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Comment by gnufied | Hacker News Reader

I think the question is was the resources diverted from same regions to fight the war or policy decisions taken which would accelerate the onset of famine?

Quoting from the book:

>The "rice denial" policy saw soldiers confiscate and destroy rice deemed surplus; according to one journalist, thousands of tons of rice were thrown into the water in east Bengal.[8] The "boat denial" policy saw 46,000 boats able to carry more than ten passengers confiscated; bicycles, carts and elephants were also taken.[9] One civil servant said the policy "completely broke the economy of the fishing class" in Bengal.

The answer seems an resounding yes - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill%27s_Secret_War#:~:....

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> I think the question is was the resources diverted from same regions to fight the war or policy decisions taken which would accelerate the onset of famine?

Isn't this true of every wartime famine throughout history? My understanding is that famine and hunger were pretty standard during wartime as armies would "forrage" (a lovely euphemism for theft, murder and rape).

Did you read the link? It was about a strategy of intentionally removing access so that things wouldn't fall into hands of Japan if they successfully invaded.

> In 1942, as a result of the Japanese conquest of Burma that began that year, the colonial government in India introduced a "denial policy" in Bengal, a scorched earth policy designed to deny Japan access to food and transport should it invade Bengal. Mukerjee attributes the "scorched earth" approach to Churchill, who reportedly urged it on 14 November 1941.[7] The "rice denial" policy saw soldiers confiscate and destroy rice deemed surplus; according to one journalist, thousands of tons of rice were thrown into the water in east Bengal.[8] The "boat denial" policy saw 46,000 boats able to carry more than ten passengers confiscated; bicycles, carts and elephants were also taken.

The analogy would be if the US had sufficient control of Ukraine, and removed and destroyed infrastructure in east Ukraine so that the Russians cannot use it if they capture that territory.

Or Wellington's retreat to the lines outside Lisbon, during which resources were destroyed to deny them to the French army.

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