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{{Short description|Army of mostly Indian POWs of Japan in WW2}}
{{Infobox Military Unit
{{about|the second Indian National Army under Subhash Chandra Bose|the organisation under ] |First Indian National Army|the modern Indian military|Indian Armed Forces|the army of the British Raj|British Indian Army|the regiment raised in Germany|Free India Legion}}
|unit_name=Indian National Army
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}}
|image= ]
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
|caption= The ensign of ]
{{Infobox military unit
|dates= August 1942- September 1945
| unit_name = Indian National Army
|country=India
|allegiance= ] | native_name = ''Azad Hind Fauj''
| image = 1931 Flag of India.svg
|branch= Infantry
| image_size =
|role= Infantry
| caption = Flag of ]
|size=
| dates = August 1942 – September 1945
|commanders=
| country = {{flag|Azad Hind}} (] of Japanese empire)
|ceremonial_chief= ]
| allegiance = {{flagicon|Empire of Japan}} ]
|patron=
| role = {{nowrap|], ], ]}}
|colors=
| size = ~43,000 Soldiers: ], ], ], ], ]
|identification_symbol= The ensign of the springing ]
| commander1 = ]&nbsp;<small>(1942)</small><br/>]&nbsp;<small>(1943–1945)</small>
|battles= ], ]
| commander1_label = Commander-in-Chief
|notable_commanders= ], ].
| commander2 = ]
|decorations=
| commander2_label = Chief of Staff
| notable_commanders = ]<br/>]<br/>]
| motto = ''Ittefaq, Itmad aur Qurbani''<br/>{{nowrap|(]: Unity, Faith and Sacrifice)}}
| march = '']''
| battles = ]
*]
**]
**]
**]
**]
}} }}
] at ]]]
The '''Indian National Army''' ('''INA'''; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑː|z|ɑː|ð|_|ˈ|h|i|n|ð|_|ˈ|f|ɔː|dʒ}}; {{Literally}} 'Free Indian Army') was a ] of Indian collaborators that fought under the command of the ].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cold War and the New Imperialism: A Global History, 1945–2005|page=87|author=Henry Heller|quote=By 1943 Bose had organized the 40,000 - strong Indian National Army, a force based in Malaya and commanded by the Japanese|publisher=]|year=2006}}</ref> It was founded by ] in September 1942 in ] during ].


It fought under the command of the Japanese military in the British campaign in the ], with its aim to secure ] from ].<ref name="Fayviiii">{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=viii}}</ref> The army was ] in 1942 under Mohan Singh by Indian ] (PoWs) of the ] captured by Japan in the ] and ].<ref name="Ray 1984 p. ">{{cite book | last=Ray | first=N.R. | title=Challenge, a Saga of India's Struggle for Freedom | publisher=People's Publishing House | year=1984 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_SVuAAAAMAAJ | page=586}}</ref><ref name="Ghosh 2006 p. ">{{cite book | last=Ghosh | first=R. | title=Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Indian Freedom Struggle (Set in 2 Vols.) | publisher=Deep & Deep Publications | year=2006 | isbn=978-81-7629-842-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3MwAQAAIAAJ | page=32}}</ref><ref name=Lebraviiitox>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008|loc=Foreword, pp. viii–x}}</ref> This first INA, which had been handed over to Rash Behari Bose and Mohan Singh, collapsed and was disbanded in December that year after differences between its leadership and the Japanese military over its role in Japan's war in Asia. The INA was handed over to ].<ref name=Lebra2008p99/> It was revived under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose after his arrival in Southeast Asia in 1943. The army was declared to be the army of Bose's '']'' (the Provisional Government of Free India). The INA came to be known as the army of the Indian Independence.<ref name="Seaman">{{cite book | last=Seaman | first=Harry | title=The Battle At Sangshak: Prelude to Kohima | publisher=L. Cooper | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-85052-720-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S8yXAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 | quote=puppet army composed of Indian prisoners of war | page=23}}</ref><ref name="Tanaka">{{cite book | author=] | title=Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | series=Asian Voices | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-5381-0270-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCkzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA215 | quote=a puppet army under Japanese control | page=215}}</ref>
The '''Indian National Army''' (I.N.A) or '''Azad Hind Fauj''' was the army of the ''']''' (The '''Provisional Government of Free India''' ) which fought along with the ] during the Japanese Campaign in Burma, and in the ], during the ]. It consisted mostly of ] ] who, in the course of service in the ], had been captured by ], although a significant portion were recruited from Indian civilians in Japanese-controlled ] and ].


Subhas Chandra Bose named the brigades/regiments of INA after ], ], ], and himself.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/subhas-chandra-bose-mahatma-gandhi-nehru-admirers-or-adversaries-myth-buster-1639417-2020-01-23|title=Subhas Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru: Admirers or adversaries? A myth buster|date=23 January 2020 }}</ref> There was also an all-women regiment named after ], Lakshmibai. Under Bose's leadership, the INA drew ex-prisoners and thousands of civilian volunteers from the ] population in ] (present-day Malaysia) and ].<ref name=Lebrapxv>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008|p=xv}}</ref> This second INA fought under the ] against the British and ] forces in the ]: ] and ], and later against the ] ].<ref name=Fayp283and284/><ref name=Fayp330>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=330}}</ref>
===Background===
The origins of the concept of an armed force fighting its way into India to break the shackles of the Raj goes back to the ], when the ] and the nascent embryo of the Indian Independence League planned to ] in the British Indian Army from the ] through ] to ]. This plan failed after the information was leaked to British Intelligence, but only after the Hong Kong Garrison had rebelled.
] in full military uniform]]
During the ], this plan was reopened by the Indian Independence League, and came to be acted out in two phases: the formation and subsequent disbandment of the Indian National Army under Capt. ], and the formation of the ''']''' (The Provisional Govt. of free India) under ''']''' and the reformation of the INA as its army. The concept of '''INA''' as the '''Azad Hind Fauj''' that lives in Indian Public Memory, and indeed as it is analysed by Historians as a fighting force is essentially the INA as the army of the Azad Hind Government under Netaji Subhash Bose.


After the INA's initial formation in 1942, there was concern in the British Indian Army that further Indian troops would defect. This led to a reporting ban and a propaganda campaign called "]" to preserve the loyalty of the ].<ref name=Fayp423>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=423}}</ref> Historians consider the INA not to have had significant influence on the war.<ref name=Fay138/>
The INA was extensivley supported by the Japanese Government, both militarily as well as politically. Although the Japanese had not seriously planned on invading India themselves, ostensibly, the idea that their western boundary would be controlled by a more friendly government was attractive. It would aslo have been reconciliatory with the idea that Japanese expansion into Asia was part of an effort to support Asian government of Asia, and forming the ] <ref>'''Freedom Depends on Nippon Victory'''.''The Syonan Sinbun, 26 January 1943''</ref>.


The ], never seriously threatened by the INA, charged 300 INA officers with treason in the ], but eventually backtracked in the face of opposition by the Congress.<ref>{{cite book|last=Moreman|first=Tim|title=The Jungle, Japanese and the British Commonwealth Armies at War, 1941–45: Fighting Methods, Doctrine and Training for Jungle Warfare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bsoy_-Ep_0EC|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-76456-2}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Marston2014|pp=130–132}}: "Many Indian Army POWs were perplexed by Congress's sudden support for the INA"</ref> These trials became a galvanising point in the Indian Independence movement for the Indian National Congress.{{sfn|Singh|2003|p=98}}<ref name=Sarkar420>{{Harvnb|Sarkar|1983|p=420}}</ref> A number of people associated with the INA during the war later went on to hold important roles in public life in India as well as in other countries in Southeast Asia, most notably ] in India, and ] and ] in Malaya.<ref name=Lebra2008p219/>
In the same breath as the INA ought to be mentioned the ''']'''. Formed in Europe with Indian PoWs from the battle fields of Europe and Africa, it was built as an assault force for Western Frontier of ]. However, the Free India Legion only ever saw action in Europe, fighting as a Heer unit attached to the ] and later incorporated into ] (as were other national legions of the Wehrmacht) <ref> Davis, Flags of the Third Reich 2: Waffen SS, pp. 22 </ref>, especially after the ]. Segments of the Free India Legion were parachuted into eastern Persia (present day ]) to infiltrate into India through ] and commence ] operations against the British in preparation for the anticipated national revolt<ref>Weale, Renegades, p. 137-138.</ref>. A larger segment was also incorporated into the Indian National Army in South Asia <ref>ibid </ref> after its formation, while segment of the Free India Legion fought British and Polish Forces in Italy in 1944.


The military unit was associated with Imperial Japan and the other Axis powers, and accusations were levelled against INA troops of being involved and complicit in ].<ref name=Fay423to424>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=423–424,453}}</ref> The INA's members were viewed as ] and traitors by British soldiers and Indian PoWs who did not join the army,<ref name=Toye1959pxiv/> but after the war they were seen as patriots by many Indians.<ref name=Toye1959pxiv>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|loc=Mason, in Foreword, p. xiv}}</ref> Although they were widely commemorated by the ] in the immediate aftermath of Indian independence, some of the members of the INA were denied ] status by the Government of India.<ref name=Cohenp132>{{Harvnb|Cohen|1971|p=132}}</ref><ref name=Lebrapxv/><ref name=Toye1959pxiv/><ref name=Fayp228>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=228}}</ref>
===Origin===
On 17 February 1942, two days after the fall of Singapore, some 45,000 Indian prisoners-of-war (POWs), were gathered at Farrer Park where they were surrendered over to the Japanese. The intial dread of mistreatment at the hands of Japanese troops, however, gave way when the Japanese welcomed them and pledged their support for India's Independence. Capt. Mohan Singh, 1/14th Punjab Regiment, was announced as leader and he called upon the Indians to form an army to free India. Almost 20,000 soldiers immediately came forward to join what became the INA.<ref> '''Historical Journey of the Indian National Army. Birth and Early Years'''. National Archives of Singapore. http://www.s1942.org.sg/indian_national_army/birth.htm. URL accessed on 20 Aug 06.</ref>
[[Image: INA_Parade.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Military parade of the INA at the Padang
on 5 July 1943.]] <!-- FAIR USE of INA_Parade.jpg: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:INA_Parade.jpgfor rationale -->
Earlier on, the Japanese Military Administration had encouraged various Indian nationalist groups in East Asia to form an anti-British alliance. These Indian nationalist groups then established the Indian Independence League (IIL), with its headquarters in Singapore. At the same time, the IIL looked after the welfare of Indian communities in East Asia.


==First INA==
In early March 1942, it had been proposed by the Japanese adivsors that the INA become the military arm of the IIL, with Rash Behari Bose as the leader of the entire movement . This was formally announced in June 1942 in ]. By late 1942, however, the divisions appeared as the Indian troops increasingly felt as pawns in the hands of the Japanese. In December, Mohan Singh and other INA leaders ordered the INA to disband after severe disagreements with the Japanese. Mohan Singh was subsequently arrested by the Japanese and exiled to Pulau Ubin. Between December 1942 and February 1943, Rash Behari Bose tried but failed to keep the IIL and INA going. Thousands of INA soldiers returned to the status of POWs again and most of the IIL leaders resigned. The movement was seen to be doomed to failure. In a series of meetings between the INA leaders and the Japanese in 1943, it was decided to cede the leadership of the IIL and the INA to Subhash Chandra Bose.
{{Main|First Indian National Army|Bidadary resolutions}}
{{See also|Mohan Singh|I Fujiwara|Rash Behari Bose|Indian Independence League|Thirty Comrades}}
] greets ]. ''Circa'' April 1942.]]
Before the start of World War II, Japan and South-East Asia were major refuges for exiled Indian nationalists. Meanwhile, Japan had ], notably under ] ], into South Asia to gather support from the Malayan sultans, overseas Chinese, the Burmese resistance and the ]. The Minami Kikan successfully recruited ], while the F Kikan was successful in establishing contacts with Indian nationalists in exile in ] and ].<ref name="Lebra 1977 23">{{Harvnb|Lebra|1977|p=23}}</ref><ref name="Lebra 1977 24"/> Fujiwara, later self-described as "Lawrence of the Indian National Army" (after ]) is said to have been a man committed to the values which his office was supposed to convey to the expatriate nationalist leaders, and found acceptance among them.<ref name="Lebra 1977 24">{{Harvnb|Lebra|1977|p=24}}</ref><ref name="Fay 1993 75">{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=75}}</ref> His initial contact was with ] and the ].<ref name="Lebra 1977 24"/>
At the outbreak of World War II ], 70,000 Indian troops (mostly ]) were stationed in Malaya. In Japan's spectacular ] many Indian prisoners-of-war were captured, including nearly 45,000 after the ] alone.<ref name=Toye2007p4>{{Harvnb|Toye|2007|p=4}}</ref> The conditions of service within the British-Indian Army and the social conditions in Malaya had led to dissension among these troops.<ref name=Faye56and224and226>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=56, 224, 226}}</ref><ref name=Toye30>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=30}}</ref> From these prisoners, the ] was formed under ]. Singh was an officer in the British-Indian Army who was captured early in the Malayan campaign. His nationalist sympathies found an ally in Fujiwara and he received considerable Japanese aid and support.<ref name=Toye7and8>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=7,8}}</ref> Ethnic Indians in Southeast Asia also supported the cause of Indian independence and had formed local leagues in Malaya before the war. These came together with encouragement from Japan after the occupation, forming the ] (IIL).<ref name=Fay91and108>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=91, 108}}</ref>


