Saturday, June 23, 2012

Indian Army Through The Ages


 Indians fought in WW2 along with the Allies but there was also resentment against the British because India was still a colony of Great Britain. This led to considerable forces of Indians who decided to fight on the Axis side against the British. About 40,000 Indians fought on the side of the Japanese in the Indian National Army(INA), and about  1,000 more were recruited by Nazi Germany for the Tiger Legion.These soldiers were also patriots and fought for the independence of their country.                                                
                 Three lions facing left, right, and toward viewer, atop a frieze containing a galloping horse, a 24-spoke wheel, and an elephant. Underneath is a motto: "सत्यमेव जयते".

Horizontal tricolour flag bearing, from top to bottom, deep saffron, white, and green horizontal bands. In the centre of the white band is a navy-blue wheel with 24 spokes.Women in Uniform
                                                                                                                 INA MEMORIAL                    
                                                                                                                     SINGAPORE  


Military parade of the INA at the Padang on 5 July 1943
                                                                                                                          

The Tokyo Boys,Tokyo Imperial Military Academy

A soldier of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment in training. Circa1940s.


                      
Indian soldiers storm a 
German trench, after exploding it with hand grenades(WW2)                                                                                                                         
      Victoria Cross
          INDIA--WW1

Sepy Khudadad Khan who has been decorated with the VC by the King, was under the command of Capt. R. F. Dill, a son of Rev. Marcus Dill, formerly of 1st Presbyterian Church, Ballymena. Captain Dill is also related to Sir Samuel Dill of Belfast. His name appeared among the recipients of the DSO in the New Year Honours



Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, May 2006


A veteran of the Second World War, Major General Eustace D'Souza (retired) PVSM was sent to the 

Italian front when he was just 21. He stayed on till the end of the war in Europe.

On the 70th anniversary of World War II, the 88-year-old soldier, who also saw action in the 1971 war with Pakistan

Indian Army Flag                   

Freedom Comes at a Price !!! WE WILL GUARD AT ANY COST!

A Lt Colonel from the 20th Indian Division accepts the formal surrender of a Japanese Commander at Saigon, Vietnam, in September 1945
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A group from the 152nd Para Battalion displaying the Japanese flag they captured at Tangkhul Hundung

^ Fg Offr A R Pandit and Fg Offr B R "Pop" Rao, both DFCs of No.1 Squadron on a Hawker Hurricane in Miransha 


^ At the frontline. Pilots of No.1 Squadron with the CO, Arjan Singh sitting at the drivers position in the Jeep.



^ At a forward airfield thats been turned to a quagmire due to the Monsoons, Fg Offr A C Prabhakaran, Flt Lt Ramaswamy Rajaram and Fg Offr S Hafeez pose by one of the Hurricane IIcs. Unfortunately both Prabhakaran and Hafeez were to die in operations later on in late 1944. Rajaram became an Air Marshal and AOC in C of SWAC. But he died of Leukemia in 1966
Runnymede MemorialArmy Personnel                                                 
                                                                                                     

                                  The Runnymede Memorial



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During the Second World War more than 116,000 men and women of the Air Forces of the British Commonwealth gave their lives in service. More than 17,000 of these were members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, or Canadians serving with the Royal Air Force. Approximately one-third of all who died have no known grave. Of these, 20,450 are commemorated by name on the Runnymede Memorial, which is situated at Englefield Green, near Egham, 32 kilometres by road west of London.
The design of the Runnymede Memorial is original and striking. On the crest of Cooper's Hill, overlooking the Thames, a square tower dominates a cloister, in the centre of which rests the Stone of Remembrance. The cloistered walks terminate in two lookouts, one facing towards Windsor, and the other towards London Airport at Heathrow. The names of the dead are inscribed on the stone reveals of the narrow windows in the cloisters and the lookouts. They include those of 3,050 Canadian airmen.
Above the three-arched entrance to the cloister is a great stone eagle with the Royal Air Force motto, "Per Ardua ad Astra". On each side is the inscription:
IN THIS CLOISTER ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF TWENTY THOUSAND AIRMEN WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE. THEY DIED FOR FREEDOM IN RAID AND SORTIE OVER THE BRITISH ISLES AND THE LANDS AND SEAS OF NORTHERN AND WESTERN EUROPE
The approximate break-up of the names are as follows:
Royal Air Force15,309
Woman's Auxiliary Air Force14
Royal Canadian Air Force3,041
Royal Australian Air Force1,393
Royal New Zealand Air Force576
South African Air Force17
Royal Indian Air Force7
Air Training Corps4
Air Transport Auxiliary10
British Overseas Airways Corporation9
Ferry Command9
TOTAL20,389
   The seven names from the Royal Indian Air Force that are commemorated are shown below:


        
1942:
Click on the Image to see a Photo of the Complete Panel
Pilot Officer Chander Parkash Khosla  of No.12 Squadron RAF went missing when his Wellington bomber failed to return from a bombing mission over France on 31st August 1941. His co-pilot Plt Offr Rustom Nariman Dastur's body was found at Dieppe and interred at the CWGC Cemetary.Pilot Officer Cherala Raghava Rao died on 4th September 1941 of wounds. The circumstances behind his death are not known.
Pilot Officer Anandaraj Samuel Gnanamuthu of No.32 Squadron RAF failed to return from a "Rhubarb" mission over France on 11th July 1941. His Hurricane aircraft presumably shot down by the enemy
Pilot Officer Basker Daniel Gnanamuthu, Anandaraj's brother was killed on 7th November 1941. Basker was flying a Hurricane fighter bomber. Both the Gnanamuthu brothers hailed from Coimbatore Dist, where their father Capt G D Gnanamuthu was a   Civil Asst Surgeon.
        
1944
Click on the Image to see a Photo of the Complete Panel
Pilot Officer Rajender Singh Sandhu (IND/2915) was lost on 10th September 1944, when the Spitfire he was flying went into the sea. He was flying with No.53 OTU.
        
1946
Click on the Image to see a Photo of the Complete Panel
Flying Officer Jagjit Singh (IND/2915) was lost on 13th September 1946 in the English Channel. The Wellington bomber in which he was a Navigator ditched in sea.Pilot Officer Dinshaw Sorab Bamjee (IND/3348) was killed on 8th March 1946. He was with No.74 Squadron RAF flying the Gloster Meteor III jet fighter when he crashed during a low level flight
  
There are other memorials in the United Kingdom where other Indian Air Force Officers are commemorated. The Golden Greer Crematorium and the Chester Cemetery are some of them.


photo
                                                                                            

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