246-642: The First Indian National Army ( First INA ) was the Indian National Army as it existed between February and December 1942. It was formed with Japanese aid and support after the Fall of Singapore and consisted of approximately 12,000 of the 40,000 Indian prisoners of war who were captured either during the Malayan campaign or surrendered at Singapore. It was formally proclaimed in April 1942 and declared
492-649: A propaganda campaign in the British Indian Army and a news ban on the unit that was not to be lifted till after the war ended. With the onset of the Second World War all the three major Axis Powers , at some stage of their campaign against Britain, sought to support and exploit Indian nationalism . They aided the recruitment of a military force from within Indian expatriates, and from disaffected Indian prisoners-of-war captured while serving with
738-788: A British intelligence officer in South-east Asia during the war, noted in his 1959 history of the army that although Mohan Singh may not have personally approved forcible recruiting, the Bidadary "Concentration Camp" became notorious for beatings by "sweeper Nimbu". Mohan Singh himself, however, admitted to severity when it came to recruiting, warning non-volunteer officers to not influence their men. Persistent offenders were separated from their men. Over one hundred officers were separated from their men for such reasons. Some 40,000 men proceeded to pledge their allegiance to Mohan Singh for Indian independence. The British-Indian army sub-unit structure
984-588: A Col Hunt of the Malaya Command, who handed over the troops to Japanese command under Fujiwara. Fujiwara spoke to the troops in Japanese which was translated into English and then Hindustani . In his speech, Fujiwara is said to have told the troops of the Asian co-prosperity sphere under the leadership of Japan, of Japanese vision of an independent India and its importance to the co-prosperity sphere, and of
1230-698: A catastrophic defeat as the Allied forces held, and Allied air dominance and compromised supply lines forced both the Japanese and the INA to retreat. The existence of Azad Hind was essentially coterminous with the existence of the Indian National Army. While the government itself continued until the civil administration of the Andaman Islands was returned to the jurisdiction of the British towards
1476-479: A centrally organised, self-sufficient, semi-socialist India under the firm control of a single party was the best course for Indian government. Some of his ideas would help shape Indian governmental policy in the aftermath of the country's independence from Britain. It has been argued that the fact that Azad Hind was aligned politically with Japan and the Axis Powers may have had more to do with what Bose saw as
1722-568: A controversial figure for his official stance against imperialism which would run in opposition against Japanese imperialism in Asia during World War II. Bose himself claimed to oppose all manner of colonial practices but claimed Britain as hypocritical in "fighting a war for democracy" while refusing to extend the same respect for democracy and equal rights to their colonial subjects in India. Bose opposed British racial policy and declared working for
1968-521: A crucial role in hastening the end of British rule. Within India, the INA continues to be an emotive and celebrated subject of discussion. It continued to have a stronghold over the public psyche and the sentiments of the armed forces until as late as 1947. It has been suggested that Shah Nawaz Khan was tasked with organising INA troops to train Congress volunteers at Jawaharlal Nehru's request in late 1946 and early 1947. After 1947, several members of
2214-665: A decisive shift in British policy towards independence Indian. Particularly disturbing was the overt and public support for the INA by the soldiers of the Indian Army and the mutinies. The Congress's rhetoric preceding the 1946 elections gave the Raj reasons to fear a revival of the Quit India Movement of 1942. Gandhi noted: ... the whole country has been roused ... even the regular forces have been stirred into
2460-415: A hopeless position. Many surrendered to pursuing Commonwealth forces. Isolated, losing men to exhaustion and to desertion, low on ammunition and food, and pursued by Commonwealth forces, the surviving units of the second division began an attempt to withdraw towards Rangoon. They broke through encircling Commonwealth lines a number of times before finally surrendering at various places in early April 1945. As
2706-637: A large number of Indian officers decided not to, which also kept those under their command disinclined. The Japanese forces, eager to engage the co-operation of the troops and further lacking the man-power, did not have the men impounded. The supreme command of the INA was set up at Mount Pleasant suburbs in the Northern part of Singapore. The PoW headquarters, along with the largest PoW camp was set up at Neesoon under M. Z. Kiani . Other smaller PoW camps housing Indian troops were set up at Bidadari, Tyersall, Buller, Seletar and Kranji . To Lt. Col N.S Gill went
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#17327730125162952-407: A large number of civilian volunteers from Indian diaspora in south-east Asia, eventually growing to a unit of almost forty thousand soldiers. Indian National Army The Indian National Army ( INA ; Azad Hind Fauj / ˈ ɑː z ɑː ð ˈ h i n ð ˈ f ɔː dʒ / ; lit. 'Free Indian Army') was a collaborationist armed unit of Indian collaborators that fought under the command of
3198-602: A large numbers of the remnants of the Indian III Corps . Even before Singapore fell, the Japanese troops had started the process of identifying Indian troops among the captured and separating them from the Australian and British troops. On a number of occasions, it was noted, British and Australian officers were killed, while the Indians spared. Singh began recruiting from amongst these captured Indian soldiers. Thus
3444-651: A major policy concern. By the end of the war however, the pan-Asiatic vision gradually shifted away from prominence as the independence movement in India became engrossed in the issues facing post-war India. Agitations against the Rowlatt act , the Khilafat Movement protesting the removal of the Ottoman Caliph (an inflammatory issue among India's huge Muslim population), as well as Gandhi 's Non-cooperation movement in 1922 demanding home rule took
3690-663: A man committed to the values which his office was supposed to convey to the expatriate nationalist leaders, and found acceptance among them. His initial contact was with Giani Pritam Singh and the Thai-Bharat Cultural Lodge . At the outbreak of World War II in South-East Asia , 70,000 Indian troops (mostly Sikhs ) were stationed in Malaya. In Japan's spectacular Malayan Campaign many Indian prisoners-of-war were captured, including nearly 45,000 after
3936-655: A new political consciousness and have begun to think in terms of independence ... After the war ended, the story of the INA and the Indian Legion was seen as so inflammatory that, fearing mass revolts and uprisings across its empire, the British Government forbade the BBC from broadcasting their story. The use of Indian troops for the restoration of Dutch and French rule in Vietnam and Indonesia fed into
4182-507: A number of Secretaries and Advisors to Subhas Chandra Bose, including: All of these Secretaries and Advisory officials held Ministerial rank in the Provisional Government. The extent of the Provisional Government's day-to-day management of affairs for Azad Hind is not entirely well-documented, so their specific functions as government officials for the state outside their positions as support ministers for Subhas Chandra Bose
4428-631: A number of high-ranking officers such as Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon. The defence of these individuals from prosecution by the British became a central point of contention between the British Raj and the Indian Independence Movement in the post-war years. Since Subhas Chandra Bose aligned with Empire of Japan and the Axis Powers , which also included Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy , Britain portrayed him as
4674-704: A part in this conflict of loyalties. Between December 1942 and February 1943, Rash Behari Bose struggled to hold together the INA. On 15 February 1943, the Army itself was put under the command of Lt. Col. M.Z. Kiani . A policy forming body was formed with Lt. Col J.R. Bhonsle , Director of the Military Bureau, in charge and clearly placed under the authority of the IIL. Under Bhonsle served Lt. Col. Shah Nawaz Khan as Chief of General Staff, Major P.K. Sahgal as Military Secretary, Major Habib ur Rahman as commandant of
4920-436: A pragmatic approach to Indian independence. Disillusioned with Congress's non-violent movement, Bose was clearly of the camp that supported exploiting British weakness to gain Indian independence. Throughout the existence of Azad Hind, Bose sought to distance himself from Japanese collaboration and become more self-sufficient but found this difficult since the existence of Azad Hind as a governmental entity had only come about with
5166-647: A professional army with the help of the Japanese. He recruited Indian civilians living in Japanese-occupied territories of South-east Asia and incorporated vast numbers of Indian POWs from British forces in Singapore, Malaya and Hong Kong to man the brigades of the INA. The Provisional Government of Free India consisted of a Cabinet headed by Subhas Chandra Bose as the Head of the State, The Prime Minister and
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#17327730125165412-554: A quasi-military organisation called the Bengal Volunteers . Bose deplored Gandhi 's pacifism; Gandhi disagreed with Bose's confrontations with the Raj. The Congress's working committee, including Nehru, was predominantly loyal to Gandhi. While openly disagreeing with Gandhi, Bose won the presidency of Indian National Congress twice in the 1930s. His second victory came despite opposition from Gandhi. He defeated Gandhi's favoured candidate, Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya , in
5658-429: A reinforcement group to promote defection amongst the British Indian Army and recruit new members from PoWs. 50 officers and nearly 24,000 men were "surplus volunteers". Armament consisted of 5000 rifles, 250 light machine-guns, 500 sub machine-guns, 30 cars and 50 lorries. Toye points out in his 1959 history of the army that all of these were British armaments captured by Japanese, which were not subsequently replaced. It
5904-406: A repeated attempt by the council for action to obtain Japanese reassurance and commitment was rebuffed by Iwakuro. By November, Mohan Singh and K.P.K. Menon refused to send a previously planned batch of INA soldiers to Burma, with the council for action rallying behind them. Despite Rash Behari Bose 's attempts to smooth over differences between the INA and Japanese, a second demand for 900 INA men by
6150-542: A result of the open recruitment policy of the British) who had very little or no combat training and experience, leading to anxiety amongst the British-Indian forces. Feelings of discrimination amongst British Indian soldiers, compared to the pay and service conditions for European soldiers created acrimony. Indiscriminate recruitment by the Indian government in order to maintain the numbers for its army, meant that it
6396-428: A selected group in order to preserve discipline in the Indian Army and to award punishment for criminal acts where these had occurred. As news of the army spread within India, it began to draw widespread sympathy support and admiration from Indians. Newspaper reports around November 1945 reported executions of INA troops, which worsened the already volatile situation. Increasingly violent confrontations broke out between
6642-476: A series of meetings between the INA leaders and the Japanese in 1943, it was decided to cede the leadership of the IIL and the INA to Bose. In January 1943, the Japanese invited Bose to lead the Indian nationalist movement in East Asia. He accepted and left Germany on 8 February. After a three-month journey by submarine and a short stop in Singapore, he reached Tokyo on 11 May 1943. In Tokyo, he met Hideki Tojo ,
6888-658: A speech in made in Calcutta in 1930. Although Japanese troops saw much of the combat in India against the British, the INA was certainly by itself an effective combat force, having faced British and allied troops and making their mark in the Battle of Imphal . On 18 April 1944 the suicide squad led by Col. Shaukat Malik broke through the British defence and captured Moirang in Manipur. The Azad Hind administration took control of this independent Indian territory. Following Moirang,
7134-550: A substantial number of men and amount of materiel in this retreat. A number of units were disbanded or used to feed into new divisions. As the Allied Burma campaign began the following year, the INA remained committed to the defence of Burma and was a part of the Japanese defensive deployments. The Second Division was tasked with the defence of Irrawaddy and the adjoining areas around Nangyu, and offered opposition to Messervy 's 7th Indian Division when it attempted to cross
7380-684: A well known and widely respected public figure in India. In 1971, she joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was later elected the leader of the All India Democratic Women's Association . Joyce Lebra , an American historian, wrote that the rejuvenation of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , then a fledgling Tamil political party in southern India, would not have been possible without participation of INA members. Some accounts suggest that
