In February 1943, a Walrus seaplane from the cruiser HMS Gambia became the first aircraft to land on Gan.Īn undated photograph of a signboard identifying the station headquarters of the Royal Air Force in Gan, Addu Atoll, Maldives. The aerodrome led to further displacement of the Gan islanders. In December 1941, the soldiers at Addu Atoll sent for Indians to complete building the base.īy the end of December 1941, 642 Indians arrived in Addu Atoll and were put to work to build an aerodrome with three runways that would be used by the air force, Jackson wrote. The villagers who had been displaced provided the labour, and “cigarettes and beer - religious taboos - entered the islands’ exchange networks”, Jackson wrote.īut the British struggled in the face of the “climate, malaria, remoteness, poor mail service from Britain via India and Ceylon”, and the physical labour required to establish a military facility from scratch. Palms were torn down, and roads that would accommodate military vehicles were built. Residents of the islands were forced out, and the local economy of farming, fishery, and trading was disrupted. It sought permission from the ruler of the Maldives, Sultan Majeed Didi, only after military work had begun in Addu Atoll, Jackson wrote. In September 1941, Britain despatched two units of the Mobile Naval Base Defence Organization (MNBDO) from the Mediterranean. In Opinion | Move in Maldives to outlaw protests against govt’s foreign policy is ill-advised.
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