Partition
Page 45
Seal, Dr Anil, The Emergence of Indian Nationalism (CUP, 1968)
Sen, Amartya, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (OUP, 1981)
Sengupta, Debjani, The Partition of Bengal: Fragile Borders and New Identities (CUP, 2016)
Singh, Dhananajaya, The House of Marwar (Roli Books, 1994)
Singh, Jaswant, Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence (Rupa, 2009)
Slim, Field Marshal Viscount, Defeat Into Victory (Papermac, 1986)
Smith, W. H. Saumarez, A Young Man’s Country: Letters of a Subdivisional Officer of the Indian Civil Service 1936–1937 (Michael Russell, 1977)
Soherwordi, Syed Hussain Shaheed, ‘Punjabisation in the British Indian Army 1857–1947 and the Advent of Military Rule in Pakistan’, Edinburgh Papers in South Asian Studies, Number 24 (2010)
Spear, Percival, A History of India: Vol 2 (Pelican, 1965)
Symonds, Richard, The Making of Pakistan (Faber & Faber, 1950)
Von Tuzelmann, Alex, Indian Summer (Simon & Schuster, 2007)
Tuker, Lt Gen Sir Francis, While Memory Serves: The Story of the Last Two Years of British Rule in India (Cassell, 1950)
Warner, Philip, Auchinleck: The Lonely Soldier (Sphere, 1982)
Whitehead, Andrew, A Mission in Kashmir (Penguin Viking, 2007)
Wilkinson, Steven, Army and Nation: The Military and Indian Democracy Since Independence (Harvard, 2015)
Willasley-Wilsey, Tim, ‘The Day the Clocks Stopped: The Peshawar Club and Library’: victorianweb.org 2014
Wilson, Jon, India Conquered (Simon & Schuster, 2016)
Wolpert, Stanley, Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India (OUP, 2006)
Ziegler, Philip, Mountbatten: The Official Biography (HarperCollins, 1985)
Official Reports and Documents
The Transfer of Power 1942–47, Volumes 1 to 12 (HMSO, 1970)
Indian Council for Historical Research, Towards Freedom: Documents on the Movement for Independence in India, edited by Partha Sarathi Gupta (OUP, 1997)
Jinnah Papers, National Archive of Pakistan, edited by Z. H. Zaidi
In British Library IOR/MIL/17/5:
Report of the Expert Committee on the Defence of India: the Chatfield Report, HMSO, 1939, File 1802
Various Military Reports and Returns June–July 1947 – see notes for specific file references. British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/5
Post Exercise Report Exercise ‘Embrace’ Armed Forces Headquarters India 1946. File 1816
Intelligence Summaries, Armed Forces Headquarters India, January 1946 to August 1947. File 4276
India Internal Security Instructions 1937, File 4252
List of Units Indian Army and British Forces in India, June 1947, File 1127
List of Units Indian Army and British Forces in India, July 1947, File 1128
Post Operational Report on Punjab Frontier Force, Major General Pete Rees, File 4319
Southern Command Order of Battle, June 1947, File 1610
Strength Return Indian Army and British Forces in India, July 1947, File 1451
Supreme Commander’s Orders, August to December 1947, Supreme Headquarters Armed Forces of India and Pakistan, British Library, File 300
Model Exercise: Future Organisation of Indian Army, File 1806
Modernisation and Re-Organisation of the Indian Army, 1939, Armed Forces Headquarters, India 1939, File 1803
Northern Command Strength Return and Order of Battle, June 1947, File 1575
In Public Record Office, Kew:
Command of British Troops in India, DEFE 5/5/145
India: Evacuation Plan for Europeans, DEFE 4/9/146
Whistler Report, DEFE/5/7/15
Palestine: Statement of Policy 1939, White Paper, HMSO Command 6019, 23 May 1939
Personal Diaries and Records
Major General Peter Rees, University of Sussex GB181 SxMs 16
Colonel Paddy Massey, Private Collection
John Cross, Private Collection
Charles Ouin, Indian Political Intelligence in Wartime
Judge Christopher Beaumont, Private Collection
Oral Interviews
Held in the British Library (with accession number). Several of these interviews are copyright-protected, which means they cannot be quoted from directly. However, they still provide helpful and interesting background. Several of them are also repeats of other interviews held either in the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive or in Andrew Whitehead’s oral archive in SOAS Library. When I contacted next of kin to ask for permission to use direct quotes, this was unfailingly granted.