7626-497: Is considered to have comprised about 40,000 troops, of whom about 4,000 withdrew when it was disbanded in December 1942. The Second INA started with 12,000 troops. Further recruitment of former Indian Army personnel added about 8,000–10,000. About 18,000 Indian civilians also enlisted during this time. Belle estimates almost 20,000 were local Malayan Indians, while another 20,000 were ex-British-Indian Army members who volunteered for
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7872-651: Is named after the INA and houses the Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology . Azad Hind The Provisional Government of Free India or, more simply, Azad Hind , was a short-lived Japanese-controlled provisional government in India. It was established in Japanese occupied Singapore during World War II in October 1943 and has been considered a puppet state of the Empire of Japan . It
8118-560: Is not entirely certain. Azad Hind was recognised as a legitimate state by only a small number of countries limited solely to Axis powers and their allies. Azad Hind had diplomatic relations with nine countries: Nazi Germany , the Empire of Japan , Italian Social Republic , Independent State of Croatia and Wang Jingwei Government , Thailand , the State of Burma , Manchukuo and the Second Philippine Republic . On
8364-503: Is some controversy as to whether he stepped down of his own volition or by pressure from the Japanese who needed a more energetic and focused presence leading the Indian nationalists. Bose arrived in Tokyo on 13 June 1943 and declared his intent to make an assault against the eastern provinces of India in an attempt to oust the British from control of the subcontinent. Bose arrived in Singapore on 2 July, and in October 1943 formally announced
8610-581: The 1/14th Punjab Regiment against Japanese forces at the Battle of Jitra , where his troops were outgunned and shattered by Japanese tanks. Captured by Japanese troops after several days in the Jungle, Singh was taken to Alor Star to Fujiwara and Pritam Singh at a joint office of the F-Kikan and the IIL . Along with Pritam Singh, Fujiwara with his sincerity of purpose and belief, convinced Mohan Singh to unite with
8856-564: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands , which had been captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy early on in the war. Once under the jurisdiction of Azad Hind, the islands formed the government's first claims to territory. The islands themselves were renamed "Shaheed" and "Swaraj", meaning "martyr" and "self-rule" respectively. Bose placed the islands under the governorship of Lt Col A. D Loganathan , and had limited involvement with
9102-526: The Archaeological Survey of India inside the fort in 1995. The Indian National Army Memorial at Moirang, Manipur, commemorates the place where the flag of Azad Hind was raised by Col. Shaukat Hayat Malik. Moirang was the first Indian territory captured by the INA. The INA War Memorial at Singapore commemorating the "Unknown Warrior" of the INA was unveiled by Bose in July 1945. Situated at
9348-543: The Bidadary resolutions — were demanded of Japan; these would have amounted to a treaty with an independent government. In this time, F. Kikan had been replaced by the Iwakuro Kikan (or I Kikan) headed by Hideo Iwakuro . Iwakuro's working relationship with the league was more tenuous. Japan did not immediately agree to the demands arising from the Bidadary resolutions. Differences also existed between Rash Behari and
9594-502: The British Commonwealth forces . Italy in 1942 created Battaglione Azad Hindoustan , formed of ex-Indian Army personnel and Italians previously resident in India and Persia, led by Iqbal Shedai . This unit ultimately served under Raggruppamento Centri Militari, but the effort proved unsuccessful. It was overtly propagandist nature that ultimately found little acceptance among the Indian soldiers, while Shedai's leadership
9840-606: The British West African Division . A Bahadur Group unit, led by Col. Shaukat Malik , took the border enclave of Moirang in early April. The main body of the 1st Division was however committed to the U-Go , directed towards Manipur. Led by Shah Nawaz Khan, it successfully protected the Japanese flanks against Chin and Kashin guerrillas as Renya Mutaguchi 's three divisions crossed the Chindwin river and
10086-480: The Cellular Jail after doing his best to protect the islanders from Japanese atrocities during the first two years of the occupation. Azad Hind's military forces in the form of the INA saw some successes against the British and moved with the Japanese army to lay siege to the town of Imphal in eastern India. Plans to march towards Delhi , gaining support and fresh recruits along the way, stalled both with
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10332-887: The Dewan Negara of the Malaysian Parliament . Rasammah Bhupalan , also of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, later became a well-known welfare-activist and a widely respected champion for women's rights in Malaysia . The INA was known as the puppet army of the Japanese empire. In early days, the officers in the INA distrusted the Japanese. Leaders of the first INA sought formal assurances from Japan before committing to war. When these did not arrive, Mohan Singh resigned after ordering his army to disband; he expected to be sentenced to death. After Bose established Azad Hind , he tried to establish his political independence from
10578-652: The Esplanade Park , it was destroyed on Mountbatten's orders when Allied troops reoccupied the city. In 1995, the National Heritage Board of Singapore, with financial donations from the Indian community in Singapore, erected the Former Indian National Army Monument at the site where the old memorial stood. The site is now officially one of the historical sites of Singapore. The INA's battle cry , Jai Hind ,
10824-541: The Free India Legion and the Azad Hind Radio . The Japanese ambassador, Oshima Hiroshi , kept Tokyo informed of these developments. From the very start of the war, the Japanese intelligence services noted from speaking to captured Indian soldiers that Bose was held in extremely high regard as a nationalist and was considered by Indian soldiers to be the right person to be leading a rebel army. In
11070-401: The Free India Legion . The successful Malayan campaign , and the subsequent Burma campaign brought under Japanese administration a large number of Indian expatriates. Although not essentially sympathetic to the Japanese (some were even hostile), they held substantial nationalist motives, and sought to exploit the window offered by the reversal faced by the British forces to drive them out from
11316-547: The Gangetic plain , where it would work as a guerrilla army. This army was expected to live off the land, with captured British supplies, support, and personnel from the local population. The plans chosen by Bose and Masakazu Kawabe , chief of the Burma area army, envisaged the INA being assigned an independent sector in the U-Go offensive. No INA units were to operate at less than battalion strength. For operational purposes,
11562-552: The Indian Independence League was established as the first move towards an independent Indian state politically aligned with the Empire of Japan . Rash also moved to create a sort of independence army that would assist in driving the British from India – this force would later become the Indian National Army. The second conference, held later that year in Bangkok, invited Subhas Chandra Bose to participate in
11808-560: The Indian National Congress in the immediate aftermath of Indian independence, some of the members of the INA were denied freedom fighter status by the Government of India. Before the start of World War II, Japan and South-East Asia were major refuges for exiled Indian nationalists. Meanwhile, Japan had sent intelligence missions , notably under Maj. Iwaichi Fujiwara , into South Asia to gather support from
12054-576: The Indian National Council to this meeting, which saw the declaration of the formation of the All-Malayan Indian Independence league . The League became the liaising organisation with the local Indian population and the Japanese. In June, the formation of an all-Indian IIL was proclaimed at Bangkok. In June 1942, a second conference was held in Bangkok with Rash Behari Bose as chair. This conference saw
12300-444: The Japanese Empire . It was founded by Mohan Singh in September 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II . It fought under the command of the Japanese military in the British campaign in the Southeast Asian theatre of WWII , with its aim to secure Indian independence from British rule . The army was first formed in 1942 under Mohan Singh by Indian prisoners of war (PoWs) of the British Indian Army captured by Japan in
12546-421: The Jiffs campaign promoted the view that INA recruits were weak-willed and traitorous Axis collaborators, motivated by selfish interests of greed and personal gain. He concludes that the allegations of torture were largely products of the Jiffs campaign. He supports his conclusion by noting that isolated cases of torture had occurred, but allegations of widespread practice of torture were not substantiated in
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#173277301251612792-470: The Konoe Imperial Guards . This token force played a marginal but significant role in the Battle of Singapore , helping the Konoe guards feint the attack on Ubin island on 7 and 8 February. In the subsequent fighting in Burma, the INA continued to operate espionage to draw Indian soldiers out of the commonwealth forces. The activities of these agents were addressed at the Sepoys and these found enough support to successfully encourage defection without attracting
13038-406: The Major Fujiwara Iwaichi , chief of intelligence of the 15th army . Tasked with intelligence gathering and contacting the Indian independence movement, the overseas Chinese and the Malayan Sultan with the aim of encouraging friendship and cooperation with Japan, Fujiwara's staff included five commissioned officers and two Hindi -speaking interpreters. Fujiwara, later self-described as "Lawrence of
13284-444: The Malayan campaign and at Singapore . This first INA, which had been handed over to Rash Behari Bose and Mohan Singh, collapsed and was disbanded in December that year after differences between its leadership and the Japanese military over its role in Japan's war in Asia. The INA was handed over to Subhas Chandra Bose . It was revived under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose after his arrival in Southeast Asia in 1943. The army
13530-434: The Naga Hills , and participated in the main offensive through Tamu in the direction of Imphal and Kohima . The 2nd Division, under M.Z. Kiani, was placed to the right flank of the 33rd Division attacking Kohima. However, by the time Khan's forces left Tamu, the offensive had been held, and Khan's troops were redirected to Kohima. After reaching Ukhrul, near Kohima, they found Japanese forces had begun their withdrawal from
13776-469: The Quit India Movement was launched in India on 8 August 1942 that called for the British Raj to leave India or face a massive Civil Disobedience . Forewarned, the Raj quickly arrested the Congress leadership. However, foreplanning on the part of the Congress meant the movement continued at the local level, and quickly deteriorated into a leaderless act of defiance and descended into violence and general anarchy and mayhem. The movement created alarm amongst
14022-406: The Red Fort in Delhi. Claude Auchinleck , the Commander-in-Chief of the British-Indian army, hoped that by holding public trials in the Red Fort, public opinion would turn against the INA if the media reported stories of torture and collaborationism, helping him settle a political as well as military question. Those to stand trials were accused variously of murder, torture and "waging war against
14268-516: The Sepoy in order to consolidate and prepare for defence of Manipur. These measures included imposing a complete news ban on the INA, that was not lifted till four days after the fall of Rangoon two years later. Notably however, a number of the units first deployed forward by the INA (most of which were intelligence and espionage units) either defected back to British or were captured on intelligence given away by defectors. The allegiance and loyalty of Indian officers trained in Sandhurst may have played
14514-444: The Thai-Bharat Cultural Lodge , which together with the IIL formed what was called the Indian National Council. Swami Satyananda Puri , a prominent member of the Lodge reportedly mentioned before the Tokyo conference that Nehru had forbidden Indians residing outside India from interfering in her internal politics. It was in this context that in a meeting in Singapore in March 1942, a unanimous decisions were taken to seek approval of
14760-433: The Tokyo Boys , was also sent to Japan's Imperial Military Academy, where its members trained as fighter pilots. A separate all-female unit was also created under Lakshmi Sahgal . This unit was intended to have combat-commitments. Named Jhansi ki Rani ("Jhansi Queens") Regiment (after the legendary rebel Queen Lakshmibai of the 1857 rebellion ), it drew female civilian volunteers from Malaya and Burma. The 1st Division
15006-508: The fall of Singapore alone. The conditions of service within the British-Indian Army and the social conditions in Malaya had led to dissension among these troops. From these prisoners, the First Indian National Army was formed under Mohan Singh . Singh was an officer in the British-Indian Army who was captured early in the Malayan campaign. His nationalist sympathies found an ally in Fujiwara and he received considerable Japanese aid and support. Ethnic Indians in Southeast Asia also supported
