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northface · 12-20-2006, 10:05 AM

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Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers

Now, I know British Indian Army regiments did their share, did more than their share but did they fought at the brigade/division/corps level? And regardless if they're Brits or Indian, did British Indian Army Staff Officers (Maj or above) sit in on the operational planning?

They fought at every level..

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The Indian army was the key allied fighting force in the Burma Campaign. The Indian Air Force's first assault mission was carried out against Japanese troops stationed in Burma. It was because of the efforts of the Army of India, that the westward advance of Imperial Japan came to a halt.

The formations included the Indian III Corps, Indian IV Corps, the Indian XXXIII Corps and the Fourteenth Army.

From the Battle of Monte Cassino

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On the 8th Army front, XIII Corps had made two strongly opposed crossings of the Rapido (by British 4th Infantry Division and 8th Indian Division). Crucially, 8th Indian Division engineers had by the morning succeeded in bridging the river enabling the armour of 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade to cross and provide the vital element (so missed by the Americans in the first battle and New Zealanders in the second battle)
On the right, the New Zealanders had captured Castle Hill and point 165 and as planned, elements of 4th Indian Div had passed through to attack point 236 and thence to point 435, Hangman's Hill. In the confusion of the height, a company of the 1/9 Gurkha Rifles had taken a track avoiding point 236 and captured point 435 whilst the assault on point 236 by the 1/6 Rajputana Rifles had been beaten off.

By the end of the February 17 things looked better. The Gurkhas now held Hangman's Hill (point 435), 250 yards from the Monastery, in battalion strength (although their lines of supply were compromised by the German positions at point 236 and in the northern part of the town) and whilst the town was still fiercely defended, New Zealand units and armour had got through the bottleneck and captured the station.

February 19 was planned for the decisive blow in the town and on the monastery. However, a surprise and fiercely pressed counter-attack from the monastery on Castle Hill by the impressive 1st German Paratroop Division completely disrupted any possibility of an assault on the monastery. In the town the attackers made little progress and overall the initiative was passing to the Germans whose positions close to Castle Hill, which was the gateway to the position on Monastery Hill, crippled any prospects of early success. On February 20 Freyberg called off the attack. The German 1st Parachute Division, some weeks later described by General Alexander, the Italian theater commander, in a conversation with General Kippenberger as "...the best Division in the German Army...", had taken a mauling but it had won.

On the night of February 17 the main assault took place. The 4/6 Rajputana Rifles would take on the assault of point 593 with the depleted Sussex Regiment held in reserve to pass through them to attack point 444 once 593 had been taken. In the meantime, the 1/2 Gurkha Rifles and 1/9 Gurkha Rifles were to sweep across the slopes and ravines in a direct assault on the monastery. This latter was across appalling terrain but it was hoped that the Gurkhas, from the Himalayas and so expert in mountain terrain, would succeed. This proved a faint hope. Once again the fighting was brutal

The next three days were spent stabilising the front, extracting the isolated Gurkhas from Hangman's Hill and reorganising. The exhausted 4th Indian Division and 2 New Zealand Division were withdrawn and replaced respectively in the mountains by British 78th Division and in the town by British 1st Guards Brigade. In their time on the Cassino front line 4th Indian Division had lost 3,000 men and the New Zealand Division 1,600 men killed, missing and wounded.

Africa and Italy

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The 4th,5th and 8th Indian Divisions took part in the North African theatre against Rommel's Afrika Korps. Furthermore, the 10th Indian Division took part in the East African campaign against the Italians in Somaliland and Abyssinia.

The invasion of Italy
Indian forces played a significant part in liberating Italy from fascism. The Army of India formed the 3rd largest allied force to invade Italy after the US and British forces. Again the 4th, 5th and 8th Divisions were involved, including the famous Battle of Monte Cassino.

I could give you lots of examples..but to claim that the Indian Army's contribution is any less..specially your rude comparison with Canada is unacceptable. Planning part yes there were many Indian officers in all theaters. The Italian demining campaign was led by an Indian sapper. Planning any major offensive like the ones in Italy would require Officers and people familiar with terrain, troops. Burma for example, there were not many British officers and the terrain was known by Indians, so Indians would have been in the planning process. As for the comparison with China..yes China pinned down a lot of *** troops but it was the Indians who halted their western advance even as they fought in other major theaters of conflict over 3 continents. China possibly would have remained pinned down a decade more but for the ferocious end to the Japanese and German attacks on many fronts.

Give it a break. You'll come out scathed in this sort of exchange.