Which British units were left in India before and at the time of Partition?

Some more information on page 134 of this book

 

Well done BJRel.

The cited book has two other references to the RSF Journal: July 1948 pgs.11-13 (unclear what content is) and January 1949 (Vol. 16) pgs. 22-29, an article by Major A.J. Du Sautoy, on Operations Reunion I and Reunion II.

The National Army Museum does not hold any of the RSF journals, so I expect the only holder is the regimental museum (of the successor unit, the Royal Highland Fusiliers), in Glasgow. The website alas does not state if they have the journals! They do offer a research service, by volunteers for £20 and this link includes a sample product (from WW1): Research | The Royal Highland Fusiliers Their general email is: museum@rhf.org.uk and I have just asked if they have the journal.

 

A dire TV evening so back to searching for more, this time concentrating on the named RSF Adjutant in 1947, Major Arthur John Du Sautoy. His obituary in the RHF Journal in has a short biography of his service and a commentary (reproduced in full):

From: http://www.rhf.org.uk/JOURNAL/RHF2005.pdf

 

Thank you. That's interesting - my father was in hospital in Meerut, so that would make sense if the Battalion were based there at the time (August 1947).

 

I did look yesterday for the RSF CO in 1946-1947, Lt.Col. John Delano-Osborne and found little. His father was a WW1 veteran of note, he married in 1940 in Bombay and nowt else.

Regarding British military hospitals as independence loomed and the number of British personnel shrank what was once a large operation would have scaled down dramatically. There is a website on such hospitals, something scarlet finders? Another member, now awhile ago had a similar question, not in India and it was clear individual records were not available.

Ah, the website is: Hospitals WW2 - Scarlet Finders This lists a large number of British General Hospitals, with a a number in India, which reduces and not one at Delhi or Meerut.

There is a short thread on hospitals, where the focus is the nurses: Queen Alexandra's Military Nursing Service for India It refers to:

There was a hospital at Meerut, and you can quickly see those references.

 

Re: s/a suspended animation. I don't have the exact definition but a clear example.
67th Field Regt RA (TA) was placed in suspended animation in Fayed Egypt in January 1946.
The actual unit with the same members re-appeared in 1947 as 267 SP Regt RA (TA).
SP referred to their being equipped with Sexton Self Propelled 25 pounder Guns.
In 1961 they became 267 Field Regiment armed once more with 25 Pounder Field Guns.
The MoD eventually got them though, as they were disbanded in 1969 replaced by 214 Battery Anti Aircraft equipped with missiles.
While still in Worcester, their Regimental History displays no connection to the 67th,
Even though their archives contain documents and photographs placed there by the men of the 67th as late as 2004.
Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.

 

Thank you - I did manage to come across "Scarlet Finders" and was hoping for more interesting links but I think you're right, individual records are not accessible (or not even still existing). Some things will stay a mystery!

 

Checking a so far unread book, 'Partition: The story of Indian independence and the creation of Pakistan in 1947' by Barney White-Spunner there is a reference on pg.8 to General and Viceroy Wavell:

On pg. 253 he refers to the RSF being rushed to Delhi, on the 6th September 1947; ostensibly to protect British lives, although none were threatened.

On pg.276 he refers to Jinnah (by then Pakistan's Prime Minister) accepting an invitation to a RSF regimental dinner just before they sailed home; a man not known for accepting such an invitation and who so impressed he toasted the regiment.

This dinner could have been in India, as I discovered (Post 18) the RSF left India on 28/12/1947. Given what had happened during Partition I would be surprised if Jinnah would have visited India. So did the RSF actually leave from Karachi, now Pakistan's main port?

 

Post 18 also refers to the 2nd East Lancashire Battalion as:

Their troopship 'Empress of Australia' returned to the UK on 20th January 1948. See photo: https://www.shutterstock.com/editor...giments-brigadier-j-w-pendlebury-col-1441077a The troopship left Bombay on 28th February 1948, which would have been the Somerset Light Infantry's departure; so I expect Bombay was the previous port visit and not Karachi. See: RMS Empress of Australia (1919) - Wikipedia

Wiki refers to the RSF and East Lancs being brigaded together in WW2 1940-1945. See: 29th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia Another Wiki refers to the East Lancs being with the brigade 1943-1945. See: East Lancashire Regiment - Wikipedia

 

I requested Royal Scots Fusiliers ward diary for 1947 from the National Archives, which has come through today. Now that it has been digitalised it may be available for others to download from National Archives (WO268/395). I have only just started to read it but can see that the "jungle" reference in my father's notes was actually Kalsi, and the battalion was rotated between there and Delhi every 6 weeks (until 31st March). Lord Mountbatten attended a "divine service" in April 1947, so my father may have seen him after all

 

Many Royal Artillery units were placed in suspended animation - and continue to be as the Army has shrunk.

