Support to Blind People - WW2 Pamphlet (India)

Today's post is on one of the advertisement pamphlet issued by Government of India during WW2 to assist blind soldiers. I don't have much historical background on it i.e. in which year it was issued or was it really a government agency publication/distribution or some private party. My guess is it was indeed some governmental organization publishing but the pamphlet doesn't give any concrete proof.

Since the text of the pamphlet is in Hindi hence I have translated them in English for consumption of my readers.

Support to Blind people

Government of India has accepted the proposal to educate Blind soldiers in Lahore's Blind School and Bombay's Victoria Memorial School.

The blind soldiers will be able to learn variety of useful craftsmanship in these schools. They will be able to develop skills which will help them spend their time working. If they wish then they can earn extra money besides their pension.

Relevant skills and quality will be:

Education Related

Read, write and be able to do calculations using specially designed books.

Craftsmanship Related

Making wooden basket, weaving clothes and placing bent tree sticks to form chairs.

These schools will teach education and craftsmanship related skills. Blind soldiers will be given following perks while they get trained in these schools:
a) Free Food and Shelter
b) 6 Rupees monthly allowance besides their pension or any income they would have earned through their skills.
c) Blind soldier and if needed his assistance will be paid for return rail transportation charges from his house or barrack where he is under treatment to school.

The duration of training will be around 9 months.

Whoever (blind soldier) would like to get admission in these schools shall place his request to his district collector.

----------------------------
Delhi Printing Works, Delhi

WW2 India Airgraph - Taj Mahal Illustration

For last couple of months, I have been reluctantly trying to build collection on WW2 India related Airgraphs. One of the reason has been high cost of these materials and not having proper catalogue to compare and find out how many such varieties are in existence. Every time, I see such Airgraph not in my collection, I am inclined to buy them but at last moment I have withdrawn because of high cost. So far, I have tried to buy only those which I think design wise are really gem and worth to be in my collection. Most likely, prices of these varieties will keep on going northwards only.

I am presenting two such Airgraphs today from my collection which have Taj Mahal as theme. Shown below is first such variety, sent by A Roper of 7th Battalion, Worcester Regiment, India Command in 1943 to Mrs. D. Adams, London. The Airgraph has censor DHC6.

The Airgraph has message in English:

My thoughts of you are fondest and this Xmas wish sincere is made of all the happiness that I wish you through the year.

- From your loving brother.

The Airgraph has printed design of multiple Taj Mahal starting from left side and moving towards right side. As it moves from left to right the size decreases. It then also has on right hand side a vertical black block on which two roses are depicted with text:

1943 - 1944

Greetings FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A Victorious New Year

Shown above is another variety sent by Major J Roberts of GHQ (I) SIGNALS, India Command to J. A. R. Dryden, Edinburgh, Scotland in 1944.

It shows a soldier on left hand side smiling with India and Taj Mahal in center. The print also has on the left hand side temples/mosques and church on right hand side with a ship sailing from left side to right side. Basically, it conveys wishes and letters moving from India to England (home).

It has a message:

"Christmas Greetings to all at Home"

which sums up all the illustration.

I was automatically drawn towards both the illustration and ended by buying them at high price :-) I guess, I will continue to do so as long as I see good illustration on Airgraph. See this for example (this is in my wish list for long time). Though, I don't think I can ever build an impressive collection as Alan Berman did.

As a reference you can see original form of 2nd Airgraph shown above here.

Patriotic Labels of British India aganist Japan in WWII - Part 2

This is in continuation of my previous post where I showed patriotic & propaganda labels of British India against Japan during WW2. The labels I shared in earlier post were not documented in "Patriotic & Propaganda of the British Commonwealth Catalogue -By Clive Edwards".

But the one shown below is :-) I happen to find one such usage of label that too on postal cover!

This one is documented in catalogue as 1/497. It has Japanese flag with dagger in centre in red and black color with purple background. The label is of size 22x38 mm with perforation of 13.5 and no face values as depicted above. The text reads "Anything you say may reach Japan".

The front side of the envelope is also shown above which indicates that the letter was sent from Bombay to Guwahati on 18th Nov 1944.

Below one is another prized letter in my collection where you can see a large scale label on same format as shown above. This one has text "The Japs Put Our 'Idle Talk' to Work". The label also has Japanese flag with dagger in centre in red and black color with yellow background.

I had seen normal labels but didn't know such patriotic economy label was also in existence which is not recorded any where.

If anyone has any such sample or labels for sell then please contact me. I will definitely be interested.

