The Transformation of the Indian Army During the Second World War

Dr Alan Jeffreys examines the transformation of the Indian Army over the course of the Second World War.

Soldiers from the Indian Army played a vital role in halting the Japanese advance at the Battle of Kohima. Their contribution speaks to the prominence of Indian forces within the Fourteenth Army.

In this wide-ranging talk, Dr Alan Jeffreys will provide context to their service at Kohima by examining how the Indian Army transformed and developed over the course of the Second World War. He will explore how an army that was overwhelmed in Malaya, at the fall of Singapore and the retreat from Burma in 1942 managed to defeat the Imperial Japanese Army in the Burma campaign of 1944-45.

This event has been developed by the Kohima Educational Trust as part of the Kohima 80th Anniversary Weekend.

About the speaker

Alan Jeffreys

Dr Alan Jeffreys is the Head of Equipment and Uniform at the National Army Museum. His edited volume ‘The Indian Army in the First World War’ was published in paperback in October 2022. He is also a visiting research fellow at the University of Greenwich and has written and edited seven books and over 20 articles and book chapters, nearly all of which have been about the Indian Army.