The Second World War remains the most definitive and consequential war of the 20th century with a scope that is vast and complex. It began in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland and ended with the USA dropping an atomic bomb over Hiroshima-Nagasaki in August 1945, formally concluding the war in September.
It was a global conflict involving all the major powers of the time – the Allies versus the Axis — and more than 70 countries and colonies such as India were part of this hugely destructive war, more tragic than previous ones due to the use of the apocalyptic nuclear weapon.
The UK, USA, the former Soviet Union and France were pitted against a rapacious Germany-Italy-Japan combine and it is estimated that over a 100 million military personnel were mobilised and millions of civilians, including women, became part of the war effort. The final death toll is placed at about 80 million and this includes six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust.
World War II is an extensively ploughed subject and it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of books in different languages. Amazon alone lists over 70,000 titles. The book under review adds to this vast corpus in a distinctive manner and the well-known film-maker and author Phil Craig is to be commended for his effort.
‘1945: The Reckoning’ is the last in the trilogy of three well researched, vividly written, popular history books on World War II (WW2) and are highly recommended for those with an interest in matters military and history in general. The first two books were co-authored by Craig with Tim Clayton and include ‘Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain’ (1999) and ‘End of the Beginning’ (2002).
The temporal division of the ‘story’ of Britain and WW2 as chosen by Craig is appropriate for the broad sweep that the trilogy attempts. 1940 is the beginning of this epic narrative and dwells on the Battle of Britain; and 1942 is the focus year for the second volume that examines the military campaign in the North African desert. In this volume ‘1945’, Craig adds: “Here the focus is India, Burma and the fate of the British and other empires.”
Divided neatly into three sections comprising a total of 17 chapters – greater part of the book dwells on India and the end of WW2 and the end of the British empire. For many in India who have been introduced to WW2 through books and films, the narrative and orientation are largely from the British perspective and hence there is a pronounced degree of glorification; and a sub-text that paints the UK and Whitehall as the stoic defenders of freedom and liberty guided by an intrinsic moral certitude.
The truth is very different and Craig brings a rare empathy and objectivity in his review of the last phase of colonialism. He adds in his introduction to the book: “Discovering what really happened in some of the old European colonies during 1945 – what I call ‘imperial muscle memory’ – can be surprising and confronting. But it’s necessary, I would argue, for anyone who wants the warts and all version of how the war (WW2) was won.”
The book begins with a dramatic flourish – introducing Colonel Timmy (KS Thimayya who later became the Army Chief in independent India) and the men of the 8/19 Hyderabad battalion preparing to land in Burma in January 1945. The battle for Hill 170 against an entrenched enemy force of a thousand Japanese is recounted with verve and is rich in detail. This is where Craig leavens with aplomb the skill of a seasoned writer of popular history, and the rigour of an academic historian.
Undivided India had an anomalous role in WW2, wherein while the large British Indian army represented by Timmy and his ilk were fighting with the Allies, there was another group of nationalistic Indians led by Subash Chandra Bose who formed the INA (Indian National Army) and supported the Axis forces. Ironically, Timmy’s brother was part of the INA and this complex ambivalence within India is captured in a very nuanced manner by Craig.
While the India story forms a major part of the book, it also takes the reader through a wide spectrum of places – Burma, Borneo, Belsen (the German concentration camp), the Brahmaputra river and Devon in the UK, among other geographies. Personal accounts and the stories of the little people who make history in their own manner are persuasively told and a young and idealistic British nurse is one such filter to portray the horror of the war and the vicissitudes of colonial rule.
Craig handles the Bengal famine in an objective and restrained manner and presents both sides of the decision making in London at the time and concludes: “Whether callous, careless or both, it was hard to deny the moral force of all of this, especially if you (Britain) claimed the right to govern this place (India) better than the people you ruled.”
The perfidy of imperial rule and the cynical compulsions of retaining power post war in the colonies – come what may — is a tragic tale. Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh being double-crossed by the Americans and the brutality of the Australian SRD (Services Reconnaissance Department) in Borneo with captured Japanese troops now fighting for the colonial ruler is a case of Craig providing the ‘warts and all’ account of a little-known chapter of WW2.
In his introduction Craig ponders over how to square the image of Britain upholding the liberal world order with the “less pleasant and certainly less liberal (original) things that the British state actually did as the war came to an end?” He quotes British-Nigerian historian David Olusoga who notes that “History is not there to make us feel good, proud or comforted. It’s simply there to be fully understood in all its wonder, pain and yes, its cruelties and injustices.”
Phil Craig deserves three cheers and more for his splendid book that adds to our understanding of the horrors and heroism of the Second World War in a lucid, poignant and nuanced manner — even as the world seems to be lurching into another spiral of war and violence.
C Uday Bhaskar is director, Society for Policy Studies
Book name: 1945: The Reckoning: War, Empire and the Struggle for A New World by Phil Craig
Publisher: Hachette
Pages: 400
Price: Rs 899
