One of the reasons I’m drawn to researching the Italian campaign is the diversity of the Allied units fighting in the peninsula during 1943-45. Among the British, Canadian, South African, New Zealand, Polish, American, French, North African, and Brazilian formations were three Indian Army divisions (4th, 8th, and 10th). The graph below shows the monthly ration strength of men serving in these Indian formations, which reached almost 100,000 in the fourth quarter of 1944 and did not drop below 50,000.
The bravery of the Indian formations at Cassino, on the Gothic Line, and during the final Spring Offensive is evidenced by the six Victoria Crosses awarded to their troops during the campaign.[1]
I’ve written extensively about how ENSA entertained the British troops and the work of Canadian Concert Parties in Italy, but how did the Indians relax when not fighting in Italy? Many of the Indian troops had been away from home for 3-4 years by 1944. Whilst the morale of the British troops may have been lowered by Dear John letters from home telling of infidelities with GIs or Canadians, many of the Indian troops were receiving much more disturbing news from their loved ones. Major Hunter wrote at the end of 1944:
“Indian troops are subject to a special stress in the form of letters from home telling of famine and high prices. There is some evidence that at present their rest-camp facilities are very inadequate.”[2]
In an article published in Amrita Bazar Patrika, after visiting Indian units in Italy, the reporter wrote that the main complaints were the lack of leave, food, ‘V’ cigarettes (which were “positively disliked”), lack of Indian newspapers, and lack of Urdu and Hindi books.[3] So, who bore responsibility for the welfare of Indian troops in Italy? The Indian army had their own welfare service, which was paid for by the Indian government but woefully ill-equipped and poorly resourced to take responsibility for troops in the Mediterranean as well as India and Burma. They also had their own canteen service as the NAAFI did not operate in India. However, to practically sustain the large numbers of Indian troops during a drawn-out, bitter campaign, the British Army Welfare Service had to step in. The Welfare Policy declared that “All EFI and CVWW clubs and canteens will be open only to British, Dominion, Indian and Colonial troops and their invited guests.”[4] Along with food and drink, this extended to other welfare amenities and this became policy for entertainment in March 1944:
“The Allied Forces should also be given entertainment on an equal scale with the British Forces, provided the entertainment is of a type which can be understood and enjoyed by them.”[5]
Indian films had been sent to the troops serving in Iraq and the Middle East for several years before the Italian campaign. However, Hindi and Urdu-language movies from India were often sent on 35mm reels, which could only be played in large, static cinemas. The more commonly used mobile cinemas that were in use in Italy had 16mm projectors, and so the films could not be played outside large cities or towns. To relieve boredom, formations and units created their own concert parties for ‘live entertainment’. A particularly successful example was Major King’s No.11 Rft Camp Concert Party, which toured 4th Indian Division in July and August 1944.[6] Whilst in Bari, Naomi Jacob wrote about Indian female impersonators doing an act in an officer’s club:
“The room was very hot and at the far end was a group of Indian soldiers wearing sari and with their faces made up to look like girls. The optical effect was very good. Then they began to sing, while two of them twanged the strings of some primitive looking instrument rather like a decapitated mandolin.”[7]
These ‘primitive looking instruments’ were obviously a sitar or vina. Whilst the British Army set aside £10,000 to buy musical instruments and gramophone records in early 1944, Indian equivalents needed to be sourced from Bombay. When the 4th Indian Division came out of the fighting at Casino at the end of March 1944, the Army Welfare Services struggled to find entertainment for them in their rest area. They found a small ENSA show (“Social Four”) to perform, the Army Kinematograph Service (AKS) loaned a mobile cinema for 10 days, and they got one 35mm projector and a few Indian films from No.2 District.[8] Considering their contribution to the fight for this key stronghold, this seems rather paltry for nearly 15,000 troops!
Partly driven by concerns of Indian Army morale, Fauji Dilkhush Sabha (FDS), an equivalent to ENSA was formed in New Delhi. It was led by Lt. Col. Manby, in order to bring entertainment to the many different cultures and languages that made up the Indian Army.[9] The first FDS concert party arrived in Italy from Bombay in late 1944 and by mid-1945 there were up to four performing to Indian troops in Italy and Greece. The quality of the FDS shows was mixed, with the better ones being asked to extend their 5 week tours. An all-Indian (apart from the leading lady) ENSA concert party was formed in England at the end of 1944, produced by Mr H. L. Bhandari. An article in The Stage gives us a glimpse of the act:
“Babu Rao, the hair-raising wire-walker, the charming Indian dancing of Thelma Devi, Indian songs by Aziz Balauch accompanied by the superb playing of the vina (an Indian string instrument) by Dr. N. Menon brought back memories of distant homeland to these soldiers.”[10]
Originally destined to perform in India and Burma, the Indian ENSA party was diverted to Italy to great success in February and March 1945. In fact, the authorities begged them to extend the tour and stay until the end of June.[11] I wish I had the rights to include a photo of Bhandari’s troupe – there’s a watermarked one on the Getty image store if you’re interested.
As with so many things, when it came to India, the British only got their act together too late in the day to make a real difference. With a month left of the fighting in Europe, Army Welfare Services reported that a hundred cases of books and gramophone records had arrived in Italy from India, along with 46 new 35mm Indian films. By this time, there was also a live Indian programme broadcast on the British Forces Station for Eighth Army radio that the troops could tune into.[12] In April 1945, an Amrita Bazar Patrika article notes:
“The welfare of Indian troops in the Middle East and Italy was mostly in the charge of British officers who can hardly be expected to know what welfare arrangements Indian soldiers actually want. Far better results, in our opinion, could be obtained if sensible and experienced Indian officers were put in charge of the welfare departments. Indian officers should know the precise requirements of Indian soldiers.”
A common theme that was just as applicable to wider Indian politics and nationhood, which would grow in intensity during the months to follow.
[1] See https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/when-19-year-old-indian-soldier-sepoy-kamal-ram-helped-liberate-italy-during-world-war-2-g7-summit-g7-live-5889316
[2] ‘WO 204/6724 Status of the Infantry Soldier: 8 Army Psychiatric Memoranda’, TNA [The National Archives], n.d.
[3] Tushar Kanti Ghosh, Amrita Bazar Patrika (April 11, 1945), (Calcutta;India), 77.101 (1945), JSTOR <https://jstor.org/stable/saoa.crl.34611801> [accessed 20 November 2025].
[4] ‘WO 204/6704: Welfare Finance’, TNA [The National Archives], n.d., WO 204/6704: Welfare Finance.
[5] ‘TNA WO 204/6704’.
[6] ‘WO 170/116: Administrative Echelon Army Welfare Services, 1944 Feb. - Dec’, TNA [The National Archives], n.d., WO 170/116: Administrative Echelon Army Welfare Services, 1944 Feb. - Dec.
[7] Naomi Jacob, Me and the Mediterranean, First Edition (Hutchinson & co., ltd, 1945), pp. 72–73.
[8] ‘TNA WO 170/116’.
[9] Tushar Kanti Ghosh. “Amrita Bazar Patrika (April 11, 1945).” Amrita Bazar Patrika 77, no. 101 (April 11, 1945). https://jstor.org/stable/saoa.crl.34611801.
[10] ‘ENSA Entertains Indians’, The Stage, 14 October 1944, p. 3.
[11] ‘WO 170/4110 Army Welfare Service Jan 1945 - Dec 1945’, TNA [The National Archives], n.d., TNA WO 170/4110 Army Welfare Service Jan.
[12] ‘TNA WO 170/4110 Army Welfare Service Jan’.