WW2 Kapurthala State War Purpose Fund Raffle

It's indeed a long time since I have posted an article on blog. Past couple of months have been extremely busy for me relocating from India to USA on official assignment. Now that I am settling down and able to balance between personal and professional life, I hope to be regular.

I saw that I hadn't posted any war fund tickets/raffles in past couple of posts so I would like to start with a war fund ticket. Actually, I had run out of my collection of such tickets and was waiting for some items to appear. Finally, I am able to find some more of such tickets recently so I hope to continue this thread.

This particular ticket seems to another of such series.

Above photo is one of the war fund lottery ticket issued in the aid of "His Excellency The Viceroy's War Purpose Fund" by princely state of Kapurthala during WWII. The war fund ticket is named after then ruler: Maharaja of Kaurthala Jagatjit Singh Bahadur.

Kapurthala was 13 gun salute princely state in British Empire. In 1930, Kapurthala became part of the Punjab States Agency and acceded to Union of India in 1947.

The event organised to raise fund was for Rajpipla Cup, a polo tournament held in Bombay on 22nd Feb, 1941.

Refund Claim - War Postcard India/Burma

This is one of WW2 India post card but used by Burma by affixing Burma postage stamps and striking out Simla by Rangoon.

Shown above is front side of postcard which has printed text:

"ON HIS MAJESTY'S SERVICE POST CARD"

with 1 Anna Burma Service stamp affixed. It is addressed to some Mr. Chettiar in Ramnad District of South India. Note the interesting address "South India" rather than mentioning Madras Presidency state in which Ramnad District was located.

It then also mentions dispatcher address as: Finance & Revenue Department, Govt. of Burma, Rangoon. (Postcard has Simla printed which has been stroked out by Rangoon.)

On the reverse side it has mostly text printed:

GOVERNMENT OF BURMA
FINANCE & REVENUE DEPARTMENT
RANGOON (again SIMLA stroked out)

--O--

No. C2482 Dated the 4th Jan 1946.

MEMORANDUM.

Subject:- Claim for compensation for loss of property due to the war in Burma.

The claim sent with his letters dated the 3rd August 1945 has been received and registered as No. C2482.

2. The Government of Burma are unable to admit any legal liability in respect to the claim. It has, however been registered for consideration in due course (striking out after the war).

It then has signature of V. Venkateswarao as Secretary of Finance & Revenue Department.

It has to be noted that during WW2 the exiled colonial Burma Government had headquarter in Simla after Japan deceived them. Burmese Government had assisted Japanese Army in winning initial War in Burma as they thought it was way to independent Burma in similar lines to Subhas Chandra Bose who got influenced by Japan during WW2. It is said that though Colonel Suzuki had right intention to let Burma ruled by Burmese but Japan's Government never had such intention.

It is also said that after war was over in Burma (allied won), British Government started punishing most of Tamil Indians who were at that time one of the most influential community in Burma as traders and businessmen. The reason was most of Tamil people had sided with Subhas Chandra Bose and Indian Independence League during WW2. There was very generous donation given by Tamil Indians to INA/IIL. Hence after the war, British Government not only rejected most of compensation claims of Indians but also confiscated INA Bank and donated money of public. There has been many known legal cases where people have fought over decades trying to get their money from British Government of India and now Indian Government. In today's term, that money must have been millions/billions but none has ever got their money back. Above letter is an example of untold history of India during WW2.

Japanese (IIL/INA) WW2 Propaganda Leaflet Against Allied (British) Forces

It's long time since I shared some colorful leaflet ;-) So here it is. I hope it will catch your attention.

This is one of the Japanese leaflet dropped on British India. Even though it doesn't mention but it was issued with help from IIL (Indian Independence League) or INA (Indian National Army).

The colorful leaflet shows an Indian soldier kicking a British Soldier (holding a Union Jack) out of India.

The leaflet shows Japanese fighter planes chasing and hitting British planes. It also shows British navy ships bombed and getting sunk in Indian ocean. It shows Japanese flag in south east Asia symbolizing Japanese victory in Asia.

Then on left hand side, it shows German fighter planes bombing Great Britain/Europe (burning). The bombing causes Churchill panicking.

At bottom left, it also shows Italian submarines sinking British naval forces in African waters.

There is a text in Hindi and Bangla at top for Indian people:

This is the opportunity. Get up and move forward by initiating fight for independence!

WW2 India (CBI) Greetings Card

Today's post is on a greeting card sent by a US soldier from India to Erie, Pennsylvania, US. The card was sent on 8th Dec, 1943 wishing the recipient for Christmas and New Year. The card passed through US Censor as the envelope bears marking for that.

