General Archibald Wavell was appointed as Viceroy of India in October 1943 (replced Linlithgow)
Military man (had military defeats however)
Churchill thought he was the wrong man for the job, so appointed him as Viceroy as a useful way of getting him out of the way to put the more inspiring Auchinleck in his place
Suggests Churchill did not see job of Viceroy of India as an important one where political skills would need to be used
Wavell's main objective was to maintain India's boundaries to prevent a Japanese invasion and to keep India within the Empire until the end of the war
Wavell started his time in office by touring the subcontinent on a fact-finding mission, focusing particularly on troubled areas e.g. the Punjab
Reinstated regular meetings of the 11 governors of British India, which Linlithgow had ignored
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The Bengal Famine, 1943-1944
One of Wavell's greatest challenges was the Bengal Famine
Huge increase in population in Bengal, the demands of the army for foodstuffs during wartime and the loss of imports due to the war, led to the collapse
The inevitable result was a terrible famine
Wavell took action to co-ordinate rationing and to try and stop profiteering but the problems of the famine were exacerbated by outbreaks of smallpox, malaria, cholera and pneumonia
Both Churchill and Roosevelt (fearful of damaging the war effort) refused to divert merchant shipping to take grain to Bengal and as a result between 1 and 3 million people died
Both Congress and Jinnah were extremely critical of the British response to the famine and made political capital out of the crisis
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