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Text: Zhang Runchen
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introduction
India, in the Second World War, did not seem to have much presence.
As a country "outside the main battlefield of World War II", India contributed 87,000 lives to the anti-fascist cause. However, in World War II, the story of India is not simple...
1. The untrusted "World War II firefighters"
During World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the Indian Army "the largest volunteer army in the world". The main reason why Churchill commented on the Indian army was very simple, that is, India at that time did not have the need to participate in World War II.
(Churchill)
But in the midst of the war, there were still more than a million Indian soldiers who followed the British army in the north and south. India's 5th Infantry Division was the only divisional unit at that time that had a record of engagement with the German, Italian and Japanese armies.
In North Africa, East Africa, Europe, and Burma, he fought against Rommel's North African Legion, the German Green Devil paratroopers, and the Japanese army in Southeast Asia.
When General Slim defeated the Japanese at Imphal and began a counter-offensive against Burma, two-thirds of his troops were Indians.
(Indian Soldier)
It can be said that the Indian army is the firefighters of World War II, or the firefighters of the British Empire, and where the situation is most critical, then there will definitely be the army of British India.
However, Britain has not really trusted this "cornerstone of the British Empire" for even a second. The predecessor of the Indian Army was actually the army of the British East India Company. At that time, the East India Company had three armies: the Madras Army, the Bombay Army, and the Bengali Army.
(Anglo-Indian Army)
Later, the British Empire merged these three armies. However, Britain loved and hated this huge Indian army, both needed and wary. For a long time, the signal corps in the Indian army was directly served by the British. Britain even forbade the Indian army to form its own field artillery units.
Moreover, before World War II, almost all of the generals and middle-level officers in the Indian army were British, and only the lower-level officers, as well as a very small number of middle-level officers, were held by the Indians themselves. Indians may be weak, but Indians are not stupid. The British distrust was visible to any Indian soldier or officer.
This has also led to many Indians, in fact, being "inseparable" from the British. In 1942, an internal British report made this point, arguing that most Indian officers were in fact loyal to India and not to Britain at all.
In another report, it was also mentioned that the Japanese in Singapore had long tried to win over Indian officers.
(Indian National Army)
However, what the British did not expect was that during World War II, it was not only the Japanese who formed the "Indian National Army". Even Nazi Germany has formed an Indian army. And this Indian army is inextricably linked to one person, and that person is Chandra Bose.
2. Trek to Berlin
Chandra Bose was one of India's leading independents. Unlike Gandhi's "non-violent non-cooperation", Chandra Bose's advocacy was far more violent and direct than Gandhi's, in short, Chandra Bose's advocacy was direct violent resistance and direct destruction of British colonial rule in India.
Thus, in the eyes of the Anglo-Indian authorities, Chandra Bose was far more dangerous than Gandhi. Thus, between 1920 and 1941, Chandra Bose was arrested by the authorities eleven times! And in the course of his arrests, Chandra Bose also realized that it is not enough to take the road of violent confrontation and rely only on India's own strength.
(Chandra Bose)
After his last arrest, Chandra Bose began her own "enlightenment in prison". In prison, Chandra Bose came to three conclusions.
First, all current actions must be aimed at enabling the Axis powers to defeat the Allies. India should temporarily abandon its simple struggle for independence and turn to a full-scale struggle to defeat Britain in the war.
Second, the defeat of Britain must be a complete defeat, a defeat that is completely impossible to turn over, and the loss of Britain in the war must be the loss that made it impossible for it to continue to control India after the war. Otherwise, Britain will stubbornly continue to rule India even if it becomes a loser.
Thirdly, India must spare no effort to support the Axis powers, as well as other hostile British countries, with which it must establish good relations. And after the end of the war, these countries should give India real independence in return.
(Chandra Bose)
It was against this backdrop that Chandra Boes, a left-wing intellectual, finally decided to join the Axis powers. However, as an Indian, as a colonial people, the dislike for Japan is almost "natural". Therefore, in 1941, Chandra Bose did not first choose Japan, which was "close at hand".
Instead, he chose the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany "far away", and in January 1941, Chandra Bose assumed the pseudonym "Orlando Mazota" and disguised himself as a Muslim scholar.
Together with his nephew, Sith Boss, he absconded to Kabul, Afghanistan. And the reason why I came to Kabul was to prepare for the next trip to Moscow.
(Bowes meets with Nazi officials)
In the eyes of people at that time, the Soviet Union and Germany carved up the Soviet Union together, which actually meant that the Soviet Union had actually merged with Germany. Under these circumstances, Chandra Boss, who was a left-wing intellectual herself, naturally became closer to the Soviet Union, which was also a left-winger. In April 1941, Chandra Bose came to Moscow.
However, there was no official response from the Soviet Union, which was already preparing for war against Germany and was planning to go to war with Germany in 1942.
(Chandra Bose)
In this case, Britain was barely an "ally" of the Soviet Union, and Chandra Bose, as an opponent of Britain, was actually very good that the Soviet Union did not arrest him. In Moscow, however, Chandra Bose met someone else: the German ambassador.
3. Free India, unfree me
In Moscow, Chandra Bose reached an important agreement with the Nazi government in Germany. The specific content of the agreement includes the following four points:
- The establishment of the "Free India Center" in Germany effectively organized Indians on the European continent and worked together for the anti-British cause.
