78 MT 59/631, Government of India to Secretary of State for India, July 21, 1943.
Chapter Six
1 Phillips, Ventures in Diplomacy, 240–244, 250.
2 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. III, 909–910.
3 Ibid., 954, 978, 1022–1023.
4 Phillips, Ventures in Diplomacy, 251.
5 Ibid., 253–254.
6 Butler, The Art of the Possible,112–113.
7 Churchill, My Early Life, 145.
8 Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan, 167; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 186.
9 Quoted in James, Raj, 571; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 104.
10 Biplabi, “British sobhyotar,” 110–11; Dhara, Probaho, 136.
11 Maity, Quit India Movement, 56; Dhara, Probaho, 139–140.
12 Dhara, Probaho, 148–153.
13 Ibid., 158–169.
14 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. III, 1014; Gupta, Towards Freedom, Vol. II, 1843.
15 De, “Imperial Governance and the Challenges of War,” 31, 14.
16 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. III, 1016–1019.
17 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 44, 112; quoted in Venkataramani, Bengal Famine of 1943,16.
18 Cherwell Papers H290/13; Santhanam, The Cry of Distress,166.
19 MT 59/631, “With Sir William Croft’s Compliments: India’s Foodgrains Supply,” July 19, 1943; Nanavati Papers, Vol. I, 216–217; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 76–79.
20 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 5.
21 Ibid., 135–137.
22 Wilson, Churchill and the Prof, 132.
23 Cherwell Papers H290/1,2.
24 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 155–157.
25 Danchev and Todman, War Diaries, 537; Moran, Churchill: The Struggle for Survival, 478; Churchill and Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, Vol. VI, 1084.
26 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 158, 169.
27 MT 59/631, “Wheat for India.”
28 Wilson, Churchill and the Prof, 132–134. Wilson further argued that India had harvested a large rice crop in 1942, and should have possessed “substantial stocks to carry over into 1943” because the shortfall in imports from Burma and the exports to war theaters were small in comparison to the colony’s total production. No such stocks were in evidence. Notably, such statistical comparisons are similar to those that Wilson himself described, in a September 1943 memo to Cherwell, as misleading.
29 Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy, 704; Smith, Conflict over Convoys, 192–193, 197; Cherwell Papers H290/14; Salter, Slave of the Lamp, 196.
30 CHAR 23/11, “Forecast of Monthly Loss Rates of Dry Cargo Ships,” July 13, 1943; Hammond, Food, Vol. I, 272.
31 James, Churchill, 48–49, 70, 117; Taylor et al., Churchill, 42–44.
32 Denniston, Churchill’s Secret War, 110, 121–123; Roskill, Churchill and the Admirals, 222.
33 Wilson, Churchill and the Prof, 133–134; MT 59/631, “Indian Food Situation,” September 17, 1943; Behrens, Merchant Shipping and the Demands of War, 348; Bayly and Harper, Forgotten Armies, 285.
34 CSAC, Martin Papers, Memoir, 261.
35 Nanavati Papers, Vol. IV, 1157, and Vol. II, 348–349.
36 Cherwell Papers H123/4; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 178; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 933.
37 Schofield, Wavell: Soldier & Statesman, 286; Voigt, India in the Second World War, 216–217; Moon, Wavell, 12–13; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 125, 131.
38 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 157, 163; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 934.
39 BRGS 2/17, August 4, 1943.
40 MT 59/631, “Wheat for India.” A small portion of the Balkan stockpile was also to be used for feeding Greek and Yugoslav guerrillas.
41 MT 59/631, “Note of a Meeting held to discuss Cross Trade Programme Requirements,” August 11, 1943; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 318.
42 MT 59/631, India Office to Leathers, October 27, 1943.
43 Nanavati Papers, Vol. IV, 1153.
44 Ibid., 1150–1152; Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts, 39; Hill and Hirschman, “Human Rights Abuses by the Third Reich,” 850.
Chapter Seven
1 Biplabi, “Jibonto kawbor,” 284.
2 Ghosh, Famines in Bengal, 80–81; Biplabi, “Durbhikkho,” 325.
3 Tucker, The Great Starvation Experiment, 124, 139, 148; Das, Bengal Famine, 9.
4 Rai, “Ponchaser Monnontor o Banglar Silposahityo,” 13; Ghosh, Famines in Bengal, 75.
5 Bhaumik, Code Name God, 48, 52; Bandopadhyay, Monikanchon, 48–50, 55.
6 Narayanan, Famine over Bengal, 170–171.
7 Ghosh, Famines in Bengal, 83; Nanavati Papers, Vol. V, 1368.
8 Nanavati Papers, Vol. II, 446. Food riots occur during relatively mild shortages, or they precede famines. See Ó Gráda, Famine: A Short History, 56.
