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Part 7
MILITARY SITUATION DURING SUMMER.
17. By the end of June immediate anxiety for the safety of India had lessened. The 5th and 2nd British Divisions were arriving, though neither was yet complete, much antiaircraft-artillery and other units had reached India, and the air strength was gradually increasing. The Eastern Fleet was still incapable of disputing command of Indian waters with a Japanese fleet; but the enemy had shown no signs of mounting an expedition against India, and the monsoon weather made this improbable for some months. India therefore had a breathing space to reorganise, train and prepare.
The 23rd Indian Division was gradually formed in Manipur, and the 1 Burma Division, which was now renamed 39th Indian Division, was withdrawn to Shillong to refit and reorganise. The two Indian armoured divisions which were being formed began to receive some equipment. A force was sent to Ceylon at the end of June to replace the two Australian brigades which were withdrawn.
18. Meanwhile, however, events in other theatres affected India's preparations. The operations to capture Madagascar had delayed the arrival of reinforcements and equipment, but had removed a potential menace to India's line of communications with the United Kingdom.
The reverse suffered in the Western Desert in June and the close approach of Rommel's army to the Nile delta caused the diversion of units and equipment, especially aircraft and tanks, from India to the Middle East. Though India was still far from secure, the danger to Egypt was obviously far more threatening; and on the 30th June I cabled to General Auchinleck offering any assistance that India could afford. He asked for an anti-tank regiment, which I sent, together with 100 carriers and other aid.
A danger more nearly affecting India arose from the German advance towards the Caucasus, which threatened Persia and Iraq and the Persian Gulf. A large proportion of the garrison had been moved across to Egypt to meet the threat to the Delta, and it seemed to me that the only way to reinforce Persia in time to halt a German advance through the Caucasus, should the Russians fail to hold the Caucasus—as at one time seemed possible—would be to send troops from India, weak though her defences were. I therefore offered to make available one or both of the two newly arrived British divisions (2nd and 5th) and an armoured brigade. Eventually the 7th Armoured Brigade and 5th Division were despatched to Iraq. They left India in September.
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