Suchergebnisse

'Something in India: A Memoir of Service in the Frontier Province' by Fraser Noble is reviewed.

THE PROPOSAL THAT THERE BE A GOVERNOR-GENERAL FOR BRITAIN SEEMS IN TUNE WITH THE CHANGED SITUATION IN THE COMMONWEALTH WHERE THE LAST REMANT OF THE SENTIMENT OF THE MOTHER COUNTRY HAS EVAPORATED AND THERE IS NO LONGER THE FEELING THAT LONDON FORMS THE CENTER OF AN IMPERIAL NETWORK. THIS PROPOSAL MAY BE EXPECTED TO TO RECEIVE APPROVAL IN THE OLD DOMINIONS AS EMPHASIZING THE QUALITY OF ALL COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES. THE MAIN OBJECTION TO THIS PROPOSAL IS THAT IT IS NOT PARTICULARLY RELEVANT TO THE BIG ISSUES. THIS ARTICLE SUGGESTS THAT THE SUGGESTION IS DESIGNED MAINLY TO TAKE THE HEAT OUT OF THE DEBATE OVER THE HEIR TO THE THRONE AND TO COOL THE TENSIONS OVER THE FUTURE OF THE INSTITUION WHICH MANY HAD ASSUMED TO BE ABOVE DISPUTE, BUT NOW FIND THEMSELVES GETTING READY TO DEFEND.

On 3 May 1945, British—Indian forces landed in Rangoon. The Japanese had pulled out. The city was liberated. On 16 June there was a victory parade, though the final victory over Japan was still distant and most of their conquests were intact. Admiral Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, took the salute while detachments representing the one million men under his command passed by in massed array. Famous regiments from Britain, India and Nepal; the Royal Navy; the Royal Air Force; men from the United States Air Force. It was an impressive sight, though the ceremony took place in pouring rain. Amongst them all was a somewhat ragged band representing the Burma National Army which, having been raised by the Japanese, had fought for three months alongside the British. Watching the parade from the central dais was a young man dressed in the uniform of a Japanese Major-General, though he also wore an arm-band with a conspicuous red star. The outfit was incongruously crowned by a pith sun-helmet—a topi. Probably most foreigners present assumed he was a Chinese officer. He was actually Bogyoke Aung San, commander of the BNA.