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#173277301251615252-406: The " Jiffs " propaganda campaign and to create " Josh " groups to improve the morale and preserve the loyalty of the sepoys as consolidation began to prepare for the defence of Manipur. These measures included imposing a complete news ban on Bose and the INA that was not lifted until four days after the fall of Rangoon two years later. During the Japanese U-Go offensive towards Manipur in 1944,
15498-487: The 20th century, the home of Gandhian philosophy , had been an attraction for Japanese and Buddhist and literary figures. India, in the meantime, looked to Japan as an inspiration of a model industrialised, advancing Asian society and nationhood. The Japanese victory over Russia in 1905 had furthered the inspiration Japan infused, especially among Indian nationalists. Noted Indian and Japanese cultural figures, including Okakura Tenshin and Rabindranath Tagore acknowledged
15744-411: The 2nd Guerrilla Regiment (the Gandhi Brigade ) consisting of two battalions under Col. Inayat Kiani; the 3rd Guerrilla Regiment (the Azad Brigade ) with three battalions under Col. Gulzara Singh; and the 4th Guerrilla Regiment (or Nehru Brigade ) commanded by the end of the war by Lt. Col Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon . The 1st Guerrilla Regiment – the Subhas Brigade – under Col. Shah Nawaz Khan
15990-414: The 40 percent of the total military strength of the British forces. The British-Indian troops swelled from 200 000 to 900 000 between 1939 and 1941. However, these deployments were beset with a number of problems. The troops were spread too thinly, with insufficient resources and supplies in the Malay Peninsula and Singapore. Further, a large proportion of the British-Indian troops were very young recruits (as
16236-452: The Andaman Islands to act as field commander. With the INA garrison about 6,000 strong, he manned the Burmese capital in the absence of any other police force or troops during the period between the departure of the Japanese and the arrival of the British. He was successful in maintaining law and order to the extent that there was not a single reported case of dacoity or of looting during the period from 24 April to 4 May 1945. Almost all of
16482-421: The British empire in defeat than it had been during its ill-fated triumphal march on Delhi." The Viceroy's journal describes the autumn and winter of 1945–1946 as "The Edge of a Volcano". The setting of the trial at Red Fort was taken by Indian public as a deliberate taunt by the British Raj over the vanquished INA, recalling the INA's battle cries of unfurling the Indian tricolour over the Red Fort. Many compared
16728-491: The British sovereign. Peter Fay points out that at least one INA prisoner – Burhan-ud-Din a brother of the ruler of Chitral – may have deserved to be accused of torture, but his trial had been deferred on administrative grounds. Those charged after the first celebrated courts-martial only faced trial for torture and murder or abetment of murder. Charges of treason were dropped for fear of inflaming public opinion. In spite of aggressive and widespread opposition to
16974-447: The British-Indian Army and sympathy within the British-Indian forces. Support for the INA crossed communal barriers to the extent that it was the last major campaign in which the Congress and the Muslim League aligned together; the Congress tricolour and the green flag of the League were flown together at protests. The Congress quickly came forward to defend soldiers of the INA who were to be court-martialled. The INA Defence Committee
17220-478: The British-Indian Army to overthrow the Raj. Moreover, the Forward Bloc underground movement within India had been crushed well before the offensives opened in the Burma–Manipur theatre, depriving the army of any organised internal support. However, despite its small numerical strength and lack of heavy weapons, its special services group played a significant part in halting the First Arakan Offensive while still under Mohan Singh's command. The propaganda threat of
17466-510: The British-Indian Army, non-commissioned Officers started ignoring orders from British superiors. In Madras and Pune British garrisons faced revolts from within the ranks of the British-Indian Army. These were suppressed by force. At the conclusion of the first trial, when the sentences of deportation were commuted, Fay records Claude Auchinleck as having sent a "personal and secret" letter to all senior British officers, explaining: ... practically all are sure that any attempt to enforce
17712-461: The Congress and the people of India asked it to. It did not, however, specify the army was to interact with the Japanese forces. This resolution was circulated among the Indian PoWs, followed by tour of the mainland camps by Mohan Singh and Fujiwara. The PoW headquarters was subsequently dissolved and the staff were transferred to Mohan Singh's supreme command. On 9 May, Singh began recruiting for
17958-454: The Congress. In the late 1920s, he was amongst the first Congress leaders to call for complete independence from Britain ( Purna Swaraj ), rather than the previous Congress objective of India becoming a British dominion . In Bengal, he was repeatedly accused by Raj officials of working with the revolutionary movement . Under his leadership, the Congress youth group in Bengal was organised into
18204-499: The First INA consisted of a mix of recruits joining for various reasons, such as nationalistic leanings, Mohan Singh's appeals, personal ambition or to protect men under their own command from harm. Fay notes some officers like Shah Nawaz Khan were opposed to Mohan Singh's ideas and tried to hinder what they considered a collaborationist organisation. However, both historians note that Indian civilians and former INA soldiers all cite
18450-473: The Free India Legion. By November, around 12,000 INA prisoners were held in these camps; they were released according to the "colours". By December, around 600 Whites were released per week. The process to select those to face trial started. The British-Indian Army intended to implement appropriate internal disciplinary action against its soldiers who had joined the INA, whilst putting to trial
18696-526: The Greater East Asia Conference as an observer to Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere ; it could not function as a delegate because India had technically fallen outside the jurisdiction of Japan's definition of "Greater East Asia", but Bose gave speeches in opposition to Western colonialism and imperialism at the conference. By the end of the conference, Azad Hind had been given a limited form of governmental jurisdiction over
18942-426: The IIL and the INA, as well as encouragement of the independence movement within India. A liaison conference declared among other aims the "stimulation of the Indian independence movement". With Fujiwara's encouraging feedbacks in early 1942, the Japanese government and high-command sought to expand the scope and support for the evolving INA as well as the Japanese support for the independence movement. For this it sought
19188-436: The IIL leaders resigned. The first INA, especially at the time of its inception with F Kikan, was involved in espionage and sabotage. From the time of initial Japanese landings in Malaya, INA volunteers infiltrated British-Indian battle lines inducing Indian soldiers to defect to the INA. This it did with the considerable success of hundred men each, under the command of Capt Allah Ditta, to the Singapore operations, accompanying
19434-433: The IIL peaked at 350,000, while almost 100,000 local Indians in South-east Asia volunteered to join the INA, with the army ultimately reaching a force of 50,000. Hugh Toye — a British Intelligence officer and author of a 1959 history of the army called The Springing Tiger — and American historian Peter Fay (author of a 1993 history called The Forgotten Army ) have reached similar estimates of troop strength. The first INA
19680-587: The INA and lack of concrete intelligence on the unit early after the fall of Singapore made it a threat to Allied war plans in Southeast Asia, since it threatened to destroy the Sepoys' loyalty to a British-Indian Army that was demoralised from continuing defeats. There were reports of INA operatives successfully infiltrating Commonwealth lines during the Offensive. This caused British intelligence to begin
19926-473: The INA and the League on the one hand and the Japanese on the other. The INA leadership resigned along with that of the League (except Rash Behari). The unit was dissolved by Mohan Singh in December 1942, and he ordered the troops of the INA to return to PoW camps. Mohan Singh was expected to be shot. Between December 1942 and February 1943, Rash Behari struggled to hold the INA together. On 15 February 1943,
20172-508: The INA as would keep Mohan Singh happy. Within the league, members of the original Indian delegation to the Tokyo conference held reservations about serving Rash Behari Bose , and of ultimate Japanese intentions with regards to independent India. Rash Behari Bose had lived in Japan for a considerable length of time, married a Japanese woman, and his son had enlisted in the Imperial army. Among
20418-407: The INA began a long march overland and on foot towards Bangkok. In what has been called an "epic retreat to safety", Bose walked with his troops, refusing to leave them despite Japanese soldiers finding him transport. The withdrawing forces regularly suffered casualties from Allied planes strafing them and in clashes with Aung San 's Burmese resistance, as well as from Chinese guerrillas who harassed
20664-645: The INA drew ex-prisoners and thousands of civilian volunteers from the Indian expatriate population in Malaya (present-day Malaysia) and Burma . This second INA fought under the Imperial Japanese Army against the British and Commonwealth forces in the campaigns in Burma : at Imphal and Kohima , and later against the Allied retaking of Burma . After the INA's initial formation in 1942, there
20910-633: The INA in preparation for the battle began after news of Quit India had reached South-east Asia. This uprising within India was taken to be the signal from Congress and Indian people that the INA and the league had been waiting for. Iwakuro visited Tokyo in August 1942, and on his return had expected to train and equip 15,000 men over three months. These men were to be moved to Burma in stages to avoid concentrating in Singapore. Mohan Singh's ambition, however, outpaced Iwakuro. Lists of men intending to enlist were collected from individual camp commanders. Hugh Toye,
21156-566: The INA itself by the agents who concealed their purpose and professed to pass on intelligence from local knowledge. More troubling for the military command were the activities of the INA agents in the battlefields of India's eastern frontier in Burma . The army's co-existence with Imperial Japan was an uneasy one. Misgivings about Japanese intentions existed from early in the history of the army. Col N.S. Gill, in overall charge of Pow Camps, regarded Japanese overtures and intentions with caution Further,
21402-608: The INA played a crucial (and successful) role in diversionary attacks in Arakan and in the Manipur Basin itself, where it fought alongside Mutaguchi's 15th Army. INA forces protected the flanks of the assaulting Yamamoto force at a critical time as the latter attempted to take Imphal. During the Commonwealth Burma Campaign, the INA troops fought in the battles of Irrawaddy and Meiktilla , supporting
21648-532: The INA veterans were involved in training civilian resistance forces against the Nizam 's Razakars prior to the execution of Operation Polo and annexation of Hyderabad. It has been also documented that some INA veterans led Pakistani irregulars during the First Kashmir war . Mohammed Zaman Kiani served as Pakistan's political agent to Gilgit in the late 1950s. Of the very few ex-INA members who joined
21894-426: The INA was to be subordinate to the IIL. A working council – composed of prominent members of the League and the INA leaders – was to decide on decisions to send the INA to war. The Indian leaders feared that they would appear to be Japanese puppets, so a decision was taken that the INA would go to battle only when the Indian National Congress called it to do so. Assurances of non-interference— later termed
22140-725: The INA who were closely associated with Subhas Bose and with the INA trials were prominent in public life. A number of them held important positions in independent India, serving as ambassadors immediately after independence: Abid Hasan in Egypt and Denmark, A. C. N. Nambiar in the Federal Republic of Germany , Mehboob Hasan in Canada, Cyril John Stracey in the Netherlands, and N. Raghavan in Switzerland. Mohan Singh
22386-489: The INA's regimental march Qadam Qadam Badhaye Ja , has been credited by some for the modern tune of the Indian national anthem . Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon and Lakshmi Sahgal were later awarded the Indian civilian honours of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan respectively by the Indian Government in the 1990s. Lakshmi Sahgal was nominated for the Indian presidential election by communist parties in 2002. She
22632-674: The INA. The exact organisation of the INA and its precise troop strength is not known, since its records were destroyed by the withdrawing Azad Hind Government before Rangoon was recaptured by Commonwealth forces in 1945. The order of battle described by Fay (constructed from discussions with INA-veterans), nonetheless, is similar to that described of the first INA by Toye in The Springing Tiger . The 1st Division, under M.Z. Kiani, drew many ex-Indian army prisoners of war who had joined Mohan Singh's first INA. It also drew prisoners of war who had not joined in 1942. It consisted of