In theory an artillery regiment or battery can be disbanded, created, or renamed by a beauraucrats decision. However, regiments and batteries are also human organisations whose activities are supported by collective charitable activity. Equipment accommodation and pay is from Public funds. Other things are provided by service charities - Regimental and battery funds. These funds may pay for a tuck shop, sports equipment and own property, which can include collections of mess silver and pictures. Some of the artillery units origonally raised in India by the East India Company had lots of valuable silver, paintings and medals. Suspended animation kept the ownership of the property within the wider Royal Regiment, whose depot at Woolwich once contained lots of property from batteries in S/A.

If the Royal Artillery has authorisation to create a new battery they can re-animate a historic battery and allow the new battery to assume the traditions of the old, taking on its funds and property. This is all in the name of traditions even if there has been a gap of several years and the new battery has a completely different job, such as administering the personnel of a Regimental HQ or training recruits.

 

Here is the ward diary entry regarding the plane crash the RSF assisted with.

There's a detailed account of events in October 1947 (after my father had left), in regard to extradition of Europeans from Delhi. This section does mention other regiments involved:

 

Following a request for help into a soldier / NCO serving with the 2nd battalion Black Watch in India, I did some research and it is copied over (shown below). The individual soldier thread is: RSM Crofts. Black Watch.

The 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch appear in posts 4, 6 & 12; they left from Karachi, then in newly independent Pakistan on the 27th / 28th February 1948. Pakistan being independent from 14th August and India the 15th August 1947.

I am not familiar with the battalion's movements in India, it is possible Schofield's history may have more - I only used a Google Books limited entry.

Kalyan is a city within the Bombay (now Mumbai metropolitan region). See: Kalyan - Wikipedia and there is a poor map on: Mumbai Metropolitan Region - Wikipedia Elsewhere it states it is 54 kms or 34 miles from Bombay. Kalyan did (and probably still) have an army cantonment and railway station. Just why he was there is unknown to me.

There was a major British Army transit camp @ Deolali, north east of Bombay; checking mapping it is some distance from Kalyan. Perhaps he was lucky to avoid there, it was not a popular place to stay (there is a thread here I think).

The battalion's history in India is partly documented in the first three pgs. of: https://www.indianmilitaryhistory.org/regiments/Indian Army AirborneSF.pdf There is also this, which shows them involved on North-West Frontier duties:

Wiki has very little on their part in WW2 and has this for post-war:

From: Black Watch - Wikipedia

See a very short history, including their service with the Chindits: Victory in Japan - The End of World War Two - theblackwatch.co.uk

One Indian historian refers to the Black Watch being involved in the response to the Royal Indian Navy mutiny, for five days in February 1946 after an Indian Army battalion "shot wide". See pg.48 in https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/War_in_the_Indian_Ocean/Tqr8r7EB18wC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq="kalyan"+++"black+watch"&pg=PA48&printsec=frontcover

Wiki has a detailed entry for the mutiny (now renamed as an uprising) and the Black Watch were active at Karachi. See: Royal Indian Navy mutiny - Wikipedia

 

An update on the departure of the 1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry, the last British infantry battalion to leave India after its independence on 28 February 1948. They left aboard the troopship Empress of Australia, heading for the UK. From: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edit...mpire+Halladale"&pg=PA106&printsec=frontcover

 

Last night C4 broadcast a one-off hour long (47m) documentary; the summary:

Link: India 1947: Partition in Colour: Episode 1 - All 4

There are number of professional historians commenting, both British and Indian.

