it was 1932, and he was one of the few indian cadets. i'd like to show you this lovely photograph of your grandfather as part of the old military college second six tennis team, named there, and you'll spot him there. yes! this is one of the earliest pictures i've ever seen of him, cos he would only have been about 20 at this point. back home, he became a husband and father, and when war broke out, india began to play a central role. archive: no praise is too high for these fine men who are doing so much for the empire... when britain went into the war, it was an imperial endeavour, and the imagination was that everybody around the empire would come to help and to serve and save the motherland. from december 1941, the conflict came closer to india, as japanese offensives threatened

british strongholds in asia. shahid was ordered to burma. his ship arrived in rangoon in the middle of an air strike. it was the first of many searing experiences which have been pieced together by my uncle. when the japanese surrounded rangoon, they blocked the road, and he writes that there was a column of over 40 miles long. where is the water coming from? where is the food coming from? what is happening to the injured? the plight of the civilians is terrible. he said that the stage came where they were offering a fistful of rupees for a fistful of rice. burma was about to fall, and he was living through a perilous time. "it was terrible when the wooden houses caught fire and the ammunition dumps started exploding." "i was blown into a trench and thought that i'd been hit and could not open my eyes." the picture that emerges from these pages is of the intensity

of this period in burma, and i didn't realise until now what my grandfather faced from the very moment that he arrived. and for him it comes to a very sudden end when an injury to his eyes means he is evacuated back to india in april 1942. the indian army was made up not of conscripts but volunteers, some of them still with us today, who joined up for many reasons. very, very poor people... for this man, it was a livelihood. translation: when the british asked us to help, we thought there is no work available, so instead of going hungry, we would do this. and there was the hope that if the british won the war, they would give india its independence. by 1945, more than 2 million indians had served, part of a bigger contribution. there are vast numbers of men recruited, but it also

produces raw materials, uniforms, timber goods, cotton. there's a of drive to build up factories, munitions factories in india itself. after the war, my grandfather continued his military career and had a long life. others were not so fortunate. it was a war that drew in many countries, changing millions of lives, and taking some far from home, never to return. and tomorrow we'll hear from reeta chakrabarti and the story of herfather—in—law, in what was known as the forgotten army. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a good night.

hello to viewers in the uk joining those around the world. it's now time for us to take a first look at the national and international front pages in the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are caroline wheeler, deputy political editor at the sunday times and staff writer at tribune magazine grace blakeley. tomorrow's front pages starting with a selection of the latest ones in.

chancellor angela merkel‘s comments that alexei navalny was the victim of a crime, lead frankfuter allgemeine, as the german government announced it has proof the kremlin critic was poisoned by nerve agent novichok. staying with that story, the new york times says russian leader vladamir putin hasn't publicly spoken his most high—profile opponent's name in more than 20 years in power. the china daily reports on a european visit by foreign minister wang yi — it says the trip to italy, the netherlands, norway, france and germany led to an agreement to bolster unity between china and the european states. and in the uk, the daily telegraph says the government's drive to encourage workers to return to the office has been postponed, as firms struggle to meet social distancing guidelines. the newspaper also features the duke and duchess of sussex, as they sign a production deal with streaming giant netflix.

so let's begin... we will start with the german paper. the headline reads that alexei navalny was a victim of crime. this follows on from what angela merkel has been saying today, that this will be, given it is germany now pointing the finger at russia, regarding this, how much weight do you think this is going to carry with regards to what has been a come of the use once again of this awful, awful poison? we never really heard the name of nova check before until two years ago. with the poisoning of sergei skripal. and his doctor. and 110w sergei skripal. and his doctor. and now that we see again an accusation leveled at the criminal in this particular nerve agent is being used. —— and his daughter. —— novo chuck. and this time against the opposition later alexei navalny and

the fact that angela merkel has called it out so strongly in those condemnations that have been supported by our prime minister borisjohnson, supported by our prime minister boris johnson, there's order supported by our prime minister borisjohnson, there's order been talk about a unified response from the european union and nato. i think that this is going to be a very seminal moment again in relation with russia, particularly as i say, given what happened just two years ago on british soil. -- novichok. i was seeing, regarding this behaviour from russia, arguably will never know whether the kremlin had issued given a direct issue but wrote with regard to this, i would sing president putin fighting in a position where he is eitherjust up and care about what everybody thinks 01’ and care about what everybody thinks or he is under pressure with what is going on in belarus and he is coming out attacking? this is a sign up a fairly weak regime. either putin or the kremlin itself was so terrified

by the threat they're willing to really see the kind of nation or this is happened without his knowledge and wish it shows that he is losing his grip on power. either way, this is another indication that if we needed another, the weakness of the russian state and the russian government which is been concealed or they're attempting to conceal with these acts of brutality really come up with her if these poisonings or is his international intervention, so he wouldn't be doing this, going ahead, he wouldn't be allowing this to happen and receiving this combination if he had a strong grip of power within russia right now and of course this all have to be in context of the worst economic situation in russia which is been deteriorating for many years now, living standards have really collapsed over the past decade. that has not been helped with falling