C900: Millenium Memory Bank
00083B Krishna Davi
00083 Hardian Bains
00083 Saleem Siddiqi
01580 Naffese Chohan
03096 C1 Ranjit Bains
C991/13 Kushwant Singh (repeats much of C63/12)
C63/195:
02 Pren Bhatia
03 Dr Bharat Ram
03 Lt Gen Palat Candeth
04 Nikhil Chakravarty
06 Admiral Chatterji
09 Govind Narain (largely repeated in R193/09)
11 Inder Malhorta
12 Kushwant Singh
51 Brian Montgomery
211/08 Leslie Robbins
C63/89-93 Christopher Beaumont (with grateful thanks to Robert Beaumont)
C1398:
Lieutenant Colonel Denis de Grouchy Lambert, 4 September 1984
1368 James Cameron
1833 Evan Charlton
R193:
08 A. K. Damodaran
09 Govind Narain
09 Major General D. K. Palit
Held in the Imperial War Museum (with accession number):
10632 Maynard Hastings Pockson
11748 Mohammed Ismail Khan
14660 S. Moolgaonkar
14661 N. Mukherji
14662 D. K. Palit
14666 F. Rustjani
14667 N. Rustjani
14668 R. Thakar
18781 Ronald Brockman
30563 Nirmal Kaur
30559 Upendra Nath Pathak
31490/30557 Abdul Haq
31492 Dil Mohammed
31492 Mir Bostan
Held in Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge:
Sir Charles and Lady Dalton
Brigadier and Mrs Herbert Dinwiddie
Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Lamarque: quoted by kind permission of the Lamarque family.
Held in the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. All conducted by Andrew Whitehead.
Alice Faiz, 17 June 1995
Amjad Hussain, 11 October 1995
Kharaiti Lal, 17 March 1997
Conducted by the author:
Ann Wright, 25 February 2017
Dhananajaya Singh, 23 February 2017
Hassan Hamid, 25 February 2017
Ali Hamid, 25 February 2017
Abdul Sattar, 25 February 2017
Robin Whiteside, 31 March 2017
Robert Beaumont, 20 April 2017
Film and Broadcast Material
Rajpoot, Tarun, Indian-Pakistan Partition 1947, BBC 2007
Seth, Roshan, The Language of Protest, BBC Radio 4: series of five programmes broadcast in May 1986
V. P. Menon, Interviewed by Henry Hodson, 12 September 1964, BBC Radio 4
Roberts, Andrew, A Judge Remembers, BBC Radio 4
Newspaper Articles
The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Hindustan Times, Statesman, The Times of India, Herald Tribune, New York Times and Dawn throughout 1947
The Times Special India Supplement, 18 February 1930
Indian Express: 8 April, 20 May, 1 July, 1 August 1997
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A lot of very kind people have helped me to write this book. I must start by thanking my indefatigable agent, Michael Sissons, and his assistant Fiona Petheram for their help and support throughout. I am also much indebted to Iain MacGregor at Simon & Schuster in London who gave
me the initial inspiration and who has shepherded the project since inception. I am also deeply grateful to Jo Whitford for her tireless work in editing and arranging my ramblings.
I am deeply grateful for all those at Cambridge University for their guidance and mentoring, and in particular to Professor John Davidson of Trinity College for all his introductions and most generous hospitality while visiting.
Of all the many historians and experts whose works I have consulted, I must record special thanks to Andrew Whitehead, not only for his very generous permission to draw on his extensive oral archive in SOAS Library, but also to make full use of his excellent account of the Kashmir conflict.
Many people have been extraordinarily generous in giving me access to family papers and experiences. I am most grateful to Charles Ouin, Colonel Hamon Massey, Major J. P. Cross, Robin Whiteside, William Lamarque, Penelope Denny, Robert Beaumont, Edward Kneale, George Busby, Nick Allan, Barnaby Rogerson, Jane Ohlmeyer and Peter Oborne for all their help.
