FOUR AMERICANS HURT IN CALCUTTA RIOTS
British military authorities took over direction of all vital functions of the city Tuesday. U.S. commanders were evacuating all American personnel in Calcutta to their own organizations outside, except for those billeted in Camp Maidan inside the city. All men were restricted to camp areas. All American vehicles were ordered off the streets by 7 p.m. Tuesday until further notice, and the trips authorized after that were under direct supervision of the Base Section Provost Marshal. Mail and courier service between Calcutta and other parts of India was disrupted. Trouble originally started Monday afternoon when police ordered a procession to disperse, but this was soon quieted down. In the evening disturbances commenced in north Calcutta where some 13 military vehicles were burned, including three American vehicles, and others were damaged. One U.S. officer was hospitalized with a broken arm, and two EM's received severe lacerations. Approximately 1,100 American troops on pass were stranded in the city and were billeted in town for the night because they could not pass through the road blocks established in North Calcutta. One U.S. MP jeep was stranded in the vicinity of Sealdah Station and the occupants used tear gas and fired a few rounds in the air in order to move out of the area. There was no indication of injury to rioters from this incident. A convoy of trucks was made up for the stranded men on pass Tuesday morning and the proceeded to Kanchrapara and other nearby billets. But new road blocks appeared in North Calcutta, on Upper Circular Road, on Russa Road, and near the Grand Hotel. One American MP was injured Tuesday morn ing and was sent to a hospital. |
Vol. IV No. 23 Delhi, Thursday, February 14, 1946 Reg. No. L5015 |
|
|
|
Shown above in this Signal Corps photo are troops of the I-B and China Theaters as they boarded a troopship at
Karachi enroute to the United States.
CHABUA ‘REPPLE DEPPLE NO. 5’ NEAR END OF OPERATIONS IN ASSAM By SGT. E. GARTLY JACO Roundup Staff Writer CHABUA - After processing some 50,000 G.I.'s homeward bound from Advance and Intermediate Sections and several western China bases, Replacement Depot No. 5 just "ain't what she used to be." In fact, it's no longer "Repple Depple No. 5," but now the Movement Control of Assam Area Command located in Balijan near Chabua. Even the old system of moving the men home has changed. Instead of spending several days being processed in the depot, men from the forward areas now stay only a few hours at the most. Troops from the Chabua area stay overnight for their processing in a single row of Bombay tents. An I.G. team in Ledo handles the processing of troops from Burma and the Ledo area, checking records, weighing the men and their baggage. From Ledo, the G.I.'s come to the Movement Control in 6x6 truck convoys in the early morning. By early afternoon, approximately 120 men from Ledo and an equal number from Assam Area Command are winging their way to Barrackpore on ATC C-54's. The final ceremony at the depot is quick. Plane manifests with men from Ledo and Chabua are drawn up and the men briefed in groups of 30, the number on each flight. Their records are given a final check and the briefing period orientates the men about their approaching flight. Then they are loaded on two trucks, and driven to the Chabua air strip. COFFEE READY There the Red Cross has coffee and sandwiches along with canned music to ease their stay while waiting to board the C-54's. Indian soldiers load their duffle bags on the plane while the men carry their musette bags with them on the plane. The planes have bucket seats, but the flight is only three hours. Eight C-54's plus the daily shuttle plane from Calcutta transport the men to Barrackpore. At Barrackpore, trucks pick up the men and take them to Kanchrapara. When Replacement Depot No. 5 was activated April 12, 1945, troops were sent to Karachi by rail and air as well as Kanchrapara. Besides regular air flights to Karachi, POE, a special troop shuttle train was set up between Chabua and Karachi. C-54's then carried 40 men with 65 pounds each of baggage. Now, 30 men are flown with a baggage allowance of 30 pounds. Thus far, only one plane has been lost since the depot was activated. That occurred last October when a Karachi-bound C-54 went off its course and crashed in the Himalayas with no survivors. FLOOD EASED After V-E Day, high-point G.I.'s began to flood the depot. From 3,000 in April, the average rose to about 5,000 monthly, making an approximate total of 50,000 men being processed through the depot this far. Since the first week in December, all flights have been to Calcutta, with a few high-priority exceptions of men who will fly all the way home, thus necessitating their being sent to Karachi. The 144th Replacement Battalion and 713th Replacement Company, totaling 140 enlisted men and 13 officers, formed the first permanent party. Now that the bulk of men from Advance and Intermediate Sections are homeward bound, only 15 enlisted men and four officers are handling the processing, with even further cuts in permanent party personnel contemplated when they become eligible for discharge. The Movement Control depot will probably run until April 30, if not longer, according to Maj. Russell W. Rice, depot commander. But there is no method of predicting accurately just how long it will function. The Balijan area's principal unit now is the 1304th Engineers and will be the last to leave this area, as will the 330th Engineers who now maintain the Ledo Area Command. |
|
|
|
|
|