For this forum there are a few film clips of British troops, notably tanks and infantry deployed to Calcutta after the communal rioting in August 1946 between 1400-1415. For background see: The Calcutta Riots of 1946 | Sciences Po Violence de masse et Résistance - Réseau de recherche

 

My opening post in January 2019 refers to a book 'Partition: The story of Indian independence and the creation of Pakistan in 1947', the author being a retired British Army General, Barney White-Spunner. Well, I finally got to read it last month. Below are my limited notes on the book, notably what I learnt about the role or inactive role of the British troops in India before and after partition.

Introduction

The independence of Pakistan and India occurred on the 14th / 15th August 1947.

I have had a long interest in the British-Indian Army and since retirement have researched a number of obscure episodes in the history of this army. One concerned an Indian Army battalion leaving Thal, a post on the North-West Frontier after Partition and their long, dangerous overland journey to Bombay.[3] The research aroused my interest in military events around Partition and the final withdrawal, in Operation Curzon, in December 1947 of the Pakistani Army from the tribal areas (which became known as the FATA).[4]

British troops, armour and infantry, were deployed to Calcutta in August 1946 after horrendous communal rioting.[6]

I have added footnotes with additional information and research. Some have disappeared after editing.

Notes

1. Pg. 8 New Year’s Day 1945 General and Viceroy Wavell dined with the (1st Battalion) Royal Scots Fusiliers[7] in Delhi.

2. Pg. 16 Operation Embrace was an exercise ordered by Wavell to General Auchinleck, the CinC India; to consider ‘how prepared the army was to deal with a complete breakdown. The results of Operation Embrace were used to draw up plans to deal with a complete breakdown.’ The footnote states a copy is in The British Library L/MIL/17/5/1816.

3. Pgs. 31-32 In February 1946 a (2nd) Black Watch battalion was deployed to end the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay and in May after a police mutiny in Bihar British troops intervened.

4. Pg. 35 On 21/1/1947 an Emergency Planning Committee was tasked to evacuate 100k British and European civilians and 63k British military and those serving in the Indian Armed Forces.

5. Pg. 107 Number of British troops shown as 50k in 1947.

6. Pgs. 144-146 Refers to the August 1946 deployments to Calcutta of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, the Yorks and Lancashire and the East Lancashire Regiment. They did most of the security work, alongside Rajputs (from another part of India) and Gurkhas, of whom 32k were serving in the Indian Army, six battalions abroad and twenty-one in India. Plus, the plans made by Operation Embrace, incorporating the impact of the mayhem in Calcutta. Six mobile British brigades, with 30k soldiers, were key to the plans and some staff saw that British troops were only there to protect Europeans – ‘a continuing hangover from the Mutiny’.

7. Pg. 150 the author writes: ‘As the bloody and violent days of May ground on, there appeared to be an increasing reluctance from the key players to use the one force that might be able to enable the transfer power to happen with minimal bloodshed.’

8. Pg. 172 There was agreement that all troops would move to the successor state to which they belonged by 15/8/1947.

9. Pg. 173 Just as the need for the Army became clear it was being reorganised.

10. Pg. 177 Correspondence between Whitehall and Delhi concluded that British troops should not be used for internal security duties after 15/8/1947 unless requested by the new governments.

11. Pg. 178 Auchinleck, Commander in Chief, would argue in June-July 1947 that he could not guarantee that the army would ‘retain its cohesion or remain a reliable instrument for use to aid the civil power in the event of widespread disturbances during this period of reconstitution’[8]. Note in some places, e.g. Southern Command many battalions were single class, so were not being reorganised.

12. Pgs. 205-206 The Punjab Border Force[9] (PBF) led by General Pete Rees[10], was an all-Indian Army formation, nearly all seventeen infantry battalions were locally based, and two were from the Punjab itself. Two were Gurkhas. General Francis Tuker[11] had deployed – in Calcutta – almost continually ’with clear effects’ There was a clear political direction from London that ‘British troops could not be employed in communal disturbances to protect Indian lives but they could be if it was necessary to protect British ones’ and featured in an Indian Army Order 29/7/1947. The author writes: ‘The PBF was set up to fail from its inception’. Note Rees’s post-Partition report is in Sussex University Library with his other papers[12].

13. Pg. 218 British troops since August 1946 (Pg. 218 In the first two weeks of August 1947 five British, two Gurkha and six Indian (none from Bengal) were on patrol)[13].

