Deolali transit camp was a British Army transit camp in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, India. Established in 1861, the camp remained in use throughout the time of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. It served to house soldiers newly arrived in the country and those awaiting ships to take them to Britain. It also housed a military prison and during the two world wars served as a prisoner of war camp. Conditions in the camp were said to be poor especially for those stationed there for long periods and the term " doolally" became associated with mental illness. The camp was transferred to the

Indian army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

following the

independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

Transit camp

The camp was located near

Deolali Deolali, or Devlali (), is a small hill station and a census town in Nashik district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Now it is part of Nashik Metropolitan Region. Deolali has an important army base. Deolali Camp, one of the oldest Indian mi ...

, around north-east of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. The camp is situated near a prominent conical hill and the Bahula Fort. The British camp was established in 1861 as the Deolali

Cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

and was soon used as a transit camp, particularly for soldiers awaiting return to Britain. It was also used for training and acclimatisation for soldiers newly arrived in British India. New drafts would stay at the camp for up to several weeks carrying out route marches and close order drill to get used to the hotter climate. The camp is described as one of India's

hill station A hill station is a town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The term was used mostly in colonial Asia (particularly in India), but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges ...

s. The camp was connected to the port at Mumbai by means of a railway, which was used for troop transport. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

it was used as a hospital for prisoners of war held in other camps in India, including Turks taken prisoner on the

Mesopotamian campaign The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, troops from Britain, Australia and the vast majority from British India, against the Central Powe ...

and German soldiers. The camp had a military prison that was used for soldiers of the British Army and, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, for captured Indian nationalists who had served in the Japanese-founded

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. Its aim was to secure In ...

. During the Second World War the camp also boasted cinemas, swimming pools, amusement parks and restaurants for the troops. The complex was transferred to the Indian Army after Indian Independence in 1947 and was used as an artillery school and depot for at least 10 artillery and service corps units. It also hosted an army records office and an aerial observation squadron. During the period leading up to independence the camp was known as the "Homeward Bound Trooping Depot" and was used to return large numbers of British troops and their families back home as British forces withdrew from the country. The camp is the setting for the 1970s BBC comedy series ''

It Ain't Half Hot Mum ''It Ain't Half Hot, Mum'' is a BBC television sitcom about a Royal Artillery concert party based in Deolali in British India and the fictional village of Tin Min in Burma, during the last months of the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy ...

''.

Doolally

The soldiers' name for the camp, "Doolally", became a slang term associated with mental illness. The term is a contraction of the original form "Doolally tap", where the latter part is derived from "tapa" ("fever" in Hindustani and "heat" or "torment" in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

). The whole phrase is perhaps best translated as "

camp fever Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...

". The term was in use from the late 19th century and the contracted form was dominant by the

. It was said that soldiers at the camp, who often had a long wait for a

troop ship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

back home, broke down from the heat of the long Indian summers. The ships only sailed between November and March so some men had to wait at the camp for months. Having been disarmed and allocated only light duties there was little to occupy the men. The camp was often full by the end of summer with soldiers awaiting troop ships; new arrivals in this period often had to sleep on the floor owing to a lack of beds and suffered from sand flea bites. Men were allowed to spend time in the nearby city of

Nasik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

which offered numerous gin bars and brothels; as such

venereal disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral se ...

was common. Malaria, which can affect the brain, was also common in the Deolali area and remained a major issue for the British Army right through the

despite the development of anti-malarial drugs. Suicides in the camp were not uncommon. Despite its reputation the Deolali area actually has a milder climate than nearby Mumbai or Pune, though it was known to be incredibly dusty in the period leading up to the monsoon. The camp had a sanatorium (military hospital) but, despite its reputation, there was never a dedicated psychiatric hospital there. Cases of mental illness were instead confined to the military prison or sent to dedicated hospitals elsewhere in the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deolali Transit Camp Military of British India Installations of the British Army Military psychiatry