Pictures of them; http://www.geocities.com/alvinlee_81/WarPicsIndian.html
shiv On Tuesday 18 Sep 2007 10:01 pm, Gautam John wrote: > Hitler's secret Indian army > By Mike Thomson > BBC News > > 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. > > 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. > > 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. > > 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. > Story from BBC NEWS: > http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3684288.stm