(Chandra Bose and Nazi officials)
Second, the formation of an Indian army in Germany, the equipment of which was supplied by Germany. Army personnel, also dealt with by the German Ministry of Defense.
Third, this army needs to work closely with the German Ministry of Defense and conduct military operations on the border between Afghanistan and India, and Germany must unconditionally support this army.
Fourth, the establishment of the "Radio Free India" to expose the ugly British rule in India, and then form a direct guide to the Indian people.
(Chandra Bose and Nazi officials)
It was in this situation that Chandra Bose ended up in Berlin. However, the agreement between Chandra Bose and Nazi Germany proceeded rather slowly. Radio Free India and the Free India Centre have indeed been implemented. But the Free Indian Army was long gone.
This is due to the fact that the number of Indians in Germany is so small. In other words, Indians in Europe were mainly concentrated in Britain, but Britain was not under the control of the Nazis at that time, and even communication was difficult.
(Hitler meets Chandra Boss)
So it wasn't that the Germans were unwilling to help Chandra Boss, but that the preparation of the personnel was too difficult.
In order to solve this problem, Chandra Bose and Nazi Germany had to choose from among the Indian prisoners of war. An Indian lieutenant named Bawang Singh wrote in his diary: "One day the German guards told us that an Indian leader wanted to talk to us. Just as we were wondering who it was, Chandra Bose came over.
(Free Indian Legion)
Chandra Bose said that 500 volunteers were needed, and he said that he would bring them back to India. All the Indian prisoners of war present did not hesitate to join the Free Indian Legion. "The reason for this was largely the fear that these Indian POWs would be mistreated and retaliated against by the Germans if they refused.
At the end of 1941, the German Ministry of Defense provided Chandra Bose with space and equipment, and transferred 10 elite instructors from the Brandenburg Army to help train the nascent Free Indian Legion.
(Bowes's speech)
After the shelves had been erected, Chandra Bose's job became a constant "lecture tour" in the German prisoner of war camps in North Africa.
A large number of Indian prisoners of war, at his call, joined the Free Indian Legion directly. These Indians all believed that World War II was the best opportunity for India to get rid of British colonial rule. By the end of 1942, the Free Indian Regiment had 3,155 Indian soldiers, but the commanders of the regiment were mainly German soldiers.
(Free Indian Legion)
The composition of the legionnaires was also quite complex, with two-thirds of them Muslim and the remaining thirds mostly Hindus. But there are also quite a few Sikhs, Rajputs, and Marathas. The reason why there are so many Muslims is actually mainly because the British and Indian authorities at that time preferred to recruit soldiers among Muslims.
However, the Free Indian Legion barely participated in a single battle during the entire Second World War. For in Hitler's view, this force, and Chandra Bose herself, was in fact nothing more than a "propaganda tool."
(Indian soldiers participating in training)
So after the initial enthusiasm was exhausted, Chandra Bose soon discovered that Hitler had no intention of having the legion "counterattack India" at all.
After Chandra Bose realized that he was in fact nothing more than a marionette, he decided to leave Germany and return to Asia. At this time, Japan also extended an invitation to Chandra Bose, so Hitler sent a submarine to send Chandra Bose back to Asia.
(Free Indian Legion)
IV. The End of Free India
After Chandra Bose left, the Free Indian Legion was left in a situation where the dragons were leaderless. After that, the troops were assigned to the SS and ordered to swear allegiance to Hitler himself and to Nazi Germany. After that, the Free Indian Army was transferred by the German Ministry of Defense to the Netherlands and then to France.
There was also a small episode when the corps was on its way to the Netherlands, where 47 Indian officers tried to escape. After being captured by the Germans, the Indian officer said, "We are going back to India with Chandra Bose."
(Free Indian Legion)
Under these circumstances, in order to appease the Free Indian Legion, the Germans did not execute them, but returned them to the barracks intact.
In the Netherlands and France, the Free Indian Legion had a good time. French magazines even exposed news of the fooling around between Indian officers and female Luftwaffe civilians. In 1944, the Allies landed in Normandy, but the Free Indian Legion had no idea of "dying for the Germans" at all, and they quickly moved in.
(Free Indian Legion)
And when the Free Indian Legion mixed with the German army and retreated back to Germany, the Indian Legion also committed a number of heinous crimes! A member of a French resistance group recalled that the Indian Legion raped three women in his hometown and even shot a two-year-old girl.
However, in any case, the Free Indian Army escaped back to Germany intact. After returning to Germany, the Free Indian Regiment even proudly said: "We have completely maintained the combat effectiveness of the whole regiment." But when asked why, the Indian Legion said, "Because we didn't fight at all!"
I don't know how Hitler would have felt after hearing such a statement. After the surrender of Germany, all the soldiers and officers of the Indian Legion were brought back to India for trial. However, due to India's ambiguous attitude after the war, the vast majority of them were not severely judged.
(Free Indian Legion)
However, that Chandra Bose was hated by the Indian government, both the British and the Indian National Congress. However, Chandra Bose died in a plane crash on a plane bound for the Soviet Union on the eve of the end of the war, which also prevented him from facing trial.
Resources:
Jiang Senwen/Photo. "Indian Forces Defecting to Japan in World War II." Procuratorial Fengyun 12 (2022): 3.
WANG Yalin. Chandra Bose: A Study of Indian National Independence Thought and Practice.