14. Pgs. 227-228 Refer to two incidents after 15/8/1947 in Pakistan of Indian soldiers who now were stationed alongside former comrades, and the regiments ensured their Indian comrades left safely.

15. Pgs. 243-244 Refers to Indian / Pakistani army units taking sides, even shooting at each other and Indian state forces joining in the mayhem.

16. Pg. 252 Refers to a September 1947 incident at Peshawar, a month after independence, now in Pakistan, where a Pathan soldier had no hesitation in firing a Bren gun, when a Muslim mob attacked a civilian hospital[14].

17. Pg. 253 The Royal Scots Fusiliers were rushed to Delhi, in September 1947.[15]

18. Pg. 367 The British brigades[16] were based at: Meerut (United Provinces), Calcutta, Bangalore, , Deolali (near Bombay), , Karachi and Jullunder (Punjab). In total eighteen infantry battalions, five artillery regiments, three armoured regiments and logistic support[17].

19. Pg. 332 John Christie and family were at Simla[18] (now Shimla), a hill station that was the British capital of India in the summer months. In December 1947, few unprotected Muslims were left to kill and they moved back to Delhi, in a convoy escorted by the Royal Scots Fusiliers[19]. Christie is the author of a book ‘Morning Drum’, published 1983, available locally in UK.

The author’s Conclusion – with my comments

The author considers whether the key British leaders, civil, military and Viceroy Lord Mountbatten, could have done more.

My caveat: This is a complicated aspect and is not included here.

The author concludes that earlier, firmer action in the Punjab where the mayhem took root could have made a difference. Citing the author: The British and Indian armies ‘could have significantly limited if not wholly prevented’ the terrible bloodshed (estimates vary from 100k-1m).

My final comment: What an epitaph for the British-Indian Army? In August 1947 500k soldiers stood idle (the author's number), British, Gurkha, Indian and Pakistani.


[1] Publisher’s summary: Partition and reviews on: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N74O0LB/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1

[2] See: Barney White-Spunner - Wikipedia

[3] In 2018 the research was published as an article in ‘Durbar’, the journal of the Indian Military History Society, which disbanded just before Covid’s arrival.

[4] Mentioned in: Where did brigades go? Vanished? Why and Who disbanded? and the Royal Engineer’s role in: https://www.nzsappers.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/1948-September.pdf

[5] See: Which British units were left in India before and at the time of Partition?

[6] An August 2022 C4 documentary showed the footage (see last post in above thread) and background article on a French academic website: The Calcutta Riots of 1946 | Sciences Po Violence de masse et Résistance - Réseau de recherche

[7] Battalion id’d using: Royal Scots Fusiliers - Wikipedia and Royal Scots Fusiliers - Regiment History, War & Military Records & Archives The Bn. Moved to Nicholson Barracks, Delhi in August 1945 and left India 28/12/1947. From: British Army units from 1945 on - Royal Scots Fusiliers

[8] Citing the Official HMSO twelve volume history ‘Transfer of Power (Pub. 1970), no pg. or vol. number cited.

[9] See: Punjab Boundary Force - Wikipedia

[10] See: Thomas Wynford Rees - Wikipedia No obituary was readily found.

[11] See: Francis Tuker - Wikipedia No obituary was readily found.

[12] See: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/9ffd3ed0-1b6b-3512-803c-2dabdd2fb292 Other papers are at the British Library: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/45dda089-4eee-4837-ac2e-f2dc03659e7b

[13] See Post 3, which details the units citing Tuker’s book: http://www.ww2talk.com/index.php?th...ia-before-and-at-the-time-of-partition.75562/

[14] My own research has found examples in different places in the North-West Frontier Province: the 3/4th Bombay Grenadiers leaving Thal, with several dead, the 2/15th Punjabis (with a Khattak MG company) rescued them and a Muslim company was forcibly removed from them later The 1/4th Ghurkha Rifles were ambushed leaving Wana, with twenty-seven dead and finally escaped with help from the South Waziristan Scouts. Details with me, in an article not available online.

