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, indian, training and/or division:
“I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“Our Indian said that he was a doctor, and could tell me some medicinal use for every plant I could show him ... proving himself as good as his word. According to his account, he had acquired such knowledge in his youth from a wise old Indian with whom he associated, and he lamented that the present generation of Indians “had lost a great deal.””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It’s [motherhood] the biggest on-the-job- training program in existence today.”
—Erma Bombeck (20th century)
“If the technology cannot shoulder the entire burden of strategic change, it nevertheless can set into motion a series of dynamics that present an important challenge to imperative control and the industrial division of labor. The more blurred the distinction between what workers know and what managers know, the more fragile and pointless any traditional relationships of domination and subordination between them will become.”
—Shoshana Zuboff (b. 1951)