Shown below is front side of the greeting card where it depicts an Eagle with large CBI patch with text in Hindi and English around it. It also mentions INDIA on top of Eagle.

The text reads:

Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Victorious 1944

The card shows a poem on left side while a ship sailing through high Sea on right side inside of card.

The poem reads:

Though I task beneath a blazing sun,
With sterner duty still to be done,
My thoughts at this festive time will stray,
Back to my dear ones far away,
And I send this wish with its age-old ring,
That Christmas to us all may bring,
LOVE, REMEMBRANCE, JOY and PEACE.

Right side text reads:

Greetings and best wishes from over the SEAS

It is hard to say but perhaps the soldier was posted in US Navy in India during WW2.

Mangrol Cash Coupon - WW2

Today's post is on another princely state cash coupon issued during WWII. Mangrol was an 'mediatized' taluka, within Junagadh state, Kathiawar, merged in Saurashtra and is now part of modern state of Gujarat in India. It is a sea port located in the southwest coast of Kathiawar peninsula.

I tried digging on it but couldn't make out how many gun salutation state was granted. There is very less information available on this princely state forget about trying to find out state's contribution on WWI and WWII.

Above one is the only cash coupon issued by Mangrol State/Taluk with denomination of 1 Anna. It has been recorded as number 23.3 in Indian Paper Money Catalogue by Kishore Jhunjhunwalla.

It has text printed in Gujarati. Front side contains a number given to each such coupon/ticket with text "Mangrol State" and denomination 1 Anna. It also mentions that is is General Stamp.

On the reverse there is Mangrol seal printed with text 1 Anna. You can see the emblem has a ship signifying the seaport town had.

The one I have shown is without Shaikh Abdul Jani I's sign. But Indian Paper Money Catalogue shows cash coupon with Shaikh's signature. My guess is that they were either from printers or part of treasury stocks which were not utilized as the condition suggest they were not used. Anyway, if someone has above coupons with Shaikh's signature then please let me know. I will be interested in buying at least one of them for my collection.

After Indian Independence, when Indian Army was called in 1949 then rulers of Mangrol ran away to Pakistan along with rulers of Junagadh. This is how it acceded to India.

Sind War Stamp - WW2 India

Today's post is continuation of earlier post where I showed "Bombay War Gift's Fund" label. These war fund labels are of similar pattern of Bombay War Gift's Fund.

The one shown on top is titled "Help To Defend Your Country" with Sind War Gifts Fund. It shows an anti-aircraft gun in square on left side of stamp with text (English and Urdu) on right side. The stamp was issued in bright purple color with denomination of half Anna. It was of size 42.5x26 mm. The label has been quoted in "Patriotic & Propaganda of the British Commonwealth" catalogue by Clive Edwards as 1/558.

The one at bottom was another variety of same type. This one is titled "Help To Defend Your Country" with Sind War Stamp text. The other difference being it has a large V. It also shows an anti-aircraft gun in square on left side of stamp. It was issued in dull purple color with denomination of half Anna. It is said that it was used from 4th July, 1942 to 21st August, 1942. The label has been quoted in "Patriotic & Propaganda of the British Commonwealth" catalogue by Clive Edwards as 1/559.

The war stamps were issued to raise public funds for anti-aircraft guns for defense of India.

Santa Riding Bullock Cart - WW2 V-mail from India

It's long time since I shared an Airgraph/V-mail. So, I decided to share one of V-mail from my collection for today's quick post.

This one is V-mail sent from APO 465 to Toledo, Ohio, USA. The V-mail mentions year as 1944 and has a text "Merry Christmas from INDIA 1944".

It shows Santa riding a bullock cart (laden with gifts) commonly used during those times as popular transportation option in India. The V-mail was passed though censor as evident in photo shown above.

Anti-Nazi Propaganda Postcard - U.K. (India) WW2

Today's post is in continuation to my earlier Propaganda War Postcard post. This one shown below is also part of same series of such postcards published by UK where they showed how all allies nations (read commonwealth nations) came together and contributed in the war.

This item is not specifically meant for India but in general covers all the commonwealth nations. Since it depicts an Indian Sikh Soldier as part of contingent hence I decided to cover it here. In fact, the (contingent) photograph shown in this postcard is taken from a very famous WW2 poster which I am still trying to get for my collection.

This postcard was published with J.S., initials printed on front side of postcard in lower left corner. Back side mentions the numbering SI-2093. This seems to be of different series as this is not India specific. The postcard is of approx 4" x 6" sized having caption "Mas que abalo para Hitler!".