commodity prices in all the pressure the coronaviruses put on the economy. there is a real strong science in russia of a crisis of legitimacy. whether or not they translate into a weakening of putin or his regime is another question. what this indicates a lack of legitimacy and a real reach in an attempt to undermine his enemies. interesting point. especially we talk about the economy. the good nor loupe new york times is talking about how the kremlin won't even mention the name of alexei navalny, and that he is this kind of, they talk about lord baltimore figure from harry potter. the arch enemy of vladimir putin. tell us a little bit what the paper is talking about. —— lord voldermort. the kremlin has been digging for dirt on him. they can't even find that. it is like a

character that is really wants to expose the truth. what does the papersay expose the truth. what does the paper say about him? it is interesting this paper has done, it is on the front page rather than leading with the accusation to angela merkel has made today, which are quite astounding, they have trolled the archives to see often his name has appeared on the criminal website or even in the amount the president putin in terms of the speeches he has given forth of the speeches he has given forth of and really he has been airbrushed from russian history. his name has not appeared anywhere. it is quite interesting and they chosen to do that because it is quite clear from the response to navalny over the yea rs the response to navalny over the years he has undergone a lot of forms of persecution and attention to huge fines, that actually he is not a diminished figure and the russia and russian politics. they are taking quite seriously the threat he poses and in effect i suppose the fact they have gone to such lengths to airbrushed them from the airwaves and imprint the media

really underlines the threat to which they perceive him. a fascinating insight. a interesting way the new york times focus on this particular story. i'm sure we'll talk about this in the next edition. let's turn to the china daily. it focuses on china's link with europe's being strength and after a bit of a world tour from the china foreign minister. what is the focus here? he wants better relations with europe. it is to do with covid—19 but also there will be economic implications no doubt. yes, of coui’se. implications no doubt. yes, of course. this trip is all about trade. there's been some kind of language about a mutual recognition of the threat of breakdown and really about strengthening economic ties between china and europe. this is quite interesting developing story really because looking at the global economy as it is now, we are

facing a coordinated downturn of the client and it has barely been seen throughout history. there's rarely been this coordination and recession as compared to what we had in the first two quarters of this year. obviously in the wake of the last big recession after 2009, the rest of the world really relied on china spending a large amount of the money. from the huge stimulus package which really drag a lot of of it was trading without a recession. and helped it pick up the global recovery and commodity prices. being dependent on those exports. but today, china's economy has got a lot of problems of its owfi. has got a lot of problems of its own. the problem of potential high levels are private debt in the economy and the big thing here which is the political issue that is looming over all of these talks, the trade were with the us. that is really the background to these negotiations. —— at the trade war.

there is no sign of trump xenophobia ora there is no sign of trump xenophobia or a relative dampening in the trade war. if anything trump is betting on the idea that they're going to ramp it up and blame china for the virus, blame china for the economic impact is what will allow him to, will he thinks get his second term. any kind of easing of tensions between europe and china will i think we looked on by the us with interest and as with the rest of the world as well. there are some background issues here that will be brought up by diplomats since they had the discussions around china's treatment of the muslims and human rights issues but really i think the issues here are going to be around the economy. you will be around who will be spending the money and he will be doing the investment and that will be lifting the economy out of the deep recession that it is currently in and also a question here around china's lending to a lot of the rest of the world because china is a

really big bilateral letter and the light of the countries that has lent the two are now suffering that problem. china is really integral to the global economy and it will be integral to the recovery. a few discussions are going to be happening on that. when it comes to the economy, the daily telegraph now looking at how to pick up and kick—start the british economy a little bit closer to home now. this campaign to get british workers back to work is not being as successful as downing street had actually hoped. talk us through the daily telegraph stance on it. we've been hearing about this for a number of days now. borisjohnson backbenchers, particularly, are very agitated about the fact that even 110w agitated about the fact that even now lot that has been over for some time and we have the school is back open, still we haven't got office workers back in the city which is stifling growth because people being back at work means that the are back

in the restaurants and back buying things and shops and back using public transport. when that doesn't happen it has implications for the economy. they have been lots of chatter over the last couple of days about this big campaign that was going to be launched, even some people suggesting that this whole threat was going to be held over the head of office workers if they didn't go back to work in there will face the sack and there was going to bea face the sack and there was going to be a public information campaign urging people to get back to work. the issue here has been the government owned guidelines in terms of social distancing which was reduced to one metre some time ago although we are actually nuance around that messaging is that to me this is still possible, it makes it difficult to get all your members of staff back to work and even the newspaper offices although we are very keen to go back to me can sometimes be difficult given the social distancing measures that aborted been introduced. and i think borisjohnson is very keen to see

why he will eat on the front of this issue and has found that even that issue and has found that even that is difficult. so very much