Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, the Indian Army and the Partition of India PDF Download

Author: Robert Bruce Osborn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Author: Robert Bruce Osborn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Author: Shahid Amid
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 0850523966
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
The Partition of India in 1947 probably created more problems than it solved, problems which have bedevilled the subcontinent ever since and which show no sign of going away, since those who feel that they were hard done by at the time of the settlement nearly forty years ago harbour their grudges as fiercely as ever and clearly have no intention of accepting- their lot with equanimity in the foreseeable future. Any new assessment of the Partition is therefore doubly welcome - both as a contribution to history and as an aid to an understanding of what, in current jargon, is still very much an "on-going situation". General Hamid's book is of particular value in view of the unique vantage point from which it was written. In 1946 he was appointed Personal Secretary to Field-Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, then Commander-in-Chief, India. Realising that he had the good fortune to have been given a ringside seat for possibly the greatest of all the dramas in his country's history. Hamid decided to keep a diary which is only now being published because the author was made to promise that it would appear during the Auk's lifetime, a gesture typical of that very great and good but essentially private man. Hamid was in constant contact with all those people the sum of whose decisions were to lead to one of the greatest mass migrations, accompanied by one of the greatest mass migrations, accompanied by one of the greatest bloodbaths in the history of mankind. His observations on the build-up to this appalling tragedy have the added value of being untainted by hindsight, and though many may not agree with all his opinions, few will deny that the views he expressed at the time have stood up to the judgement of history remarkably well.

Author: Alexander Greenwood
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Author: Philip Warner
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473812046
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 502

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Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck was born in India and raised in conditions of near poverty. Yet his talent ensured his career flourished despite his Indian Army background and he was the first Commander of 8th Army in North Africa. Despite great political interference, he stopped Rommel's Afrika Corps at 1st Alamein only to be sacked by Churchill. After a spell in the wilderness he became C in C India during the dark period of Partition and, ironically, had to preside over the destruction of his beloved Indian Army. A private man of great humour and integrity he refused to be drawn into discussing or criticising his tormentors be they Churchill, Montgomery or Mountbatten. He always argued that history would be his judge. This is a super piece of military biography by one of the most respected post war military historians.

Author: Evan McGilvray
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526716135
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck is a study not only of the individual but also of how the British Army, Indian Army and the Empire were transformed during his long military career. Auchinleck was commissioned into the Indian Army from 1904 and served with distinction against the Turks in Egypt and the Mesopotamian campaign, earning a DSO. Between the wars he was involved in the pacification of the Northwest Frontier (now Pakistan). In the Second World War he briefly led a division in the ill-fated Norway campaign before being appointed Commander-in-Chief, India. He is best remembered for his controversial stint in command in North Africa, where he replaced Wavell in July 1941. He halted Rommel at the First Battle of El Alamein but was then replaced by Montgomery and resumed as C-in-C India, where his logistical support for Fourteenth Army was vital to success in Burma. Post-war he planned and oversaw Partition and British withdrawal from India. Here, as in North Africa, interference from his political masters added to the burdens of command. Evan McGilvray appraises Auchinleck’s long and varied career in its entirety.

Author: John Connell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : El Alamein, Battle of, Egypt, 1942
Languages : en
Pages : 1020

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Biografi over den britiske øverstkommanderende i Indien og Ægypten, general Auchinleck, der i 1946 blev forfremmet til feltmarskal

Author: Phillip Warner
Publisher: Class Warfare
ISBN: 9781859593950
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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For as long as generalship in war is studied, there is certain to be controversy over the qualities, achievements and treatment of Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck. 'The Auk', as he was universally known, was born in India and raised in conditions near poverty. Yet his talent ensured his career flourished, in spite of his Indian Army background, and he was appointed Commander of the newly formed 8th Army in North Africa. Despite great political interference, he was the first British general to defeat the Germans when he stopped Rommel's Africa Corps at 1st Alamein only to be sacked by Churchill. After a spell in the wilderness he became Commander-in-Chief India during the dark period of Partition and, ironically, had to preside over the destruction of his beloved Indian Army. A private man of great humour and integrity, he steadfastly and honourably refused to be drawn into discussing or criticising the roles of others such as Churchill, Montgomery or Mountbatten, even when his own abilities were, often shabbily, appraised. He always argued that history would be his judge. Drawing on unpublished transcripts of interviews, newly available papers and document and recollections of those who served with the subject, biographer and historian Philip Warner has succeeded in painting a superb and objective study of this remarkable, yet somehow tragic, figure. It remains for the reader to decide whether Auchinleck was the hapless victim of character assassination or as inadequate as his detractors claimed.

Author: Shahid Hamid
Publisher: Secker & Warburg
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Author: Patrick Rose
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317027647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
The sheer size and influence of the British Indian Army, and its major role in the Allied War effort between 1939 and 1945 on behalf of a country from which it was seeking independence, maintains its fascination as a subject for a wide variety of historians. This volume presents a range of papers examining the Indian Army experience from the outbreak of world war in 1939 to the partition of India in 1947. With contributions from many of those at the forefront of the study of the Indian Army and Commonwealth history, the book focuses upon a period of Indian Army history not well covered by modern scholarship. As such it makes a substantial contribution across a range of subject areas, presenting a compendium of chapters examining Indian Army participation in the Second World War from North Africa to Burma, plus a variety of other topics including the evolution of wartime training, frontier operations, Churchill and the Indian Army, the Army's role in the development of post-war British counterinsurgency practice, and of particular note, several chapters examining aspects of the partition in 1947. As such, the book offers a fascinating insight into one of the most important yet least understood military forces of the twentieth century. It will be of interest not only to those seeking a fuller understanding of past campaigns, but also to those wishing to better understand the development and ethos of the present day military forces of the Indian subcontinent.