Although there were a number of prominent local Indians working in the IIL, the overall leadership came to rest with ], an Indian revolutionary who had lived in self-exile in Japan since World War I.<ref name=Faye108>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=108}}</ref> The League and INA leadership decided that the INA was to be subordinate to the IIL. A working council&nbsp;– composed of prominent members of the League and the INA leaders&nbsp;– was to decide on decisions to send the INA to war.<ref name=Lebra2008p77>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008|p=77}}</ref> The Indian leaders feared that they would appear to be Japanese puppets, so a decision was taken that the INA would go to battle only when the ] called it to do so.<ref name=Fay94>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=94}}</ref><ref name=Fay111>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=111}}</ref> Assurances of non-interference— later termed the ]— were demanded of Japan; these would have amounted to a treaty with an independent government.<ref name=Toye2007p4/> In this time, F. Kikan had been replaced by the ] (or I Kikan) headed by ]. Iwakuro's working relationship with the league was more tenuous. Japan did not immediately agree to the demands arising from the Bidadary resolutions. Differences also existed between Rash Behari and the League, not least because Rash Behari had lived in Japan for the considerable time and had a Japanese wife and a son in the Imperial Japanese Army.<ref name=Lebra2008p49>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008|p=49}}</ref> On the other hand, Mohan Singh expected military strategy and decisions to be autonomous decisions for the INA, independent of the league.<ref name=Fay150>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=150}}</ref>
Bose had, at the start of the war in Europe, ] to make his way to ], reaching Berlin on 2 April 1941. In Germany he convinced Hitler, in a series of conferences, to support the cause of Indian Independence,<ref>'''Axis War Makes Easier Task of Indians. Chandra Bose's Berlin Speech.''' '' Syonan Sinbun, 26 January 1943.'' </ref>forming the Free India Legion and the ]. By early 1943, Bose had turned his attention to Southeast Asia. With its large overseas Indian population, it was recognised that the region was fertile ground for establishing an anti-colonial force to fight the Raj. In January 1943, the Japanese invited Bose to lead the Indian nationalist movement in East Asia. He accepted and left Germany on 8 February. After a three-month journey by submarine, and a short stop in Singapore, he reached Tokyo on 11 May 1943, where he made a number of radio broadcasts to the Indian communities, exhorting them to join in the fight for India’s Independence.


In November and December 1942, concern about Japan's intentions towards the INA led to disagreement between the INA and the League on the one hand and the Japanese on the other.<ref name=Lebra2008p99>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008|p=99}}</ref> The INA leadership resigned along with that of the League (except Rash Behari). The unit was dissolved by Mohan Singh in December 1942, and he ordered the troops of the INA to return to PoW camps.<ref name=Toye45>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=45}}</ref><ref name=Fay149>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=149}}</ref> Mohan Singh was expected to be shot.<ref name=Toye45/>
] <!-- FAIR USE of Tokyo_Boys.JPG: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:Tokyo_Boys.JPG for rationale -->
On 4 July 1943, two days after reaching Singapore, Subhas Chandra Bose assumed the leadership of the IIL and the INA in a ceremony at Cathay Building. Bose's influence was notable. His appeal not only re-invigorated the fledgling INA, which previously comprised mainly POWs, his appeals also touched a chord with the Indian expatriates in South Asia as local civilians- ranging from barristers to plantation workers – had no military experience joined the INA, doubled its troop strength. <ref> Journey of the Indian National Army.''' Revival'''. National Archives of Singapore. http://www.s1942.org.sg/indian_national_army/revival.htm. URL accessed on 20 Aug 06.</ref>
An Officers’ Training School for INA officers and the Azad School for the civilian volunteers were set up to provide training to the recruits. A youth wing of the INA, comprised of 45 Young Indians personally chosen by Bose and affectionately known as the '''Tokyo Boys''', were also sent to Japan’s Imperial Military Academy to train as fighter pilots. Also, possibly the first time in Asia, and even the only time outside the ], a women's regiment, the ] regiment was raised as a combat force.
] <!-- FAIR USE of Jhansi_Trooper.JPG: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:Jhansi_Trooper.JPG for rationale -->


Between December 1942 and February 1943, Rash Behari struggled to hold the INA together.<ref name=Fay151>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=151}}</ref> On 15 February 1943, the army itself was put under the command of ] ].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://wn.com/Lt_Col_M_Z_Kiani | title=MZ Kiani | publisher=World News | access-date=2011-08-12}}</ref> A policy forming body was formed with ] (Director of the Military Bureau) in charge and clearly placed under the authority of the IIL. Under Bhonsle served ] as Chief of General Staff, ] as Military Secretary, ] as commandant of the Officers' Training School and Lt. Col. A.C. Chatterji (later Major A.D. Jahangir) as head of enlightenment and culture.<ref name="Fay151"/><ref name=Lebra2008p98>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008|p=98}}</ref>
The anti-British feeling on the island of ] was high, especially after the imprisonment of the leaders of the independence movement, the ] in ]. The Japanese were in secret contact with two junior Sri Lankan politicians, ] and ]. In 1942, the Ceylon Garrison Artillery in the ] mutinied, with the aim of handing the islands over to the Japanese, in emulation of their Indian cousins on ], However, the ] failed. ]s in ] and ] formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army. An abortive plan was made to land these troops in ] by ].


==Second INA==
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 ].


===Subhas Chandra Bose===
The clarion call of the INA was ''"Jai Hind"'' (meaning ''Victory to India'') and ''"Give me blood and I will give you freedom"''.
Subhas Chandra Bose was the ideal person to lead a rebel army into India came from the very beginning of F Kikan's work with captured Indian soldiers. Mohan Singh himself, soon after his first meeting with Fujiwara, had suggested that Bose was the right leader of a nationalist Indian army.<ref name=Toye2007p2>{{Harvnb|Toye|2007|p=2}}</ref> A number of the officers and troops&nbsp;– including some who now returned to prisoner-of-war camps and some who had not volunteered in the first place&nbsp;– made it known that they would be willing to join the INA only if it was led by Subhas Bose.<ref name="Lebra197727">{{Harvnb|Lebra|1977|p=27}}</ref> Bose was a nationalist. He had joined the Gandhian movement after resigning from a prestigious post in the ] in 1922, quickly rising in the Congress and being incarcerated repeatedly by the Raj.<ref name=Toye1959p80>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=80}}</ref> By late 1920s he and ] were considered the future leaders of the Congress.<ref name=Toye2007prebelleader>{{Harvnb|Toye|2007|loc=The Rebel President}}</ref> In the late 1920s, he was amongst the first Congress leaders to call for complete independence from Britain (''Purna Swaraj''), rather than the previous Congress objective of India becoming a ].<ref name=Toye2007prebelleader/> In Bengal, he was repeatedly accused by Raj officials of working with the ]. Under his leadership, the Congress youth group in Bengal was organised into a quasi-military organisation called the ].<ref name=Sengupta23and24>{{Harvnb|Sengupta|2012|pp=23–24}}</ref> Bose deplored ]'s pacifism; Gandhi disagreed with Bose's confrontations with the Raj.<ref name=Toye2007prebelleader/> The Congress's working committee, including Nehru, was predominantly loyal to Gandhi.<ref name=Toye2007prebelleader/> While openly disagreeing with Gandhi, Bose won the presidency of Indian National Congress twice in the 1930s. His second victory came despite opposition from Gandhi. He defeated Gandhi's favoured candidate, ], in the popular vote, but the entire working committee resigned and refused to work with Bose.<ref name="Toye1959p100">{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=88}}</ref> Bose resigned from the Congress presidency and founded his own faction within the Congress, the ].<ref name=Fayp197>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=197}}</ref>


] in East Prussia, May 1942|295x295px]]
Japanese Army assigned to advising at Indian Army at officer ] and ] during wartimes.


At the start of World War II, Bose was placed under house arrest by the Raj.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv7n1/Bose.htm | title=Subhas Chandra Bose in Nazi Germany | publisher=South Asia Forum Quarterly | work=Sisir K. Majumdar | year=1997 | access-date=2011-08-12 | pages=10–14}}</ref> He escaped in disguise and made his way through Afghanistan and Central -Asia. He came first to the Soviet Union and then to Germany, reaching Berlin on 2 April 1941.<ref name="Lebra2008p219">{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008|p=107}}</ref><ref name="Toye1959p100"/> There he -sought to raise an army of Indian soldiers from prisoners of war captured by Germany,<ref name=Syonan>{{Harvnb|Tojo|1943|p=}}</ref> forming the ] and the ].<ref name=Toye1959p117to119>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|pp=117–119}}</ref> The Japanese ambassador, ], kept Tokyo informed of these developments.<ref name=Lebra2008p231>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008|p=231}}</ref> From the very start of the war, the Japanese intelligence services noted from speaking to captured Indian soldiers that Bose was held in extremely high regard as a nationalist and was considered by Indian soldiers to be the right person to be leading a rebel army.<ref name=Toye2007p2/>
===Rise and Fall of the INA===


In a series of meetings between the INA leaders and the Japanese in 1943, it was decided to cede the leadership of the IIL and the INA to Bose. In January 1943, the Japanese invited Bose to lead the Indian nationalist movement in East Asia.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.s1942.org.sg/s1942/indian_national_army/subhas.htm | title=Total Mobilisation | publisher=National Archives of Singapore | access-date=2011-08-12 | archive-date=29 August 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829100457/http://www.s1942.org.sg/s1942/indian_national_army/subhas.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref> He accepted and left Germany on 8 February. After a three-month journey by submarine and a short stop in Singapore, he reached Tokyo on 11 May 1943. In Tokyo, he met ], the Japanese prime minister, and the Japanese High Command. He then arrived in Singapore in July 1943, where he made a number of radio broadcasts to Indians in Southeast Asia exhorting them to join in the fight for India's independence.<ref name=Fayp223>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=223}}</ref>
] <!-- FAIR USE of INA_Jubilation.jpg: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:INA_Jubilation.jpg for rationale -->
Although Japanese troops saw much of the combat in India against the British, the INA was certainly by itself an effective combat force, having faced British and allied troops and making their mark in the ], as well as the ] and Burma . On ] , ] the ] squads led by Col. Shaukat Malik broke through the British defence and captured ] in ]. The Azad Hind administration took control of the this independent Indian territory.<ref>''The Hindustan Times.http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/Netaji/enlisting9.htm</ref>. Following Moirang, the advancing INA breached the ], posing a threat to the British positions in both ] and ]. Col. Gulzara Singh's column had penetrated 250 miles into India. The Azad Brigade advanced, by outflanking the Anglo-American positions.
However, INA's most serious, and ultimately fatal, limitaltions were the reliance on Japanese logistics and supplies and the total air-dominance of the allies, which, along with a supply line deluged by torrential rain, frustrated the INA's and the Japanese bid to take ].


===Revival===
At the conclusion of the war, the government of ] 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 ], Colonel ] and Colonel ] were put to trial at the ] in ] for "waging war against the King Emperor", i.e. the British sovereign. The three defendants were defended by ], 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 ], "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 <ref>Stephen P. Cohen "Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army" ''Pacific Affairs'' Vol. 36, No. 4 (Winter, 1963) pp 411-429 </ref>.
On 4 July 1943 two days after reaching Singapore, Bose assumed the leadership of the IIL and the Indian National Army in a ceremony at Cathay Building. Bose's influence was notable. His appeal re-invigorated the INA, which had previously consisted mainly of prisoners of war: it also attracted Indian expatriates in South Asia. He famously proclaimed that ''Give me blood! I will give you freedom''


"Local civilians joined the INA, doubling its strength. They included barristers, traders and plantation workers, as well as Khudabadi Sindhi Swarankars who were working as shop keepers; many had no military experience."<ref name=Belle199>{{Harvnb|Belle|2014|p=199}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| publisher = National Archives of Singapore| url = http://www.s1942.org.sg/s1942/indian_national_army/revival.htm| title = Historical Journey of the Indian National Army| access-date = 2007-07-07| archive-date = 16 May 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070516104856/http://www.s1942.org.sg/s1942/indian_national_army/revival.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref> Carl Vadivella Belle estimates under Bose's dynamic appeal, membership of the IIL peaked at 350,000, while almost 100,000 local Indians in South-east Asia volunteered to join the INA, with the army ultimately reaching a force of 50,000.<ref name="Belle199"/> ]— a British Intelligence officer and author of a 1959 history of the army called '']''— and American historian Peter Fay (author of a 1993 history called ''The Forgotten Army'') have reached similar estimates of troop strength. The first INA is considered to have comprised about 40,000 troops, of whom about 4,000 withdrew when it was disbanded in December 1942. The Second INA started with 12,000 troops.<ref name=Toye1959p286>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=286}}</ref> Further recruitment of former Indian Army personnel added about 8,000–10,000. About 18,000 Indian civilians also enlisted during this time.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} Belle estimates almost 20,000 were local Malayan Indians, while another 20,000 were ex-British-Indian Army members who volunteered for the INA.<ref name="Belle199"/>
The ] and the ] 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 ], 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 <ref>Nirad C. Chaudhuri "Subhas Chandra Bose-His Legacy and Legend" ''Pacific Affairs'' Vol. 26, No. 4 (Dec. 1953), pp. 349-350 </ref>. On the recommendation of ], and agreed by ], as a precondition for ] the I.N.A. soldiers were not reinducted into the Indian Army.
] with ] at a Congress meeting, c 1938]]
The exact organisation of the INA and its precise troop strength is not known, since its records were destroyed by the withdrawing ''Azad Hind'' Government before Rangoon ] by Commonwealth forces in 1945.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=556}}</ref> The order of battle described by Fay (constructed from discussions with INA-veterans), nonetheless, is similar to that described of the first INA by Toye in ''The Springing Tiger''. The 1st Division, under M.Z. Kiani, drew many ex-Indian army prisoners of war who had joined Mohan Singh's first INA. It also drew prisoners of war who had not joined in 1942. It consisted of the 2nd Guerrilla Regiment (the ]) consisting of two battalions under Col. Inayat Kiani; the 3rd Guerrilla Regiment (the ]) with three battalions under Col. Gulzara Singh; and the 4th Guerrilla Regiment (or ]) commanded by the end of the war by Lt. Col ].<ref>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=263}}</ref> The 1st Guerrilla Regiment&nbsp;– the ]&nbsp;– under Col. Shah Nawaz Khan was an independent unit, consisting of three infantry battalions. A special operations group was also to be set up called the '']'' (Valiant), to operate behind enemy lines.<ref name=Toye1959138>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=138}}</ref>