22878-562: The INA. The process involved identifying units that were most likely to come up with volunteers. These units were transferred to Neesoon and Bidadary, while the other units were shipped away to other camps. In April 1942— the same month as Mohan Singh formally declared the formation of the Indian National Army— he and other representatives of the INA and IIL, were invited to attend a conference in Tokyo at Rash Behari Bose 's invitation. Rash Behari Bose also invited members of
23124-808: The INA; and Whites , those who were pressured into joining the INA under the circumstances but with no commitment to Azad Hind , INA, or Bose. By July 1945, a large number had been shipped back to India. At the time of the fall of Japan, the remaining captured troops were transported to India via Rangoon. Large numbers of local Malay and Burmese volunteers, including the recruits to the Rani of Jhansi regiment, returned to civilian life and were not identified. Those repatriated passed through transit camps in Chittagong and Calcutta to be held at detention camps all over India including Jhingergacha and Nilganj near Calcutta, Kirkee outside Pune, Attock , Multan and at Bahadurgarh near Delhi. Bahadurgarh also held prisoners of
23370-471: The INAs Special services group ) who had infiltrated into India for the purpose of collecting intelligence, subversion of the army and the subversion of civilian loyalty. This information was derived to a large extent from some of the agents themselves who gave themselves up to the authorities after reaching India. However, the intelligence was also aware at this point of misinformation being spread about
23616-598: The Indian Armed Forces after 1947 R. S. Benegal , a member of the Tokyo Boys, joined the Indian Air Force in 1952 and later rose to be an air commodore . Benegal saw action in both 1965 and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 , earning a Maha Vir Chakra , India's second-highest award for valour. Among other prominent members of the INA, Ram Singh Thakur , composer of a number of songs including
23862-552: The Indian National Army was handed to Subhas Chandra Bose . A large number of the INAs initial volunteers, however, later went on to join the INA in its second incarnation under Subhas Chandra Bose . This first incarnation of the Indian National Army was involved in operations of espionage in the Burma frontier which, according to some military historians and allied generals, threatened the morale of Indian troops and fed discontentment and
24108-555: The Indian National Army" (after Lawrence of Arabia ) is said to have been a man committed to the values which his office was supposed to convey to the expatriate nationalist leaders, and found acceptance among them. His initial contact was with Giani Pritam Singh and after the outbreak of the war and the Malayan invasion, with Capt. Mohan Singh . Mohan Singh had, as a captain in the British Indian Army , seen action with
24354-481: The Indian National Congress for taking Japanese assistance, and to press for Subhash Chandra Bose to assume leadership of the movement. British intelligence was unaware of the formation of the army until around July 1942. The existence of "fifth columnists" influencing Indian troops had been noted even during the Malayan campaign. In some units, British officers were shot by their own troops during
24600-723: The Indian soldiers at Christmas Island mutinied, allowing the Japanese forces to land unopposed at the Battle of Christmas Island . This was followed by a mutiny in the Ceylon Garrison Artillery in the Cocos Islands . However, the Cocos Islands Mutiny failed after it was quickly put down by the Ceylon Light Infantry . Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaya formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army. An abortive plan
24846-415: The Indian sub-continent. In these circumstances, the Japanese military administration encouraged the various disparate Indian nationalist groups in East Asia to form an anti-British alliance. These came together to form the Indian Independence League (IIL), with its headquarters in Singapore. The IIL was also responsible for the welfare of Indian communities in East Asia. From the Japanese point of view, this
25092-698: The Indo-Burma Front. Its army, the Indian National Army ( Azad Hind Fauj ), went into action against the British Indian Army and the allied forces as part of the Imperial Japanese Army in the Imphal-Kohima sector. The INA had its first major engagement at the Battle of Imphal where, under the command of the Japanese Fifteenth Army , it breached the British defences in Kohima, reaching the salient of Moirang before suffering
25338-521: The Japanese and the Indian forces. Left to defend Rangoon from the British advance without support from the Japanese, the INA was soundly defeated. Bose was suggested to leave Burma to continue his struggle for Indian independence and returned to Singapore before the fall of Rangoon; the government Azad Hind had established on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands collapsed when the island garrisons of Japanese and Indian troops were defeated by British troops and
25584-536: The Japanese campaign, but neither the government nor the Imperial Japanese army were able to commit to these earlier. Militarily, India was important as the origin (from Assam ) of the Ledo road which supplied Nationalist Chinese and American forces , as well as the supplies airlifted over the hump . Also, the idea that the western boundary of Japan's empire would be controlled by a more friendly government
25830-415: The Japanese commanding general, Rash Behari Bose was convinced of the feasibility of raising an armed Indian unit. Between himself,Rash behari Bose, Pritam Singh and Fujiwara, formulated plans of contacting Indians in the British Indian Army in South-east Asia. The fall of Malaya further brought under Japanese control approximately 45,000 regular Indian troops from Gen. Percival 's command in Malaya, including
26076-467: The Japanese intentions to help raise a "liberation army" for the independence of India. He invited the troops seated at the park to join this army. Further, he told the troops, they were going to be treated not as PoWs, but as friends and allies. Fujiwara ended his speech stating he is passing on their responsibilities and command to Mohan Singh. Mohan Singh's speech, in Hindustani , was short. He told
26322-498: The Japanese mission for the greater motive of Indian independence. This included the promise that he would be treated as an ally and a friend, and not a PoW. Singh initially helped Fujiwara to take control of the situation of looting and arson that had developed in Alor Star . By January 1942, Fujiwara was able to give positive reports on the success of Japan's India policy and suggested an eight-point policy that included aid for both
26568-423: The Japanese offensive and tying down Commonwealth troops. The first INA trial, which was held in public, became a rallying point for the independence movement from the autumn of 1945. The release of INA prisoners and the suspension of the trials came to be the dominant political campaign, superseding the campaign for independence. Christopher Bayly notes that the "INA was to become a much more powerful enemy of
26814-438: The Japanese onslaught in Malaya. Even then British intelligence was unclear of the scale, purpose and organisation of the INA till much later. The propaganda threat of the INA, coupled with the lack of concrete intelligence on the unit early after the fall of Singapore, led to considerable consternation among the political and military leadership of the Government of India when first reports started reaching it. In operational terms,
27060-481: The Japanese prime minister, and the Japanese High Command. He then arrived in Singapore in July 1943, where he made a number of radio broadcasts to Indians in Southeast Asia exhorting them to join in the fight for India's independence. On 4 July 1943 two days after reaching Singapore, Bose assumed the leadership of the IIL and the Indian National Army in a ceremony at Cathay Building. Bose's influence
27306-560: The Japanese situation became precarious, the Azad Hind government withdrew from Rangoon to Singapore, along with the remnants of the 1st Division and the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. Nearly 6,000 troops of the surviving units of the INA remained in Rangoon under A. D. Loganathan . They surrendered as Rangoon fell and helped keep order until the Allied forces entered the city. As the Japanese withdrawal from Burma progressed, other remnants of
27552-490: The Japanese strategists and INA command envisaged a role for the Indian troops. Initially, this was to begin with intelligence gathering missions. Niranjan Singh Gill was in charge of intelligence and long-range penetration groups being deployed in the Burma-India border. Amongst operatives, Gill sent to Burma was a close associate who subsequently defected back to Commonwealth forces, followed by nearly eight other men. This
27798-495: The Japanese troops. Bose returned to Singapore in August to what remained of the INA and Azad Hind . He wished to stay with his government in Singapore to surrender to the British, reasoning that a trial in India and possible execution would ignite the country, serving the independence movement. He was convinced not to do so by the Azad Hind cabinet. At the time of Japan's surrender in September 1945, Bose left for Dalian near
28044-406: The Japanese was refused. This was followed by a Japanese attempt to take command of Indian troops who had not enlisted in the INA, who had so far been under the custody of INA. In December N.S. Gill was arrested from Mohan Singh's home in Singapore, precipitating resignations of both the INA command and members of the council for action, along orders from Mohan Singh for the INA to disband. Mohan Singh
28290-454: The Japanese were interested in maintaining the support of a man who had been able to mobilise large numbers of Indian expatriates – including, most importantly, 40,000 of the 45,000 Indians captured by the Japanese at Singapore. However, Faye notes that interactions between soldiers in the field was different. Attempts to use Shah Nawaz's troops in road building and as porters angered the troops, forcing Bose to intervene with Mutaguchi. After
28536-488: The King-Emperor". However, the first and most celebrated joint courts-martial – those of Prem Sahgal, Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon and Shah Nawaz Khan – were not the story of torture and murder Auchinleck had hoped to tell the Indian press and people. The accusations against them included the alleged murder of their comrades-in-arms in the INA whilst in Burma. Peter Fay highlights in his book The Forgotten Army that
28782-477: The League, not least because Rash Behari had lived in Japan for the considerable time and had a Japanese wife and a son in the Imperial Japanese Army. On the other hand, Mohan Singh expected military strategy and decisions to be autonomous decisions for the INA, independent of the league. In November and December 1942, concern about Japan's intentions towards the INA led to disagreement between
29028-534: The Malayan Peninsula were brutally killed in what is now known as the ‘ Sook Ching Massacre ’ . In contrast, the Indians received far more lenient treatment. However, this is not to say that the Indians felt no fear at all. In fact, the attitudes of the Japanese forces towards the Chinese population did instill some fear in the general Indian civilian population as well as leaders such as Pritam Singh. This
29274-520: The Malayan sultans, overseas Chinese, the Burmese resistance and the Indian independence movement . The Minami Kikan successfully recruited Burmese nationalists , while the F Kikan was successful in establishing contacts with Indian nationalists in exile in Thailand and Malaya . Fujiwara, later self-described as "Lawrence of the Indian National Army" (after Lawrence of Arabia ) is said to have been
29520-654: The Minister for War and Foreign Affairs. Captain Dr. Lakshmi Swaminadhan (later married as Lakshmi Sahgal ) was the Minister in Charge of Women's Organization. She held this position over and above her command of the Rani Jhansi Regiment, a brigade of women soldiers fighting for the Indian National Army. For a regular Asian army, this women's regiment was quite visionary; it was the first of its kind established on
29766-469: The Officers' Training School and Lt. Col. A.C. Chatterji (later Major A.D. Jahangir) as head of enlightenment and culture. A number of the officers and troops who had returned to PoW camps, or had not volunteered in the first place, made it known that they would be willing to join the INA only on the condition that it was led by Subhash Chandra Bose . Bose was a hard-line nationalist, previously having won
30012-487: The Parachute Regiment refused to obey orders from their officers. Authors like Nilanjana Sengupta attribute these to a combination of dissatisfaction over pay and work conditions and conflicts of comradeship over the INA trials. Former INA members in Malaya identified closely with the left-wing organisations in opposing British colonial authority. The majority of prominent left-wing union leaders in Malaya after
30258-678: The Soviet border in Japanese-occupied China to attempt to contact the advancing Soviet troops, and was reported to have died in an air crash near Taiwan. The remaining INA troops surrendered under the command of M.Z. Kiani to British-Indian forces at Singapore. Even before the end of the war in South Asia, the INA prisoners who were falling into Allied hands were being evaluated by forwarding intelligence units for potential trials. Almost fifteen hundred had been captured in
30504-752: The Subhas Brigade was placed under the command of the Japanese General Headquarters in Burma. Advance parties of the Bahadur Group also went forward with advanced Japanese units. As the offensive opened, the INA's 1st Division, consisting of four guerrilla regiments, was divided between U Go and the diversionary Ha-Go offensive in Arakan . One battalion reached as far as Mowdok in Chittagong after breaking through
30750-593: The War Department, later wrote that "in a matter of weeks ... in a wave of nationalist emotion, the INA were acclaimed heroes who fought for the freedom of India." The three accused were from the three major religions of India: Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism. Indians felt the INA represented a true, secular, national army when judged against the British-Indian Army, where caste and religious differences were preserved amongst ranks. The opening of
30996-470: The abolition of racial discrimination with Burmese , Japanese and other Asians. Britain accused Bose of fascism , citing his role in the Provisional Government of Azad Hind as evidence of this; and pointed to him wanting to establish a totalitarian state in India with the blessings of the Axis powers. Bose believed that parliamentary democracy was unsuitable for India immediately after independence and that
31242-416: The adoption of a resolution declaring the INA sub-ordinate to the League. K.P.K Menon, Nedyam Raghavan were civilian members among the civilian members of the council while Mohan Singh and an officer by the name of Gilani were to be the INA's members. The Bangkok resolution further reaffirmed the Bidadary resolution that the INA was only to go to war when the Congress and the Indian population wished it to. On
31488-558: The advancing Maratha Light Infantry on the Burma–India road while the general withdrawal was prepared. The 2nd and 3rd INA regiments protected the flanks of the Yamamoto force successfully at the most critical time during this withdrawal, but wounded and diseased men succumbed to starvation along the route. Commonwealth troops following the Japanese forces found INA dead along with Japanese troops who had died of starvation. The INA lost
31734-467: The advancing INA breached the Kohima road, posing a threat to the British positions in both Silchar and Kohima . Col. Gulzara Singh's column had penetrated 250 miles into India. The Azad Brigade advanced, by outflanking the Anglo-American positions. However, INA's most serious, and ultimately fatal, limitations were the reliance on Japanese logistics and supplies and the total air-dominance of
31980-429: The aims of the movement carried on, Mohan Singh convened a meeting of a group of his officers to frame what is now called the Bidadary resolution. This resolution announced that: Indians stood above all differences of caste, community, or religion. Independence was every Indian's birthright. An Indian National Army would be raised to fight for it. The resolution further specified that the army would go to battle only when
32226-495: The allies, which, along with a supply line deluged by torrential rain, frustrated the INA's and the Japanese bid to take Imphal . With the siege of Imphal failing, the Japanese began to shift priority for resource allocation from South Asia to the Pacific, where they were fighting United States troops advancing from island to island against Japanese holdings there. When it had become clear that Bose's plans to advance to Delhi from
32472-526: The already growing resentment within the forces. Indian troops sent to suppress Sukarno 's agitations in Indonesia in 1946 rapidly identified with the nationalist sentiments in the previous Dutch colony. The South East Asia Command reported growing sympathy for the INA and dislike of the Dutch. There were similar pro-nationalist sentiments among Indian troops sent to Vietnam, Thailand and Burma. This led to
32718-444: The area. The INA's forces suffered the same fate as Mutaguchi's army when the siege of Imphal was broken. With little or nothing in the way of supplies, and with additional difficulties caused by the monsoon, Allied air dominance, and Burmese irregular forces, the 1st and 2nd divisions began withdrawing alongside the 15th Army and Burma Area Army . During the withdrawal through Manipur, a weakened Gandhi regiment held its position against
32964-599: The army itself was put under the command of Lt. Col. M.Z. Kiani . A policy forming body was formed with Lt. Col J.R. Bhonsle (Director of the Military Bureau) in charge and clearly placed under the authority of the IIL. Under Bhonsle served Lt. Col. Shah Nawaz Khan as Chief of General Staff, Major P.K. Sahgal as Military Secretary, Major Habib ur Rahman as commandant of the Officers' Training School and Lt. Col. A.C. Chatterji (later Major A.D. Jahangir) as head of enlightenment and culture. Subhas Chandra Bose
33210-538: The attention of the officers commanding the units. Soon, defection by British Indian troops had become a problem significant and regular enough in the Burma theatre to form a regular part of the intelligence summaries in the first half of 1943. The Quit India movement had reached a crescendo within India, while the continuing British reversals at Burma further affected the morale of the army. The Irwin 's First Campaign had been contained and then beaten back by inferior Japanese forces at Donbaik. Intelligence analysis of
33456-552: The back of the success of the INA, Fujiwara suggested in January 1942 expanding the work of the F-Kikan to all parts of Asia. In the spring of 1942, based on Fujiwara's own proposals, he was replaced by Col. Hideo Iwakuro . The Iwakuro Kikan (I-Kikan) was considerably larger, with some 250 officers and with offices in Rangoon , Penang , Saigon and Hong Kong. Iwakuro, the founder of the Army intelligence school Rikugun Nakano Gakko ,
33702-475: The battles at Irrawaddy and later around Popa. Fay specifically discusses Slim's portrayal of the INA, pointing out what he concludes to be inconsistencies in Slim's accounts. Fay also discusses memoirs of Shah Nawaz, where Khan claims INA troops were never defeated in battle. Fay criticises this too as exaggerated. He concludes the opinions held by Commonwealth war veterans such as Slim were an inaccurate portrayal of
33948-508: The battles of Imphal and Kohima and the subsequent withdrawal, while larger numbers surrendered or were captured during the 14th Army's Burma Campaign. A total of 16,000 of the INA's 43,000 recruits were captured, of whom around 11,000 were interrogated by the Combined Services Directorate of Investigation Corps (CSDIC). The number of prisoners necessitated this selective policy which anticipated trials of those with
34194-471: The cause of Indian independence and had formed local leagues in Malaya before the war. These came together with encouragement from Japan after the occupation, forming the Indian Independence League (IIL). Although there were a number of prominent local Indians working in the IIL, the overall leadership came to rest with Rash Behari Bose , an Indian revolutionary who had lived in self-exile in Japan since World War I. The League and INA leadership decided that
34440-521: The centre stage. By the time that the pan-Asiatic regained any prominence, Japan's aggressive and often nihilistic war in China had robbed her of the high ground that Japan held among the Indian population, and among Indian nationalist leadership. At the outbreak of the war in south-east Asia, Japan had not formulated any concrete policy with regards to India. Its headquarters lacked any India experts, while civilian experts on India were few in Japan. India
34686-538: The charges against defendants in the Red Fort trials. Published memoirs of several veterans, including that of William Slim , portray the INA troops as incapable fighters and as untrustworthy. Toye noted in 1959 that individual desertions occurred in the withdrawal from Imphal. Fay concluded that stories of INA desertions during the battle and the initial retreat into Burma were largely exaggerated. The majority of desertions occurred much later, according to Fay, around
34932-561: The close relation of Fujiwara and Mohan Singh was not replicated after the I-Kikan replaced Fujiwara's office. Iwakuro was considered less idealistic and romantic than Fujiwara. Iwakuro took his post at a time the Pacific War faced a higher priority among Japanese forces for materiel . and did not use his expertise to encourage the "true Indian army" that Fujiwara had envisioned. By some accounts he only engaged in as much development of
35178-489: The complex task of formulating a formal plan for captured men. After Singapore was retaken, Mountbatten ordered the INA's war memorial to its fallen soldiers to be blown up. As the story of the INA unfolded in post-war India, the view of Indian soldiers on the INA ;– and on their own position during the war – also changed. The Raj observed with increasing disquiet and unease the spread of pro-INA sympathies within
35424-535: The concepts of Subhas Chandra Bose who was also the leader of the government and head of state . The government proclaimed authority over Indian civilian and military personnel in Southeast Asian British colonial territory and prospective authority over Indian territory to fall to the Japanese forces and the Indian National Army during the Japanese thrust towards India . The government of Azad Hind had its own currency, court and civil code, and in
35670-459: The connection of the two Asian nations, their heritage, and the vision of pan-Asianism. After the end of World War I, Japan increasingly became a haven for radical Indian nationalists in exile, who were protected by patriotic Japanese societies. Notable among these included Rash Behari Bose , Taraknath Das , A M Sahay as well as others. The protections offered to these nationalists effectively prevented British efforts to repatriate them and became
35916-531: The continent. Lakshmi was one of the most popular and prosperous gynaecologists in Singapore before she gave up her practice to lead the troops of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment . Other public administration ministers of the Provisional Government of Free India included: The Indian National Army was represented by Armed Forces ministers, including: The Provisional Government was also constituted and administered by
36162-433: The continuation of the court-martial, it was completed. All three defendants were found guilty in many of the charges and sentenced to deportation for life. The sentence, however, was never carried out. Immense public pressure, demonstrations, and riots forced Claude Auchinleck to release all three defendants. Within three months, 11,000 soldiers of the INA were released after cashiering and forfeiture of pay and allowance. On
36408-446: The counsel of Rash Behari Bose . Rash Behari Bose had lived in self-exile in Japan since the 1920s. He encouraged the formation of the INA, but also sought to attach it to a central civilian authority speaking for and encouraging Indian civilian Indian population of the region to become a part of it. The framework of local Indian associations that existed before the war reached Malaya were rekindled. In December 1941, after meeting with
36654-424: The declaration of its formation in occupied Singapore the Taoiseach of Ireland , Éamon de Valera , sent a note of congratulations to Bose. Vichy France , however, although being an Axis collaborator, never gave formal political recognition to Azad Hind. This government participated as an observer in the Greater East Asia Conference in November 1943. The same night that Bose declared the existence of Azad Hind,
36900-427: The end of 1941, India had started featuring prominently in the Japanese policies. By early 1942, Tōjō 's speeches to the Diet included specific references to the independence of India and to decisions to strike the British colonial authority in India. Specific plans for the invasion of India were, however, not formulated. The Japanese IGHQ in October set up the Fujiwara Kikan , or the F-kikan, in Bangkok , headed by
37146-450: The end of the war, the limited power of Azad Hind was effectively ended with the surrender of the last major contingent of INA troops in Rangoon . The death of Bose is seen as the end of the entire Azad Hind Movement. The legacy of Azad Hind is, however, open to judgment. After the war, the Raj observed with alarm the transformation of the perception of Azad Hind from traitors and collaborators to liberators. The British Empire , which
37392-461: The establishment of the Provisional Government of Free India at the Cathay Cinema Hall . In defining the tasks of this new political establishment, Subhas declared: "It will be the task of the Provisional Government to launch and conduct the struggle that will bring about the expulsion of the British and their allies from the soil of India." Bose, taking formal command of the demoralised and undermanned Indian National Army from Rash Bose, turned it into
37638-491: The experience of the INA was useful in challenging British authority in the post-war period in Malaya, and in improving the socio-economic conditions of the Indian community. British and Commonwealth troops viewed the recruits as traitors and Axis collaborators . Almost 40,000 Indian soldiers in Malaya did not join the army and remained as PoWs. Many were sent to work in the Death Railway , suffered hardships and nearly 11,000 died under Japanese internment. Many of them cited
37884-412: The eyes of some Indians, its existence gave a greater importance to the independence struggle against the British. Japan also handed over nominal authority of the Japanese occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1943, though the government continued to be dependent on Japanese support. Immediately after the formation of the provisional government, Free India declared war against the Allied forces on
38130-437: The face of opposition by the Congress. These trials became a galvanising point in the Indian Independence movement for the Indian National Congress. A number of people associated with the INA during the war later went on to hold important roles in public life in India as well as in other countries in Southeast Asia, most notably Lakshmi Sehgal in India, and John Thivy and Janaki Athinahappan in Malaya. The military unit
38376-403: The failure, as well as Irwin's own personal analysis of the campaign, attributed significant demoralisation and rising discontentment amongst Indian troops due to the subversive activity of INA agents at the frontline, as well as rising nationalist (or " Pro-Congress ") sentiments. Although the Congress had conditionally supported the Allied war effort, following failure of the Cripps mission ,
38622-441: The fall of Singapore, these troops grew to number nearly 2,500. There was significant deviation from the British Indian Army. Officers were organised into a single class, a common kitchen (opposed to caste -based kitchen as had been the norm), common slogans were adopted. All these efforts attempted to bridge any communal and casteist rivalries that were accepted or even institutionalised in the British Indian Army. On 10 March 1942,
38868-402: The fight for India's Independence. The INA was revived , and the units of dissolved INA were incorporated into Bose's army. The Hindustan Field Force formed the nucleus of the new INA's 2nd division, to form the 1st Infantry regiment. The first INA, therefore, formed the nucleus of the army under Bose's leadership, which he proclaimed the army of his Provisional Government of Free India . It drew
39114-399: The first place – made it known that they would be willing to join the INA only if it was led by Subhas Bose. Bose was a nationalist. He had joined the Gandhian movement after resigning from a prestigious post in the Indian Civil Service in 1922, quickly rising in the Congress and being incarcerated repeatedly by the Raj. By late 1920s he and Nehru were considered the future leaders of
39360-527: The first trial saw violence and a series of riots in a scale later described as "sensational". The Indian National Congress and the Muslim League both made the release of the INA prisoners an important political issue during the campaign for independence in 1945–1946. Lahore in Diwali 1946 remained dark as the traditional earthen lamps lit on Diwali were not lit by families in support of prisoners. In addition to civilian campaigns of non-cooperation and non-violent protest, protest spread to include mutinies within
39606-416: The form of National Union of Plantation Workers was led by ex-INA leaders. In Malaya, notable members of the INA were involved in founding the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) in 1946; John Thivy was the founding president. Janaky Athi Nahappan , second-in-command of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, was also a founding member of the MIC and later became a noted welfare activist and a distinguished senator in
39852-399: The government took action to declare war against the United States and Britain. The government consisted of a Cabinet ministry acting as an advisory board to Subhas Bose, who was given the title "Netaji" (translating roughly to "leader") and was no doubt the dominant figure in the Provisional Government. He exercised virtual authoritarian control over the government and the army. With regards to
40098-399: The government's first issuances of war declarations, Hugh Toye writes: The Cabinet had not been unanimous about the inclusion of the U.S.A. Bose had shown impatience and displeasure – there was never any question then or later of his absolute authority: the Cabinet had no responsibility and could only tender advice ... At the end of October 1943, Bose flew to Tokyo to participate in
40344-425: The high-command and significantly hindered the Allied war effort. In south-east Asia, this was perceived as the signal that the INA and the League expected to receive to start its war. Intelligence summaries initially did not believe the INA to be a substantial force or have any purpose more than propaganda and espionage purposes. However, by the end of 1942, they had become aware of trained Indian espionage agents (of
40590-408: The initial defence was based on the argument that they should be treated as prisoners of war as they were not paid mercenaries but bona fide soldiers of a legal government – Bose's Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind . Nehru argued that "however misinformed or otherwise they had been in their notion of patriotic duty towards their country", they recognized the free Indian state as their sovereign and not
40836-463: The ire of Mohan Singh and League members. The final straw to this was a report to the council by an officer of the situation in Burma, where Japanese military administration refused or prevaricated to handover abandoned Indian property to the league, as demanded n the Bangkok resolutions. A group of Japanese officers meeting league members had very candidly declined to attach any importance to the Bangkok resolutions or to Indians. Amidst worsening tensions,
41082-497: The islands themselves retaken. Allegedly Bose himself was killed in a plane crash departing from Taiwan attempting to escape to the Soviet Union. The Provisional Government of Free India ceased to exist with the deaths of the Axis, the INA, and the disappearance of Bose in 1945. The troops who manned the brigades of the Indian National Army were taken as prisoners of war by the British. A number of these prisoners were brought to India and tried by British courts for treason, including
41328-503: The islands' vestigial education department, as the Japanese had retained full control over the police force, and in protest, he had refused to accept responsibility for any other areas of Government. He was powerless to prevent the Homfreyganj massacre of 30 January 1944, where forty-four Indian civilians were shot by the Japanese on suspicion of spying. Many of them were members of the Indian Independence League , whose leader in Port Blair , Diwan Singh, had already been tortured to death in
41574-408: The latter under the direction of N. Raghavan were called Swaraj (Independence in Hindi ) schools. Graduates from these schools were sent by submarine or parachuted into India for starting intelligence work, subversion, and sabotage activities. Some historians suggest the intelligence services played a significant role in the failure of Noel Irwin 's First Arakan Offensive . Earnest organisation of
41820-496: The leadership and the officer corps, were also transferred to Azad Hind after its formation, and saw action in the INA's Burma Campaign. A segment of the Free India Legion fought against British and Polish Forces in Italy in 1944. Large number of Indian troops had begun arriving in Malayan peninsula and Singapore by 1941, as a part of defensive preparations for possible war with Japan. It was estimated that were some 37 000 Indian troops stationed in these areas, making up roughly about
42066-404: The leadership of the League. Bose was living in Germany at the time and made the trip to Japan via submarine. Rash Behari Bose, who was already ageing by the time the League was founded, struggled to keep the League organised and failed to secure resources for the establishment of the Indian National Army. He was replaced as president of the Indian Independence League by Subhas Chandra Bose; there
42312-537: The letters Jai Hind in the top right hand corner. These were a part of the series issued on 15 August 1947. Commemorative postage stamps were also issued by the Indian government in 1968 and 1993 respectively to commemorate the 25th and the 50th anniversaries of the establishment of Azad Hind at Singapore. The Department of Posts also includes the six unused Azad Hind stamps in its commemorative book India's Freedom Struggle through India Postage Stamps . The Azad Hind Fauj Marg (Azad Hind Fauj Road) in New Delhi
42558-549: The local Indians and ex-British-Indian Army volunteers in Malaya, there was a proportion who joined due to the threat of conscription as Japanese labour troops. Recruitment also offered local Indian labourers security from continual semi-starvation of the estates and served as a barrier against Japanese tyranny. INA troops were alleged to engage in or be complicit in torture of Allied and Indian prisoners of war. Fay in his 1993 history analyses war-time press releases and field counter-intelligence directed at Sepoys . He concludes that
42804-429: The local populace, and to make and enforce laws: in practice, they were enforced by the police force under Japanese control. Indians were willing to pay these taxes at first but became less inclined to do so towards the end of the war when the Provisional Government enacted legislation for higher war-time taxes to fund the INA. During his interrogation after the war, Loganathan admitted that he had only had full control over
43050-474: The murders alleged were, in fact, courts-martial of captured deserters the defendants had presided over. If it was accepted that the three were part of a genuine combatant army (as the legal defence team later argued), they had followed due process of written INA law and of the normal process of conduct of war in execution of the sentences. Indians rapidly came to view the soldiers who enlisted as patriots and not enemy-collaborators. Philip Mason , then-Secretary of
43296-543: The nucleus what came to be the Indian National Army was born. The units that were formed in this predecessor of the INA numbered about 200. They were volunteers from within the British Indian soldiers captured in Malaya. They were issued rifles and given armbands bearing the letter "F". They were organised into units and trained and worked along with those already under Pritam Singh in Malaya and Thailand . They were further tasked to work amongst fighting British-Indian Army units to foment dissent and encourage defection. Before
43542-437: The oath of allegiance they had taken to the King among reasons not to join a Japanese-supported organisation, and regarded the recruits of the INA as traitors for having forsaken their oath. Commanders in the British-Indian Army like Wavell later highlighted the hardships this group of soldiers suffered, contrasting them with the troops of the INA. Many British soldiers held the same opinion. Hugh Toye and Peter Fay point out that
43788-405: The official governorship of the territory, instead involving himself in plans to expand the Indian National Army , ensure adequate men and materiel, and formulate its course of actions and the administrations and relations of the Indian population in southeast Asia and determining Japanese designs in India and his provisional government. In theory, the government itself had the power to levy taxes on
44034-407: The onset of monsoon season and the failure to capture Imphal. British bombing seriously reduced morale, and the Japanese along with the INA forces began their withdrawal from India. In addition to these setbacks, the INA was faced with a formidable challenge when the troops were left to defend Rangoon without the assistance of the Japanese in the winter of 1944–1945. Loganathan was relocated from
44280-422: The overall direction of PoW. It would not be until 9 May 1942 that the INA would come into full effect. However, following the events of Farrer Park, Indians in Singapore begun to enjoy special privileges during the Japanese 'pacification' of Singapore . The Japanese treated the Indians and Chinese differently during this period. During these early months, it was reported that roughly 50 000 Chinese in Singapore and
44526-449: The police and protesters at the mass rallies being held all over India, culminating in public riotings in support of the INA men. This public outcry defied traditional communal barriers of the subcontinent, representing a departure from the divisions between Hindus and Muslims seen elsewhere in the independence movement and campaign for Pakistan . Between November 1945 and May 1946, approximately ten courts-martial were held in public at
44772-568: The popular vote, but the entire working committee resigned and refused to work with Bose. Bose resigned from the Congress presidency and founded his own faction within the Congress, the All India Forward Bloc . At the start of World War II, Bose was placed under house arrest by the Raj. He escaped in disguise and made his way through Afghanistan and Central -Asia. He came first to the Soviet Union and then to Germany, reaching Berlin on 2 April 1941. There he -sought to raise an army of Indian soldiers from prisoners of war captured by Germany, forming
45018-407: The presidency of Indian National Congress in the 1930s in the face of staunch opposition from Gandhi , who disagreed with Bose's approach to radical nationalism. Bose had, at the start of the war in Europe, escaped from house arrest to make his way first to the Soviet Union and then to Germany, reaching Berlin on 2 April 1941. In a series of meetings between the INA leaders and the Japanese in 1943, it
45264-409: The rank of general had generated opposition, Bose refused to take a rank. Both the soldiers of the INA and civilians addressed Bose as Netaji ("Dear leader"), a term first used in Berlin by members of the Free India Legion. In October 1943, Bose proclaimed the formation of the Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind , or the Provisional Government of Free India (also known as Azad Hind or Free India). The INA
45510-455: The realisation by 1946 that the British-Indian Army, the bulwark of the policing force in the British colonies, could not be used as an instrument of British power. INA-inspired strikes emerged throughout Britain's colonies in Southeast Asia. In January 1946, protests started at Royal Air Force bases in Karachi and spread rapidly to Singapore. This was followed by a full-scale mutiny by a British Army unit in Singapore. In British Malaya, men of
45756-448: The recommendation of Lord Mountbatten and with the agreement of Jawaharlal Nehru, former soldiers of the INA were not allowed to join the new Indian Armed Forces as a condition for independence. Some mutinies in the Royal Indian Navy in 1946 are thought to have been caused by the nationalist feelings inspired by the opposition to INA trials. Historians like Sumit Sarkar , Peter Cohen, Fay and others suggest that these events played
46002-483: The regime that supported him. Indeed, he had led protests against the Japanese expansion into China , and supported Chiang Kai-shek during the 1930s. Azad Hind depended on Japan for arms and material but sought to be as financially independent as possible, levying taxes and raising donations from Indians in Southeast Asia". On the Japanese side, members of the high command had been personally impressed by Bose and were willing to grant him some latitude; more importantly,
46248-484: The river at Pagan and Nyangyu during Irrawaddy operations . Later, during the Battles of Meiktila and Mandalay , the forces under Prem Sahgal were tasked with defending the area around Mount Popa from the British 17th Division, which would have exposed the flank of Heitarō Kimura 's forces attempting to retake Meiktila and Nyangyu. The division was obliterated, at times fighting tanks with hand grenades and bottles of petrol. Many INA soldiers realised that they were in
46494-402: The role of Fifth-columnists , and insisted that INA should contribute substantially in troops to form a distinct identity of an Indian-liberation army. He secured from Japanese army Chief of Staff, General Sugiyama, the agreement that INA would rank as an allied army in the offensive. The advanced headquarters of Azad Hind was moved to Rangoon in anticipation of success. The INA's own strategy
46740-457: The sentence would have led to chaos in the country at large, and probably to mutiny and dissension in the Army, culminating in its dissolution. Sidney Bradshaw Fay concludes that the INA was not significant enough to beat the British-Indian Army by military strength. He also writes that the INA was aware of this and formulated its own strategy of avoiding set-piece battles, gathering local and popular support within India and instigating revolt within
46986-418: The situation in Burma became hopeless for the Japanese, Bose refused requests to use INA troops against Aung San's Burma National Army , which had turned against Japan and was now allied with Commonwealth forces. The first interaction of the INA with the British-Indian forces was during the months during the First Arakan offensive , between December 1942 and March 1943. The morale of Sepoys during this time
47232-442: The strongest commitment to Bose's ideologies. Those with lesser commitment or other extenuating circumstances would be dealt with more leniently, with the punishment proportional to their commitment or war crimes. For this purpose, the field intelligence units designated the captured troops as Blacks with the strongest commitment to Azad Hind ; Greys with varying commitment but also with enticing circumstances that led them to join
47478-402: The subordinate military wing of the Indian Independence League in June that year. The unit was formed by Mohan Singh . The unit was dissolved in December 1942 after apprehensions of Japanese motives with regards to the INA led to disagreements and distrust between Mohan Singh and INA leadership on one hand, and the League's leadership, most notably Rash Behari Bose . Later on, the leadership of
47724-419: The support of the Japanese, on whom the government and army of Azad Hind were entirely dependent. Bose, however, is considered a hero by some in present-day India and is remembered as a man who fought fiercely for Indian independence. However, Subhas Chandra Bose had supported Fascism and Nazism before the start of WWII, declaring that India needed "a synthesis of what modern Europe calls socialism and fascism" in
47970-407: The territory of the Provisional Government lay in the Andaman Islands, although the Provisional Government was allowed some authority over Indian enclaves in Japanese-occupied territories. Provisional Government civil authority was never enacted in areas occupied by the INA; instead, Japanese military authority prevailed and responsibility for administration of occupied areas of India was shared between
48216-405: The thirty-four points of the Bangkok resolution, the INA and the IIL raised a number of questions and sought clarifications. These included the role and position of India in Japan's co-prosperity sphere, Japan's intentions in – and towards – an independent India. These were presented via the Iwakuro Kikan after the Bangkok conference, and a point-by-point answer were demanded for each. Tokyo, however,
48462-433: The tremendous influence of Subhas Bose and his appeal to patriotism in rejuvenating the INA. Fay discusses the topic of loyalty of the INA soldiers, and highlights that in Shah Nawaz Khan's trial it was noted that officers of the INA warned their men the possibility of having to fight the Japanese after having fought the British, to prevent Japan exploiting post-war India. Carl Vadivella Belle suggested in 2014 that among
48708-481: The trials to that of Bahadur Shah Zafar , the last Mughal emperor tried in the same place after the failed 1857 uprising . Support for the INA grew rapidly and their continued detention and news of impending trials was seen an affront to the movement for independence and to Indian identity itself. It was further feared that the Congress would exploit the INA to gain mass support against the Raj and possibly start an armed struggle with weapons smuggled from Burma. Nehru
48954-405: The troops of forming the Indian National Army to fight for an independent India, and invited the troops to join it. As an Indian Jawan present at the time remembers, Mohan Singh's speech was powerful and touched a chord, and the troops responded with wild enthusiasm and excitement. It is estimated that nearly half of those present at Farrer Park later joined the first INA. Significantly however,
49200-422: The troops of the British-Indian forces. In February 1946, while the trials were still going on, a general strike by ratings of the Royal Indian Navy rapidly deteriorated into a mutiny incorporating ships and shore establishments of the RIN throughout India. The mutineers raised slogans invoking Subhas Bose and the INA, demanding an end to the trials. The mutiny received widespread public support. In some places in
49446-606: The unit, as were those of INA soldiers themselves. Harkirat Singh notes that British officers' personal dislike for Subhas Chandra Bose may have prejudiced their judgement of the INA itself. The INA is memorialised in the Swatantrata Sainani Smarak , which is located at the Salimgarh Fort in Delhi , adjacent to the Red Fort. Its exhibits include the Indian National Army uniform worn by Colonel Prem Sahgal, riding boots and coat buttons of Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and photographs of Subhas Chandra Bose. A separate gallery holds material and photographs from excavations carried out by
49692-424: The war itself hung in balance and nobody was sure if the Japanese would win, initiating a popular revolution with grass-roots support within India would ensure that even if Japan ultimately lost the war, Britain would not be in a position to re-assert its colonial authority. It was planned that, once Japanese forces had broken through British defences at Imphal , the INA would cross the hills of North-East India into
49938-402: The war were members of the INA. The activities of the trade unions in the newly established Tamil schools were particularly influential, leading to the establishment of an inspector system by the British to supervise the curriculum and teaching in these schools. Joyce Lebra notes that the INA had a particularly strong unifying influence over ethnic Indians residing in Malaya. Lebra concludes that
50184-560: The withdrawal from Imphal began; Japanese soldiers, suspicious that INA defectors had been responsible for their defeat, addressed INA soldiers as "shameless one" instead of "comrade" as previously had been the case. Azad Hind officials in Burma reported difficulties with the Japanese military administration in arranging supply for troops and transport for wounded men as the armies withdrew. Toye notes that local IIL members and Azad Hind Dal (local Azad Hind administrative teams) organised relief supplies from Indians in Burma at this time. As
50430-403: The withdrawal from Imphal, the relations between both junior non-commissioned officers and between senior officers had deteriorated. INA officers accused the Japanese Army high command of trying to deceive INA troops into fighting for Japan. Conversely, Japanese soldiers often expressed disdain for INA soldiers for having changed their oath of loyalty. This mutual dislike was especially strong after
50676-464: The work of the Hindustan field force threatened to destroy the Sepoy 's loyalty in the British Indian Army , This threat was perceived significant enough that the failure of the First Arakan Offensive was attributed by Commonwealth commanders to the "lack of martial skills of eastern races". British intelligence began the Jiffs propaganda campaign after this to preserve the sepoy' s moral and loyalty. At this time also began efforts to improve morale
50922-406: Was a part of the political movement originating in the 1940s outside India with the purpose of allying with the Axis powers to liberate India from British rule . It was established by Indian nationalists in exile during the latter part of the World War II in Singapore with monetary, military and political assistance from Imperial Japan. Founded on 21 October 1943, the government was inspired by
51168-401: Was also to include a heavy gun battalion, a company each of transport corps, signal corps, engineering corps and a company of medical corps. The remaining four regiments, designated Gandhi , Nehru and Azad regiment, were to be a part of what was called the Sherdil Guerrilla group, each with three battalions. An additional Special Services Group was intended for long-range infiltration, and
51414-440: Was an independent unit, consisting of three infantry battalions. A special operations group was also to be set up called the Bahadur group (Valiant), to operate behind enemy lines. A training school for INA officers, led by Habib ur Rahman, and the Azad School for the civilian volunteers were set up to provide training to the recruits. A youth wing of the INA, composed of 45 young Indians personally chosen by Bose and known as
51660-405: Was associated with Imperial Japan and the other Axis powers, and accusations were levelled against INA troops of being involved and complicit in Japanese war crimes . The INA's members were viewed as Axis collaborators and traitors by British soldiers and Indian PoWs who did not join the army, but after the war they were seen as patriots by many Indians. Although they were widely commemorated by
51906-418: Was attractive. It would also have been consistent with the idea that Japanese expansion into Asia was part of an effort to support Asian government of Asia and against western colonialism. Nonetheless, the task of establishing a stable orderly state if the independence movement succeeded would be enormous. The army would be occupied in China and the Manchuria-Russia border and in the newly occupied territories. It
52152-430: Was aware that the IGHQ did not have immediate plans to invade India. Using his expertise in intelligence and special missions , Iwakuro sought to train the Indian forces in sabotage, espionage and special operations. The I-Kikan and the League trained a number of INA recruits —and civilian volunteers from Malaya— in intelligence and subversion activities. Some of these training schools were opened in Burma and Singapore,
52398-419: Was concern in the British Indian Army that further Indian troops would defect. This led to a reporting ban and a propaganda campaign called " Jiffs " to preserve the loyalty of the Sepoy . Historians consider the INA not to have had significant influence on the war. The British Raj , never seriously threatened by the INA, charged 300 INA officers with treason in the INA trials , but eventually backtracked in
52644-426: Was decided to cede the leadership of the IIL and the INA to Subhas Chandra Bose . In January 1943, the Japanese invited Bose to lead the Indian nationalist movement in East Asia. He accepted and left Germany on 8 February. After a three-month journey by submarine, and a short stop in Singapore, he reached Tokyo on 11 May 1943, where he made a number of radio broadcasts to the Indian communities, exhorting them to join in
52890-411: Was declared the "national greeting" of India by Nehru and remains a popular nationalist greeting. Today it is used by all Indian prime ministers to conclude their Independence Day speeches. The cry became independent India's first commemorative post mark on 15 August 1947. The first postage stamps issued by Independent India are called the Jai Hind series of stamps, showing the Indian flag with
