Delhi's 'Interservices Public Relations Directorate' and the war, 1940s

In connection with the last couple of posts on wartime Delhi, this post is on the operations of the ‘New Delhi’ based ‘Interservices Public Relations Directorate’, in the 1940s. While this is slightly off tangent, it remains relevant as a Delhi based directorate under the General Head Quarters (GHQ) of the Commander in Chief, the supreme commander of the armed forces back then. The directorate was at the heart of public relations efforts at the height of the war. 

In the early 1940s there was widespread concern that the nationalist movement, the Bengal famine and general political dissent would undermine the war effort. By producing guides such as India’s Fighting Men, the directorate sought to present a united fighting front to American and other Allied troops stationed in Delhi and across India. With a range of servicemen present in the capital, such material helped shape perceptions and regulate encounters between Allied forces and Indian troops.

The 'Martial Races Theory' underpinned representations of Indian soldiers and the guide provides information on their behaviour, customs, regiments and awards. The guide also extended its focus to the Princely states, the Royal Indian Navy and the emerging Royal Indian Air Force. The image below, for instance, shows a racialised presentation of Punjabi Muslims and Jats, described as the ‘Yorkshiremen of India’. I’ve also added an image from the guide of a map of India superimposed on Europe (which was meant to signify the importance of the Indian Empire to the war effort).