A training school for INA officers, led by Habib ur Rahman, and the ''Azad'' School for the civilian volunteers were set up to provide training to the recruits. A youth wing of the INA, composed of 45 young Indians personally chosen by Bose and known as the ], was also sent to Japan's Imperial Military Academy, where its members trained as fighter pilots. A separate all-female unit was also created under ]. This unit was intended to have combat-commitments.<ref name=Gordonp496>{{Harvnb|Gordon|1990|p=496}}</ref> Named ] (after the legendary rebel Queen ] of the ]), it drew female civilian volunteers from Malaya and Burma. The 1st Division was lightly armed. Each battalion was composed of five companies of infantry. The individual companies were armed with six ]s, six ]s and six ]s. Some NCOs carried ]s, while senior officers of the ''Bahadur'' groups attached to each unit issued hand grenades (of captured British stock) to men going forward on duty.<ref name=Fay297>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=297}}</ref>
Independent India's attitude to the I.N.A. was somewhat confused: on one hand, following the recommendations of ], 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.


The 2nd Division was organised under Colonel Abdul Aziz Tajik<ref name=Fay317>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=317}}</ref> It was formed largely after the ] had started and drew large remnants of what remained of the ] of the First INA. The 2nd Division consisted of the 1st Infantry Regiment, which later merged with the 5th Guerrilla Regiment to form the INA's 2nd Infantry Regiment under Col ]. The 1st Infantry Regiment drew many civilian volunteers from Burma and Malaya and was equipped with the largest share of the heavy armament that the INA possessed.<ref name=Fay318>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=318}}</ref> An additional 3rd Division of the INA was composed chiefly of local volunteers in Malaya and Singapore. This unit disbanded before Japan surrendered. A motor transport division was also created, but it was severely limited by lack of resources. In 1945, at the end of the INA, it consisted of about 40,000 soldiers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=525–526}}</ref>
===Consequences of the I.N.A. Trials===
Unlike Mohan Singh, whose assumption of the rank of ] had generated opposition, Bose refused to take a rank.<ref name=Bayly&Harper2005p322>{{Harvnb|Bayly|Harper|2005|p=322}}</ref> Both the soldiers of the INA and civilians addressed Bose as ''Netaji'' ("Dear leader"), a term first used in Berlin by members of the Free India Legion.<ref name=Fay236>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=236}}</ref> In October 1943, Bose proclaimed the formation of the '']'', or the Provisional Government of Free India (also known as ''Azad Hind'' or Free India). The INA was declared to be the army of ''Azad Hind''.<ref name=Toye1959p80&90to93>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|loc=80,90-93}}</ref>
] <!-- FAIR USE of INA_Memorial_1945.jpg: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:INA_Memorial_1945.jpg for rationale -->
] <!-- FAIR USE of Destruction_of_INA_Memorial_1945.jpg: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:Destruction_of_INA_Memorial_1945.jpg for rationale -->


==Operations==
Whether a measure of the pain that the allies had suffered in Imphal and Burma, as an act of vengeance, Lord Mountbatten, Head of Southeast Asia Command, ordered the INA Memorial to its fallen soldiers destroyed when the Singapore was recaptured in 1945.<ref> URL accessed on 20 Aug 06 </ref>
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:INA Parade.jpg|thumb|right|Military parade of the INA at the Padang
It has been suggested later that Mountbatten's actions may have been to erase completely the records of INA's existence, to prevent the seeds of the idea of a revolutionary socialist liberation force from spreading into the vestiges of it's colonies amidst the spectre of cold-war politics already taking shape at the time, and had haunted the Colonial powers before the war. <ref> Lebra, Joyce C., Jungle Alliance: Japan and the Indian National Army, Singapore, Asia Pacific Library</ref> <ref>Borra R. Subhash Chandra Bose. Journal of Historical Review, 3, no. 4 (Winter 1982), pp. 407-439</ref>
on 5 July 1943]] --><!-- FAIR USE of INA_Parade.jpg: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/File:INA_Parade.jpgfor rationale -->
{{Main|Battles and operations of the Indian National Army}}
{{See also|India in World War II}}
On 23 October 1943, ''Azad Hind'' declared war against Britain and the United States.<ref name=Singh16>{{Harvnb|Singh|2003|p=16}}</ref> Its first formal commitment came with the opening of the Japanese offensive towards ], code-named '']''. In the initial plans for invasion of India, ] had been reluctant to confer any responsibilities to the INA beyond espionage and propaganda.<ref name=Toye1959p86>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=86}}</ref> Bose rejected this as the role of ]ists,<ref name=Toye1959p86/> and insisted that INA should contribute substantially in troops to form a distinct identity of an Indian-liberation army. He secured from Japanese army Chief of Staff, General Sugiyama, the agreement that INA would rank as an allied army in the offensive.<ref name=Toye1959p149>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=149}}</ref> The advanced headquarters of ''Azad Hind'' was moved to Rangoon in anticipation of success. The INA's own strategy was to avoid set-piece battles, for which it lacked armament as well as manpower.<ref name=Fay292and298>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=292, 298}}</ref> Initially it sought to obtain arms and increase its ranks by inducing British-Indian soldiers to defect. The latter were expected to defect in large numbers. Col Prem Sahgal, once military secretary to Subhas Bose and later tried in the first ], explained the INA strategy to Peter Fay<ref name=Fay139>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=139}}</ref>&nbsp;– although the war itself hung in balance and nobody was sure if the Japanese would win, initiating a popular revolution with grass-roots support within India would ensure that even if Japan ultimately lost the war, Britain would not be in a position to re-assert its colonial authority. It was planned that, once Japanese forces had broken through British defences at ], the INA would cross the hills of ] into the ], where it would work as a guerrilla army.<ref name=Fay268>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=268}}</ref> This army was expected to live off the land, with captured British supplies, support, and personnel from the local population.<ref name=Fay262>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=262}}</ref>


===1944===
After the war ended, the story of the INA and the ] was seen as so inflammatory that, fearing mass revolts and uprisings&mdash;not just in India, but across its empire&mdash;the British Government forbid the ] from broadcasting their story.<ref> URL accessed on 08-Aug-06</ref>. However, if this was the last ditch attempt to preserve the Raj, it certainly failed miserably. The stories of the trials at the ] filtered through. Newspapers reported at the time of the trials that some of the INA soldiers held at Red Fort had been ]d<ref>. URL Accessed 11-Aug-06</ref>, which only succeeded in causing further protests.
{{See also|Battle of the Admin Box|U Go Offensive|Battle of Imphal|Battle of Kohima}}
]
The plans chosen by Bose and ], chief of the Burma area army, envisaged the INA being assigned an independent sector in the ''U-Go'' offensive. No INA units were to operate at less than battalion strength.<ref name=Toye1959p161>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=161}}</ref> For operational purposes, the Subhas Brigade was placed under the command of the Japanese General Headquarters in Burma. Advance parties of the ''Bahadur'' Group also went forward with advanced Japanese units.<ref name=Toye159>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=159}}</ref> As the offensive opened, the INA's 1st Division, consisting of four guerrilla regiments, was divided between ''U Go'' and the diversionary '']'' offensive in ].<ref name=Toye1959p161/><ref name=Toye162>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=162}}</ref> One battalion reached as far as Mowdok in ] after breaking through the ].<ref name=Sareen1996p184>{{Harvnb|Sareen|1996|p=184}}</ref><ref name=Bijil112>{{Harvnb|van Der Bijil|2013|p=112}}</ref> A Bahadur Group unit, led by Col. ], took the border enclave of ] in early April.<ref name=Toye1959p198&215>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|pp=198, 215}}</ref> The main body of the 1st Division was however committed to the ''U-Go'', directed towards Manipur. Led by Shah Nawaz Khan, it successfully protected the Japanese flanks against Chin and Kashin guerrillas as ]'s three divisions crossed the ] and the ], and participated in the main offensive through ] in the direction of Imphal and ].<ref name=Fayp283and284>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=283–284}}</ref><ref name=Toyep189to191>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|pp=189–191}}</ref> The 2nd Division, under M.Z. Kiani, was placed to the right flank of the 33rd Division attacking Kohima. However, by the time Khan's forces left Tamu, the offensive had been held, and Khan's troops were redirected to Kohima. After reaching Ukhrul, near Kohima, they found Japanese forces had begun their withdrawal from the area. The INA's forces suffered the same fate as Mutaguchi's army when the siege of Imphal was broken. With little or nothing in the way of supplies, and with additional difficulties caused by the monsoon, Allied air dominance, and Burmese irregular forces, the 1st and 2nd divisions began withdrawing alongside the 15th Army and ]. During the withdrawal through Manipur, a weakened Gandhi regiment held its position against the advancing ] on the Burma–India road while the general withdrawal was prepared.<ref name=Fay289>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=289–292}}</ref><ref name=Toye138and162>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|pp=138, 162, 203, 210}}</ref> The 2nd and 3rd INA regiments protected the flanks of the Yamamoto force successfully at the most critical time during this withdrawal,<ref name="Toye1959207">{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=207}}</ref> but wounded and diseased men succumbed to starvation along the route. Commonwealth troops following the Japanese forces found INA dead along with Japanese troops who had died of starvation.<ref name=Toye180>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=180}}</ref> The INA lost a substantial number of men and amount of materiel in this retreat. A number of units were disbanded or used to feed into new divisions.<ref name=Fay417>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=417}}</ref>


===1945===
During the trial, ], incorporating ships and shore establishements of the '''RIN''' throughout ], from ] to ] and from ] to ]. The most significant, if disconcerting factor for the Raj, was the significant militant public support that it received.<ref> URL accessed on 9-Aug-06.</ref>. At some places, NCOs in the ] started ignoring orders from British superiors. In ] and ], the British garrisons had to face revolts within the ranks of the British Indian Army.
{{See also|Battle of Pokoku|Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay}}
As the Allied ] began the following year, the INA remained committed to the defence of Burma and was a part of the Japanese defensive deployments. The Second Division was tasked with the defence of ] and the adjoining areas around Nangyu, and offered opposition to ]'s 7th Indian Division when it attempted to cross the river at Pagan and Nyangyu during ].<ref name="Fayp330"/><ref name=Fay539>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=539}}</ref> Later, during the ], the forces under Prem Sahgal were tasked with defending the area around ] from the British 17th Division, which would have exposed the flank of ]'s forces attempting to retake Meiktila and Nyangyu. The division was obliterated, at times fighting tanks with hand grenades and bottles of petrol.<ref name=Fay358>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=358}}</ref><ref name=Toye1959p229>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=229}}</ref> Many INA soldiers realised that they were in a hopeless position. Many surrendered to pursuing Commonwealth forces. Isolated, losing men to exhaustion and to desertion, low on ammunition and food, and pursued by Commonwealth forces, the surviving units of the second division began an attempt to withdraw towards Rangoon. They broke through encircling Commonwealth lines a number of times before finally surrendering at various places in early April 1945.<ref name=Fay539/><ref name=Singh32and33>{{Harvnb|Singh|2003|pp=32–33}}</ref> As the Japanese situation became precarious, the ''Azad Hind'' government withdrew from Rangoon to Singapore, along with the remnants of the 1st Division and the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. Nearly 6,000 troops of the surviving units of the INA remained in Rangoon under ]. They surrendered as Rangoon fell and helped keep order until the Allied forces entered the city.<ref name=Toye261>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=261}}</ref>


