| Indian National Army |
Article Index for Indian National |
Website Links For Indian National |
Information AboutIndian National Army |
|
The Indian National Army (I.N.A) or '''Azad Hind Fauj''' was an auxiliary force to the Imperial Japanese Army in its southern mainland campaign during the Second World War . It consisted mostly of Indian Prisoners Of War who, in the course of service in the Indian Army , had been captured by Axis Forces , although a significant portion were recruited from Indian civilians in Japanese-controlled Malaya and Burma . BACKGROUND The focus of the I.N.A. was the idea that as I.N.A. troops entered India, they could convince Indian army troops in India to join the I.N.A.. Along with popular civilian support, they could ultimately loosen British control of India. The I.N.A. literally planned to march to Delhi from the India/Burma border and lead a popular uprising along the way. The Japanese supported this idea, at times more or less, but sufficiently to provide material support to the formation of the I.N.A. in Japanese controlled territory in Asia, notably Malaya and Burma. Although the Japanese had not seriously planned on invading India themselves, the idea that their western boundary would be controlled by a more friendly government was attractive. It was also reconciled with the idea that Japanese expansion into Asia was part of an effort to support Asian government of Asia, driving out Europeans, and was useful to support this propaganda. The I.N.A. was formally the military of the Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind, the Provisional Government of Free India. ORIGIN The initial military unit was formed on May 1942 when Indian PoWs were used by Italians in the war against the Allies. However it was reported that the Indians were found to be wavering in loyalty, especially after the Axis defeat in El Alamein in November 1942. They were disbanded, but revived again by the Germans as the Tiger Legion . The Indian prisoners recruited to the I.N.A. regarded themselves as freedom fighters attempting to liberate their country from imperial rule. The I.N.A. was initially founded under, and commanded by Rash Behari Bose (founder of the Indian Independence League) and Captain Mohan Singh, but control later passed to Subhash Chandra Bose once he had made the journey from Germany to Japan via the Indian Ocean in German and Japanese submarines. Some soldiers joined the I.N.A. to avoid the alternative, becoming Japanese POWs. Many followed their officers who joined the I.N.A. Combat effectiveness was questionable in general, although the First Division fighting in the Arakan , Imphal and Kohima reported only 2,600 survivors of the 7,000 men committed to battle. The anti-British feeling on the island of Sri Lanka was high, especially after the imprisonment of the leaders of the independence movement, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party in 1941 . The Japanese were in secret contact with two junior Sri Lankan politicians, JR Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake . In 1942, the Ceylon Garrison Artillery in the Cocos Islands mutinied, with the aim of handing the islands over to the Japanese, in emulation of their Indian cousins on Christmas Island , However, the Cocos Islands Mutiny failed. Sri Lankan s in Singapore and Malaya formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army. An abortive plan was made to land these troops in Sri Lanka by Submarine . The army's relationship to the Japanese was an uncomfortable one. Bose wished to establish his political independence from the regime that sponsored him (he had, in fact, led protests against the Japanese expansion into Manchuria, and supported Chiang Kai-Shek during the 1930s), but his complete dependence on them for arms and resources made this difficult. On the Japanese side, members of the high command had been personally impressed by Bose, and were thus willing to grant him some latitude; more importantly, the Japanese were interested in maintaining the support of a man who had been able to mobilize large numbers of Indian expatriates--including, most importantly, 40,000 of the 45,000 Indians captured by the Japanese at Singapore . The clarion call of the INA was ''"Jai Hind"'' (meaning ''Victory to India'') and ''"Give me blood and I will give you freedom"''. RISE AND FALL OF THE INA The troops eventually reached India via Burma with the help of the Japanese Imperial Army and the tricolour (left) was hoisted for the first time on Indian soil in Moirang , Manipur . The ''Provisional Government of Azad Hind'' was established on the Andaman And Nicobar Islands and briefly at Kohima during the Japanese offensive of 1943-4. Although there was no direct I.N.A. involvement in war crimes against Indians, their Japanese allies committed many Atrocities on Indian soil. The army was defeated in North-Eastern India, however, and retreated back through Burma with the British at its heels. At the end of the