History As 14th Indian Training Division
It was recognised that a major factor in early Allied defeats in Burma was the lack of training of British and Indian soldiers. Regimental training centres were unable to produce soldiers trained for any one theatre, as the battalions of a regiment were dispersed between formations and theatres all over the world. On 14 June 1943, the 14th Division was converted to a Training Division. It was stationed at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, where the terrain and vegetation matched the conditions likely to be encountered in Burma, but the comparatively mild climate allowed training throughout the year. The division was commanded by Major General Alfred Curtis. Although its purpose was to supply jungle-trained reinforcements to Fourteenth Army which controlled operations on India's eastern frontier and in Burma, it reported directly to GHQ India under General Claude Auchinleck.
Recruits who had already received basic training in regimental depots were posted to units in 14th Division, to undertake jungle training and live-firing exercises. On completion of this advanced training, they were then assigned to divisional replacement camps, ready to report to their units when required. The division also ran longer courses for officers and NCOs.
Read more about this topic: 14th Indian Infantry Division
Famous quotes containing the words history as, history, indian, training and/or division:
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“Look through the whole history of countries professing the Romish religion, and you will uniformly find the leaven of this besetting and accursed principle of action—that the end will sanction any means.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“Having resumed our seats in the canoe, I felt the Indian wiping my back, which he had accidently spat upon. He said it was a sign that I was going to be married.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The want of education and moral training is the only real barrier that exists between the different classes of men. Nature, reason, and Christianity recognize no other. Pride may say Nay; but Pride was always a liar, and a great hater of the truth.”
—Susanna Moodie (1803–1885)
“Major [William] McKinley visited me. He is on a stumping tour.... I criticized the bloody-shirt course of the canvass. It seems to me to be bad “politics,” and of no use.... It is a stale issue. An increasing number of people are interested in good relations with the South.... Two ways are open to succeed in the South: 1. A division of the white voters. 2. Education of the ignorant. Bloody-shirt utterances prevent division.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)