As the Japanese withdrawal from Burma progressed, other remnants of the INA began a long march overland and on foot towards Bangkok. In what has been called an "epic retreat to safety",<ref name=Belle204>{{Harvnb|Belle|2014|p=204}}</ref> Bose walked with his troops, refusing to leave them despite Japanese soldiers finding him transport.<ref name=Toye1959p248/> The withdrawing forces regularly suffered casualties from Allied planes strafing them and in clashes with ]'s Burmese resistance, as well as from Chinese guerrillas who harassed the Japanese troops.<ref name=Toye1959p248>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=248}}</ref> Bose returned to Singapore in August to what remained of the INA and ''Azad Hind''. He wished to stay with his government in Singapore to surrender to the British, reasoning that a trial in India and possible execution would ignite the country, serving the independence movement. He was convinced not to do so by the ''Azad Hind'' cabinet.<ref name=BoseHMOp>{{Harvnb|Bose|2013|p=undefined}}</ref> At the time of Japan's surrender in September 1945, Bose left for ] near the Soviet border in ] to attempt to contact the advancing Soviet troops, and was ] in an air crash near Taiwan.<ref name=Fay372>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=372–373}}</ref><ref name=Fay384>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=384}}</ref> The remaining INA troops surrendered under the command of M.Z. Kiani to British-Indian forces at Singapore.<ref name=Bose2006p143>{{Harvnb|Bose|2006|p=143}}</ref>
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 fighters' pension, the Jabalpur mutineers got nothing. They even lost their service pension.
]]]


==End of the INA==
Reflecting on the factors that guided the ] decision to relinquish the ] in ], ], the then British ], cited several reasons, the most important of which were the INA activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which weakened the Indian Army - the foundation of the British Empire in India- and the RIN Mutiny that made the British realise that the Indian armed forces could no longer be trusted to prop up the ''Raj''. <ref>Dhanjaya Bhat, Writing in ''The Tribune'', Sunday, February 12, 2006. Spectrum Suppl. Which phase of our freedom struggle won for us Independence? http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060212/spectrum/main2.htm.URL accessed on 17-Jul-2006 </ref>.
Although Britain had made, at the time of the ] in 1942, a commitment <ref> Judith Brown ''Modern India. The making of an Asian Democracy'' (Oxford University Press) 1999 (2nd Edition) pp328-330 </ref> to grant dominion status <ref>James L. ''Raj; Making and unmaking of British India. Abacus. 1997. p557''</ref> to India after the war this suggests that, contrary to the usual narrative of India's independence struggle, (which generally focusses on Congress and Mahatma Gandhi), the INA and the revolts, mutinies, and public resentment it germinated were an important factor in the complete withdrawal of the ] from India.


===Repatriation to India===
Why would, however, the story of the INA and the ] be forbidden from public broadcast and archived beyond public reach? <ref> URL accessed 09-Aug-06</ref>. In 1946, with ] attempting to hold on to its declining empire, it is certainly imaginable what inspiration the story of Bose and his revolutionary army would have been to the rising nationalism in ] and ]. One only needs to analyse the examples of the charismatic legends of ] and the Chinese uprisings on ] and ] to understand what proportions the INA's legend would have reached and how that, in the hands of revolutionary nationalists would have destabillised what would remain of the ] after they left India. The mutinies and movements mentioned above proves this in the context of India. However, that still does not answer why these stories have been ignored or even actively suppressed by the ] after Independence.<ref>The Hindustan Times, November 17, 1970. URL Accessed on 11-Aug-06. </ref> <ref> URL Accessed on 11-Aug-06</ref><ref> URL accessed 09-Aug-06</ref>
{{See also|CSDIC(I)}}
]. ''Circa'' April 1945.]]
Even before the end of the war in South Asia, the INA prisoners who were falling into Allied hands were being evaluated by forwarding intelligence units for potential trials.<ref name=Fay436>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=436}}</ref> Almost fifteen hundred had been captured in the battles of Imphal and Kohima and the subsequent withdrawal,<ref name=Lebra2008p200>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008|p=200}}</ref> while larger numbers surrendered or were captured during the 14th Army's Burma Campaign. A total of 16,000 of the INA's 43,000 recruits were captured, of whom around 11,000 were interrogated by the ] (CSDIC).<ref name=Fay459>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=459}}</ref> The number of prisoners necessitated this selective policy which anticipated trials of those with the strongest commitment to Bose's ideologies. Those with lesser commitment or other extenuating circumstances would be dealt with more leniently, with the punishment proportional to their commitment or war crimes.<ref name=Singh38/> For this purpose, the field intelligence units designated the captured troops as ''Blacks'' with the strongest commitment to ''Azad Hind''; ''Greys'' with varying commitment but also with enticing circumstances that led them to join the INA; and ''Whites'', those who were pressured into joining the INA under the circumstances but with no commitment to ''Azad Hind'', INA, or Bose.<ref name=Singh39>{{Harvnb|Singh|2003|p=39}}</ref>


By July 1945, a large number had been shipped back to India. At the time of the fall of Japan, the remaining captured troops were transported to India via Rangoon. Large numbers of local Malay and Burmese volunteers, including the recruits to the Rani of Jhansi regiment, returned to civilian life and were not identified.<ref name=Singh38>{{Harvnb|Singh|2003|p=38}}</ref> Those repatriated passed through transit camps in Chittagong and ] to be held at detention camps all over India including Jhingergacha and Nilganj near Calcutta, Kirkee outside Pune, ], ] and at Bahadurgarh near Delhi. Bahadurgarh also held prisoners of the Free India Legion.<ref name=Fay436/> By November, around 12,000 INA prisoners were held in these camps; they were released according to the "colours".<ref name=Fay436/> By December, around 600 ''Whites'' were released per week. The process to select those to face trial started.<ref name=Fay436/>
===Troop Strength===


The British-Indian Army intended to implement appropriate internal disciplinary action against its soldiers who had joined the INA, whilst putting to trial a selected group in order to preserve discipline in the Indian Army and to award punishment for criminal acts where these had occurred.<ref name="Singh44and45">{{Harvnb|Singh|2003|p=44,45}}</ref> As news of the army spread within India, it began to draw widespread sympathy support and admiration from Indians. Newspaper reports around November 1945 reported executions of INA troops,<ref>{{cite web
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:
|work = Hindustan Times
|url = http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/Netaji/images/nov_2_45.gif
|title = Many INA already executed.
|access-date = 2007-09-02
|url-status=dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070809180542/http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/Netaji/images/nov_2_45.gif
|archive-date = 9 August 2007
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref> which worsened the already volatile situation. Increasingly violent confrontations broke out between the police and protesters at the mass rallies being held all over India, culminating in public riotings in support of the INA men.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chaudhuri|1953|p=351}}</ref><ref name=Sarkar419>{{Harvnb|Sarkar|1983|p=419}}</ref><ref name=Fay499>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=499}}</ref> This public outcry defied traditional communal barriers of the subcontinent, representing a departure from the divisions between Hindus and Muslims seen elsewhere in the independence movement and ].<ref name=Singh39and40>{{harvnb|Singh|2003|pp=39–40}}</ref>


===Red Fort trials===
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.
{{Main|Indian National Army trials}}
Between November 1945 and May 1946, approximately ten courts-martial were held in public at the ] in Delhi. ], the ] of the British-Indian army, hoped that by holding public trials in the Red Fort, public opinion would turn against the INA if the media reported stories of torture and collaborationism, helping him settle a political as well as military question.<ref name=Singh42-43>{{harvnb|Singh|2003|pp=42–43}}</ref> Those to stand trials were accused variously of murder, torture and "waging war against the King-Emperor". However, the first and most celebrated joint courts-martial&nbsp;– those of Prem Sahgal, Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon and Shah Nawaz Khan&nbsp;– were not the story of torture and murder Auchinleck had hoped to tell the Indian press and people. The accusations against them included the alleged murder of their comrades-in-arms in the INA whilst in Burma. Peter Fay highlights in his book ''The Forgotten Army'' that the murders alleged were, in fact, courts-martial of captured deserters the defendants had presided over. If it was accepted that the three were part of a genuine combatant army (as the legal defence team later argued), they had followed due process of written INA law and of the normal process of conduct of war in execution of the sentences.<ref name=Toyexix>{{harvnb|Toye|1959|loc=Mason, in foreword p. xix}}</ref> Indians rapidly came to view the soldiers who enlisted as patriots and not enemy-collaborators. ], then-Secretary of the War Department, later wrote that "in a matter of weeks&nbsp;... in a wave of nationalist emotion, the INA were acclaimed heroes who fought for the freedom of India."<ref name=Toyexviii>{{harvnb|Toye|1959|loc=Mason, in foreword, p. xviii}}</ref> The three accused were from the three major religions of India: Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism. Indians felt the INA represented a true, secular, national army when judged against the British-Indian Army, where caste and religious differences were preserved amongst ranks.<ref name="Singh39and40"/><ref name=Singh74>{{harvnb|Singh|2003|p=74}}</ref> The opening of the first trial saw violence and a series of riots in a scale later described as "sensational".<ref name=Chaudhuri1953/> The Indian National Congress and the ] both made the release of the INA prisoners an important political issue during the campaign for independence in 1945–1946.<ref name=Chaudhury1953p1>{{harvnb|Chaudhuri|1953|p=1}}</ref> Lahore in Diwali 1946 remained dark as the traditional earthen lamps lit on Diwali were not lit by families in support of prisoners.<ref name=Singh79>{{harvnb|Singh|2003|p=79}}</ref> In addition to civilian campaigns of non-cooperation and non-violent protest, protest spread to include mutinies within the British-Indian Army and sympathy within the British-Indian forces. Support for the INA crossed communal barriers to the extent that it was the last major campaign in which the Congress and the Muslim League aligned together; the Congress ] and the green flag of the League were flown together at protests.<ref name=Sengupta77>{{harvnb|Sengupta|2012|p=77}}</ref>


The Congress quickly came forward to defend soldiers of the INA who were to be court-martialled.<ref name=Singh44>{{harvnb|Singh|2003|p=44}}</ref> The ] was formed by the Indian Congress and included prominent Indian legal figures, among whom were ], ], ] and ].<ref name=Sengupta77/> The trials covered arguments based on military law, constitutional law, international law, and politics. Mithi Mukherjee call the trials a "key moment in the elaboration of an anticolonial critique of international law in India."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mukherjee|first=Mithi|year=2019|title=The "Right to Wage War" against Empire: Anticolonialism and the Challenge to International Law in the Indian National Army Trial of 1945|journal=Law and Social Inquiry|volume=44|issue=2|pages=420–443|doi=10.1017/lsi.2019.12|s2cid=191697854|doi-access=free}}</ref> Much of the initial defence was based on the argument that they should be treated as prisoners of war as they were not paid mercenaries but ''bona fide'' soldiers of a legal government&nbsp;– Bose's ''Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind''.<ref name=Fay80>{{harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=79–80}}</ref> ] argued that "however misinformed or otherwise they had been in their notion of patriotic duty towards their country", they recognized the free Indian state as their sovereign and not the British sovereign.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cohen|1963|pp=411–429}}</ref> Peter Fay points out that at least one INA prisoner&nbsp;– ]&nbsp; a brother of the ruler of ] – may have deserved to be accused of torture, but his trial had been deferred on administrative grounds.<ref name=Singh41>{{harvnb|Singh|2003|p=41}}</ref> Those charged after the first celebrated courts-martial only faced trial for torture and murder or abetment of murder. Charges of treason were dropped for fear of inflaming public opinion.<ref name=Fayp497>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=497}}</ref>
The Japanese were prepared to arm 16,000. When the "first I.N.A." collapsed, about 4,000 withdrew.


In spite of aggressive and widespread opposition to the continuation of the court-martial, it was completed. All three defendants were found guilty in many of the charges and sentenced to deportation for life. The sentence, however, was never carried out. Immense public pressure, demonstrations, and riots forced Claude Auchinleck to release all three defendants. Within three months, 11,000 soldiers of the INA were released after cashiering and forfeiture of pay and allowance.<ref name=Chaudhuri1953/><ref name=Childs>{{Harvnb|Childs|2000|p=28}}</ref> On the recommendation of ] and with the agreement of Jawaharlal Nehru, former soldiers of the INA were not allowed to join the new ] as a condition for independence.<ref name=Ganguly>{{cite web
The "second I.N.A.", commanded by Subhas Chandra Bose, started with 12,000 troops.
| author = Ganguly, Sumit
| publisher = Columbia University Press
| url=http://www.ciaonet.org/book/anderson/anderson10.html#note29
| title= Explaining India's Transition to Democracy.
| access-date=2007-09-03
}}</ref>


Some mutinies in the ] in 1946 are thought to have been caused by the nationalist feelings inspired by the opposition to INA trials.<ref name="Fay 1993 p=496,498,499">{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=496, 498–499}}</ref> Historians like ], Peter Cohen, Fay and others suggest that these events played a crucial role in hastening the end of British rule.<ref name=Chaudhuri1953>{{Harvnb|Chaudhuri|1953|p=349}}</ref><ref name=Sarkar411>{{Harvnb|Sarkar|1983|p=411}}</ref>
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 <ref> Peter Ward Fay ''The Forgotten Army. India's Armed Struggle for Independence 1941-45'' (Ann Arbor) 1993 pp525-6 </ref>.


