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Posted on 05/09/2005 9:08:05 AM PDT by minus_273
In the closing stages of World War II, as Allied and French resistance forces were driving Hitler's now demoralised forces from France, three senior German officers defected.
Legionnaires were recruited from German POW camps The information they gave British intelligence was considered so sensitive that in 1945 it was locked away, not due to be released until the year 2021.
Now, 17 years early, the BBC's Document programme has been given special access to this secret file.
It reveals how thousands of Indian soldiers who had joined Britain in the fight against fascism swapped their oaths to the British king for others to Adolf Hitler - an astonishing tale of loyalty, despair and betrayal that threatened to rock British rule in India, known as the Raj.
The story the German officers told their interrogators began in Berlin on 3 April 1941. This was the date that the left-wing Indian revolutionary leader, Subhas Chandra Bose, arrived in the German capital.
Bose, who had been arrested 11 times by the British in India, had fled the Raj with one mission in mind. That was to seek Hitler's help in pushing the British out of India.
He wanted 500 volunteers who would be trained in Germany and then parachuted into India. Everyone raised their hands. Thousands of us volunteered Lieutenant Barwant Singh Six months later, with the help of the German foreign ministry, he had set up what he called "The Free India Centre", from where he published leaflets, wrote speeches and organised broadcasts in support of his cause.
By the end of 1941, Hitler's regime officially recognised his provisional "Free India Government" in exile, and even agreed to help Chandra Bose raise an army to fight for his cause. It was to be called "The Free India Legion".
Bose hoped to raise a force of about 100,000 men which, when armed and kitted out by the Germans, could be used to invade British India.
He decided to raise them by going on recruiting visits to Prisoner-of-War camps in Germany which, at that time, were home to tens of thousands of Indian soldiers captured by Rommel in North Africa.
Volunteers
Finally, by August 1942, Bose's recruitment drive got fully into swing. Mass ceremonies were held in which dozens of Indian POWs joined in mass oaths of allegiance to Adolf Hitler.
Chandra Bose did not live to see Indian independence These are the words that were used by men that had formally sworn an oath to the British king: "I swear by God this holy oath that I will obey the leader of the German race and state, Adolf Hitler, as the commander of the German armed forces in the fight for India, whose leader is Subhas Chandra Bose."
I managed to track down one of Bose's former recruits, Lieutenant Barwant Singh, who can still remember the Indian revolutionary arriving at his prisoner of war camp.
"He was introduced to us as a leader from our country who wanted to talk to us," he said.
"He wanted 500 volunteers who would be trained in Germany and then parachuted into India. Everyone raised their hands. Thousands of us volunteered."
Demoralised
In all 3,000 Indian prisoners of war signed up for the Free India Legion.
But instead of being delighted, Bose was worried. A left-wing admirer of Russia, he was devastated when Hitler's tanks rolled across the Soviet border.
Matters were made even worse by the fact that after Stalingrad it became clear that the now-retreating German army would be in no position to offer Bose help in driving the British from faraway India.
When the Indian revolutionary met Hitler in May 1942 his suspicions were confirmed, and he came to believe that the Nazi leader was more interested in using his men to win propaganda victories than military ones.
So, in February 1943, Bose turned his back on his legionnaires and slipped secretly away aboard a submarine bound for Japan.
Rudolf Hartog remembers parting with his Indian friends There, with Japanese help, he was to raise a force of 60,000 men to march on India.
Back in Germany the men he had recruited were left leaderless and demoralised. After mush dissent and even a mutiny, the German High Command despatched them first to Holland and then south-west France, where they were told to help fortify the coast for an expected allied landing.
After D-Day, the Free India Legion, which had now been drafted into Himmler's Waffen SS, were in headlong retreat through France, along with regular German units.
It was during this time that they gained a wild and loathsome reputation amongst the civilian population.
The former French Resistance fighter, Henri Gendreaux, remembers the Legion passing through his home town of Ruffec: "I do remember several cases of rape. A lady and her two daughters were raped and in another case they even shot dead a little two-year-old girl."