9 Tucker, The Great Starvation Experiment, 170; Wiesel, Night, 108, 57.
10 Tucker, The Great Starvation Experiment, 8.
11 Orwell, The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters, Vol. IV, 467.
12 Ghosh, Famines in Bengal, 87; Biplabi, “Durbhikkho,” 263.
Chapter Eight
1 Branson, British Soldier in India, 52, 69.
2 Ibid., 70–72, 81, 90, 94.
3 Ibid., 100.
4 Ibid., 101.
5 Durga Pujo refers to the worship of the goddess Durga, which takes place in the autumn. An image of the goddess, depicted as riding a lion and slaying the buffalo demon, is typically worshipped for five days; the rituals may include animal sacrifice. Durga Pujo is also a time for dancing, feasting, and giving gifts of clothing.
6 Gupta, In the Path of Service,77.
7 Santhanam, The Cry of Distress, 33.
8 Bera, Janajuddha Patrika, 100; Ghosh, The Bengal Tragedy, 9.
9 Stephens, Monsoon Morning, 176–179.
10 AMEL 7/36, Diary, May 13 and August 11, 1942; Stephens, Monsoon Morning , 248, 197, 176.
11 Stephens, Monsoon Morning, 181–182.
12 Bhattacharya, Hungry Bengal. Pages from the surviving copy are pictured in the documentary The Forgotten Famine (Uden Associates, 1997). See also Venkataramani, Bengal Famine of 1943, 31.
13 WO 208/809, “Extract from G.H.Q. India W.I.S. No. 94 dated 20 Aug 1943,” “Indian Famine: Bose Offers 100,000 Tons of Rice,” August 25, 1943.
14 WO 208/818, “Extract from GHQ India Weekly Intelligence Summary 97, Dated 10 September 1943.”
15 Hauner, India in Axis Strategy, 479.
16 Ibid., 486. The meeting may instead have been on May 29. See Gordon, Brothers Against the Raj, 484.
17 Bose, A Beacon Across Asia, 134–137.
18 Fay, The Forgotten Army, 203.
19 Anonymous, “Ba Maw, the Great Asian Dreamer,” 8.
20 India Office File No. 114/43-Poll (I), September 1, 1943. Courtesy of Sugata Bose.
21 MT 59/631, “Wheat 1,” September 28, 1943.
22 WO 298/809; Nanavati Papers, Vol. II, 461, 468–470; AMEL 1/6/14 File 2, Secretary of State to Viceroy, October 15 and 22, 1943.
23 O’Malley, Ireland, India and Empire, 145.
24 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 194; CSAC, Olaf M. Martin Papers, Memoir, 252–253.
25 Nanavati Papers, Vol. IV, 1038; Rai, “Ponchaser Mannontar O Banglar Silposahityo,” 53–59.
26 Nanavati Papers, Vol. IV, 1092–1093; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 973.
27 Hunter, “The Bengal Famine of 1866,” 272.
28 Bayly and Harper, Forgotten Wars, 300.
29 Das, Bengal Famine, 34.
30 CSAC, William Barnes Papers, Box 8, Diary, 125.
31 The Forgotten Famine (Uden Associates, 1997).
32 Quoted in Ghosh, Famines in Bengal, 80, 76.
33 CSAC, Olaf M. Martin Papers, Memoir, 256; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 2
84, 331.
34 Nanavati Papers, Vol. IV, 1038; CSAC, William Barnes Papers, Box 8, Diary, 127; Ghosh, Famines in Bengal, 50, 176; Gupta, Towards Freedom, Part II, 1915.
35 Woodhead, 224–225; De, “Imperial Governance and the Challenges of War,” 27.
36 Nanavati Papers, Vol. V, 1328–1329.
37 Woodham Smith, The Great Hunger, 191.
38 Mitra, Tin Kuri Dash, 161–163. Men are more likely than women to die during famines; see Ó Gráda, Famine: A Short History, 99.