==Post 1947==
===Azad Hind decoration===
Within India, the INA continues to be an emotive and celebrated subject of discussion.<ref name=LebraROJR107>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008b|p=107}}</ref> It continued to have a stronghold over the public psyche and the sentiments of the armed forces until as late as 1947.<ref name=Green68>{{Harvnb|Green|1948|p=68}}</ref> It has been suggested that Shah Nawaz Khan was tasked with organising INA troops to train Congress volunteers at Jawaharlal Nehru's request in late 1946 and early 1947. After 1947, several members of the INA who were closely associated with Subhas Bose and with the INA trials were prominent in public life.<ref name="Lebra2008p219"/> A number of them held important positions in independent India, serving as ambassadors immediately after independence: ] in Egypt and Denmark, ] in the ], ] in Canada, ] in the Netherlands, and ] in Switzerland.<ref name=Gordon369>{{Harvnb|Gordon|1990|p=369}}</ref> Mohan Singh was elected to the ], the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He worked for the recognition of the members of Indian National Army as "freedom fighters" in the cause of the nation's independence in and out of Parliament.<ref name=Lebra1971p243>{{Harvnb|Lebra|1971|p=243}}</ref> Shah Nawaz Khan served as Minister of State for ] in the ].<ref name=Ram2010p197>{{Harvnb|Ram|2010|p=197}}</ref> Lakshmi Sahgal, Minister for Women's Affairs in the ''Azad Hind'' government, was a well known and widely respected public figure in India.<ref name=LebraROJpxii>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008b|p=xii}}</ref> In 1971, she joined the ] and was later elected the leader of the ].<ref name=Forbes1999p276>{{Harvnb|Forbes|1999|p=276}}</ref> ], an American historian, wrote that the rejuvenation of the ], then a fledgling ] political party in southern India, would not have been possible without participation of INA members.<ref name=LebraROJ111>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008b|p=111}}</ref>
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.


] in later life, at a political meeting in India]]
*Grand Star: "Sher-e-Hind" (Tiger of India)
Some accounts suggest that the INA veterans were involved in training civilian resistance forces against the ]'s ] prior to the execution of ] and annexation of Hyderabad.<ref>{{cite web
*1st Class Star: "Sardar-e-Jang" (Leader of Battle)
| author =Menon, P
*2nd Class Star: "Vir-e-Hind" (Hero of India)
| work=The Hindu
*Shahid-e-Bharat: (Martyr of the Motherland)
| url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070510/1857/main12.htm
|title=The States
| access-date=2007-09-03
}}</ref>
It has been also documented that some INA veterans led Pakistani irregulars during the ]. ] served as Pakistan's political agent to ] in the late 1950s.<ref name=Gordon369/><ref>{{cite web
| publisher = Provisional Assembly of Punjab (Lahore-Pakistan). Govt of Pakistan
| url=http://pap.gov.pk/legislators/last/dist2.htm
|title= Taj Muhammad Khanzada. Legislators from Attock.
| access-date=2007-09-19
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071101134400/http://pap.gov.pk/legislators/last/dist2.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-11-01}}</ref> Of the very few ex-INA members who joined the Indian Armed Forces after 1947 ], a member of the Tokyo Boys, joined the ] in 1952 and later rose to be an ].<ref name=BenegalForeword>{{Harvnb|Benegal|2013|loc=Foreword}}</ref> Benegal saw action in both ] and ], earning a ], India's second-highest award for valour.<ref name=BharatRakshak>{{cite web
| work=Bharat Rakshak
| url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Record/view.php?srnum=4220
| title=Air Commodore Ramesh Sakharam Benegal
| access-date=2015-09-18
| archive-date=23 September 2015
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923184636/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Record/view.php?srnum=4220
| url-status=dead
}}</ref>


Among other prominent members of the INA, ], composer of a number of songs including the INA's regimental march ], has been credited by some for the modern tune of the ].<ref name=Rediff>{{cite web
===See also===
| work= Rediff on the net
| url=http://www.rediff.com/news/feb/22anthem.htm
|title=Who composed the score for Jana Gana Mana? Gurudev or the Gorkha?
| access-date=2015-09-18
}}</ref>


Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon and Lakshmi Sahgal were later awarded the Indian civilian honours of ] and ] respectively by the Indian Government in the 1990s.<ref name=Raman2009p176>{{Harvnb|Raman|2009|p=176}}</ref><ref name=GopalGandhi2007p392>{{Harvnb|Gandhi|2007|p=392}}</ref> Lakshmi Sahgal was nominated for the ] by communist parties in 2002. She was the sole opponent of ], who emerged victorious.<ref name=KochanekandHardgravep74>{{Harvnb|Kochanek|Hardgrave|2007|p=74}}</ref> Subhas Bose himself was posthumously awarded ] in 1992, but this was later withdrawn over the controversy over the ].<ref name=TOI>{{cite news
*''']''', a unit of the '''Raggruppamento Centri Militari''' formed in ] of sympathetic Indian PoWs and headed by Iqbal Shedai- an Indian resident in Rome. A section of the Centro I went to form the ''']''' Before being disbanded.
| work= Times of India
*''']''' (also known as the ] or the ]), predecessor to the INA, formed in ] of Rommell's Indian PoWs from North Africa and realisation of Bose's first ideas of a ] Army .
| url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Why-was-the-Bharat-Ratna-Award-given-to-Netaji-Subhash-Chandra-Bose-withdrawn-by-the-Supreme-Court-in-1992/articleshow/1353901.cms
*''']'''
|title=Why was the Bharat Ratna Award given to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose withdrawn by the Supreme Court in 1992?
*''']'''
| date=31 December 2005
| access-date=2015-09-18
}}</ref>


Former INA recruits in diasporic Singapore, however, faced a different situation. In Singapore, Indians – particularly those who were associated with the INA – were treated with disdain as they were "stigmatized as fascists and Japanese collaborators".<ref name="Sengupta149">{{Harvnb|Sengupta|2012|p=149}}</ref><ref name="Stenson106">{{Harvnb|Stenson|2011|p=106}}</ref> Some within this diaspora later emerged as notable political and social leaders. The consolidation of trade unions in the form of ] was led by ex-INA leaders.<ref name=LebraROJ111/> In Malaya, notable members of the INA were involved in founding the ] (MIC) in 1946; ] was the founding president.<ref name=Ooip136>{{Harvnb|Ooi|2004|p=136}}</ref> ], second-in-command of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, was also a founding member of the MIC and later became a noted welfare activist and a distinguished senator in the ] of the ]. ], also of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, later became a well-known welfare-activist and a widely respected champion for ] in ].<ref name=LebraROJp103>{{Harvnb|Lebra|2008b|p=103}}</ref>
===References===


==Relations==
<references/>
{{See also|India in World War II}}


===Japanese Army===
* ''Japanese-trained armies in Southeast Asia : independence and volunteer forces in World War II'' / Joyce C. Lebra, New York : Columbia University Press, 1977
The INA was known as the puppet army of the Japanese empire.<ref name="Seaman"/><ref name="Tanaka"/> In early days, the officers in the INA distrusted the Japanese. Leaders of the first INA sought formal assurances from ] before committing to war. When these did not arrive, Mohan Singh resigned after ordering his army to disband; he expected to be sentenced to death. After Bose established ''Azad Hind'', he tried to establish his political independence from the regime that supported him. Indeed, he had led protests against the ], and supported ] during the 1930s. Azad ''Hind'' depended on Japan for arms and material but sought to be as financially independent as possible, levying taxes and raising donations from Indians in Southeast Asia".<ref name=Belle200>{{Harvnb|Belle|2014|p=200}}</ref> On the Japanese side, members of the high command had been personally impressed by Bose and were willing to grant him some latitude; more importantly, the Japanese were interested in maintaining the support of a man who had been able to mobilise large numbers of Indian expatriates&nbsp;– including, most importantly, 40,000 of the 45,000 Indians captured by the Japanese at Singapore.<ref>{{cite press release | url=http://www.history.co.uk/explore-history/ww2/burma.html | title=Capture of INA | access-date=2011-08-12 | archive-date=28 August 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828070537/http://www.history.co.uk/explore-history/ww2/burma.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> However, Faye notes that interactions between soldiers in the field was different. Attempts to use Shah Nawaz's troops in road building and as porters angered the troops, forcing Bose to intervene with Mutaguchi. After the withdrawal from Imphal, the relations between both junior non-commissioned officers and between senior officers had deteriorated. INA officers accused the Japanese Army high command of trying to deceive INA troops into fighting for Japan. Conversely, Japanese soldiers often expressed disdain for INA soldiers for having changed their oath of loyalty. This mutual dislike was especially strong after the withdrawal from Imphal began; Japanese soldiers, suspicious that INA defectors had been responsible for their defeat, addressed INA soldiers as "shameless one" instead of "comrade" as previously had been the case.<ref name=Toye203>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=203}}</ref> ''Azad Hind'' officials in Burma reported difficulties with the Japanese military administration in arranging supply for troops and transport for wounded men as the armies withdrew. Toye notes that local IIL members and '']'' (local ''Azad Hind'' administrative teams) organised relief supplies from Indians in Burma at this time. As the situation in Burma became hopeless for the Japanese, Bose refused requests to use INA troops against Aung San's ], which had turned against Japan and was now allied with Commonwealth forces.<ref name=Toye1959p231>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=231}}</ref>
* ''Jungle alliance, Japan and the Indian National Army'' / Joyce C. Lebra, Singapore, Donald Moore for Asia Pacific Press,1971
<!-- FAIR USE of Destruction_of_INA_Memorial_1945.jpg: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/File:Destruction_of_INA_Memorial_1945.jpg for rationale -->
* ''Brothers Against the Raj --- A biography of Indian Nationalists Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose'' / Leonard A. Gordon, Princeton University Press, 1990
* ''Lost hero : a biography of Subhas Bose'' / Mihir Bose, Quartet Books, London ; 1982
* ''Democracy Indian style : Subhas Chandra Bose and the creation of India's political culture'' / Anton Pelinka ; translated by Renée Schell, New Brunswick, NJ : Transaction Publishers (Rutgers University Press), 2003
* ''Subhas Chandra Bose : a biography'' / Marshall J. Getz, Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., USA, 2002
* ''Netaji and India's freedom : proceedings of the International Netaji Seminar, 1973'' / edited by Sisir K. Bose. International Netaji Seminar (1973 : Calcutta, India), Netaji Research Bureau, Calcutta, India, 1973
* ''Japan's Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere in World War II : selected readings and documents'' / edited and introduced by Joyce C. Lebra, Kuala Lumpur ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1975
* ''A Concise History of India'' / Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf
* ''A History of India'' / Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund
* ''The Glass Palace'' / Amitav Ghosh, London: HarperCollins, 2001 (a novel which has a large section on the Burma front which describes the motivations of those Indian officers who joined the INA and those who did not)
* ''The Forgotten Army'' / Fay, Peter Ward : University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1995 ISBN 0472083422
* Arsecularatne, SN, ''Sinhalese immigrants in Malaysia & Singapore, 1860-1990: History through recollections'', KVG de Silva & Sons, Colombo, 1991
* Crusz, Noel, ''The Cocos Islands Mutiny'', Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, WA, 2001
* Sundaram, C.S., "A Paper Tiger: the Indian National Army in Battle, 1944-1945", in ''War & Society'', vol. 13, no. 1, May 1995, pp. 35-59.


===External links=== ===British-Indian Army===
{{See also|Jiffs}}
*
The first interaction of the INA with the British-Indian forces was during the months during the ], between December 1942 and March 1943. The morale of ''Sepoys'' during this time was low and knowledge about the INA was minimal. The INA's special services agents led a successful operation during this time in encouraging the Indian troops to defect to the INA. By the end of March 1945, however, the ''Sepoys'' in the British-Indian Army were reinvigorated and perceived the men of the INA to be savage turncoats and cowards. Senior British officers in the Indian Army considered them "rabble".<ref name=Toyexix/> Historians ] and Tim Harper mention that sepoys in field units shot captured or wounded INA men, relieving their British officers of the complex task of formulating a formal plan for captured men.<ref name=Marston2014p118>{{Harvnb|Marston|2014|p=118}}</ref> After Singapore was retaken, Mountbatten ordered the INA's war memorial to its fallen soldiers to be blown up.<ref name=Fayp523>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=523}}</ref>
*

As the story of the INA unfolded in post-war India, the view of Indian soldiers on the INA&nbsp;– and on their own position during the war&nbsp;– also changed.<ref name=Edwards93>{{Harvnb|Edwards|1963|p=93}}</ref> The Raj observed with increasing disquiet and unease the spread of pro-INA sympathies within the troops of the British-Indian forces.<ref name=Sarkar419/> In February 1946, while the trials were still going on, a general strike by ratings of the Royal Indian Navy rapidly ] incorporating ships and shore establishments of the RIN throughout India. The mutineers raised slogans invoking Subhas Bose and the INA, demanding an end to the trials. The mutiny received widespread public support.<ref name=James598/> In some places in the British-Indian Army, non-commissioned Officers started ignoring orders from British superiors. In ] and ] British garrisons faced revolts from within the ranks of the British-Indian Army. These were suppressed by force.<ref name=James598>{{Harvnb|James|2000|p=598}}</ref><ref name=James596>{{Harvnb|James|2000|p=596}}</ref> At the conclusion of the first trial, when the sentences of deportation were commuted, Fay records Claude Auchinleck as having sent a "personal and secret" letter to all senior British officers, explaining:<ref name=Fay517>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=517}}</ref> {{blockquote|...&nbsp;practically all are sure that any attempt to enforce the sentence would have led to chaos in the country at large, and probably to mutiny and dissension in the Army, culminating in its dissolution.}}