As I mentioned earlier, all such postcards were printed in Portugal and distributed in Lisbon by the British Embassy during WW2. Portugal was neutral ground for Allies and Axis to do propaganda against each other. United Kingdom issued series of anti-Nazi propaganda postcards distributed by their embassy in Lisbon, Portugal.


The main text is in Portuguese which when translated in English reads (section wise since the postcard has three section):

Top portion shows a text extract of radio broadcast of 30th September 1939 where Hitler is sarcastically quoted saying -

"It seems that different parts of the British Empire are putting their own independence above their loyalty to England."

Basically, this is to show that Hitler was trying to break the commonwealth strength by giving such statements.

Then middle section shows soldiers of British Commonwealth Countries joining and fighting together under British flag. The poster extract has a message:

"The huge war effort of the Empire and Commonwealth, iron, sea and air, is an epic of united resistance to Nazi aggression."

Finally the bottom section quotes Hitler again from an German article published on 13th December, 1940 where Hitler ruefully acknowledges:

"Germany fully recognizes the energy and power of resistance of Great Britain and Empire loyalty to the Motherland."

This postcard served two purpose:
- discouraging people supporting axis powers that commonwealth nations are strengthening their position in war and they are united as always. Any malicious propaganda can't break the unity.
- conveying message to people living in commonwealth countries not to get misled by German propaganda. They have been proven wrong. Let's continue to fight together until end of war.

Finally, above shows back side of this postcard.

The Grand Raffle Jhalawar - Princely State War Fund Ticket

It's long time since I posted an article on war fund tickets. Actually, I had run out of my stock on War Fund Tickets (shown everything here). I was desperately looking for more varieties when I stumbled upon some of these and naturally bought it ;-)

I am showing one of these here in today's post. It is written completely in Hindi so I will as usual translate for my readers. I have not seen this one appearing in any auction sites/dealer earlier so I assume this one must be difficult to get.

Shown above is "The Grand Raffle Jhalawar (for War in Europe)". This war fund ticket was issued by princely state of Jhalawar. It mentions in Hindi:

Ticket No. 2191

Whatever will be saved from this raffle will be sent to help war in Europe.

The Grand Raffle Jhalawar (For Help in War in Europe)
Brijnagar (Rajputana)

Ticket 8 Anna Each

Date of opening -----------------------------------
Date of closing ------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 5 rupees, you can get booklet of 11 tickets

First Prize 500/- rupees

It them mentions various other prizes.

On the reverse, it mentions rules. (The most important one is translated.)

1. Whatever money will be collected, out of which 3500/- rupees will be set aside for distribution of various prizes and rest of the money will be sent to Europe for help in war.

It mentions then the secretary of "The Grand Raffle Jhalawar State for Help in War in Europe", Captain Sobhagmal Surana, B. A.

British India (Allied) WW2 Propaganda Leaflet - Tiger

It's leaflet time once again after a while. Well, it's almost 2 months since I have posted an article ;-) I don't know how long this trend will continue but there are high chances that my blog rating will go down this year and perhaps I won't be able to meet up my target of yearly posts :( due to personal engagements.

Anyway, let's focus on post. This one is another allied (British) war propaganda leaflet issued during WW2. The size of this leaflet was smaller than the regular ones, more of a size of playing cards. The leaflet was also issued with various numbering signifying message it was carrying in different languages.

Luckily, I have the same leaflet with various numbering so I can show you the differences in them. Shown below is front side of this leaflet which I will call as Tiger since there is no text in front.
The leaflet shows in front a tiger representing India with allied nations flags (UK, China, India, USA and Russia) in background, suppressing German Nazi and Japanese flags.
The text on reverse side reads:

"India springs to action, and side by side with Britain, America, Russia and China will trample under foot the tyranny of Germany and Japan."

This particular leaflet is numbered C and carries same text in various languages such as Hindi, Bangla, Urdu, Assamese and English.

Now, I also have same leaflet in other numbering such as B, K, B and C. The difference in all leaflets are the languages they target.

B: Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Marathi and English.
C: Hindi, Bangla, Urdu, Assamese and English.
B, C: Unknown to me (??), Burmese, Tamil, Chinese and English.
K: Difficult to guess but looks like various Arabic scripts such as Urdu, Arabic, ???, ??? and English.

Clearly, this leaflet was meant from dropping at various parts of the world during WW2 from India, South East Asia to Africa and Middle East reassuring all the colonies that India is joining the WW2 and will help ensuring Victory to allied nations. This was more of a morale booster propaganda leaflet for people living in British colonies all over the world.