Indian 4th Infantry Division in World War II 

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This is an incredible channel. So I think you deserve to know about post independent Indian military too in a neutral way, cause it’s also very interesting. After Independence Indian military was in a very fractured state, with a big part of it gone to Pakistan. It's situation was bleak. Nehru and Gandhi both absolutely hated the Indian military. Despite being fairly active during this period (Indo Pak war of 1948, Hyderabad Annexation, Goa Annexation) the military failed to make it look to the eyes of our politicians. Nehru, specially, always was scared of the military. By this time, Pakistan had seen a coup by Ayub Khan's Pak army, and Nehru thought Indian military would try the same. This resulted in "reforms" being taken which drastically reduced the capabilities of the military. Their expenditure was cut to only 1% of the GDP by 1960. There were talks to completely dismantle the military by 1960. Only the prestige of being capable of providing troops to UN saved the day. This went on till 1962. Also during this time the military was vilified to the people. That's a huge reason why in India itself WW2 British Indian Army is not well known. All this changed when fire natio- ahem China attacked and won 1962 war. It was a brutal wake up call. The military would finally be given priority. And during 1965 war, it’s performance saw a drastic improvement in competency, albeit it still was far from satisfactory (From an Indian standpoint, not Russian, for them it’s a shockingly efficient performance, heh). The watershed moment came in 1971 war. This is the time India became, imo, one of the best militaries of modern era. Look at modern Ukraine, and you will understand just how stunning it is to do a 14 day blitzkrieg campaign and winning the war with very little casualties. And this was also a very "clean" war with India stopping genocide. Ever since then, the military has become beloved by the people. The subsequent wins in 1984 Siachen wars, 1999 Kargil war, 1988 Maldives operation (our version of Operation Just Cause) has only increased that. The Counter Terrorism ops have also worked well on behalf, with Northeast, Maoist, and Kashmir insurgency both being in the decline. Granted, nothing is rosy (Operation Pawan was a disaster) but all in all, India has an extremely capable military now.

Since retiring I fill my time making up 'toy soldier sets' for less well off folks. Just done one for a lad who's family hail from NW India so I based it on the 4th Indian. Another friend';s dad was in charge of a Scottish light AA unit attached to the division (apparently the Scots and the Indians got on well) and the official history makes interesting reading, those chaps had quite a war. One thing not mentioned in the video is that they were the only unit not to receive a single compliant regarding the abuse of civilians. Most armies in North Africa treated the locals badly but these chaps were true warriors, using their strength to protect the vulnerable. They deserve to be remembered.

Best war history channel on YT! Thx... binge watching and then some.

You know there's just not enough recognition for our commonwealth Allies, the Canadian's, the Aussies, the New Zealanders and the Indian's, etc; Great video, keep up the good work.

Very good video, you have a new sub.

This division was converted from 4th infantry to 4th RAPID mechanised division in the 80s.

The Red Eagle Division is still one of the Apex Divisions of the Army. This decorated Division is the Spearhead of Indian Army in the western sector against Pakistan under the Indian Army’s First Strike Corps. I hope you are able to do more videos on the Indian military from an unbiased point of view.

Nice to see something on here about the fighting 4th Indian Div 👍 that was a neat overview.

I am glad that the Indian contribution in World War II is being brought forth in this video , because it is just natural that Western sources will write and show what their own people did in such a huge historical event , but then there is the also natural risk of over representing their role and under representing that of people not being part of these sources , which causes historical misrepresentations which can be pretty serious sometimes, and also the risk of just being plain ungrateful exists , besides.

I seem to be forever dehydrated for further knowledge that peaks my mind, thanks for quenching the thirst. Cool Channel.

Great video. Love from India

Go India!!!!

I am currently reading "Tears in the Darkness," by Michael Norman. He mentions a freighter called the Canadian Inventor used to transport Allied POWs out of Manila. Can't seem to find out anything else about it. Sounds like a ghastly experience. Well, it's getting worse. Now they are describing the Arisan Maru.

Cool fact: future President of Pakistan, Yahan Khan, infamous for his attemtled suprresion of Bengladeshi independce, served in the 4th Indian division. I read that some of the commanders in the earlu Indo-Pakistan wars were lower-level officers in the British Indian Amry. I recommend the RU-vid video by Brandon F. about the formation of the British India Army, motivations of volunteers, and challenges in World War One.

That was a great talk, its rare that the Indians get a mention in WWII. It was the British Indian army and each Division had 1 British and 2 Indian Brigades. The Indians were of many ethnic groups, Sikhs, Gurkhas, Jats, Rajputs and Dogras to name a few. The army united the different groups and they all fought remarkably well together.