Andaman Islands

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Veronica
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Andaman Islands

#1

Post by Veronica » 24 Sep 2004, 11:11

Does anybody know about the involvement of British troops in the Andaman Islands at the end of WW2?

Is there a good site or book with information about the history of the Andaman Islands during ww2?

Cheers!

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Peter H
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#2

Post by Peter H » 24 Sep 2004, 12:56

This link covers the Japanese capture of the Andamans in 1942:

http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/andaman.html

And War crimes on the Andamans:
THE PORT BLAIR MASSACRES

(March 23, 1942) Japanese forces occupied the British controlled Andaman Islands. They met no resistance from the local population but within hours the 'Sons of Heaven' started an orgy of looting, raping and murder. Unbelievable orgies were perpetrated in the towns and villages with women and young girls forcibly raped and young boys sodomized. In Port, eight high-ranking Indian officials were tortured then buried up to their chests in pits they were forced to dig. Their chests, heads and eyes were then prodded with bayonets after which the pit was sprayed with bullets until the helpless victims were all dead. The Director of Health and President of the Indian Independence League, Diwan Singh, was arrested and nearly 2,000 of his Peace Committee associates incarcerated in the local jail and subjected to the water treatment, electric shocks and other unspeakable forms of torture for eighty two days. Those left alive were then taken out to the country and shot and buried. After the massacre the Japanese resorted to a reign of terror, women were abducted and taken to the officers club to be raped by the officer elite. A shipload of Korean girls was brought in to participate in this 'sport'. During the three and a half years of Japanese occupation, out of the 40,000 population of Port Blair around 30,000 were brutally murdered. The small islands of the Andamans were left a scene of utter devastation. This was Japan's way of helping India get her freedom from the British.

MASSACRE ON ANDAMAN
( August 14, 1945 )

Situated midway between the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, lie the tranquil Andaman Islands. As the food shortage became acute during the last month of the war, the Japanese occupiers decided to exterminate all those who were no longer useful or employable. All were deprived of their personal possessions and household goods before being embarked on three boats. About two kilometres from the shore of the uninhabited Havelock Island they were forced to jump into the sea and swim to the beach. Most of them, around a hundred, drowned on the way and those who made it were abandoned to die of starvation. Of the original 300 who landed only eleven were alive six weeks later. The next day, 800 Indian civilians were rounded up and transported to another uninhabited island, Tarmugli. Transferred to the island in small boats, they wandered aimlessly on the beach waiting for further orders. Soon, a detachment of 19 Japanese troops arrived and what followed was one of the most hineous crimes in the annals of the Pacific war. It took the detachment just over an hour to slaughter all but two of the 800 victims by shooting and bayoneting. Next day, August 15, 1945, the day of the Japanese surrender, a burial detail of troops arrived to remove all traces of the massacre. Within twenty-four hours all 798 bodies were collected and burned in funeral pyres until only fragmented bones and ashes remained. The ashes were then buried in deep pits dug on the beach. In a gross miscarriage of justice, the Japanese officer responsible was sentenced to only two years in prison by a British Military Court.


http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/ma ... ml#pacific

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~warcr ... Island.htm

British/Indian troops landed on the Islands after the Japanese surrender,in October 1945.A prior scheme by Mountbatten to liberate the Andamans in 1944(Operation Buccaneer) was never carried out.


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August
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#3

Post by August » 02 Oct 2004, 23:49

Veronica, Andamans are known as Kala Pani ( Black waters) among Indians. Here the Britishers ran prison camps to torture and kill Indian political prisoners. This lasted until 1939, when colonial rulers had to vacate the islands. This is the standard info any Indian would give you.

Peter, THE PORT BLAIR MASSACRES bit is shocking. Cud you cite the source?

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Peter H
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#4

Post by Peter H » 05 Oct 2004, 12:47

August,
The Port Blair massacre comes from the link I referenced:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/ma ... ml#pacific

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August
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#5

Post by August » 06 Oct 2004, 06:30

Thanks Peter. I thought there was something else.

The local population of the Andamans is now down to 500 i think. they are tribals and were detested by all - Arabs, Indians and Europeans for their wild ways. They were cannibals. there is Govt of India programme to save them from extinction.

The Indian Independence League, which got aligned to Bose's Provisional Govt of India, was filled with turncoats. Bose knew that and so did Japanese. That's why some of them were persecuted by the Japanese.

