Indian National Army
The Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj ( Hindi : आज़ाद हिन्द फ़ौज) was the army of Azad Hind (Provisional Government of Free India), which fought together with the Imperial Japanese Army in the Burma campaign and the Battle of Imphal in World War II .
history
prehistory
In the First World War 1.3 million Indian soldiers fought on the British side. Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) there was passive resistance to British rule in the interwar period. 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. Subhas Chandra Bose fled to Europe and founded a 3,500-strong contingent of Indian prisoners of war, the Indian Legion, to fight with the Wehrmacht .
founding
On February 8, 1943, Bose left Germany with the U 180 submarine from Kiel for Japan, was taken over by a Japanese submarine near Madagascar and founded the Indian National Army in Japan , which initially consisted of 40,000 Indians, mostly Indian prisoners of war who, in the service of the British Indian Army , were captured by the Axis powers . A significant number of Indian civilians were also recruited in the Japanese-occupied areas of British Malaya and Burma . The military headquarters of the INA was established on the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago conquered by the Japanese .
Occupation of Burma and the attack on India
When Japan attacked Burma, the Indian National Army fought on the side of the Japanese army. Bose founded a government in exile on October 21, 1943 under the name Azad Hind (Free India), which was recognized by the Axis powers. 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 by Japanese troops in May, Bose tried to let the INA fight on its own. Bose's hope that a limited military success by the INA would spark a general uprising in India was not fulfilled. During the reconquest of Burma by British troops in 1945, there were some fraternization scenes between Indians in the British Army and the INA. Bose is said to have crashed on August 18, 1945 on a flight to Japan over Taiwan. At the same time as Japan, the Indian National Army surrendered. A total of 87,000 soldiers served in the Indian National Army, around 26,150 were killed in fighting.
Aftermath
The generals of the Indian National Army were brought to court by the British colonial power ( Red Fort trials ). However, no judgments were made, as protests by the Indian population made it impossible to convict the British courts. For the first time, Indian nationalism had spilled over to Indian soldiers, who had previously been considered extremely loyal. The British therefore issued a general amnesty for members of the INA army.
literature
- Jan Kuhlmann: Subhas Chandra Bose and the India policy of the Axis powers. Verlag Hans Schiler, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89930-064-5 (also: Berlin, Humboldt-Univ., Diss., 2002).