39 Sheila Chapman-Mortimer, in The Forgotten Famine (Uden Associates, 1997).
Chapter Nine
1 Venkataramani, Bengal Famine of 1943, 19; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 169, 177; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 935.
2 MT 59/631, W.C.O to QUADRANT, August 23, 1943; MT 59/631, “Grain for India.”
3 Louis, Imperialism at Bay, 9–10; Venkataramani and Shrivastava, Roosevelt Gandhi Churchill, 162–163.
4 Venkataramani, Bengal Famine of 1943, 19–21.
5 Hull, The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, Vol. II, 1496.
6 Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy, 548; Venkataramani, Bengal Famine of 1943, 22.
7 Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy, 544, 537.
8 Quoted in Bayly and Harper, Forgotten Armies, 363; Venkataramani and Shrivastava, Roosevelt Gandhi Churchill, 301–302.
9 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 273, 217, 304–306; WO 208/809, Weekly Intelligence Summary 98, September 17, 1943.
10 Cherwell Papers, H290/3, 4, 5.
11 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 317; MT 59/631, “Grain for India.”
12 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 318–319.
13 MT 59/631, “Middle East,” October 6, 1943.
14 Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 943; Moon, Wavell, 19.
15 Danchev and Todman, War Diaries, 473.
16 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 375–376.
17 Ibid., 377; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 946; Moon, Wavell, 23.
18 Moon, Wavell, 23; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 947.
19 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 349, 396.
20 CHAR 20/97A/39, 46–48.
21 Moon, Wavell, 32–34.
22 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 362–363.
23 Ibid., 415–416.
24 Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 948, 950.
25 MT 59/631, “Indian Food Situation,” September 17, 1943; Slim, Defeat into Victory, 143.
26 Narayanan, Famine over Bengal, 100; Anonymous, “Bengal Famine: Mr. Amery on Relief Measures”; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 445; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 933, 950.
27 WO 208/810, “Address by the Financial Adviser, Military Finance at the Army Commanders’ Conference,” July 9, 1943; Sinha and Khera, Indian War Economy , 345; Prest, War Economics of Primary Producing Countries, 31. The rupee was fixed at 1 shilling and 6 pence.
28 Cherwell Papers H130/6; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 835; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 594.
29 Cherwell Papers H123/10, H124/4, H125/10, and H132/6,7,8; Singh, “Imperial Defence and the Transfer of Power in India,” 569.
30 Cherwell Papers H127/1,2,29,35 and H128/4,7.
31 Wilson, Churchill and the Prof, 180, 228(endnote 16).
32 Cherwell Papers H136/15–19 and H129/1–4.
33 Cherwell Papers H128/12.
34 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 465, 470.
35 Cherwell Papers H290/10.
36 Churchill’s biographers believe that Savrola was endowed with traits, such as valor and wisdom, to which the youthful author himself aspired: his opinions were Churchill’s own. See Churchill, Savrola, 81–82; Caldwell, “Malthus and the Less Developed World,” 683; quoted in Ponting, Churchill, 24; Taylor et al., Churchill, 219–222.
37 Ghose, “Food Supply and Starvation,” 376.
38 Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 950.
39 Danchev and Todman, War Diaries, 516; quoted in Roberts, Hitler and Churchill, 122; quoted in Gilbert, Churchill and America, 226; Churchill, India, 84; Gilbert, The Churchill War Papers, Vol. II, 337.
40 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 465–466; MT 59/631, From Canada (Govt.) to D.O., November 13, 1943; MT 59/631, copy of note signed D. Gibbs, November 3, 1943; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 951.
41 MT 59/637, “India and Ceylon Cereals Requirements”; Cherwell Papers F247/15.
42 Stone, “The Indian Skeleton at Atlantic City,” 686–687.
43 Venkataramani, Bengal Famine of 1943, 43, 47–52.
44 Hess, America Encounters India, 134.
45 Cherwell Papers H291/11.
46 Behrens, Merchant Shipping and the Demands of War, 325; Hancock, Statistical Digest of the War, 167; Cherwell Papers, H137/20; Hancock and Gowing, British War Economy, 436.
47 Hammond, Food, Vol. I, 159–160; Hancock and Gowing, British War Economy , 436; Churchill, The Second World War: Closing the Ring, 151.
48 Hammond, Food, Vol. III, 544–545, 481.
49 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 418.