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Klemen L.
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Andamans

#6

Post by Klemen L. » 07 Oct 2004, 14:02

This link covers the Japanese capture of the Andamans in 1942: http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/andaman.html
Hopefully I will be able to write soon a new renovated article about the Japanese Attack on Port Blair on the Andaman Islands. Currently I am lacking of some info from the Indian sources, which I would eagerly like to get to complete the article. But luckily I have been able to obtain about ten (10) photographs of the Japanese landing at Port Blair and two or three of them are particularly interesting because they show several Indian POWs locked under close Japanese guard in the Port Blair Jail, just a couple of days after the invasion in 1942.

lp,

Klemen

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August
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#7

Post by August » 08 Oct 2004, 10:27

thanks for the link. the pics should be interesting. the handover of the andmans to Bose was symbolic. He appointed someone in charge, but i dout he had any control. Bose visited Andamans...that pic I have been seeing since my childhood days. Bose renamed the island as Shaheed i think. "Martyr" it means. British reverted to old name and free India govt anyway was not bothered about Bose.

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Veronica
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#8

Post by Veronica » 12 Oct 2004, 23:58

Thank you very much for all the information, it has been a pleasure to read it from all of you!

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August
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#9

Post by August » 20 Oct 2004, 08:09

Thanks Veronica. I too got to know something new.


Klemen, you wanted to know about some books on the issue. I guess two were released in India recently.

1. Japanese in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands: Red Sun over Black Waters by Jayant Dasgupta.

2. Black Days in Andaman and Nocobar Islands by Robin Roy Chowdhury

Now, this once covered atrocities by both the British and Japanese . As such it is the book no 1 that should interest you more.

Both are priced around 30 40 $ and are published by Manas publication, Delhi.

Regards


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Graham Clayton
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#11

Post by Graham Clayton » 14 Jul 2011, 02:05

August wrote:Bose renamed the island as Shaheed i think
August,

Bose renamed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands "Shahid Deep" (Martyr) and "Swaraj Dweep" (Freedom) respectively.
"Air superiority is a condition for all operations, at sea, in land, and in the air." - Air Marshal Arthur Tedder.

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Peter H
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Re: Andaman Islands

#12

Post by Peter H » 14 Jul 2011, 09:38

Bose on location
Attachments
bose.jpg

Anda-manni
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Re: Andamans

#13

Post by Anda-manni » 08 Jan 2013, 13:01

Hello Klemen,

I am a German scholar working about the history of the Andaman Islands. A friend from Andaman, himself a researcher, called my attention to your contribution in this forum. We are interested in getting copies of the mentioned 10 Photographs of the Japanese landing at Port Blair. Do you think it might be possible to post or send them to me?

May I inform you that a museum about the Japanese Occupation has been recently opened in Port Blair?

See this newspaper clipping:

Inauguration of ‘Museum of the Japanese Occupation'

THE DAILY TELEGRAMS, Jan 1, 2013
Inauguration of ‘Museum of the Japanese Occupation'

Port Blair, Dec. 31

The A&N Police has conceptualized and put together ‘The Museum of the
Japanese Occupation' near the Police Lines to highlight the history of
those three dark years of suffering. The Museum will be jointly
inaugurated at 5 P.M. tomorrow (Jan 1) by Shri Gauri Shankar Pandey and
Shri Ahmad Mujtaba, who are the sons of Martyrs shot by the Japanese at
Humphreygunj.

The Director General of Police, A&N Islands in a press release here
today stated that the mainlanders and tourists are totally ignorant even
of the fact that the Imperial Japanese forces had occupied these
islands. Even the young islanders have sketchy or no knowledge about
that period, he said.

The Museum has been put together in the record time of sixteen days at a
nominal cost as a labour of love. Regimental funds of the A & N Police
were used for the purpose. Entry of the public and tourists will be free
of charge.

The DGP has requested schools to organize visits to the museum for their
students in the coming days. Contribution of any relevant exhibits and
suggestions for improvement will be welcome.

The museum can be visited between 10 A.M. and 6 P.M. on all days of the
week, the communication added.



Klemen L. wrote:
This link covers the Japanese capture of the Andamans in 1942: http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/andaman.html
Hopefully I will be able to write soon a new renovated article about the Japanese Attack on Port Blair on the Andaman Islands. Currently I am lacking of some info from the Indian sources, which I would eagerly like to get to complete the article. But luckily I have been able to obtain about ten (10) photographs of the Japanese landing at Port Blair and two or three of them are particularly interesting because they show several Indian POWs locked under close Japanese guard in the Port Blair Jail, just a couple of days after the invasion in 1942.

lp,

Klemen

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Re: Andamans

#14

Post by druzhina » 07 Feb 2013, 07:13

Anda-manni wrote:Hello Klemen,

I am a German scholar working about the history of the Andaman Islands. A friend from Andaman, himself a researcher, called my attention to your contribution in this forum. We are interested in getting copies of the mentioned 10 Photographs of the Japanese landing at Port Blair. Do you think it might be possible to post or send them to me?
Klemen can be contacted on the Pacific War 1941-1945 forum.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Soldiers

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