Finally, instead of driving the British from India, the Free India Legion were themselves driven from France and then Germany.
Their German military translator at the time was Private Rudolf Hartog, who is now 80.
"The last day we were together an armoured tank appeared. I thought, my goodness, what can I do? I'm finished," he said.
"But he only wanted to collect the Indians. We embraced each other and cried. You see that was the end."
Mutinies
A year later the Indian legionnaires were sent back to India, where all were released after short jail sentences.
But when the British put three of their senior officers on trial near Delhi there were mutinies in the army and protests on the streets.
With the British now aware that the Indian army could no longer be relied upon by the Raj to do its bidding, independence followed soon after.
Not that Subhas Chandra Bose was to see the day he had fought so hard for. He died in 1945.
Since then little has been heard of Lieutenant Barwant Singh and his fellow legionnaires.
At the end of the war the BBC was forbidden from broadcasting their story and this remarkable saga was locked away in the archives, until now. Not that Lieutenant Singh has ever forgotten those dramatic days.
"In front of my eyes I can see how we all looked, how we would all sing and how we all talked about what eventually would happen to us all," he said.
"nah, its just your language. go look at your old posts if you want an example of trolling"
You dont like my language? Cool. I dont want you to like it. You think of Indians as Nazis. I dont like you either.
great Post man
You should have posted the translation
don't worry trust me
"Tum nujhe khoon do, mein tumhe aazadi doonga!"
roughly "You sacrifice for me and I will win Freedom for you"
"Chalo Dilli!"
Charge towards Delhi
These were the slogan INA fought under never heard fight for japanese or others
can you please enlighten us for where actually did Inidian troops fight for Hitler in Europe
Along eith that they also created the one of the worst man made Drought of bengal only surpasssed by Cultural revolution
They also converted a country which was propperous into one that had over 70% of its people under the poverty line
For this guy INA is "Indian Nazi Army" and the INA "fought in Europe" "killed and raped people" and "occupied countries like Singapore and Phillipines".
No use arguing with an idiot.
White or brown what does it matter? As long as he did what ever it takes to fight and free India. And that mean shaking hands with the devil if necessary. See all the post made by Indians here. You will get an idea of the kind of hero Subhash C Bose is considered in India.
Can of worms? Yeah, big deal. We all know Bose is on the UN War Crimminals List. (But.. but... isnt the UN discredited here on FR? Oh Damn, we cant use that then)
Bose had no love/admiration for the Nazis and Nips. He said that he would do what it takes to win India's freedom. You obviously dont get that. Sure, the Nips and Nazis tried to use them as a propoganda tool and all that. (Hell, the Nazis even had a British and American regiment), but Bose wanted more than just a sham army. Why do you think this brought him in conflict with the Nazis in Europe, and finally after General Moan Singh was removed as INA chief by the Nips in '42, Bose had to regroup and renegotiate. (Bose was not allowed to raise the 3 Indian Divisions that he knew he had the resources for).
Trust me, there was no love lost between the Nazi and Jap high commands and Bose (though there were several lower ranked Officers who overtly supported Bose's efforts. Kurt Krappe of the German Army as well as Field Marsall Rommel, and General Fujiwara of the Imperial Japanese Army. But these guys were sidelined by shortsighted leadership. Too bad. Who knows how the INA and the Azad Hind Legion would have done if they had been allowed to expand.
Hey, are you serious ??
What is he guilty of ? fighting oppressive colonialism ?
Towel not feather.
Guilty of not being on the winning side of WW-2. All warcrimes are *always* caused by the losing side.
reading the original article for this post. that is after all what we are discussing. We are talking about nazi indian in eurpoe fighting for hitler.
there are tons of germans saying that today too i am sure you would be friendly with them.
Given that this thread has devolved to Nazi worship and wishes that the Nazis won WW2, I am bowing out here. There is no point talking to pathetic people like you, it is a waste of time. You have the same mentality as holocoust deniers; "I dont like it! so , it didnt happen"
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