How strong is India, a country with 1.32 million troops, the fourth largest in the world, nuclear weapons, and 2.7% of GDP?
You only need to know his history to know the general idea.
First, the greatest skill is to escape
The SS of Nazi Germany in World War II was originally conceived as consisting entirely of Germanic soldiers of Aryan descent.
But that has never really happened.
Until the end of World War II, 25 of the 38 divisions in the SS were foreign soldiers.
Among these foreign soldiers, the Indian Legion was the largest group.
This regiment, originally a British Indian soldier sent by the British to the North African battlefield, was captured by Nazi Marshal Rommel in 1942 and incorporated into the Indian Infantry Regiment, with a total of 3500 men, of which more than 1500 Were Indians.
These Indian soldiers are not only ineffective in combat, but also have a bad track record. While being sent by the SS to defend France, they raped women and killed children in France.
After the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944, Indian troops retreated with little resistance along the French coastline. After being intercepted by French partisans on the way, another 290 surrendered their weapons to the French partisans.
As the largest and largest foreign legion in the German army, the Indian Legion had high hopes for Rommel. But history proves that their contribution value in the battle for the German army is almost 0.
Senior German generals once said that their greatest skill was to escape. Even Hitler laughed and called it a "swivel prayer."
At the SS meeting on 23 March 1945, the Indian Legion submitted a report proudly declaring that "this unit has preserved its complete combat effectiveness".
However, when Hitler asked why, he learned that they had never fought the enemy. Hitler was furious and ordered that all the heavy equipment of the legion be transferred to other units.
Soon, Nazi Germany was completely overthrown, and this alien legion, which had "preserved its full combat effectiveness", like a headless fly, tried to flee to central Germany, planning to cross the Alps and flee to neutral Switzerland.
However, on the way to escape, they were collectively captured by the American army.
Hitler: They can't even pinch lice to death
Surrender seems to be a genetic portrayal of the Indian Legion.
This is true not only in the European theater, but also in the Asian Pacific theater.
In December 1942, the Japanese army launched an attack on the British Malay Peninsula, and British Malayan soldiers, Indian soldiers, etc., were defeated by Yamashita Bongwen's bicycle blitzkrieg, and they were unable to fight back.
Eventually, the 130,000 British troops in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese army of just 30,000 men, half of whom were Indians.
Later, they were supported by japan and became the "Indian National Army" who defected, and the spearhead was reversed and killed the British army.
At the end of world war II, Hitler saw through the nature of the Indian Legion and said desperately but ironically:
"The Indian Legion is a big joke... Some Indians can't even pinch lice to death, preferring to let the lice bite to death. They also don't kill the British, and it makes no sense for us to use them against the British. ”
Captured by the Japanese and became an army supported by the Japanese; captured by the Germans and joined the German Legion; after joining the German army, he "never fought the enemy", was so bitterly satirized by Hitler, and finally captured by the French and captured by all the American troops.
Is the Indian Legion a natural joke of surrender?
In fact, this can not be blamed on the Indian military too much, with this genetic characteristics, all thanks to the history and culture of this country.
Third, the four major genetic analysis of the Indian army
As you know, India had no presence until its independence in 1947.
Dating back to the 17th century, they were under The colonial rule of France and Britain, a nation born unequal, undignified, and suppressed in combat effectiveness.
On this land, the armed forces were not originally native, but British and French troops.
Later, the colonists invented the method of "printing by printing", recruiting some excellent natives to join the colonial army and under the leadership of European colonial rulers.
This is the beginning of the Indian Legion in history.
The origin of this birth determined the first gene of the Indian Legion: alien control.
The biggest feature of the Indian Legion controlled by the aliens is the senior leadership of the troops, all in the hands of the foreign races. That is to say, Indians can never be senior officers in the army.
It is said that before independence, the best Indians could only be a major at the highest level of the army.
It is also for this reason that India's senior military talents and senior military education have always been a short board.
The second characteristic of alien control is that it has no target of its own.
Under colonial rule, its allegiance could not be national independence;
Because they were foreign, the British royal family did not accept their allegiance, and they could only pledge allegiance to the "East India Company".
It's weird.
(British Indian Army in World War I)
Therefore, there is a historical reason why the Indian Legion fell with the wind, from the beginning to the end of World War II, they never had their own spirit and soul.
The second gene of the Indian Legion is religion.
No country in the world is as rich in religious culture as India; no country has so many sects; no country whose religion has such a deep influence on its citizens.
It is said that almost any religion in the world can find believers in India.
The Indian army under the deep influence of religion has both advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage is that once religious belief is transformed into a fighting force and fights the enemy in the name of God, the combat effectiveness of the death is unlimited.
For them, people must be religious to their own religion before they can be loyal to their army. A qualified soldier must first and foremost be a religious believer with a devout faith.
So we can see that the Indian army is unique in the world, with a long beard and a turban. This is religious.
The disadvantage of religious influence is that the dazzling, complex, opposing and unified various sects cannot fully command the armies of different faiths, and no one can convince anyone.
There are those who believe in cattle as gods and those who eat beef; there are those who believe in one god, and there are those who believe in many gods as gods.
In this way, they do not keep pace with each other in major wars, cannot cooperate, and joint operations often fail.
But regardless of religion, they pray to God before they fight.
So Hitler called them "prayer vessels of whirlwind" and "would rather be bitten to death by lice than pinched to death by lice."
The third gene: the caste system.
The caste system has a deeper and farther impact in India, with a history of 3,000 years.
All Indians are divided into three, six, nine grades according to their surname lineage. Noble surnames and low castes, with clear barriers, strictly bind and regulate everyone in this land.
For example, officers in the army can only be held by officers of the high caste, and the lowly profession must be the patent of the low caste.
In battle, if the high-caste officers hang up and can't find other high-caste people to go up to the top for a while, then this force will be leaderless and collapse in an instant.
Or, as soon as one of the high castes in the army surrendered, the other soldiers surrendered as a matter of course.
The fourth gene: Western culture
As a country that has long been colonized by the West, the Indian army culture, completely Westernized, as far as captives are concerned, they are in line with the British beliefs, that is:
As long as the conditions are met, surrender as a prisoner is a matter of course, not a disgrace.
With the above historical, cultural and religious background, it is not difficult to imagine the combat effectiveness of Indian soldiers, and we cannot blame them for loving surrender, but can only say that their surrender has a background (end)