In India I am much indebted to Dhananajaya Singh, to Ann Wright, to Sir Dominic Asquith, Anuj and Aanchal Bahri, to Melissa van der Klugt and to all the Simon and Schuster staff, particularly to Rahul Srivastava, Yatindra Chaturvedi and Bharti Taneja.
In Pakistan I owe particular thanks to Major General Syed Ali Hamid, to his brother Hassan (who is Auchinleck’s godson), to Major General Isfandyhar Pataudi, to Abdul Sattar, ex-Foreign Minister of Pakistan, to Salim Gandapur and to Ahmad Saeed of the eponymous Book Store.
A special thank you to the British Library staff, to Cai Parry-Jones and to Steven Dryden, to the London Library for their endless patience and to the staff at the Sussex University Library and at the National Army and Imperial War Museums.
Lastly a very special thank you to my daughter Florence who patiently read, questioned, amended and improved the manuscript throughout, and to everyone at Simon & Schuster in London who has made the production of this book possible.
Barney White-Spunner
Dorset
April 2017
Also by Barney White-Spunner
Horse Guards
Of Living Valour
INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Abbott, Maj. James, 311
Abbottabad, 310–11
Abduh, Mohammed, 86
Abdullah, Sheikh Mohammed, 201–2, 307–8, 319
call for removal of, 339
Liaquat criticises, 328
and Patel, 318
Abell, George, 101, 137
Adjudhia, Lala, 219, 220
Ahmad, Khan Sayid, 86–7
Ahmed, Brig. Nazir, 299
Aiyar, Sir C. P. Ramaswami, 105, 194
Akbar, Emperor, 3, 26
Akbar Khan, Brig. Mahomed, 121, 315, 321
Akram, Abu Saleh Mohammed, 171
al Din, Zahoor, 78
Alexander, A. V., 9, 49
Ali, Chaudhuri Mohammed, 165, 328
and Partition Committee, 167
All-India Muslim League, own jurisdiction demanded by, 8–9
All India Trades Union Congress, 70
Alwar, Maharaja of, 188, 190
Amand, Som, 78
Amery, Leo, 42
Amin, Nurul, 287
Amrita Bazar Patrika, 270
Amritsar, 14
Dyer’s atrocity in, 32–3, 353
Independence Day violence in, 233
Muslim officers disarmed in, 215
violence in, 32–3, 67, 82, 83–4, 148, 159, 234
Anand, Mulk Raj, 35
Andaman Islands, 203
Anwar, Khurshid, 308, 311, 320, 322, 325
Armed Forces Committee, 172
Armor, David, 174
Assam, 37, 230
and Cabinet Mission Plan, 49
establishment of, 17
and transfer of power, see power-transfer plan
Aswami League, 350
Attlee, Clement:
and Auchinleck, 330
and Independence Bill, 178–9
and Indian self-government, 48
on India’s future, 114
Jinnah misunderstood by, 115
mediation request refused by, 339
and Mountbatten, 98, 99, 115–16
and Nehru, 155
on paramountcy, 191
and transfer of power, 156–7
and Wavell, 9, 55, 56, 76–7, 79, 80
and way forward, 75
and withdrawal date, 76–7, 102, 117
Auchinleck, Fld Mshl Claude, 8, 16, 97, 105–7, 142, 146, 205, 211, 216, 265–9 passim, 316
and armed forces’ division, 139, 172, 175, 178
and army loyalty, 150
demands for resignation of, 266
departure of, 329–31
and Gurgaon violence, 158–9
Kashmir rescue suggestion of, 329
and military finances, 206
Montgomery seeks removal of, 267–8
and Mountbatten, 106, 108, 150, 220, 268–9
and Nehru, 244, 268, 316
and Pakistan bias, 206, 266, 318
peerage declined by, 269, 330
and Punjab partition, 204, 205, 206
resignation of, 268–9
and round-table conference, 318–19
tributes to, 330
Aurangzeb, Emperor, 15
Austin, Warren, 340
Ayer, Rao Sahib V. D., 210, 219–20
Ayub Khan, Gen. Mohammed, 182, 270, 350
Azad, Maulana, 48, 70, 87–8, 294
Badgam, 324–5
