Shared Experience: Art and War

Battle of Arakan, 1943

Anthony Gross CBE RA
Battle of Arakan, 1943
ink & wash
35.8 x 51.4cm
IWM ART LD 3334

An incongruous scene of Indian soldiers shown relaxing, one wearing camouflage, with the two parasols. Gross’s diary describes this incident:

a night patrol brought home the parasols of a geisha girl who had been entertaining the Japanese troops that held a nearby village, along with food from the village gardens.

Gross was sent to Burma to illustrate British and Indian commitment to the area.