845.001/78: Telegram
The Officer in Charge at New Delhi (Merrell) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 20—5:31 a.m.]
415. While it is still too early to obtain a comprehensive picture of the public’s reaction to Wavell’s appointment as Viceroy,53 I believe that it will be one of gloom on the part of all politically minded Indians with the possible exception of the Muslims as it will be interpreted as a continuation of the status quo under even more rigid circumstances. Indian Nationalists had hoped that the new incumbent would at least make a fresh start and therefore would have preferred almost any other appointment. There has been no military administrator in India since the days of the East India Company and the appointment will undoubtedly be considered by many as the imposition of military rule for 5 years. There are only two members of the Viceroy’s Council in Delhi at present but they are both reported to be extremely depressed, one of them having expressed a desire to resign.
The appointment of Auchinleck54 as Commander-in-Chief on the other hand will be well received; it will be hoped that he will exert a liberalizing and humanizing influence on the new Viceroy.
- Field Marshal Sir Archibald P. Wavell, Commander in Chief, British Forces in India; Marshal Wavell’s appointment, and his simultaneous elevation to the peerage, was announced in the press on June 19, 1943.↩
- Gen. Sir Claude J. E. Auchinleck, formerly General Officer Commanding British Forces, Middle East; General Auchinleck was succeeding to the position vacated by the Viceroy-designate.↩