Freddie Osborne (b.1925)

He arrived in India in November 1945, in West Bengal.  As a Flight Sergeant (India Command) he was stationed at Barrackpore aerodrome [now called Barakpur, 15 miles north of Calcutta].  There were local people working at the aerodrome, including Harijans (‘untouchables’) who were cleaners.

During his time in India, he visited the country areas and came upon the ‘true Indian’, poor, honest and reliable.   The city [Calcutta] was ‘a different kettle of fish’, with lots of beggars.  Poor people looked in as you were eating a meal in a restaurant and you’d didn’t feel like eating.  Most of the British lived in cantonments and didn’t mix as they should have done.  

At the time of the Calcutta killings, military personnel were told to keep clear. He sometimes heard news on the radio.  They opened the guardroom at night to take in women who had come for protection. Squads were sent over from the aerodrome to pick up bodies in the morning after the night time killings.  He ‘couldn’t believe it was happening’ because until then he had always seen harmony and had heard about the good community relations – there were no problems at all until the Calcutta troubles.

When a group of 6 RAF were going to the station in Calcutta, a mob came charging at them shouting ‘Jai Hind’. They (the RAF) were armed with sten guns (and Freddie had a revolver).  He told them to shoot in the air if necessary and everything went off well – the mob dispersed. They were not out to attack the British.

But some of the Indians in the RAF said that there would be a civil war after the events of 1946.   Freddie used to chat to Indian ground operators: they talked about the Civil War in England. They saw the writing on the wall.

He wasn’t aware of the British policy of divide and rule.  He attributes the breakdown between communities to the spread of the ‘Quit India’ (‘Jai Hind’) movement (not supported by the Muslims).   In his opinion, Gandhi was not a troublemaker (though British propaganda claimed that he was); he thinks that the national and local politicians stirred up trouble.  Nehru was more flexible than Jinnah.  Partition was a mistake.

He considers that Wavell was a great war general.  He didn’t really hear about Mountbatten at the time, but he thinks Mountbatten was right about the potential loss of control by the British if they had remained until June 1948. It would have got out of hand at Partition. British army officers thought they were superior to the Indians, being used to dealing with troublemakers.  In contrast, most of the RAF people were ‘just friends’ to the locals.  He liked India, and says the Indians treated him well.   He had no fear at all of them. The ordinary people were ‘wonderful’.  But politicians always make a mess of everything. There was a general unwillingness and lack of ‘getting together’, which meant that the Indian authorities wouldn’t cooperate with the outgoing British administration.

In Oct-Nov. 1946, he went on an exercise by train from Calcutta, to Kohat (bombing exercise?), Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lucknow.  He saw no trouble at all at that time. The tribesmen in Peshawar were all armed: but there was no trouble.   He remembers the train’s carriages had slatted wooden seats which were not very comfortable.

Finally left for home in June 1947 and was demobbed, aged 22.  He had wanted to get home before this (they had a sit-down strike at the aerodrome in 1946 because they wanted to go home), but his demob had to be delayed because a local dog had got rabies.   He had 16 injections in stomach! (but he hadn’t got rabies)