Training the Chinese at Ramgarh( Jharkhand)

 One really wonders at the Chinese -India connection. Not many know that almost 50,000 Chinese soldiers were trained at Ramgarh, a small town in Jharkhand state of India. During the war years up to may 1942 it was a POW camp housing Italian and German soldiers as POWs. The Americans neeeded a place to train the Chinese soldiers and they narrowed down on Ramgarh. The POWs were moved out and the United States  Chinese Training Command was established there.

From May 1942 the US officers began to arrive at Ramgarh and preperations were made to train the Chinese soldiers. The  RTC( Ramgarh Training School) was thus established and till 1945 trained over 48,000 soldiers of the Chinese army. The training was imparted from ab initio subjects like changing a spare wheel of a truck to loading a gun on mule.  The school came under command of General Stilwell the US commander in this theater.

Ramgarh could house 12000 troops in built accomodation and another 15000 were accomodated in two large camps in semi permanmnent accomodation and tents. The US officers housed and fed the Chinese troops and got them ready for the battle against the Japanese army. The Chinese troops trained at  Ramgarh were the best in the Chinese army and brought to the fore the excellent training capabilities of th US  Chinese Traing command.

The important thing is that during the war the RTC was kept secret and no one knew about it.  It was also the only training center outside the United States. The Instructors chosen were the best in their fields and were secretly transported from the USA to Karachi and from there to Ramgarh. The fact of the operation of this center to train Chinese soldiers emerged onlyat the end of the war.

In 1946 the Americans vacated the center and the RTC lapsed back to British Indian Army control. Presently it houses the Sikh Regimental center.