[15] It is unclear using online sources when they left Delhi. From: https://british-army-units1945on.co.uk/infantry/royal-scots-fusiliers.html This covers all the known deployed units in some detail, including when they left. In September 1947 the Bn. Was based at Meerut. From Post 23 in: http://www.ww2talk.com/index.php?th...he-time-of-partition.75562/page-2#post-982820 and citing an obituary for the 2IC in: http://www.rhf.org.uk/JOURNAL/RHF2005.pdf Two other companies came from 1st Royal Scots and 2nd East Lancashire.. See Post 32, which cites the RSF’s 1947 War Diary WO268/395 (now digitised) is NT TNA that number. The post’s author states the TNA record states: Instructions: Re: WO 268/395 1 Bn Royal Scots Fusiliers 1947 Jan - Dec (War Office: Far East Land Forces: Quarterly Historical Reports: India: 1 Bn Royal Scots Fusiliers). Post 13 refers to Dr. Marston in review refers to two British battalions in September 1947 being moved to quell communal disorder.

[16] See Post 8 & 12 refer to (official) British Army records showing dispositions and more: http://www.ww2talk.com/index.php?th...ia-before-and-at-the-time-of-partition.75562/

[17] At the time of writing I have not matched the numbers of British units, cited in Posts 8 & 12, to the six brigades the author refers to.

[18] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimla

[19] An obituary of a RSF officer states: ‘The battalion, the last of the British Raj, left Delhi in 1948 after a final parade taken by the Governor-General, Earl Mountbatten’. From: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12081004/Major-Gordon-Wilmot-obituary.html

 

Screenshot above from WO268/395 showing departure dates for RSFs - and the name of the ship that carried them home. Wikipedia also confirms the ship's role:

"Notably, she ferried home the last British soldiers away from Bombay, just after they symbolically passed through the Gateway of India on 28 February 1948 following Indian independence in 1947." With this final act, centuries of British military presence in India were brought to an end.[11]

Nice photo of the ship at Hamburg-Amerika' SS Tirpitz / Canadian Pacific's RMS Empress of Australia 1913 to 1952

Hope that helps with something!

BJRel

 

Regarding the RSFs being rushed to Delhi - they had been about to leave for the UK:


I would be happy to share more of the war diary but not sure about the NA's stance on copyright as it hasn't been released as a public document......

BJRel

 

In this thread: Which British units were left in India before and at the time of Partition? the activity of the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers (RSF) appear.

The RSF was one of the last British Army formations to leave India, based in Delhi, with a particular role in Operation Reunion 1, 2 & 3, the evacuation, in October 1947, after Partition and the independence of India and Pakistan of British civilians, families and some officers.

Thanks to a forum member I have now read two articles in the RSF’s regimental journal (July 1948 and January 1949). The later article is the most comprehensive.

Operation Reunion was planned in September 1947, to evacuate European civilians and military families isolated in the Punjab and the Himalayan foothills in three sorties, two by the RSF, first to Simla or Shimla (a Himalayan hill station) and secondly to Lahore / Kulu Valley[1]. The 2nd East Lancashire went to the Dheradun [2] area (nothing else is mentioned about this).

The RSF being based in Delhi were aware that a million Hindu and Sikh refugees had arrived, seeking safety after Partition – and on 28/8/1947 communal rioting started, with two thousand dead within three days. Note no British troops were deployed to stop the rioting. Whilst British / Europeans had witnessed the mayhem no-one had been attacked deliberately, the operational planners knew this could change: ‘an incident or the desire for loot might precipitate a dangerous situation’.

The RSF, with five hundred soldiers, were the only British troops in Delhi; apart from some headquarters personnel and the nearest British units were five hundred miles away.

The January 1949 article refers to the RSF only having three hundred and fifty soldiers by October 1947 [3], so they could only allocate sixty-five men from ‘B’ Company, led by the battalion’s second in command, Major Arthur John Du Sautoy (the article’s author).

The RSF assembled a road convoy, with sixty vehicles – including buses (with Hindu drivers), trucks – twenty were for baggage - and support vehicles; with one hundred and sixty men – including medical staff, mechanics and military police motorcyclists.

Operation Reunion 1 was to the hill station town Simla, a five hundred mile round trip, leaving Delhi on 7/10/1947. A river crossing in full flood posed problems and the convoy split, the passengers plus escort went onto Ambala, where an Indian Army Ghurkha company helped with the overnight camp. The convoy reached Delhi on 10/10/1947, to discover no-one had prepared for the arrival of three hundred passengers and eighty tons of baggage.

