India and World War II: War, Armed Forces, and Society, 1939–45

The present monograph is a study of the Indian armed forces during the Second World War. This monograph is a corrective to the cultural studies approach of totally neglecting blood and gore. Rather than merely providing a chronological account of military operations, combat dynamics is integrated with the social and cultural contexts. Tools, ideas and institutions of violence are fused with the social fabric and the cultural context. An attempt is made to evaluatethe combat effectiveness of the Indian armed forces. The focus is on leadership at the level of brigades, battalions and platoons and the lethal technology they used in the different terrains of Malay and Burma. Further, soldiers views of combat, military life and the home front are alsoincluded.