Letter from Auchinleck to Lt.-Gen. Sir Geoffry Scoones, Principal Staff Officer to the Secretary of State for India, expressing agreement with Scoones's views concerning the attendance of Indian officers at the Imperial Defence College, and his pleasure that the Chiefs of Staff accepted these views. He voices general uncertainty about the future because of the possibility that India may leave the Commonwealth, although even in these circumstances there may be a need felt by the Indian Government to retain the services of selected British officers. He admits that, although undesirable, it would be logical to ban Indian officers from the Defence College until the future constitutional status of India is more clearly defined.
Auchinleck raises questions concerning the future of those British officers in the Indian Army who will be of no use to either the Indian or the British Army, referring to the British Government's announcement that the transfer of power from Britain to India would take place at a date not later than June 1948. The statement has shocked many people, who expected the process to be more gradual, and has caused great uneasiness because of the brevity of the period of preparation and the lack of unanimity among the Indian peoples. He describes a general feeling that the Viceroy (Wavell) has been shabbily treated and that his successor (Mountbatten), despite his great record, is not really known to India or the Indians. He reiterates his conviction that the whole process of nationalization of the Indian Army should proceed gradually to be successful, and stresses the urgency of making arrangements with the Nepalese Government for the replacement of British officers by Indian or Gurkha officers in those Gurkha units to be retained in the Indian Army. Typescript, signed.