war, the army was disbanded; its commander, Subhas Chandra Bose, was killed in a plane crash in Taiwan while attempting to relocate to Russia. At the conclusion of the war, the government of British India brought some of the captured INA soldiers to trial on treason charges. The prisoners would potentially face the death penalty, life imprisonment or a fine as punishment if found guilty. After the war, three officers of the I.N.A., General Shah Nawaz Khan , Colonel Prem Sehgal and Colonel Gurbux Singh Dhillon were put to trial at the Red Fort in Delhi for "waging war against the King Emperor", i.e. the British sovereign. The three defendants were defended by Jawaharlal Nehru , Bhulabhai Desai and others based on the defence that they should be treated as prisoners of war as they were not paid merceneraries but bona fide soldiers of a legal government, the Provisional Government of Free India, or the Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind , "however misinformed or otherwise they had been in their notion of patriotic duty towards their country" and as such they recognized the free Indian state as their sovereign and not the British sovereign. The Indian National Congress and the Muslim League both made the release of the three defendants an important political issue during the agitation for independence of 1945-6. Beyond the on-going campaigns of noncooperation and nonviolent protest, this spread to include mutinies and wavering support within the British Indian Army. This movement marked the last major campaign in which the forces of the Congress and the Muslim League aligned together; the Congress tricolor and the green flag of the League were flown together at protests. In spite of this aggressive and widespread opposition, the court martial was carried out, and all three defendants were sentenced to deportation for life. This sentence, however, was never carried out, as the immense public pressure of the demonstrations forced Claude Auchinleck , Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, to release all three defendants. Most of the I.N.A. soldiers were set free after cashiering and forfeiture of pay and allowance. On the recommendation of Lord Mountbatten , and agreed by Nehru , as a precondition for Independence the I.N.A. soldiers were not reinducted into the Indian Army. Independent India's attitude to the I.N.A. was somewhat confused: on the one hand, following the recommendations of Lord Mountbatten , the I.N.A. soldiers were not permitted to re-enroll in the Indian Army; on the other, members of the I.N.A. received an Indian state pension as freedom fighters which Indian volunteers for the British Indian Army during World War II did not. CONSEQUENCES OF THE I.N.A. TRIALS Soon after the I.N.A. trials there were outbreaks of mutiny in the Royal Indian Navy, including the Bombay Mutiny ; some officers and men began calling themselves the ''Indian National Navy'' and gave left handed salutes to British officers. At some places, NCOs in the British Indian Army started ignoring orders from British superiors. In Madras and Pune , the British garrisons had to face revolts within the ranks of the British Indian Army. Another Army mutiny took place at Jabalpur during the last week of February 1946, soon after the Navy mutiny at Bombay. This was suppressed by force, including the use of the bayonet by British troops. It lasted about two weeks. After the mutiny, about 45 persons were tried by court martial. 41 were sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment or dismissal. In addition, a large number were discharged on administrative grounds. While the participants of the Naval Mutiny were given the freedom figheters pension, the Jabalpur mutineers got nothing. They even lost their service pension. TROOP STRENGTH Although there are slight variations in estimates, the I.N.A. is considered to have comprised about 40,000 troops when it was disbanded. The following is an estimate attributed to Lt. Colonel G.D. Anderson of British intelligence: There were 45,000 Indian troops from Malaya captured and assembled in Singapore when the Japanese captured it. Of these, about 5,000 refused to join the I.N.A. The I.N.A. at this time had 40,000 recruits. The Japanese were prepared to arm 16,000. When the "first I.N.A." collapsed, about 4,000 withdrew. The "second I.N.A.", commanded by Subhas Chandra Bose, started with 12,000 troops. Further recruitment of ex-Indian army personnel added about 8,000-10,000. About 18,000 Indian civilians enlisted during this time. In 1945, at the end of the I.N.A., it consisted of about 40,000 soldiers Peter Ward Fay ''The Forgotten Army. India's Armed Struggle for Independence 1941-45'' (Ann Arbor) 1993 pp525-6 . AZAD HIND DECORATION An "Azad Hind" (Free India) decoration was also instituted by Bose for the Indian Legion fighting alongside Germany. Both Indians and Germans were eligible for the decorations.
SEE ALSO
REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
|