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The Forgotten Army: India's Armed Struggle for Independence, 1942-1945

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The Indian National Army, and its operations with the Japanese in the Burma theatre of operations during World War II, was long a controversial subject between Indians and British, and generally regarded with curmudgeonly disapproval by the British. The fact is that the issue of collaboration was probably more complicated in the Asia-Pacific theatre than it was in the European theatre. Experiencing the colonial rule of the British, French, and Dutch, many Burmese, Malays, Vietnamese, Sumatrans and Javanese saw the Japanese as colonial liberators. Even in the Philippines, under an allegedly benign American rule, much of the legislature stayed on to work under the Japanese. The Germans, of course, used peoples like the Lithuanians and Ukrainians in order to carry out the "Final Solution", but the situation was somewhat different. Asian nationalists struggling for independence, largely along lines laid for them by Western educations, found themselves betrayed by Western colonial empires who were committed to holding on at all cost (or so they thought until 1942). Fay's book provides a case study of one of the most famous (or notorious) instances of collaboration in the Asia-Pacific theatre. He examines the history of the Indian National Army (derogatorily referred to by the British as "JIFs"--Japanese Indian Forces) through an INA perspective, specifically in interviews with Prem and Lakshmi Sahgal, a husband and wife who found themselves in Singapore in 1942 when the British surrendered to the Japanese--Prem as a captured officer, and Lakshmi as a doctor. Both, disillusioned and fed up with years of British promises of independence that grew consciously or unconsciously caught up in red tape and official footdragging, decided to join the Japanese-affiliated force of Indian soldiers that would reclaim India for the Indians. The rest of the story should be read through their words, providing a much needed other side to the story of the Indian struggle for independence.

I read this book when it first came out and then went over it again recently. This is excellent history as well as an examination and discussion as to what constitutes treason and what constitutes loyalty.

When WWII broke out India was still a British possession, and just as in WWI India contributed troops to the British Empire's war effort. In the European/African theater Indian divisions served in Egypt, Cyranica, Tripoli, France and in Great Britain itself. In Asia Indians were sent to help defend Malaysia, Burma and Singapore. And it was Singapore, which saw the surrender of over 50,000 Indian soldiers following the lightning-fast Japanese campaign which saw the stunning defeat of the British.

And this is where the Indian National Army comes in. The INA came about because of the efforts of Subhas Chandra Bose (also known as Netaji) and the Free India Association. The Free India Association, made up of overseas Indians not enamored by British rule of their homeland, assumed the role of a government-in exile and the INA its army working alongside the Japanese to liberate India via Burma. Netaji was the supreme leader for both. He had experience being "supreme leader" having spent the first years of the war in Nazi Germany chumming himself up to Hitler and Mussolini and helping to raise an "Indian Legion" for duty in the Wehrmacht. He appeared in Singapore following a trip from Europe in a U-boat, a transfer to an Imperial Japanese Navy I-boat in the Indian Ocean.

So were the INA members, mostly recruited from the POWs captured at Singapore, traitors to the Crown? They were, after all, members of the Indian Army. Or were they patriots? The British officers of the IA regiments seemed to be in an awful hurry to relinquish their responsibilities to their soldiers.

This is a fascinating work and obviously a lot of work went into this book. I found it a very good read and would recommend it for anyone interested in India and WWII.

There are several other books on Netaji and the view from hindsight after more than 50 years. One wonders why it took so long to do this, was it because the man would now be close to 100 years? Strangely, there are reports that he survives as a sadhu or holy man in N India, near Lucknow or Allahabad.
The New Yorker carried a good article by A. Ghosh who draws on interviews with other INA personnel. The British Empire was a 'white man's club' (see Robert Huttenback). In this context, an Indian officer could not rise very high in the army (there were a few exceptions). The INA gave ex POW's in Japanese controlled territories a chance. Why deny this to someone you would not wish to invite into your own drinking circle at the Club after work?
This dog in the manger attitude of the colonials still has its hangover today, even among the brown sahibs who rule India and have grudgingly given an award to Netaji Bose.
My father knew Netaji in Calcutta when he was Mayor in the 1920's, and who helped him to finish college. Later he met him in Germany prior to WW 2. There are some photos somewhere.
Records of Netaji's association with the Japanese and German army are available, including the materials carried along with him in the submarine to Japan.

The Germans had a batallion of British volunteers who were known as Hitlers Englishmen. God only knows what happened to them.