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Charney, Michael W. (2022) 'Royal Engineers and Military Logistics from Britain to Burma and India in World War II.' In: Kumar, Ashutosh and Roy, Kaushik, (eds.), Warfare and Society in British India, 1757–1947. London: Routledge. (War and Society in South Asia)

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Abstract

Recent work on military logistics in India during World War II have focused on the mobilisation of supply for the war effort per se, the technical operations of the railways and their impact on training railway operating companies in India, and the effect of the mobilisation of Indian Railways for the war effort on everyday society. This chapter examines new approaches during the period to the movement of troops and supply in the 1930s and the implications of changing military logistics for Indian military operations in Iraq, Burma, and on the Bengal–Assam Railway in the 1940s. Ultimately, this new approach to the negotiation of space, time, and movement through military management would be tested by American logistical operators favoured by Lord Mountbatten. Nevertheless, ‘Movement Control’ as developed by Royal Engineers would remain a cornerstone of Indian transportation systems. This continued importance raises questions about the way the impact of the war has been assessed in the context of technology in India. It also raises questions about the hegemony given in more recent literature to American globalisation and its prewar roots and the neglect of a still influential anglobalisation as termed by Niall Ferguson.

Item Type: Book Chapters
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > School of History, Religions & Philosophies > Department of History
ISBN: 9781032365961
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003347989-13
Date Deposited: 13 Jul 2022 15:23
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/37731
Related URLs: https://www.rou ... k/9781032390130 (Publisher URL)

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