Step on up here for some old-time British propaganda, put out by the Far Eastern Bureau with the purpose of rallying support for the Allies against the Axis powers during the Second World War. The “strength in unity theme” was a common anthem by the Brits toward their colonial subjects — here, young, straight-backed men of different nationalities march side-by-side under the British flag. Almost as though they were equals. Well, almost.
The fact is, the role of Indian soldiers in helping Britain was crucial – over two and a half million men from the southeast subcontinent joined the British in their fight against the Nazis, with particularly large numbers of Indian soldiers deployed in north Africa. The former commander-in-chief for the British in India said that Britain “couldn’t have come through both wars (WWI and WWII) if they hadn’t had the Indian Army.”
Six years of fighting left 87,000 Indian soldiers dead, and 3 million civilians also lost their lives. Many Indians believed that their loyalty to Britain should have brought about Indian independence — but the country refused to consider granting anything of the sort during the war. In fact, Japan repeatedly tried to use counter-propaganda in India to portray Britain as full of greedy capitalists who would continue to oppress their colonists. And although Japan managed to wrangle up some cooperation from disgruntled Indians, for the most part they were too busy being attacked by the British Indian Army to succeed in converting their opponents to their side.
