Sunday, September 6, 2009

British India Propaganda Leaflet Aganist Japan


Yesterday, I bid on Ebay for two of Japanese leaflets against British India. I missed one of them in last seconds as usual (didn't learn from my past mistakes!). Both of them were really eye catching as I hadn't seen them earlier. It was long time since I saw some India related propaganda leaflet on eBay for sale. Usually, such leaflets are sold only in specialized auctions.

The loss of one such leaflet and win for other prompted me to show some leaflet on my blog :-) Not only that it has been long time since I showed one but I also noticed that 1 out of every 10 visitor at my blog looks leaflet posts :D (encouraging for me to burn my hard earned money on these!!) As one of my friend said, "I would become Jyotirmay Kachrawala/Raddiwala (one who is trader of old/waste paper) soon if I continue doing like this."

Anyway, let's start. Today's leaflet was issued by British India targeting soldiers of Indian National Army who were fighting against Allied forces in South East Asia front with Japanese assistance. It's coded 2MPS/H2. As per Herbert Friedman's article, 2MPS/H stands for 2nd Mobile Printing Shop written in Hindustani. These were very short series and produced right at the end of war. Only seven leaflets are known to have been disseminated.

The translated version of above leaflet is as follows:

Soldiers of Indian Army

You are very much aware how Japanese treat you. You had to walk all the way from Malaya while Japanese used railways and motors for their transportation. This is how they treat you. And when you reach here then you are denied rest instead ordered to fight in front line.

You have been in such a bad situation for last three years roaming outside India. We were aware of the fact that you were in such a pathetic condition. If you cross over (switch) to our side then you can meet your old friends and return safely to India in couple of days.

Decide quickly and act immediately! If you don't act now then as Japanese retreat they will force you also to retreat and do humiliating work/action. If you remember when you were taken as prisoner of war first time then you were forced to stay hungry and do humiliating work. These are same Japanese.

This is an opportunity for you; don't let it go waste - switch side now. This is right opportunity for you to take revenge from your real enemies. Stop befriending them, put their ammunition on fire, destroy their weapons and join us. We promise you that you will return to India in couple of days.

Reverse side of the leaflet has text written in Urdu language carrying same propaganda.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

These are absolutely amazing! Thank you for sharing.
Padmini

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