==Influence==

===World War II===
Sidney Bradshaw Fay concludes that the INA was not significant enough to beat the British-Indian Army by military strength. He also writes that the INA was aware of this and formulated its own strategy of avoiding set-piece battles, gathering local and popular support within India and instigating revolt within the British-Indian Army to overthrow the Raj.<ref name=Fay138>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=138}}</ref> Moreover, the ] underground movement within India had been crushed well before the offensives opened in the Burma–Manipur theatre, depriving the army of any organised internal support.<ref name=Sarkar411/> However, despite its small numerical strength and lack of heavy weapons, its special services group played a significant part in halting the ] while still under Mohan Singh's command.<ref name=Baylyl&Harperforgottenarmiesp273>{{Harvnb|Bayly|Harper|2005|p=273}}</ref> The propaganda threat of the INA and lack of concrete intelligence on the unit early after the fall of Singapore made it a threat to Allied war plans in Southeast Asia, since it threatened to destroy the ''Sepoys''' loyalty to a British-Indian Army that was demoralised from continuing defeats.<ref name=Fay410>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=410}}</ref> There were reports of INA operatives successfully infiltrating Commonwealth lines during the Offensive. This caused British intelligence to begin the "]" propaganda campaign and to create "''Josh''" groups to improve the morale and preserve the loyalty of the sepoys as consolidation began to prepare for the defence of Manipur.<ref name=Aldrich163>{{Harvnb|Aldrich|2000|p=163}}</ref><ref name=Aldrich159>{{Harvnb|Aldrich|2000|p=159}}</ref> These measures included imposing a complete news ban on Bose and the INA that was not lifted until four days after the fall of Rangoon two years later.<ref name=Fay218>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=218}}</ref><ref name=Sareen1996p40>{{Harvnb|Sareen|1996|p=40}}</ref>

During the Japanese ''U-Go'' offensive towards Manipur in 1944, the INA played a crucial (and successful) role in diversionary attacks in Arakan and in the Manipur Basin itself, where it fought alongside Mutaguchi's 15th Army.<ref name=Faye289>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=289}}</ref> INA forces protected the flanks of the assaulting Yamamoto force at a critical time as the latter attempted to take Imphal.<ref name="Toye1959207"/><ref name=Toye1959210>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|p=210}}</ref> During the Commonwealth Burma Campaign, the INA troops fought in the battles ] ],<ref name=Fay316>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=316–317}}</ref> supporting the Japanese offensive and tying down Commonwealth troops.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=332–333}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Slim|1961|p=425}}</ref>

===Indian independence===
{{See also|Bombay Mutiny}}
The first INA trial, which was held in public, became a rallying point for the independence movement from the autumn of 1945.<ref name=Sarkar420/><ref name=Sarkar411/><ref name="Fay 1993 p=496,498,499"/> The release of INA prisoners and the suspension of the trials came to be the dominant political campaign, superseding the campaign for independence.<ref name=BoseandJalal134>{{Harvnb|Bose|Jalal|2004|p=134}}</ref> Christopher Bayly notes that the "INA was to become a much more powerful enemy of the British empire in defeat than it had been during its ill-fated triumphal march on Delhi."<ref name="Marston2014p118"/> The Viceroy's journal describes the autumn and winter of 1945–1946 as "The Edge of a Volcano".<ref name=Sarkar411/> The setting of the trial at Red Fort was taken by Indian public as a deliberate taunt by the British Raj over the vanquished INA, recalling the INA's battle cries of unfurling the Indian tricolour over the Red Fort.<ref name=Toyexix/> Many compared the trials to that of ], the last Mughal emperor tried in the same place after the failed ].<ref name=Fay472>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=472}}</ref> Support for the INA grew rapidly and their continued detention and news of impending trials was seen an affront to the movement for independence and to Indian identity itself.<ref name=Singh99>{{Harvnb|Singh|2003|p=99}}</ref> It was further feared that the Congress would exploit the INA to gain mass support against the Raj and possibly start an armed struggle with weapons smuggled from Burma.<ref name=Singh41/><ref name=Marston129>{{Harvnb|Marston|2014|p=129}}</ref> Nehru was suspected of using INA men to train Congress volunteers.<ref name=Singh41/> The political effects of the INA trials were enormous and were felt around India as late as 1948, much to the chagrin of the Congress government in independent India,<ref name="Green68"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Green|1948|p=54}}</ref> which feared that pro-INA sympathies could help alternative sources of power.<ref name=Jamesp596to598>{{Harvnb|James|2000|pp=596–598}}</ref>

Historians such as ], ], and ] conclude that the INA trials and its after-effects brought a decisive shift in British policy towards independence Indian.<ref name=BoseandJalal134/><ref name=Sarkar412/> Particularly disturbing was the overt and public support for the INA by the soldiers of the Indian Army and the mutinies.<ref name=BoseandJalal134/><ref name=Sarkar412>{{Harvnb|Sarkar|1983|p=412}}</ref> The Congress's rhetoric preceding the 1946 elections gave the Raj reasons to fear a revival of the ] of 1942.<ref name=Sarkar412/> Gandhi noted:<ref name=BoseandJalal134/>
{{blockquote|...&nbsp;the whole country has been roused ... even the regular forces have been stirred into a new political consciousness and have begun to think in terms of independence&nbsp;...}}

===British colonies===
{{See also|Royal Air Force mutiny}}
After the war ended, the story of the INA and the Indian Legion was seen as so inflammatory that, fearing mass revolts and uprisings across its empire, the British Government forbade the ] from broadcasting their story.<ref name=ThomsonBBC>{{cite news
| author = Thomson M
| publisher = BBC
| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3684288.stm
| title= Hitler's secret Indian Army
| access-date=2007-09-02
| date=2004-09-23}}</ref> The use of Indian troops for the restoration of Dutch and French rule in ] and ] fed into the already growing resentment within the forces.<ref name=McMillan155>{{Harvnb|McMillan|2006|p=155}}</ref> Indian troops sent to suppress ]'s agitations in Indonesia in 1946 rapidly identified with the nationalist sentiments in the previous Dutch colony.<ref name=Sengupta84>{{Harvnb|Sengupta|2012|p=84}}</ref> The ] reported growing sympathy for the INA and dislike of the Dutch.<ref name=Sengupta83and84>{{Harvnb|Sengupta|2012|pp=83–84}}</ref> There were similar pro-nationalist sentiments among Indian troops sent to Vietnam, Thailand and Burma. This led to the realisation by 1946 that the British-Indian Army, the bulwark of the policing force in the British colonies, could not be used as an instrument of British power.<ref name=Sengupta85>{{Harvnb|Sengupta|2012|p=85}}</ref> INA-inspired strikes emerged throughout Britain's colonies in Southeast Asia. In January 1946, ] started at ] bases in Karachi and spread rapidly to Singapore. This was followed by a full-scale mutiny by a British Army unit in Singapore. In British Malaya, men of the Parachute Regiment refused to obey orders from their officers.<ref name=Sengupta82>{{Harvnb|Sengupta|2012|p=82}}</ref> Authors like Nilanjana Sengupta attribute these to a combination of dissatisfaction over pay and work conditions and conflicts of comradeship over the INA trials.<ref name=Sengupta83>{{Harvnb|Sengupta|2012|p=83}}</ref> Former INA members in Malaya identified closely with the left-wing organisations in opposing British colonial authority. The majority of prominent left-wing union leaders in Malaya after the war were members of the INA. The activities of the trade unions in the newly established Tamil schools were particularly influential, leading to the establishment of an inspector system by the British to supervise the curriculum and teaching in these schools.<ref name=LebraROJ111/> Joyce Lebra notes that the INA had a particularly strong unifying influence over ethnic Indians residing in Malaya. Lebra concludes that the experience of the INA was useful in challenging British authority in the post-war period in Malaya, and in improving the socio-economic conditions of the Indian community.<ref name=LebraROJ111/>

==Controversies==
British and Commonwealth troops viewed the recruits as traitors and ].<ref name=Fay417/><ref name=Fay547>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=547}}</ref><ref name=Fay5>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=5}}</ref> Almost 40,000 Indian soldiers in Malaya did not join the army and remained as PoWs. Many were sent to work in the ], suffered hardships and nearly 11,000 died under Japanese internment.<ref name=Menon1997p225>{{Harvnb|Menon|1997|p=225}}</ref> Many of them cited the oath of allegiance they had taken to the King among reasons not to join a Japanese-supported organisation, and regarded the recruits of the INA as traitors for having forsaken their oath. Commanders in the British-Indian Army like Wavell later highlighted the hardships this group of soldiers suffered, contrasting them with the troops of the INA.<ref name=Menon1997p225/> Many British soldiers held the same opinion.<ref name=Toye1959pxiv/> Hugh Toye and Peter Fay point out that the First INA consisted of a mix of recruits joining for various reasons, such as nationalistic leanings, Mohan Singh's appeals, personal ambition or to protect men under their own command from harm.<ref name=Fay207>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=207}}</ref> Fay notes some officers like Shah Nawaz Khan were opposed to Mohan Singh's ideas and tried to hinder what they considered a collaborationist organisation.<ref name=Fay87to100>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=87–100}}</ref> However, both historians note that Indian civilians and former INA soldiers all cite the tremendous influence of Subhas Bose&nbsp;and his appeal to patriotism in rejuvenating the INA. Fay discusses the topic of loyalty of the INA soldiers, and highlights that in Shah Nawaz Khan's trial it was noted that officers of the INA warned their men the possibility of having to fight the Japanese after having fought the British, to prevent Japan exploiting post-war India.<ref name=Aldrich163/><ref name=Fay461to463>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=461–463}}</ref> Carl Vadivella Belle suggested in 2014 that among the local Indians and ex-British-Indian Army volunteers in Malaya, there was a proportion who joined due to the threat of conscription as Japanese labour troops. Recruitment also offered local Indian labourers security from continual semi-starvation of the estates and served as a barrier against Japanese tyranny.<ref name=Belle199/>

INA troops were alleged to engage in or be complicit in torture of Allied and Indian prisoners of war.<ref name="Fay423to424"/> Fay in his 1993 history analyses war-time press releases and field counter-intelligence directed at ''Sepoys''. He concludes that the ''Jiffs'' campaign promoted the view that INA recruits were weak-willed and traitorous Axis collaborators, motivated by selfish interests of greed and personal gain. He concludes that the allegations of torture were largely products of the ''Jiffs'' campaign.<ref name=Fay417/><ref name=Fay426>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=426}}</ref><ref name=Fay290>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=290–292}}</ref> He supports his conclusion by noting that isolated cases of torture had occurred, but allegations of widespread practice of torture were not substantiated in the charges against defendants in the Red Fort trials.<ref name=Fay427>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=427}}</ref><ref name=Fay461>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=461}}</ref> Published memoirs of several veterans, including that of ], portray the INA troops as incapable fighters and as untrustworthy.<ref name=Fay293>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=293}}</ref> Toye noted in 1959 that individual desertions occurred in the withdrawal from Imphal.<ref name=Toyep203>{{Harvnb|Toye|1959|pp=203}}</ref> Fay concluded that stories of INA desertions during the battle and the initial retreat into Burma were largely exaggerated.<ref name=Fay290to293>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=290–293}}</ref> The majority of desertions occurred much later, according to Fay, around the battles at Irrawaddy and later around Popa. Fay specifically discusses Slim's portrayal of the INA, pointing out what he concludes to be inconsistencies in Slim's accounts.<ref name=Fay289to291>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|pp=289–291}}</ref> Fay also discusses memoirs of Shah Nawaz, where Khan claims INA troops were never defeated in battle. Fay criticises this too as exaggerated. He concludes the opinions held by Commonwealth war veterans such as Slim were an inaccurate portrayal of the unit, as were those of INA soldiers themselves.<ref name="Fay290"/> Harkirat Singh notes that British officers' personal dislike for Subhas Chandra Bose may have prejudiced their judgement of the INA itself.<ref name=Singh41/>

==Commemorations==
{{See also|INA Martyr's Memorial|Former Indian National Army Monument}}
] erected by the National Heritage Board at ], marking the INA Monument site in ]]]
]]]
The INA is memorialised in the ''Swatantrata Sainani Smarak'', which is located at the ] in ], adjacent to the Red Fort.<ref name=Mehta2006p272>{{Harvnb|Mehta|2006|p=272}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.roseindia.net/travel/india/delhi/salimgarh-fort-delhi.shtml | title=On I-Day eve, India forgets INA memorial | work=Rose India | access-date=2011-08-12}}</ref> Its exhibits include the Indian National Army uniform worn by Colonel Prem Sahgal, riding boots and coat buttons of Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and photographs of Subhas Chandra Bose. A separate gallery holds material and photographs from excavations carried out by the ] inside the fort in 1995. The ] at Moirang, Manipur, commemorates the place where the flag of ''Azad Hind'' was raised by Col. Shaukat Hayat Malik. Moirang was the first Indian territory captured by the INA.<ref name=Toye1959p198&215/><ref>{{cite web
| publisher = National Heritage Board of Singapore| url=http://www.museum.org.sg/PE/sites_trails/civic_district_trail.html| title=Heritage Sites and Trails in Singapore| access-date=2007-07-07
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928221937/http://www.museum.org.sg/PE/sites_trails/civic_district_trail.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-28}}</ref>