Bahawalpur, 255, 256, 257, 337
Bahawalpur Nawab of, 280–1
Baker, Noel, 340
Banerjee, Gooroodas, 57
Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan):
birth of, 351
Dacca announced as capital of, 184
early years of, 351
Banihal Pass, 313, 317
Baramulla, 320–1, 322–3, 326
Bardoloi, Gopinath, 123
Baroda, Gaekwar of, 195
Batra, Ram Lal, 308, 312
Beaumont, Christopher, 112, 131, 209–11, 219
and Radcliffe, 231
Beaumont, Wenty, 250–1
Behr, Edward, 126, 228, 252–3
Bengal (see also Calcutta):
arms trade in, 78
Boundary Commission for, 170–2
and Cabinet Mission Plan, 49
and Calcutta’s unexpected peace, 246
as challenge to British, 16–17
famine in, 3, 8, 39, 40–7 passim, 259
Great Calcutta Killings in, see under Calcutta
and Hindu–Muslim split, 281
and hopes of Muslim power, 37
inter-communal divisions in, 170
lacking League administration, 93
land settlement in, 288
mass exodus from Pakistan to, 350–1
‘mass of corruption’, 44
Muslim–Hindu, East–West split in, 17, 283
and official language and government jobs, 349
as one of great provinces, 16
and opium, 28
and partition, 17, 32, 167, 170–2, 288 (see also partition)
lines of, 209, 230–1, 282–3
and Muslim League, 162, 167
and refugees, see refugees
renaming of, 155
and taxes, 288
and transfer of power, see power-transfer plan
violence in, 206–7, 217
after cinema incident, 246–8
Bevin, Ernest, 9, 16, 114
Bhakra-Nangal dam, 334
Bhatia, Dr Prem, 102, 169
Bhopal, India–Pakistan dilemma of, 299–300
B
hopal, Begum of, 330
Bhopal, Nawab of, see Hamidullah Khan, Sir
Bhutto, Sir Shah Nawaz, 300, 301
Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali, 350
Bihar, 66, 86, 138, 217, 218, 336
establishment of, 17
massacre in, 13
police mutiny in, 52
violence in, 116, 121
Bikaner, Maharajah of, 219
Bir Bahadur Singh, 78–9, 82
Birla, G. D., 74, 118, 346
Birnie, Col. Bill, 277
Biswanath family, 284
Biswas, Justice, 47
Biswas, Justice C. C., 43, 170
Blair, J. R., 43
Bombay, 94, 120, 124, 138
famine in, 39
as one of great provinces, 16
and refugees, 334
rioting in, 68
Sind’s separation from, 17
and transfer of power, see power-transfer plan
violence in, 116
Bose, Sarat Chandra, 74, 283–4
Bose, Subhas Chandra, 53, 71–2, 147
becomes president, 72, 73
death of, 53
INA founded by, 53, 73
Nehru supports, 149
WW2 seen as opportunity by, 73
Bourne, Sir Frederick, 120, 184, 227, 276
Brahmaputra river floods, 282, 336, 351
Brahmins, 20, 111, 174
Branson, Clive, 52
Bristow, Brig. Robert, 233, 234, 235, 266
Britter, Eric, 322
Brockman, Ronald, 101
Brown, Gordon, 2
Brown, Maj. Willie, 326
Buch, N. M., 212
Bundi, Maharaja of, 190
Burrows, Sir Frederick, 46, 76, 119, 121, 122, 146, 211, 226
Burton, Gwen, 324, 329
Cabinet Mission Plan, 49–50, 74, 95–6, 119, 191
‘finally failed’, 56
Calcutta (see also Bengal; Great Calcutta Killings):
Gandhi arrives to live in, 217
and internal security, 145
as logical seat of government, 16
Muslim population falls in, 286
quiet in, 217–18, 282
and refugees, 337
relative calm in, 216–17, 217–18
rioting in, 10–13
south sees worst butchery during, 11
spread of, outside city, 12
unexpected peace in, 246
US Army in, 11
violence in, 116
after cinema incident, 246–8
Cameron, Maj. James, 251
Campbell-Johnson, Alan, 101, 210
Candeth, Lt Col. K. P., 174, 241
Cariappa, Brig. K. M., 142, 175, 229
Carlton, Evan, 142–3
Caroe, Sir Olaf, 15–16, 53, 125, 127–9, 131, 146, 204, 344