Earlier this week, during his official visit to Poland, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes at the monument dedicated to the Battle of Monte Cassino. Polish troops that took part in the battle in Italy in the Second World War had a substantial number of Indian soldiers.
PM Modi’s visit to the Monte Cassino monument is an opportune moment to reflect upon the Indian participation in the battle. The Allied forces faced a severe test against the well-entrenched Germans. They ultimately gave way only after five long months of bitter fighting and the destruction of the historic monastery at Monte Cassino by Allied firepower.
Indian Army’s participation at Monte Cassino
No less than three Indian Infantry divisions—the 4th, 8th, and 10th Indian Divisions—were deployed in the fighting in the Italian theatre of war. Also in action was the 43rd Independent Gurkha Brigade. The total number of Indian soldiers in Italy was more than one lakh. They were the fourth largest in numbers after British, French, and US forces. As many as 5,782 Indian soldiers were killed in the Italian theatre of war.
At Monte Cassino, the 4th Indian Division, the Red Eagles, a formation sign that the Division carries to this day, took part in the action. The Gurkhas were the most popular among the troops that fought at Monte Cassino, and the regimental folklore of the battalions and regiments that took part in the battle is full of mesmerising stories.
In his article ‘How to Destroy a Monastery, ‘ author and former soldier Peter Caddick-Adams mentions an account of the 4th Gurkhas written by John Masters, the celebrated novelist of later years.
“John Masters wrote of a Gurkha patrol in the vicinity of Cassino who, ‘after slipping by two enemy sentries in the dark of the night … found the other four Germans of the post asleep in a row in a barn. They beheaded the two men on the inside, but left the two on the outside to sleep – to wake up, to try to rouse their comrades … It was a brilliant improvisation, which went straight to the unlovely heart of psychological warfare,” writes Peter quoting John Masters.
The 4th Indian Division was among the most experienced divisions in the theatre. It had participated in military actions against Italians in the Western Desert in Operation Compass in Abyssinia and Eritrea, French Vichy forces in Syria, and the Eighth Army in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia.
The Red Eagles were de-inducted from Egypt and deployed to Italy in January 1944. They were commanded at the time by Major General (later Lt Gen) Francis Tuker, who had been at the helm since 1941.
“The 4th Indian Division had been led since December 1941 by Major General Francis Tuker – known as ‘Gertie’ to his friends: a bright, scholarly former commander of 1/2nd Gurkhas. Said to possess a ‘vigorous’ though ‘sometimes unorthodox mind’, Tuker could be outspoken to the point of irritation,” writes Peter Caddick-Adams.
He goes on to add that the 49-year-old Tuker had one particular problem that directly affected the second battle for Cassino: he suffered periodically from chronic rheumatoid arthritis, which forced him to his sickbed. This also caused him to hand over command of the Division just before the offensive was to be launched and get admitted to a field hospital.
Tucker handed over command of the Division to the Commander Artillery, a Territorial Army officer, who, contrary to expectations, excelled at the task and provided an able steering hand to the Division, aided by the help that a hospitalised Tucker provided despite his illness.
When a frontal assault by the 4th Indian Division was ordered, Tucker vigorously protested from his hospital bed and insisted that air raids first flatten the enemy positions.
German propaganda on Indian soldiers
Caddick-Adams says that once the Germans discovered the presence of the Indians, “they devised and unleashed crude propaganda, in the form of printed leaflets, trying to split the cohesion of the Allied coalition effort”.
“Often these featured a picture, such as a cartoon Churchill pushing a reluctant Indian soldier towards the front; Sahibs back in Raj mistreating Indians; the ‘comfortable’ life awaiting Indian POWs who deserted to the Germans; Britons ‘robbing’ India of its national wealth; or details of Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army,” he says.
However, there was no effect of this propaganda on Indian soldiers.
Indian state forces in Italy
The Italian theatre also saw the participation of Indian state forces battalions. These battalions had been raised by the various princely states and were participating in the war effort.
The 10th Indian Division operated with the Nabha Akal (now 14 Punjab) and Jodhpur Sardar infantry battalions (later 20 Rajput and now 24 Mech).
British higher commanders in the war grudgingly gave the state forces an active role despite their exemplary performance. A note on the future employment of the state forces battalions written in March 1944 stated that “no Divisional Commander would accept any of these units (in Middle East) in their present state for inclusion in a formation that is liable to have to fight Germans”.
According to historian Mathew David Kavanagh, the Indian Army hierarchy wanted the state forces battalions to achieve the standards of regular Army battalions, which would require four to six months of training with regular units.
“However, the problem with such an approach was that to facilitate the four to six months of training the battalion needed, it would have to be relieved from its current duties. There were apprehensions that the state forces battalions had not reached the standard required for operations in Italy, despite affiliating them to a regular brigade,” says Kavanagh.
Ultimately, the Indian Army identified the four best state forces units to begin training for service in Italy as the Nabha Akal, Bhopal, Jaipur Guards, and Jaipur infantry battalions.
Indian soldiers at the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy in World War II. (Courtesy: Imperial War Museum) 
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