The INA War Memorial at Singapore commemorating the "Unknown Warrior" of the INA was unveiled by Bose in July 1945. Situated at the ], it was destroyed on Mountbatten's orders when Allied troops reoccupied the city. In 1995, the National Heritage Board of Singapore, with financial donations from the Indian community in Singapore, erected the ] at the site where the old memorial stood. The site is now officially one of the historical sites of Singapore.<ref>{{cite web| publisher=Indian National Army (I.N.A.) Martyrs' Memorial Complex| url=http://www.inamoirang.com/l| title=Indian National Army Martyrs' Memorial Complex| access-date=2017-08-15| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130222312/http://www.inamoirang.com/l| archive-date=30 November 2018| url-status=dead}}</ref>

The INA's ], '']'', was declared the "national greeting" of India by Nehru and remains a popular nationalist greeting.<ref name=Desai2011>{{Harvnb|Desai|2011|p=}}</ref> Today it is used by all Indian prime ministers to conclude their ] speeches.<ref name=Desai2011/> The cry became independent India's ] on 15 August 1947.<ref name=Bayanwala/> The first ] issued by Independent India are called the ''Jai Hind'' series of stamps, showing the ] with the letters ''Jai Hind'' in the top right hand corner.<ref name=Bayanwala>{{cite web
|author = Ashok Kumar Bayanwala
|publisher = Stamps of india
|url = http://stampsofindia.com/readroom/b002.htm
|title = Art in miniature
|access-date = 2011-08-11
|url-status=dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110928064322/http://stampsofindia.com/readroom/b002.htm
|archive-date = 28 September 2011
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref> These were a part of the series issued on 15 August 1947.<ref name=Footprint>{{cite news
| author = Bhaskaran, S.T.
| url=http://www.hindu.com/2000/12/16/stories/13161109.htm
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020327172800/http://www.hindu.com/2000/12/16/stories/13161109.htm
| url-status=dead
| archive-date=2002-03-27
| title= Footprints of history
| access-date=2007-10-16
| location=Chennai, India
| work = ]
| date=2000-12-16
}}</ref> Commemorative postage stamps were also issued by the Indian government in 1968 and 1993 respectively to commemorate the 25th and the 50th anniversaries of the establishment of ''Azad Hind'' at Singapore.<ref>{{cite news
| author = Healey, Beth
| work = ]
|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1D8173FF930A35751C1A96F948260
| title= Pastimes; Stamps
| access-date=2007-10-16
| date=1989-12-03
}}</ref> The ] also includes the six unused ] in its commemorative book ''India's Freedom Struggle through India Postage Stamps''.<ref name=Footprint/> The ''Azad Hind Fauj Marg'' (Azad Hind Fauj Road) in ] is named after the INA and houses the ].<ref name=DHNSIT>{{cite web
| author = Mayank Verma
| work = Deccan Herald
| url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/458948/sulahkul-vihar-residents-await-development.html
| title= Sulahkul Vihar residents await development
| access-date=2011-08-11
}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{Main|Indian National Army in popular culture}}
The Indian National Army remains a significant topic of discussion in the popular history of India; it is an emotive topic which has been the subject of numerous works of literature, art, and visual media within India and outside. Some of the earliest works in print media were created at the time of the INA trials. These include works of fiction like ''Jai Hind: The Diary of a Rebel Daughter of India'' published in 1945 by Amritlal Seth. The book, a work of fiction narrating the story of a recruit of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, is believed to be loosely based on the story of Lakshmi Sahgal.<ref name=Forbes214>{{Harvnb|Forbes|1999|p=214}}</ref> In later decades works by authors like ], such as his book '']'', have used the backdrop of the ''Azad Hind'' and the Japanese occupation of Burma for the narrative of the story.<ref name="east">{{cite news |last=Urquhart|first=James |date=2000-08-07 |newspaper=The Independent |title=Monday Book: A 'Doctor Zhivago' for the Far East&nbsp;— Review of The Glass Palace}}</ref> '']'' and '']'', the second and third books in ]'s '']'', mention ''Jiffs'' in the political and social context in which the term found use in the ] during the war. The 1984 British TV series '']'', based on Scott's quartet, also includes the role of the INA as part of the political backdrop of the story.<ref name=Fayp4>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=4}}</ref>

In visual media, the INA has been the subject of a number of documentaries. ''The War of The Springing Tiger'' made by ] for ] in 1984 examined the role of the Indian National Army in the Second World War, the motivation of its soldiers and explored its role in the independence movement.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=ix}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| publisher = British Film Institute| url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/391314?view=synopsis| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416012741/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/391314?view=synopsis| url-status=dead| archive-date=2008-04-16|
title=Synopses The War of The Springing Tiger
| access-date=2007-07-09
}}</ref>
In 1999 Film India released a documentary, ''The Forgotten Army''. Directed by ] and produced by Akhil Bakshi, it followed what was called the ''Azad Hind Expedition'' between 1994 and 1995, retracing the route taken by the INA from Singapore to Imphal, before ending at Red Fort. Amongst the members of the expedition team were Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon, Lakshmi Sahgal and Captain S.S. Yadava, an INA veteran and once the general secretary of the All India INA Committee. The documentary went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Film South Asia festival in 1999.<ref>{{cite web
|author = Dutt, Nirupama
|work = Indian Express
|url = http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980622/17351114.html
|title = A forgotten army marches again
|access-date = 2007-07-07
|url-status=dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070926213952/http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980622/17351114.html
|archive-date = 26 September 2007
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref>
The ] digitised its available resources in 2007 as ''Historical Journey of the Indian National Army''.<ref>{{cite web| publisher = National Archives of Singapore| url = http://www.s1942.org.sg/s1942/indian_national_army/index.htm| title = Historical Journey of the Indian National Army| access-date = 2007-07-07| archive-date = 11 July 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070711014104/http://www.s1942.org.sg/s1942/indian_national_army/index.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref> In 2004, the ] in Europe was the subject of a BBC magazine article authored by Mike Thomson, but it did not attempt to distinguish the differences between the Legion and the INA.<ref name=ThomsonBBC/> The '']'', a large broadsheet in India, dedicates a part of its website to INA resources as ''Indian National Army in East Asia.''<ref>{{cite web
|author = Das Sitanshu
|work = Hindustan Times
|url = http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/Netaji/indiannationalarmy.htm
|title = Indian National Army in East Asia
|access-date = 2007-07-07
|url-status=dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070702000512/http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/Netaji/indiannationalarmy.htm
|archive-date = 2 July 2007
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref>

] has also seen a number of films in many different ], where the INA is a significant part of the narrative. These include ''Pahla Admi'' by ] and ''Samadhi'' by Ramesh Saigal, both produced in 1950 based on fictional INA veterans.<ref name=Bose146>{{Harvnb|Bose|2006|p=146}}</ref><ref name=Dhawan>{{cite web
| author =Dhawan, M.L.
| work = The Tribune|
url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070510/1857/main12.htm|
title=Freedom struggle through Hindi films
| access-date=2007-07-09
}}</ref> More recently, '']'', a 1996 ] film directed by ], incorporates a lead character (played by ]) in its story who is a veteran of the INA. ] produced '']'' in 2004, which traces the last five years of Subhas Chandra Bose. Benegal describes the story of the INA in small details in his film whilst focusing on its leader.<ref name=Dhawan/> The film was also widely noted for ]'s music. The INA's marching song, ''Qadam Qadam Badhaye Ja'', has since become a famous patriotic song in India. Today it is in use as the regimental quick march of the ].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
More recently, a 2017 Hindi movie Rangoon, starring Kangna Ranaut, Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor is based against the backdrop of the INA presence in Rangoon, with the movie centred around the protagonists trying to get across a jewelled sword to the INA. In 2020 ] released a five-part series called ]! Which tells the story of the INA through the eyes of one of its Captains and the woman he loves. In 2017 only, a show was released namely, Bose: Dead/Alive, it showed Netaji's mysterious disappearance in 1945. In this show too Azad Hind Fauj was shown.

==See also==
* ]
* ], a poem by ], publicized by Subhas Chandra Bose
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

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| url-access = registration
}}
* {{cite book |last1=Stenson |first1=M. |title=Class, Race, and Colonialism in West Malaysia |date=2011 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-4440-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYbJw9-8NM4C |language=en}}
* {{Citation
| surname1 = Tojo
| given1 = Hideki (Premier)
| year = 1943
| title = Axis War Makes Easier Task of Indians. Chandra Bose's Berlin Speech. Syonan Simbun
| publisher = Domei
}}
* {{Citation
| surname1 = Toye
| given1 = Hugh
| year = 1959
| title = The Springing Tiger: A Study of the Indian National Army and of Netaji
| publisher = Allied Publishers
| isbn = 978-81-8424-392-5
}}
* {{Citation
| surname1 = Toye
| given1 = Hugh
| year = 2007
| title = Subhash Chandra Bose
| publisher = JAICO Publishing House
| isbn = 978-81-7224-401-9
}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*''The Springing Tiger: A Study of a Revolutionary'' by Hugh Toye (1959).
* ''History of the Indian National Army'' by Kalyan Kumar Ghosh (1966).
* ''Jungle Alliance, Japan and the Indian National Army'' by Joyce C. Lebra (1971).
* ''Brothers Against the Raj — A Biography of Indian Nationalists Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose'' by Leonard A. Gordon (1990), Princeton University Press, 1990.
*''The Forgotten Army: India's Armed Struggle for Independence, 1942–1945'' by Peter Fay (1995).
*''Women Against the Raj: The Rani of Jhansi Regiment'' by Joyce C Lebra (2008).

==External links==
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* {{YouTube|XZ-Cjv1rnTM|Qadam Qadam Badhaye Ja – The INA song}}
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* Part of the Document Series, listen via RealPlayer. Incl. interview with the last living member of the I.N.A.
* BBC Radio series on the British Indian Army especially the War against the Japanese, listen via RealPlayer.
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{{IndiaFreedom}} {{Azad Hind Fauj}}
{{Subhas Chandra Bose}}
{{Indian independence movement}}
{{World War 2}}
{{Collaboration with Axis Powers}}
{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 10:21, 26 December 2024

Army of mostly Indian POWs of Japan in WW2 This article is about the second Indian National Army under Subhash Chandra Bose. For the organisation under Mohan Singh, see First Indian National Army. For the modern Indian military, see Indian Armed Forces. For the army of the British Raj, see British Indian Army. For the regiment raised in Germany, see Free India Legion.

Indian National Army
Azad Hind Fauj
Flag of Azad Hind
ActiveAugust 1942 – September 1945
Country Azad Hind (puppet state of Japanese empire)
AllegianceEmpire of Japan Empire of Japan
RoleGuerrilla, infantry, special operations
Size~43,000 Soldiers: Gandhi Brigade, Nehru Brigade, Azad Brigade, Subhas Brigade, Rani of Jhansi regiment
Motto(s)Ittefaq, Itmad aur Qurbani
(Hindustani: Unity, Faith and Sacrifice)
MarchQadam Qadam Badhaye Ja
EngagementsWorld War II
Commanders
Commander-in-ChiefMohan Singh (1942)
Subhas Chandra Bose (1943–1945)
Chief of StaffJaganath Rao Bhonsle
Notable
commanders
Prem Sahgal
Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon
Shah Nawaz Khan
Military unit
Monument of INA Martyrs at Kolkata

The Indian National Army (INA; Azad Hind Fauj /ˈɑːzɑːð ˈhinð ˈfɔːdʒ/; lit. 'Free Indian Army') was a collaborationist armed unit of Indian collaborators that fought under the command of the Japanese Empire. It was founded by Mohan Singh in September 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II.

It fought under the command of the Japanese military in the British campaign in the Southeast Asian theatre of WWII, with its aim to secure Indian independence from British rule. The army was first formed in 1942 under Mohan Singh by Indian prisoners of war (PoWs) of the British Indian Army captured by Japan in the Malayan campaign and at Singapore. This first INA, which had been handed over to Rash Behari Bose and Mohan Singh, collapsed and was disbanded in December that year after differences between its leadership and the Japanese military over its role in Japan's war in Asia. The INA was handed over to Subhas Chandra Bose. It was revived under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose after his arrival in Southeast Asia in 1943. The army was declared to be the army of Bose's Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind (the Provisional Government of Free India). The INA came to be known as the army of the Indian Independence.

Subhas Chandra Bose named the brigades/regiments of INA after Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad, and himself. There was also an all-women regiment named after Rani of Jhansi, Lakshmibai. Under Bose's leadership, the INA drew ex-prisoners and thousands of civilian volunteers from the Indian expatriate population in Malaya (present-day Malaysia) and Burma. This second INA fought under the Imperial Japanese Army against the British and Commonwealth forces in the campaigns in Burma: at Imphal and Kohima, and later against the Allied retaking of Burma.

After the INA's initial formation in 1942, there was concern in the British Indian Army that further Indian troops would defect. This led to a reporting ban and a propaganda campaign called "Jiffs" to preserve the loyalty of the Sepoy. Historians consider the INA not to have had significant influence on the war.

The British Raj, never seriously threatened by the INA, charged 300 INA officers with treason in the INA trials, but eventually backtracked in the face of opposition by the Congress. These trials became a galvanising point in the Indian Independence movement for the Indian National Congress. A number of people associated with the INA during the war later went on to hold important roles in public life in India as well as in other countries in Southeast Asia, most notably Lakshmi Sehgal in India, and John Thivy and Janaki Athinahappan in Malaya.

