The Evening Star (February 22, 1946)
Civilian rioting flames anew in Bombay mutiny
British forces speeding to halt rebellion; 30 reported killed
BOMBAY (AP) – City-wide civilian riots touched off by a Royal Indian naval seamen’s mutiny flamed in Bombay today amid machine-gun fire. British troops, planes and warships converged on the city of 1,400,000, which A. E. Caffin, deputy police commissioner, declared to be in a state of “absolute rebellion.”
The mutiny continued here, but a Karachi parachute troopers with artillery fired on the HMIS Hindustan, 1,000-ton sloop seized by rebellious seamen, and forced the mutineers to run up the white flag.
In Bombay rifle and machine-gun fire crackled in many sections against mobs which beat, stoned and knifed their victims, set fire to many police and military trucks and private cars, smashed store and bank windows and went on a looting spree.
18 are reported killed
At least 18 were reported killed and 250 injured, including 165 wounded by bullets, in the rioting.
The All-India radio reported today that 30 were killed and 500 wounded, more than 100 seriously.
Mr. Caffin said in a telephone interview that violence was “going on all over.” Asked for an appraisal of the extent of the violence, he said: “It’s impossible for me to tell you. An absolute rebellion is going on in Bombay today. We are doing the best we can with the help of the military.”
He broke off the conversation without indicating whether this meant that the military was being used in efforts to control the mobs.
Heavy artillery sent in
Hundreds of British Tommies poured into the city in trucks and armored cars, with orders to fire as occasion demanded. A heavy force of bomber planes arrived at airfields ringing the city. In the harbor mutinous Indians, still in control of a flotilla of 10 small warcraft, were faced by the advance guard of a strong Royal Navy force ordered here to put down the mutiny. Heavy artillery was being sent to the city.
Two small British naval vessels, HMS Nith, an escort frigate with a normal complement of 200 men, and HMS Seabelle, a yacht-type vessel, each with 4-inch guns, steamed into the harbor.
Although the 10 sloops and frigates held by the mutineers swung on their anchor chains to bring their guns to bear on the harbor entrance, no sign could be seen from the shore that their guns were being manned.
Non-military freighters were lined up in a batch at one end of the harbor. Fishing fleets and sailboats kept their usual close ranks.
Curfew is imposed
A 9 p.m. curfew was imposed. Advanced headquarters of the southern Indian command were set up by Bombay, with Lt. Gen. R. M. M. Lockhart in supreme command of all Royal Indian Navy, Army and Air Forces as the British moved to cope with the mutiny.
War Secretary Philip Mason estimated that nearly 12,000 Indian sailors were involved in the mutiny.
Among smashed bank windows were those of the National City Bank of New York, which houses the United States Information Service, where the American flag was torn down and burned by demonstrators several days ago.
Robert Cruikshank of New York, port representative of the United States War Shipping Administration, reported by telephone that the mob in the vicinity of the National City Bank had thrown flaming torches through the gaping windows. The blazes were quenched by city firemen “who then dashed off to put out a fire somewhere else,” he said.
The National City Bank employees were marooned by the rioters, Mr. Cruikshank said.
Ultimatum to crew
Accounts from Karachi said parachute troops with artillery took up positions half a mile from the wharf, where the Hindustan was lying. An ultimatum was sent for the surrender of the crew and, when the deadline was reached, an accurate artillery fire was laid down. The mutineers replied with a random fire from their naval guns, but the paratroopers’ accurate artillery blew up the Hindustan’s battery positions and fire broke out.
Twenty-five minutes after the opening of the engagement the mutineers raised the white flag and the troopers closed in and took control of the vessel.
The surrendered crew was assembled on the jetty. A Reuters report put casualties in the engagement at four killed and 25 injured.
Efforts continued to induce besieged mutineers barricaded in naval barracks ashore m Bombay to surrender, but officials were tight-lipped.
It was known, however, that a large quantity of arms was removed from Castle Barracks, one of the besieged strongholds, during the night.
Press dispatches reported that the mutiny had spread to Vizagapatam, on India’s east coast between Calcutta and Madras, where 600 Royal Indian Navy sailors were said to have marched through the town shouting “Victory for India” and carrying Congress party flags.
Calcutta transport paralyzed
At Calcutta the situation remained unchanged in the fourth day of the strike of seamen, but the street railway system was completely paralyzed and bus service was reduced to skeleton proportions by sympathy demonstrations. Some streetcars were pelted by stones.
Aruna Saf Ali, Congress Party leader in Bombay, wired Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress Party executive touring the northern United Provinces: “The naval strike situation is serious. You alone can control the situation and avoid tragedy. I request your immediate presence in Bombay.”
The southern section of Bombay, where many wealthy families live, was not much affected by the riots, but the northern half was a place of terror.
Police and soldiers used machine guns when hard pressed, and calls were gent out for more doctors and nurses at the hospitals.
Many people were marooned in their places of business.
Fire barricades flamed in the streets. To the bonfires of rubbish were added hats and neckties stripped by the demonstrators from their Indian wearers as unworthy of the nationalist spirit.
But the four-inch guns of the harbor craft still were silent, with the mutinous vessels flying the “cease fire” orders and making no gestures to start the shooting.
Half a dozen Indian officers were reported being held hostage on the seized ships.
Non-commissioned personnel at the Royal Indian Air Force station at Ambala in the Punjab went on strike.
Vallabhai Patel, a right-hand man of Mohandas K. Gandhi, told a representative of striking sailors: “The advice of the Congress to the ratings is to lay down their arms and go through the formality of surrender.”
Associated Press service to Bombay newspapers encountered difficulties when messengers carrying copy were denied police protection. The messengers had been wearing khaki clothes with “AP” shoulder badges and rioters began attacking anything resembling a uniform.
Mutineers lack food, water
Reuters said a British communique described the situation at Castle Barracks in Bombay, where barricaded Indian seamen shot it out yesterday with troops, as quiet during the last 12 hours.
“A considerable amount of arms and ammunition have been removed from the mutineers’ control,” the announcement said. "The mutineers are now short of food and water.”
Reuters added that a post office was set afire, grain shops looted and two tram shelters burned.
Riots spread quickly through the city after a lull during the early morning hours. A mob broke windows in a British chain department store. Machine gun fire dispersed the crowd for a time, but it quickly gathered again.
Rioting mobs swept down Pherozshah Mehta Road, one of Bombay’s busiest streets, looting shops and stoning Europeans. Demonstrators bearing flags of the Congress Party and Moslem League hurled missiles at military trucks and automobiles.
Street car and bus transportation was virtually paralyzed by the demonstrations, which Mr. Caffin said were going on all over the city.
Strikes in rail workshops
Some 60 textile mills were closed by strikes, which also were extended into some railway workshops.
St. Xavier’s College was closed by a student strike, and a movement was under way for a strike in all Bombay schools.
The Bombay Free Press Journal, meanwhile, criticized Vice Adm. Sir John H. Godfrey, commander of the Royal Indian Navy, for “letting the cauldron boil over.” The Nationalist newspaper declared editorially that the “ratings (sailors) have endured much with infinite patience.”
“What after all were the British officers that came out to boss it over them?” the newspaper asked. “They were the rejects of the British forces.”