50 CAB 195/2, W.M. (43) 2nd Meeting, 47; Cherwell Papers, H307/1.
51 Louis, Imperialism at Bay, 283.
52 Louis, In the Name of God, 285.
53 Dilks, The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, 582.
54 MT 59/631, “Canadian Wheat for India,” December 17, 1943; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 957.
55 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 678. The army alone needed 250,000 tons for six months.
56 Danchev and Todman, War Diaries, 451.
57 Ibid., 458–459.
58 Ibid., xvi.
59 Quoted in Jablonsky, Churchill, The Great Game and Total War, 92; West, The Larger Evils, 87.
60 Quoted in James, Churchill, 379; Moran, Churchill: The Struggle for Survival, 321; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 758, 953.
61 Moran, Churchill: The Struggle for Survival, 778–779; Snow, Science and Government , 65, 63.
62 Snow, Science and Government, 12; Harrod, The Prof, 80, 73, 77.
63 Cherwell Papers F29/33.
64 Harrod, The Prof, 78. As late as October 1937, Cherwell remained fascinated by the possibility of creating “Sub men or supermen.” See Cherwell Papers, E39/1–13.
65 Cherwell Papers E1/3–6 and E2/1–11.
66 Weinberg, Hitler’s Second Book, 20; quoted in Kiernan, Blood and Soil, 47.
67 Orwell, 1984, 203.
Chapter Ten
1 Sinha and Khera, Indian War Economy, 54; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 475–476, 679, 558, 590.
2 Cherwell Papers H291/2; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 695.
3 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 701–702, 706–707, 719.
4 Ibid., 734–735, 741, 744, 750.
5 Santhanam, The Cry of Distress, 34.
6 Sinha and Khera, Indian War Economy, 286, 288, 290, 420–421; Ghosh, Famines in Bengal, 46.
7 Moon, Wavell, 37; Sinha and Khera, Indian War Economy, 286.
8 Slim, Defeat into Victory, 186–192.
9 Ibid., 193; Fay, The Forgotten Army, 259. The original first stanza of the song: Kadam kadam badaye ja/Khusi ke geet gaye ja/Ye zindagi hai kaum ki/Ye kaum pe lutaye ja.
10 Branson, British Soldier in India, 109–112.
11 Ibid., 113–114.
12 Ibid., 116–117.
13 Ibid., 118; Slim, Defeat into Victory, 191.
14 Sengupta, Smritir Somoy Somoyer Smriti, 45–46; Graham and Cole, The Burma Campaign Memorial Library, 101.
15 Fay, The Forgotten Army, 286–290.
16 Bayly and Harper, Forgotten Armies, 382.
17 Churchill, The Second World War: Closing the Ring, 496; Slim, Defeat into Victory , 443; Sinha and Khera, Indian War Economy, 286.
18 Fay, The Forgotten Ar
my, 302–303.
19 Bayly and Harper, Forgotten Armies, 379.
20 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 801(footnote), 808; Moon, Wavell, 59.
21 Cherwell Papers, H291/19, 24, 28; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 776, 818.
22 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 827; Cherwell Papers H291/28; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 972.
23 Cherwell Papers, H291/30.
24 Cherwell Papers H292/2; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 863–864; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 976.
25 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 925; Moon, Wavell, 81, 68; Cherwell Papers H292/2, 3.
26 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 925; Cherwell Papers H292/4, 10, and F235/31.
27 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV,1034, 900.
28 Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 979; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 941, 939, 964.
29 Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 985; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 999.
30 Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 987–988.
31 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 1044; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 989; Cherwell Papers H292/13.
32 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 1045–1046, 1056.
33 Quoted in Read and Fisher, The Proudest Day, 346.
34 Moon, Wavell, 88; AMEL 1/6/21, File 1, Secretary of State’s Minute to Prime Minister, May 4, 1944; CHAR 20/165/43, May 27, 1944.
35 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 962–963.
36 Moon, Wavell, 78; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 988.
37 Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 1100, 1136–1138.
38 Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 992; Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IV, 1152–1154, 1147.
39 CAB 66/52/48, “Report of Committee on Indian Financial Questions,” July 19, 1944; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 992–993.
40 Cherwell Papers J68/20; Barnes and Nicholson, The Empire at Bay, 986.
41 Denney, Macaulay’s Essay on Warren Hastings, 36; quoted in Chakravarty, The Raj Syndrome, 127.
42 AMEL 1/6/34, “The Regeneration of India: Memorandum by the Prime Minister.”
Churchill's Secret War Page 39