Did Japan miss out on a change to conquer British India in 1942?
How succesfull would a Japanese invasion of British India have been in 1942?
Could Japan have cut off the airroute to China in 1942?
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I doubt that Japan could have had enough military capacity to conquer British India, in terms of manpower and logistics. Distances there were huge and terrain was mostly impenetrable jungle. Also war against China was draining Japanese military resources and war agains USA navy resources.
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Agree on that. Japan had to focus on China and the SW Pacific. Invasion of Australia was also out of the question of the same reasons.
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If the Japanese had tried, would the Indians have risen for freedom? No way did Japan ever have the chance of taken a significant piece of India but an uprising, complicates things.
What year was the famine?
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The Bengal Famine was in 1943 (the news about the famine became public during the fall of Mussolini) and by then Japan was already losing. The Quit India Movement uprising happened after the Congres Party called for massive noncooperation to make Britain ‘quit India’ and Gandhi was arrested in August 1942.
Perhaps Japan had other plans for India then freedom (at least when Japan was victorious). Japan had granted nominal ‘independence to Manchuria in 1931 and even if Japan promised ‘independence’ to India, how could Indians know it would mean more than Manchuria’s ‘independence’. Japan only recognized a government of independent India under Bhose in 1943 after suffering defeats at Guadalcanal and New Guinea. I think Gandhi was naive about what Japanese occupation in 1942 would have meant.
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I don’t think Japan really had that much of a chance at taking India not just due to India’s hostile terrain to the Japanese, but also Japan’s lack of resources to go deep into India. Also India’s strategic location would have made the Allies send more troops there instead of to Europe
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The British won Kohima, so the Japanese attempt to invade India failed.
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