More British troops had arrived in Delhi; a company of the Royal Scots (from Karachi) and the 2nd East Lancashire (from Calcutta).

Operation Reunion 2 left Delhi for the Punjab on 15/10/1947, using the RSF’s ‘B’ Company again; presumably with a similar set of vehicles and supporting staff. The expectation was that a hundred passengers and thirty tonnes of baggage would be collected. The Hindu bus drivers insisted – when the unimaginable scenes were seen nearing Lahore – on each bus having two RSF soldiers aboard.

At Jullunder the convoy was hosted by the 4th Indian Division (now commanded by Indian officers) and their route through Amritsar to Lahore was held for them – as a refugee convoy of a quarter of a million was heading west to Pakistan.

Upon arrival in Lahore the overnight camp was within the grounds of the exclusive, Europeans-only Lahore Club and on 18/10/1947 the convoy left from Lahore Cantonment for Dhariwal [4], where they stopped overnight in a (woollen) factory cantonment, guarded by two hundred ex-Ghurkhas; then onto Dalhousie, where an abandoned Indian Military Hospital was found.

On 20/10/1947 the convoy left Dalhousie [5], with one hundred passengers (half of them children) and twenty-five tonnes of baggage (six tons belonging to one Indian Civil Servant). They reached Amritsar and Jullunder, this time without help from the 4th Indian Division, so it took five hours to cover twenty miles passing through refugees.

There was one incident where a small RSF party, with one officer, were stopped by Patiala State Forces (complete with armoured cars) and accused of opening fire in Patiala State [6]. This was denied and the intervention of an Indian Deputy Prime Minister at the scene enabled safe passage onward.

The convoy reached Delhi on 23/10/1947 and camped at the former British Military Hospital.

The two convoys had travelled fifteen hundred miles and collected six hundred passengers.

Operation Reunion 3 was launched at the end of October 1947, the RSF used a transit facility at the former British Military Hospital in Delhi, to receive British / European refugees being evacuated by air from those areas of Kashmir affected by fighting between irregular and regular armed formations.

On 5/11/1947 the RSF hosted an official farewell party, with fireworks; followed on 9/11/1947 by an Armistice Day Service; and on 24/11/1947 they mounted the last Guard of Honour for Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck (the last British-Indian Army Commander in Chief). On 19/12/1947 fifty man detachments each from the RSF and East Lancashire attended Lord Mountbatten’s Governor-General’s Parade. On 22/12/1947 the East Lancashire Regiment and Headquarters British Troops India plus Pakistan left Delhi.

The RSF’s departure to Bombay by train from Delhi was delayed, due to the Indian driver’s exhaustion and lack of any water aboard – it had been ‘forgotten’. The journey took two and half days, to enable their rendezvous with their transport ship and they arrived two hours late on 24/12/1947. They left India on 28/12/1947, on HMT Empress of Australia, arriving in Liverpool on 14/1/1948.

By March 1948 the RSF had shrunk to one hundred and fifty soldiers (fifty soldiers with time left to serve were transferred to another Scottish battalion serving in Palestine, leaving their ship at Suez).


[1] For limited background: Kullu district - Wikipedia and the area is 60 miles north of Simla / Shimla.

[2] For limited background: Dehradun - Wikipedia It is a hill station and is 240 kms from Delhi

[3] Post 37 in the ww2talk.com thread refers to how the RSF were deployed in Delhi, on static guard duties, including two Muslim refugee camps.

[4] For some background see: Dhariwal, India - Wikipedia It is sixty-two miles north-east of Lahore.

[5] A hill station eighty-three miles from Dhariwal. Limited info on: Dalhousie, India - Wikipedia

[6] A self-governing, princely state. Limited info on: Patiala State - Wikipedia

 

Looking online for the role of 2nd East Lancashire Regiment in Operation Reunion I found an Indian publisher's copy of General Francis Tuker's 1950 book 'While Memory Serves': http://www.sanipanhwar.com/1950 While Memory Serves by Tuker.pdf

Alas little to gain about the East Lancashire Regiment.