The military unit was associated with Imperial Japan and the other Axis powers, and accusations were levelled against INA troops of being involved and complicit in Japanese war crimes. The INA's members were viewed as Axis collaborators and traitors by British soldiers and Indian PoWs who did not join the army, but after the war they were seen as patriots by many Indians. Although they were widely commemorated by the Indian National Congress in the immediate aftermath of Indian independence, some of the members of the INA were denied freedom fighter status by the Government of India.

First INA

Main articles: First Indian National Army and Bidadary resolutions See also: Mohan Singh, I Fujiwara, Rash Behari Bose, Indian Independence League, and Thirty Comrades
Major Iwaichi Fujiwara greets Mohan Singh. Circa April 1942.

Before the start of World War II, Japan and South-East Asia were major refuges for exiled Indian nationalists. Meanwhile, Japan had sent intelligence missions, notably under Maj. Iwaichi Fujiwara, into South Asia to gather support from the Malayan sultans, overseas Chinese, the Burmese resistance and the Indian independence movement. The Minami Kikan successfully recruited Burmese nationalists, while the F Kikan was successful in establishing contacts with Indian nationalists in exile in Thailand and Malaya. Fujiwara, later self-described as "Lawrence of the Indian National Army" (after Lawrence of Arabia) is said to have been a man committed to the values which his office was supposed to convey to the expatriate nationalist leaders, and found acceptance among them. His initial contact was with Giani Pritam Singh and the Thai-Bharat Cultural Lodge. At the outbreak of World War II in South-East Asia, 70,000 Indian troops (mostly Sikhs) were stationed in Malaya. In Japan's spectacular Malayan Campaign many Indian prisoners-of-war were captured, including nearly 45,000 after the fall of Singapore alone. The conditions of service within the British-Indian Army and the social conditions in Malaya had led to dissension among these troops. From these prisoners, the First Indian National Army was formed under Mohan Singh. Singh was an officer in the British-Indian Army who was captured early in the Malayan campaign. His nationalist sympathies found an ally in Fujiwara and he received considerable Japanese aid and support. Ethnic Indians in Southeast Asia also supported the cause of Indian independence and had formed local leagues in Malaya before the war. These came together with encouragement from Japan after the occupation, forming the Indian Independence League (IIL).

Although there were a number of prominent local Indians working in the IIL, the overall leadership came to rest with Rash Behari Bose, an Indian revolutionary who had lived in self-exile in Japan since World War I. The League and INA leadership decided that the INA was to be subordinate to the IIL. A working council – composed of prominent members of the League and the INA leaders – was to decide on decisions to send the INA to war. The Indian leaders feared that they would appear to be Japanese puppets, so a decision was taken that the INA would go to battle only when the Indian National Congress called it to do so. Assurances of non-interference— later termed the Bidadary resolutions— were demanded of Japan; these would have amounted to a treaty with an independent government. In this time, F. Kikan had been replaced by the Iwakuro Kikan (or I Kikan) headed by Hideo Iwakuro. Iwakuro's working relationship with the league was more tenuous. Japan did not immediately agree to the demands arising from the Bidadary resolutions. Differences also existed between Rash Behari and the League, not least because Rash Behari had lived in Japan for the considerable time and had a Japanese wife and a son in the Imperial Japanese Army. On the other hand, Mohan Singh expected military strategy and decisions to be autonomous decisions for the INA, independent of the league.

In November and December 1942, concern about Japan's intentions towards the INA led to disagreement between the INA and the League on the one hand and the Japanese on the other. The INA leadership resigned along with that of the League (except Rash Behari). The unit was dissolved by Mohan Singh in December 1942, and he ordered the troops of the INA to return to PoW camps. Mohan Singh was expected to be shot.

Between December 1942 and February 1943, Rash Behari struggled to hold the INA together. On 15 February 1943, the army itself was put under the command of Lt. Col. M.Z. Kiani. A policy forming body was formed with Lt. Col J.R. Bhonsle (Director of the Military Bureau) in charge and clearly placed under the authority of the IIL. Under Bhonsle served Lt. Col. Shah Nawaz Khan as Chief of General Staff, Major P.K. Sahgal as Military Secretary, Major Habib ur Rahman as commandant of the Officers' Training School and Lt. Col. A.C. Chatterji (later Major A.D. Jahangir) as head of enlightenment and culture.

Second INA

Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose was the ideal person to lead a rebel army into India came from the very beginning of F Kikan's work with captured Indian soldiers. Mohan Singh himself, soon after his first meeting with Fujiwara, had suggested that Bose was the right leader of a nationalist Indian army. A number of the officers and troops – including some who now returned to prisoner-of-war camps and some who had not volunteered in the first place – made it known that they would be willing to join the INA only if it was led by Subhas Bose. Bose was a nationalist. He had joined the Gandhian movement after resigning from a prestigious post in the Indian Civil Service in 1922, quickly rising in the Congress and being incarcerated repeatedly by the Raj. By late 1920s he and Nehru were considered the future leaders of the Congress. In the late 1920s, he was amongst the first Congress leaders to call for complete independence from Britain (Purna Swaraj), rather than the previous Congress objective of India becoming a British dominion. In Bengal, he was repeatedly accused by Raj officials of working with the revolutionary movement. Under his leadership, the Congress youth group in Bengal was organised into a quasi-military organisation called the Bengal Volunteers. Bose deplored Gandhi's pacifism; Gandhi disagreed with Bose's confrontations with the Raj. The Congress's working committee, including Nehru, was predominantly loyal to Gandhi. While openly disagreeing with Gandhi, Bose won the presidency of Indian National Congress twice in the 1930s. His second victory came despite opposition from Gandhi. He defeated Gandhi's favoured candidate, Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya, in the popular vote, but the entire working committee resigned and refused to work with Bose. Bose resigned from the Congress presidency and founded his own faction within the Congress, the All India Forward Bloc.

Bose meeting with Adolf Hitler in East Prussia, May 1942

At the start of World War II, Bose was placed under house arrest by the Raj. He escaped in disguise and made his way through Afghanistan and Central -Asia. He came first to the Soviet Union and then to Germany, reaching Berlin on 2 April 1941. There he -sought to raise an army of Indian soldiers from prisoners of war captured by Germany, forming the Free India Legion and the Azad Hind Radio. The Japanese ambassador, Oshima Hiroshi, kept Tokyo informed of these developments. From the very start of the war, the Japanese intelligence services noted from speaking to captured Indian soldiers that Bose was held in extremely high regard as a nationalist and was considered by Indian soldiers to be the right person to be leading a rebel army.

In a series of meetings between the INA leaders and the Japanese in 1943, it was decided to cede the leadership of the IIL and the INA to Bose. In January 1943, the Japanese invited Bose to lead the Indian nationalist movement in East Asia. He accepted and left Germany on 8 February. After a three-month journey by submarine and a short stop in Singapore, he reached Tokyo on 11 May 1943. In Tokyo, he met Hideki Tojo, the Japanese prime minister, and the Japanese High Command. He then arrived in Singapore in July 1943, where he made a number of radio broadcasts to Indians in Southeast Asia exhorting them to join in the fight for India's independence.

Revival

On 4 July 1943 two days after reaching Singapore, Bose assumed the leadership of the IIL and the Indian National Army in a ceremony at Cathay Building. Bose's influence was notable. His appeal re-invigorated the INA, which had previously consisted mainly of prisoners of war: it also attracted Indian expatriates in South Asia. He famously proclaimed that Give me blood! I will give you freedom

"Local civilians joined the INA, doubling its strength. They included barristers, traders and plantation workers, as well as Khudabadi Sindhi Swarankars who were working as shop keepers; many had no military experience." Carl Vadivella Belle estimates under Bose's dynamic appeal, membership of the IIL peaked at 350,000, while almost 100,000 local Indians in South-east Asia volunteered to join the INA, with the army ultimately reaching a force of 50,000. Hugh Toye— a British Intelligence officer and author of a 1959 history of the army called The Springing Tiger— and American historian Peter Fay (author of a 1993 history called The Forgotten Army) have reached similar estimates of troop strength. The first INA is considered to have comprised about 40,000 troops, of whom about 4,000 withdrew when it was disbanded in December 1942. The Second INA started with 12,000 troops. Further recruitment of former Indian Army personnel added about 8,000–10,000. About 18,000 Indian civilians also enlisted during this time. Belle estimates almost 20,000 were local Malayan Indians, while another 20,000 were ex-British-Indian Army members who volunteered for the INA.

Subhas Bose with Mohandas Gandhi at a Congress meeting, c 1938

The exact organisation of the INA and its precise troop strength is not known, since its records were destroyed by the withdrawing Azad Hind Government before Rangoon was recaptured by Commonwealth forces in 1945. The order of battle described by Fay (constructed from discussions with INA-veterans), nonetheless, is similar to that described of the first INA by Toye in The Springing Tiger. The 1st Division, under M.Z. Kiani, drew many ex-Indian army prisoners of war who had joined Mohan Singh's first INA. It also drew prisoners of war who had not joined in 1942. It consisted of the 2nd Guerrilla Regiment (the Gandhi Brigade) consisting of two battalions under Col. Inayat Kiani; the 3rd Guerrilla Regiment (the Azad Brigade) with three battalions under Col. Gulzara Singh; and the 4th Guerrilla Regiment (or Nehru Brigade) commanded by the end of the war by Lt. Col Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon. The 1st Guerrilla Regiment – the Subhas Brigade – under Col. Shah Nawaz Khan was an independent unit, consisting of three infantry battalions. A special operations group was also to be set up called the Bahadur group (Valiant), to operate behind enemy lines.

A training school for INA officers, led by Habib ur Rahman, and the Azad School for the civilian volunteers were set up to provide training to the recruits. A youth wing of the INA, composed of 45 young Indians personally chosen by Bose and known as the Tokyo Boys, was also sent to Japan's Imperial Military Academy, where its members trained as fighter pilots. A separate all-female unit was also created under Lakshmi Sahgal. This unit was intended to have combat-commitments. Named Jhansi ki Rani ("Jhansi Queens") Regiment (after the legendary rebel Queen Lakshmibai of the 1857 rebellion), it drew female civilian volunteers from Malaya and Burma. The 1st Division was lightly armed. Each battalion was composed of five companies of infantry. The individual companies were armed with six antitank rifles, six Bren guns and six Vickers machine guns. Some NCOs carried hand grenades, while senior officers of the Bahadur groups attached to each unit issued hand grenades (of captured British stock) to men going forward on duty.

The 2nd Division was organised under Colonel Abdul Aziz Tajik It was formed largely after the Imphal offensive had started and drew large remnants of what remained of the Hindustan Field Force of the First INA. The 2nd Division consisted of the 1st Infantry Regiment, which later merged with the 5th Guerrilla Regiment to form the INA's 2nd Infantry Regiment under Col Prem Sahgal. The 1st Infantry Regiment drew many civilian volunteers from Burma and Malaya and was equipped with the largest share of the heavy armament that the INA possessed. An additional 3rd Division of the INA was composed chiefly of local volunteers in Malaya and Singapore. This unit disbanded before Japan surrendered. A motor transport division was also created, but it was severely limited by lack of resources. In 1945, at the end of the INA, it consisted of about 40,000 soldiers. Unlike Mohan Singh, whose assumption of the rank of general had generated opposition, Bose refused to take a rank. Both the soldiers of the INA and civilians addressed Bose as Netaji ("Dear leader"), a term first used in Berlin by members of the Free India Legion. In October 1943, Bose proclaimed the formation of the Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind, or the Provisional Government of Free India (also known as Azad Hind or Free India). The INA was declared to be the army of Azad Hind.

Operations

Main article: Battles and operations of the Indian National Army See also: India in World War II

On 23 October 1943, Azad Hind declared war against Britain and the United States. Its first formal commitment came with the opening of the Japanese offensive towards Manipur, code-named U-Go. In the initial plans for invasion of India, Field Marshal Terauchi had been reluctant to confer any responsibilities to the INA beyond espionage and propaganda. Bose rejected this as the role of Fifth-columnists, and insisted that INA should contribute substantially in troops to form a distinct identity of an Indian-liberation army. He secured from Japanese army Chief of Staff, General Sugiyama, the agreement that INA would rank as an allied army in the offensive. The advanced headquarters of Azad Hind was moved to Rangoon in anticipation of success. The INA's own strategy was to avoid set-piece battles, for which it lacked armament as well as manpower. Initially it sought to obtain arms and increase its ranks by inducing British-Indian soldiers to defect. The latter were expected to defect in large numbers. Col Prem Sahgal, once military secretary to Subhas Bose and later tried in the first Red Fort trials, explained the INA strategy to Peter Fay – although the war itself hung in balance and nobody was sure if the Japanese would win, initiating a popular revolution with grass-roots support within India would ensure that even if Japan ultimately lost the war, Britain would not be in a position to re-assert its colonial authority. It was planned that, once Japanese forces had broken through British defences at Imphal, the INA would cross the hills of North-East India into the Gangetic plain, where it would work as a guerrilla army. This army was expected to live off the land, with captured British supplies, support, and personnel from the local population.

1944

See also: Battle of the Admin Box, U Go Offensive, