Azad Hind

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Azad Hinds flag
Postage stamp prepared in Germany for Azad Hind

Azad Hind ( Free India ) or Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind ( Urdu عارضی حکومت آزاد ہند, Hindi आर्ज़ी हुक़ूमत-ए-आज़ाद हिन्द , Provisional Government of Free India ) was founded by Subhash Chandra Bose as a government in exile with the support of Japan during World War II . Its Indian National Army fought together with the Imperial Japanese Army in the Burma campaign and in the Battle of Imphal .

history

prehistory

Within the Indian National Congress there was at this time, especially under the leadership of Subhash Chandra Bose in the late 1930s, disputes over the use of force against British rule. When the Second World War broke out, the British Governor General declared the Indian Empire to be at war with Germany without consulting Indian politicians. Subhash Chandra Bose fled to Europe and founded a 3500-strong contingent of Indian prisoners of war, the Indian Legion, to fight with the Wehrmacht .

founding

On February 8, 1943 Subhas Chandra Bose left Germany from Kiel with the submarine U 180 and was taken over by a Japanese submarine near Madagascar. On October 21, 1943, Chandra Bose founded a government in exile under the name Azad Hind , which was recognized by the Axis powers . The Indian National Army came into being; it initially consisted of 40,000 Indians, mostly Indian prisoners of war , who had been captured by the Axis powers in the service of the British Indian Army . A significant number of Indian civilians were also recruited in the Japanese-occupied areas of British Malaya and Burma .

Azad Hind's cabinet was headed by Subhash Chandra Bose, who served as formal head of state, prime minister , war minister and foreign minister. Lakshmi Swaminathan (married Lakshmi Sehgal ) was Minister for Women's Affairs. Other ministers were SA Ayer, Minister for Communications and Finance Minister AC Chatterji. Representatives of the Indian National Army in the cabinet were:

Celebration of the Central Free India in Berlin (1943)
  • Lt. Col. Aziz Ahmed
  • Lt. Col. NS Bhagat
  • Lt. Col. JK Bhonsle
  • Lt. Col. Guizara Singh
  • Lt. Col. MZ Kiani
  • Lt. Col. AD Loganathan
  • Lt. Col. Ehsan Qadir
  • Lt. Col. Shahnawaz Khan

The government-in-exile declared war on the Allies immediately after it was founded. For all members of the Azad-Hind the German Empire created its own Indian decoration , the Azad-Hind-Orden .

Advance into India

The military headquarters of the INA was established on the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago conquered by the Japanese . In March 1944 the Japanese 15th Army attacked Indian territory with the support of the INA ( Battle of Imphal ). After the failure of the advance of the Japanese troops in May, Bose tried to let the INA fight on its own, but this failed because of the INA's low military strength. Bose's hope that a limited military success of the INA would trigger a general uprising of the population in India was in any case not fulfilled. When Burma was retaken by British troops in 1945, there were sometimes fraternization scenes between Indians in the British Army and the INA.

surrender

Bose is said to have crashed on August 18, 1945 on a flight to Japan over Taiwan. At the same time as Japan, Azad Hind and the Indian National Army also surrendered.

International recognition

Azad Hind was recognized by the following nine states:

See also

literature

  • Jan Kuhlmann: Subhas Chandra Bose and the India policy of the Axis powers. Hans Schiler, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89930-064-5 .

Web links