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In June 1942 the Indian Army suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Japanese Army and subsequently endured its longest retreat ever. The Japanese forces had proved more mobile in tactics and more motivated and seasoned in warfare. As a result, the Indian Army assessed its mistakes to determine what changes were needed to rebuild itself into a more capable fighting force. Marston looks at the Indian Army as a reform-minded organization, one that was able to take lessons from this major defeat, implement the necessary reforms, and ultimately defeat the Japanese soundly in 1945.
Army leaders instigated analysis of the defeat at all levels of command. Innovations in operational procedure, organization, and tactics were compared, discussed, then implemented. An ongoing reassessment continued both during and after subsequent engagements. By analyzing the changes made in tactical doctrine, reinforcement procedure, Indianization of the officer corps, and the quality of nonmartial race units, Marston demonstrates that the Indian Army of 1945 was vastly different from that of 1939. The Indian Army's transformation into a highly professional force contradicts the commonly held belief that it was too conservative a force to reform itself thoroughly in the face of new challenges.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
Sound Foundations: The Indian Army of the 1920s and 1930s
The Gathering Storm: Expansion of the Indian Army, 1939-1941
The Storm Breaks: The First Burma Campaign
The Aftermath: Assessment and Reform
Theory into Practice: Operations Ha-Go and U-Go, 1944
The Tide Turns: Battlefield Assessment and Operation Extended Capital, 1944-1945
Campaign's End: A Transformed Army
Conclusion
Appendix: The Indian Army in 1944
Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
Bibliography
About the author
DANIEL P. MARSTON is Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He was the Beit Senior Research Scholar and the General D.K. Palit Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford.
