Only idiots and Britain haters blame Churchill for the Bengal Famine This myth only became popular in 2010 after a ridiculous book was published by a far-left journalist with no historical training This is what REALLY happened: 1. A cyclone hit Bengal in 1942, destroying crops 2. They were already suffering from the worst rice brown spot epidemic on record 3. Normally in a famine grain would be imported from Burma, Malaya, Phillipines, Thailand etc. But WW2 ws raging and our Japanese enemy now controlled those areas 4. The Japanese had bombed Indian ports, which also destroyed grain 5. Shipping grain in was hugely dangerous because Japanese fleet was blockading the Bay of Bengal and sinking ships Remember, the Axis powers were sinking one ship every day and had sunk around a million tons of shipping in 1942. 6. On top of that local Indian speculative traders were unforgivably HOARDING grain. With inflation rife, this was classic wartime speculation as they could make (and expected to make) much more money by hoarding rather than selling immediately. 7. Local government and administrators were slow to act and initially told the UK government there was enough grain in Bengal. One can blame the democratically elected Government of Bengal, people like Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (Minister of Civil Supplies for the newly formed Muslim League) and Sir John Herbert (the Governor of Bengal) for exacerbating conditions in the Bengal Famine. But not Churchill. What did Churchill do? Everything he could. Remember also, he was thousands of miles away in a different continent fighting the Second World War and preparing for D-Day. Yet despite all his other commitments he worked hard to save the people of Bengal. 1. When the British government found out about the famine’s severity in August 1943, they authorised around 1 million tons of grain to be shipped to India between then and December 1944. 2. Churchill pushed Australia to send wheat 3. Churchill personally requested shipping assistance from U.S. President Roosevelt in April 1944 to transport it from Australia. Roosevelt declined, stating US ships were needed for the Pacific campaign and the upcoming D-Day operations. 4. Thanks to Churchill grain arrived from Iraq (barley), and Canada as well as Australia. 5. Crucially, Churchill was responsible for appointing the man who played such a pivotal role in stopping the Bengal Famine: Field Marshal Wavell. Wavell knew India and its people extremely well and was a magician of logistics. He drafted in the army to move food supplies and halted the famine. Why are tax payers funding Helen Cammock's ignorant, anti-British propaganda at the @NPGLondon?