Straddling the crossroads of China, South Asia and Southeast Asia, Burma (present day Myanmar) faced a unique predicament during World War II. Still a British colony, in January 1942 Burma was invaded by the Japanese Imperial Army, which sought control of the country to extract natural resources and further its strategic aims in China and Southeast Asia. At the same time, Burma played host to growing Burmese and Indian anticolonial independence movements that sought to throw off the imperial yoke of the British to establish independent Indian and Burmese states.
Researchers desiring to explore these complex historical currents in greater detail can do so through “World War II Records from Burma: a donation of the Burmese government, 1938-1945,” a large documentary collection housed in the Asian Division’s Southeast Asian Rare Book Collection. The variety of documents included in this collection is diverse, and it is rich in research potential for scholars in multiple fields, such as Burma Studies, Burma/Myanmar under Japanese rule during World War II, decolonization, anti-colonialism, Indian nationalism and the Indian diaspora in Burma/Myanmar and Southeast Asia.
One significant part of this multifaceted collection is a trove of original documents related to Indian Independence League (IIL) operations in Burma during the war, particularly the IIL offices in Namtu, Lashio, and Maymyo, all located in Shan state. The IIL materials contain detailed personal data on many individuals involved with the organization and also feature quasi-legal documents. One can closely follow the development of the IIL by examining its own internal documents, which reveal internal conflicts, problems besetting members during the war, and even conflict with the Japanese authorities. Considering the IIL sources are only one part of the larger collection, the possibilities are quite broad.
The Indian Independence League was an organization of Indians living outside India that opposed British rule. During World War II, after Japanese forces captured Singapore the IIL became associated with the Indian National Army. These forces became important in Burma, where, under British rule, many Indians had relocated, including in mining areas of northern Shan state, such as Namtu, Lashio and Maymyo—as one finds recorded in these documents. Important figures in the IIL movement included President of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind (Free India) Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945) and Indian National Army leader Mohan Singh (1909-1989), among others.
For context, in the Namtu area under Japanese rule, Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus lived together without separate rule for each. There were large mines in Namtu and Bawdwin; the British tried to stop the mines from operating, but the Japanese had them reopened providing interest for outside powers in the area. Many IIL texts are in English, the language of British colonialism, but some are in Hindi, Urdu, Burmese, Shan or Japanese.
The IIL documents in the collection not only provide a glimpse into society in Burma during WWII but also provide insight into the lives of recruits for the Indian National Army. Basic biographical data emerges from the IIL documents. One finds enrollment lists for Indian National Army recruits, including name, age, occupation, languages, education, marital status, dependents, even individual signatures and fingerprints in some cases. There are texts regarding soldier pay, uniforms, training, and desertions. There are even complete and lengthy training manuals about military tactics. Medical reports describe disease outbreaks among the soldiers. Some documents note the Japanese army’s interest in recruiting translators from the IIL who knew English, Burmese and Shan in the Namtu area. Documents in the collection also show that new recruits even donated property to the cause as they enlisted.
In addition to details about military recruits, items in the collection touch on the function of the IIL as a governing power in the wake of the collapse of the colonial state. The IIL opened its headquarters in Tokyo in November 1942. While it was based in Tokyo, some conferences were held in Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma, later in the war. Letters to and from the IIL offices around Namtu, Lashio, Bawdwin and Maymo reflect the IIL’s function as an entity, and also its philosophy. Letters in the collection include the motto of “Unity, Faith, and Sacrifice,” as well as the seal of the IIL. Also preserved in the collection are circulars regarding official orders from IIL leaders in Rangoon. The IIL Namtu office appears to have operated as a quasi-court in its area of control and dealt with criminal cases, a fact reflected in several police reports regarding theft or assault cases. The IIL also issued legal summons and travel passes or otherwise verified people’s identity. It also dealt with civil matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, death, inheritance, car registrations, property and business disputes. The documents allow one to peek into the lives of people in the community living through extraordinary times.
