Bharat Rakshak

Dear Members, Below is an article on the history of the India Air Force and the GNAT published almost four decades ago. I think members will find it very interesting. Each full size page is 200k to 440k in size. Most will find it easier to set their printers to black and white only and print the eig...

Dear Members,

Does anyone know if Indian soldiers in the BIA received their full back pay on being released and returned to their units in India? How were they treated by the British Indian government on release?

Jack E. Hammond

ref: This detailed account narrates the story of 3rd Jat - the first unit to cross the Ichogil canal on Sept 6, 1965, when the iNdian Army counterattacked over the international border. This battle and the subsequent battle of Dograi are told in great detail - every individual act of gallantry is to...

Photos below are thumbnail. Please click to see larger image. http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/hybenamon/MISC/th_BURMAFRONTCOVER.jpg http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/hybenamon/MISC/th_BURMABACKCOVER.jpg NOTE> The author went to great length to get information from those in the Indian Army ...

Jehammond, There are quite a few sources noting that the event was much more organized than you note. Messages were passed around from much before, the entire pork/beef grease bit message...how do you think it spread so rapidly? The only problem was that the leaders of the failed attempt had planne...

Jehammond: I think 1857 is a wrong topic for a westerner to discuss with Indians, because western perception of events of that time is radically different from what the Indians think. Just like you mentioned about the American Revolutionary War, there are too many opposing views and sensitivities i...

Are they mutineers or FREEDOM FIGHTERS? what these colonialists had done other than decimating the red indians in US, Maoris in New Zealand, Aborigines of Australia and large part of african population. can these natives' struggle for their survival in their own homeland and for just rights can be ...

Folks, To Indian educated elite and its historians the 1857 conflict in northern India is like after my countries Civil War in the mid 1860s or the later Vietnam War. There was so much emotion that any historian or general trying to objectively write about the history of those conflicts was shouted ...

Folks,

I sure hope this book can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt if the claims by the Pak AF that an F-86 pilot show down four IAF Hunters in less than one minute. Talking to either side reminds you of kids arguing: "Did to! Did Not! Did To! Did Not! Did To! Did Not!"

Jack E. Hammond

Dear Johann, I have read about everything involved with the DEI after WW2. To be honest the Indonesians (ie the Javanese) were lucky the Allies did not make war on them totally. What they did was way beyond the pale: ie not allow the starving and diseased POWs to be released and trying to use them a...

Dear Johann, First thank you taking the time for such a great reply. In this country an unknown documentary TV producer with small (very small) funding from GM put together a 10 part mini-series about the American Civil War in 1861-1865. His name was Ken Burns. It was a hit beyond belief. The mini-s...

I should probably search the thread on Indian Army history for this, but I'm looking for recommended books on the Indian Army's role in Burma. The absolute best book on WW2 and the Burma War (including BIA) is "BURMA - The Longest War 1941-45" by Louis Allen. It is over 686 pages. Tons of...

Dear Member, Yes when the US supplied B-24s to the RAF most of the Burmese strategic targets came within range, but not Singapore. It was still to far. And it only had to be an infantry war to secure airbases, not to destroy the Japanese ground forces. That was why so many Japanese bases were bypass...

As I had mentioned in a previous thread, my grandfather served in the arakan in 43 I believe. He also operated jointly with the "2000 Indian flotilla" if you have heard of such a force, which served as an amphibian assault units of sorts, as I understand it. I have heard many a story of g...

Dear Member, That is simple. losing Singapore would have hurt Japan. Loosing Saipan doomed Japan. Saipan brought Japan with in range of the B-29 bombers (China was with the extreme range but fuel could not be provided for mass bombing raids). The US suffered from the same feeling in a way that the B...

Folks, , especially tracking down and talking the IAF officer that blew the bridge at Sittang River. Jack thats quite interesting which IAF pilot is that? Dear Member, It was not a pilot. It was a Lt in the BIA by the name of Bashir Ahmed Khan. The author went to great lengths to find him and his d...

Folks, I have read about everything there is on the war in Burma in WW2. IMHO the best book on the subject is "Burma - The Longest War 1941 - 1945" by Louis Allen. The research is beyond belief, especially tracking down and talking the IAF officer that blew the bridge at Sittang River. But...