged a century later, was the largest volunteer force in WWII. Starting initially with some 200,000 Indian troops, after the Wars outbreak in 1939-40, its numbers eventually multiplied to over 2.5 million by the time it ended.>
Led by British, and a growing number of newly commissioned Indian officers, these robust and resilient soldiers from across India battled the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and imperial Japan in all WWII theatres in Europe, North Africa and south-east Asia, with distinction and helped shape the world’s future.>
Thus, in view of the enduring issue of ‘de-colonising’ and renaming the IMA training companies, it’s instructive to briefly examine each of the battles these units are presently called after, and those that are under active consideration as their substitutes.>
Both the Kohima and Imphal Battles in 1944, were critical turning points in WWII’s Burma campaign, where Indian troops were instrumental in stopping the Japanese advance, but at tremendous cost. Various estimates put the fatalities in the two battles at around 16,500, of which 12,500 are believed to have died at Imphal alone.>
Ironically, both campaigns involving the 14th Army, largely comprising Indian troops that was commanded by Lieutenant General William Slim-later Field Marshal-took place on Indian soil.>
Also read: Seeing Kashmir in Sicily: How Indian Soldiers Felt During the Second World War>
‘We gave our today’>
The Kohima war cemetery has graves of 1,420 Indian soldiers, all of who were part of the 2nd British Division, alongside a memorial to 917 Hindu and Sikh troops who were cremated. The cemetery is also famous in military history and legend for its poignantly emotional and pithy epitaph which reads: ‘When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.’>
Alongside, over 3,000 Indian troops from the 4th and 5th Indian Infantry Divisions died and over 4,500 were injured at the Battle of Al Alamein in North Africa in 1942, which halted Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s advance towards Egypt and the strategic Suez Canal. Subsequently, 4,000-odd Indian troops died and around 12,000 were injured in the Battle of Monte Cassino- also known as the Battle for Rome-against German forces in Italy in early 1944, with the 4th Indian Division suffering, by far, the highest casualties. The Cassino War Cemetery commemorates over 900 Indian soldiers who died and whose remains were cremated.>
Earlier, some 4,000 Indian and British soldiers were killed or wounded at the Battle of Karen in Eritrea in East Africa in 1941, against the Italian Army and the Sangro River Battle for Italy’s liberation in 1943-44 is marked by 2,542 graves of Indian soldiers from the 8th Indian Infantry Division, alongside a cremation memorial commemorating another 517 local troops. Later, another 2,300 Indian soldiers died and some 16,000 were wounded or missing in the Battle of Meiktila (and Mandalay) in Burma in early 1945.>
New options>
The substitute names, in turn, suggested for the seven IMA training companies included the Battle of Badgam in Kashmir in October 1947 against the Pakistan Army and irregular Pathan tribesmen in which 15 to 22 soldiers were killed, followed by 114 troops from 13 Kumaon Battalion being martyred fighting China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at Rezang La in Ladakh’s Chushul Valley in 1962.>
Some 750 Indian troops died fighting the PLA, also in 1962, at Walong in Arunachal Pradesh and another 58 were killed in the Battle of Dograi during the 1965 India-Pakistan war which took place in the village of the same name,, some 50km from Lahore. The Battle of Nathu La which followed in 1967, once more against the PLA, but one which veterans dismiss as a ‘skirmish’ claimed some 88 IA lives, while 160-odd soldiers died in the fierce tank Battle of Basantar in the Shakargarh sector, bordering Jammu in 1971. And more recently 527 IA personnel died in the Kargil War against Pakistan in 1999, which included the Battle of Drass, one of the seven substitute names under consideration for the IMA’s training companies.>
And, while casualties alone do not tell the full story of a conflict, they are a significant indicator of how intense and brutal the fighting really was. However, it is an accepted axiom of war, that death tolls do eventually become part of the historical narrative and are invariably evaluated by chroniclers as a measure of the severity in fighting and the concomitant bravery and valour displayed by the soldiery involved.>
“The symbolism of these WWII battle names, many of which are associated with pivotal moments in the history of Indian soldiery, impart a sense of continuity, pride, and institutional memory” said retired Major General Singh. Retaining these names is not just about honouring past military victories, but also about ensuring that new generations of officers understand the long history of the Indian Army with all the numerous battles and campaigns abroad and at home that have collectively shaped its identity, he added.>
Forgetting history>
Another senior veteran said that renaming the companies could lead to feelings of disconnection with the Indian Army’s hoary and glorious past, adversely impacting the forces overall esprit de corps. After all, he said the IMA’s role as the cauldron of military tradition was crucial to shaping all officers’ future mindset as they matured. But altering their fundamental aspects through denials of past history, could psychologically disrupt the process, he warned.>
Besides, officers at the IMA are trained not just in military skills but in leadership, integrity and the ability to inspire their men. And part of what shapes any officer’s character is understanding and respecting past sacrifices and being a part of training companies named after historical battles, all of which played a subtle role in inculcating this understanding of leadership, sacrifice and service.>
“Renaming companies could alter this narrative of sacrifice and leadership of future IMA cadets,” cautioned a decorated one-star veteran“and could change how officers, once commissioned, view their roles”. Moreover, renaming them could also provoke the adverse impression that the IMA was trying to downplay its connection to WWII, he ominously declared.>
Over the past decade the BJP-led government has been embarked upon ‘de-colonising’ the country’s armed forces by doing away with most, if not all symbols, conventions and rituals of all three services which originally came into being under Colonial rule, in what many veterans believe to be a damaging denial of history.>