Other collection documents materials provide a window into the IIL’s recruitment efforts, with young people being one of its target audiences.
“Youths! Golden Opportunity to Join the youth Movement. To fight for your freedom. To drive out the Anglo American from India…”
The commitment necessary to be a part of the IIL is articulated in the pledge for recruits.
“Pledge: I hereby voluntarily and of my own free will join and enlist myself in the Civil volunteers organization of the Indian Independence League. I solemnly and sincerely dedicate myself to India and hereby pledge my life for the [cause of] freedom. I will serve India and the Indian Independence Movement to my fullest capacity even at the risk of my life. I will regard all the Indians as my brothers and sisters without distinction of religion language and territory. I will faithfully and without hesitation obey and carry out all the orders and instructions given to me by Indian Independence League and will carry out all just and lawful commands of superior Officers and under whom I may be requested to serve, from time to time.”
This collection preserves original documents important for understanding the development of Indian nationalism abroad, and especially in the Burma and Southeast Asian diaspora. These promoted the viewpoint of the independence movement, such as a text meant to be read in public about the Indian Rebellion of 1857, an uprising/insurrection of military sepoys and (later) civilians, which the IIL called the “First War of Independence.” Many letters began or ended with the phrase “Jai Hind” (Victory to India). Others celebrated “Martyrs Day in Memory of Gallant Heroes” to commemorate those who died fighting for the liberation of India from British rule. Others regard the Indian national anthem “Hindi Qaumi Tarana” and parades held for the first anniversary of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind, a government set up in Japanese controlled areas during World War II.
A few texts share Japanese accounts of World War II, such as one report on the October 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. The Japanese report includes a list of Allied ships and aircraft that were destroyed. Other texts contain speeches by Japanese figures that provide their perspective on the war. A conference in “Syonan” (Singapore) included among its resolutions “WHEREAS it is the objective of the War of Greater East Asia to destroy forever British and American Imperialism in Asia and thus emancipate the Asiatic people from the Anglo-American yoke, and to realise the goal of complete independence…”
Some materials document conflict between Indians living in Namkhun, near Bawdwin in Shan state, and the Japanese army. One set of texts mentions a dispute arising from Japanese soldiers’ slaughtering of cattle owned by Hindu residents of the area. This upset the residents for religious reasons.
“We have to inform you with regret that … some soldiers of the Imperial Nippon Army went to our places and forced us to give our milk cows and bulls for military use and threatened us by aiming their rifles at us because we did not agree in giving the cattle for killing purposes.
Being a Hindu, it is quite against the principles of our religion and we are very sorry to say that we were oppressed by the Nippon soldiers and Kachin Policemen and on top of it we were compelled by force at the bayonets point to drag our cows to Bawdwin.”
This group was forced to accept payment for the slain cattle despite trying to refuse compensation. Other conflicts concerned labor and taxes owed by Indians to the Japanese. Politics could also be a source of tension as one text mentions the need for members giving speeches at IIL meetings to have their speeches censored ahead of time to ensure that “communal and religious matters must not be touched on.” There are also texts regarding internal conflict within the IIL Namtu working committee.
Other documents mention the poverty people were enduring in the war. Inflation and the high cost of food, especially rice, is a concern that appears frequently. Cattle died of rinderpest. Some texts give an idea of how dangerous a time it was, such as a description of how unaccompanied women and children were unable to travel alone.
The collection also includes newspaper clippings of the Rangoon Times and Rangoon Post. These deal with subjects including tax policy, trade, parliament, Indian immigration to Burma, visiting Chinese delegations, the Burma-China road, rice control and education.
The many examples of material regarding the Indian Independence League discussed here represent just one small part of the entire collection of “World War II Records from Burma.” With material important for study of the IIL, Indians under Japanese rule in Burma, and Indian nationalism in Southeast Asia/beyond India, this collection holds great potential for future research by scholars working on various topics and subfields.