53136-433: Was declared to be the army of Azad Hind . On 23 October 1943, Azad Hind declared war against Britain and the United States. Its first formal commitment came with the opening of the Japanese offensive towards Manipur , code-named U-Go . In the initial plans for invasion of India, Field Marshal Terauchi had been reluctant to confer any responsibilities to the INA beyond espionage and propaganda. Bose rejected this as
53382-416: Was declared to be the army of Bose's Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind (the Provisional Government of Free India). The INA came to be known as the puppet army of the Japanese empire. Subhas Chandra Bose named the brigades/regiments of INA after Mahatma Gandhi , Jawaharlal Nehru , Maulana Azad , and himself. There was also an all-women regiment named after Rani of Jhansi , Lakshmibai. Under Bose's leadership,
53628-402: Was elected to the Rajya Sabha , the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He worked for the recognition of the members of Indian National Army as "freedom fighters" in the cause of the nation's independence in and out of Parliament. Shah Nawaz Khan served as Minister of State for Rail in the first Indian cabinet . Lakshmi Sahgal, Minister for Women's Affairs in the Azad Hind government, was
53874-410: Was enraged to find a number of his students dispatched to India without his approval or permission. Japanese efforts to censor Indian broadcasting in Singapore also brought forth rank disagreements which had culminated in the arrest of the Indian director of broadcasting. In addition to this, non-committal replies from Japan on the points raised by the council for action in the Bangkok resolutions raised
54120-439: Was equipped with the largest share of the heavy armament that the INA possessed. An additional 3rd Division of the INA was composed chiefly of local volunteers in Malaya and Singapore. This unit disbanded before Japan surrendered. A motor transport division was also created, but it was severely limited by lack of resources. In 1945, at the end of the INA, it consisted of about 40,000 soldiers. Unlike Mohan Singh, whose assumption of
54366-531: Was followed by the capture of a number of other operatives by Commonwealth forces. Both Hugh Toye and Joyce Lebra conclude in their research that Gill was, in fact, intending to escape back to commonwealth forces also. However, he was summoned back from Burma to Singapore by this time in November. Other members of the Indian Council also voiced their concerns and displeasure at what was seen as Japanese intrusion into INA's work. Raghavan, in charge of Swaraj schools training intelligence and espionage agents in Singapore,
54612-409: Was formed by the Indian Congress and included prominent Indian legal figures, among whom were Jawaharlal Nehru , Bhulabhai Desai , Kailashnath Katju and Asaf Ali . The trials covered arguments based on military law, constitutional law, international law, and politics. Mithi Mukherjee call the trials a "key moment in the elaboration of an anticolonial critique of international law in India." Much of
54858-404: Was formed largely after the Imphal offensive had started and drew large remnants of what remained of the Hindustan Field Force of the First INA. The 2nd Division consisted of the 1st Infantry Regiment, which later merged with the 5th Guerrilla Regiment to form the INA's 2nd Infantry Regiment under Col Prem Sahgal . The 1st Infantry Regiment drew many civilian volunteers from Burma and Malaya and
55104-440: Was lightly armed. Each battalion was composed of five companies of infantry. The individual companies were armed with six antitank rifles , six Bren guns and six Vickers machine guns . Some NCOs carried hand grenades , while senior officers of the Bahadur groups attached to each unit issued hand grenades (of captured British stock) to men going forward on duty. The 2nd Division was organised under Colonel Abdul Aziz Tajik It
55350-565: Was low and knowledge about the INA was minimal. The INA's special services agents led a successful operation during this time in encouraging the Indian troops to defect to the INA. By the end of March 1945, however, the Sepoys in the British-Indian Army were reinvigorated and perceived the men of the INA to be savage turncoats and cowards. Senior British officers in the Indian Army considered them "rabble". Historians Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper mention that sepoys in field units shot captured or wounded INA men, relieving their British officers of
55596-501: Was made to land these troops in Sri Lanka by submarine . Singapore surrendered on 15 February 1942. On the evening of the 16th, the Indian troops of the now amalgamated 1/14th and 5/14th Punjab were ordered by the Malaya command of the Commonwealth forces to assemble at Farrer Park . The British officers were, in the meantime, ordered to assemble east to Changi . On the morning of 17 February 1942, some 45,000 Indian POWs who gathered at Farrer Park where addressed by in turns, first by
55842-409: Was mainly from the intelligence and subversion training schools that the first frictions arose between the Indians and Japanese, as the trainees began to be sent before completing their training and without knowledge or consent of the Indian leaders. By late 1942, the divisions appeared as the Indian troops increasingly felt as pawns in the hands of the Japanese. Anticipating a thrust towards Imphal, both
56088-399: Was no longer carefully curating its selection for the armed forces. By 1941, both verbal and physical abuse directed by European soldiers towards their Indian counterparts was rampant. India and Japan, especially from the last decade of the 19th century, had enjoyed a growing exchange of cultural, religious and philosophical ideas. India, as the home of Hinduism and from the second decade of
56334-419: Was not able to give assurances of the kind sought by the league and the INA, which was seen as unacceptable to the council formed at the time of the Bangkok conference. The Indian National Congress had conditionally supported the Allied war effort, and the Indian expatriate nationalists were concerned during this early phase that they might be seen as Quislings . This was particularly strong amongst members of
56580-527: Was notable. His appeal re-invigorated the INA, which had previously consisted mainly of prisoners of war: it also attracted Indian expatriates in South Asia. He famously proclaimed that Give me blood! I will give you freedom "Local civilians joined the INA, doubling its strength. They included barristers, traders and plantation workers, as well as Khudabadi Sindhi Swarankars who were working as shop keepers; many had no military experience." Carl Vadivella Belle estimates under Bose's dynamic appeal, membership of
56826-456: Was one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian movement at the time (rivalling Gandhi in stature), arrived in Germany in April 1941 after escaping from house arrest in Calcutta . He met with Hitler (with whom he had one meeting) and the Nazi high command, making the case for raising an Indian unit from Rommel 's Indian prisoners of war from the battlefields of Europe and Africa, as the nucleus of an Indian Liberation force. The Indische Legion
57072-400: Was partly responsible for the failure of the first Burma offensive. Operatives of the INA were also landed in the Indian coast by submarine for planned espionage operations within India. Coming at the time that the Quit India Movement had raised turmoil within British India, the threat of the INA affecting British Indian troops and INA operatives mounting espionage within India saw the start of
57318-459: Was peripheral to Japanese war plans at least through 1941. It did not feature in the plans for Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere , which focused on south-east Asia up to the Indo-Burmese border. From late 1941 the Japanese began to profess increasing support for the Indian Independence movement. Exiles like Rash Behari Bose had already voiced their demands to the Japanese authorities that support and pursuit of Indian Independence be an aim of
57564-408: Was preserved to hasten operational deployments. Almost 16,000 men comprised this first division of the INA. According to the reviews available, the INA was to be organised of twelve infantry battalions of 650 troops, organised into four guerrilla regiments of 2000 men. Battalion and regimental commanders were appointed on 5 September, and assumed their commands on 8 and 9 September. A few days later it
57810-421: Was primarily a propaganda move of initiating anti-British sentiments among civilians and soldiers in South-east Asia, and some Indian organisations like the Thai-Bharat Cultural Lodge held mistrust of the Japanese, and of local Indians who worked with them. The lodge preferred to work independently, and used Thai-donated equipment and the German embassy in Bangkok to Liaise directly with Subhas Chandra Bose . By
58056-405: Was reviewed by Rash Behari Bose and Mohan Singh. The first of these was the Hindustan Field Force, under the command of J.K. Bhonsle . The unit was formed at Singapore and comprised three battalions derived from troops of the 17th Dogra Regiment , Garhwal Rifles and the 14th Punjab Regiment (now a part of the Pakistani Army ) and had a strength of nearly 2000 troops. The Hindustan Field force
58302-456: Was seen to be lacking legitimacy by the troops. By November 1942, following the defeats in El Alamein , the Italian efforts had failed. German motives and intentions with relation to India were more complex. The German Foreign office wanted to support Indian revolutionaries and nationalists, but there is consensus that, ultimately, Hitler held the belief that the British had to rule over the unfit Indian masses. However Subhas Chandra Bose , who
58548-429: Was seriously threatened by the INA, charged 300 INA officers with treason in the INA trials , but eventually backtracked in the face of opposition by the Congress. The direct origins of Azad Hind can be linked to two conferences of Indian expatriates from across Southeast Asia, the first of which was held in Tokyo in March 1942. At this conference, convened by Rash Behari Bose , an Indian expatriate living in Japan,
58794-421: Was significant or the Indian leaders, during the Farrer Park meeting who had expressed reservations about collaborating with the Japanese as these incidents further cemented their initial beliefs about the cruel nature of the Japanese and would further affirm their decision to not join the INA in May 1942. In April 1942, as the discussions and the process of setting up the Indian Independence League and defining
59040-422: Was subsequently arrested by the Japanese and exiled to Pulau Ubin . A number of the Indian troops who chose to revert to PoW were subsequently sent away to labour camps in New Guinea or to work in the Death railway . Between December 1942 and February 1943, Rash Behari Bose tried but failed to keep the IIL and INA going. Thousands of INA soldiers returned to the status of POWs(prisoners of war) again and most of
59286-439: Was suspected of using INA men to train Congress volunteers. The political effects of the INA trials were enormous and were felt around India as late as 1948, much to the chagrin of the Congress government in independent India, which feared that pro-INA sympathies could help alternative sources of power. Historians such as Sumit Sarkar , Sugata Bose , and Ayesha Jalal conclude that the INA trials and its after-effects brought
59532-407: Was the ideal person to lead a rebel army into India came from the very beginning of F Kikan's work with captured Indian soldiers. Mohan Singh himself, soon after his first meeting with Fujiwara, had suggested that Bose was the right leader of a nationalist Indian army. A number of the officers and troops – including some who now returned to prisoner-of-war camps and some who had not volunteered in
59778-607: Was the sole opponent of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam , who emerged victorious. Subhas Bose himself was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna in 1992, but this was later withdrawn over the controversy over the circumstances of his death . Former INA recruits in diasporic Singapore, however, faced a different situation. In Singapore, Indians – particularly those who were associated with the INA – were treated with disdain as they were "stigmatized as fascists and Japanese collaborators". Some within this diaspora later emerged as notable political and social leaders. The consolidation of trade unions in
60024-407: Was thus formed. In January 1942, a small contingent parachuted into Eastern Iran with a Brandenburg unit to commence sabotage operations against the British. Most of the legion however only ever saw action in Europe, fighting as a Heer unit and later incorporated into the Waffen SS (as were other national legions of the Wehrmacht) after the Allied invasion of France . Nearly thirty, including
60270-401: Was to avoid set-piece battles, for which it lacked armament as well as manpower. Initially it sought to obtain arms and increase its ranks by inducing British-Indian soldiers to defect. The latter were expected to defect in large numbers. Col Prem Sahgal, once military secretary to Subhas Bose and later tried in the first Red Fort trials , explained the INA strategy to Peter Fay – although
60516-466: Was widely accepted that the Congress was anti-Japanese. Gandhi , even during the intense Quit India Movement , had categorically warned the Japanese "Make no mistake. You will be sadly disillusioned if you believe that you will receive a willing welcome from India" However, in April 1941, the Consul General to Calcutta had noted activities of the Forward Bloc . From Berlin , ambassador Oshima Hiroshi had reported on Subhas Bose 's organisation of
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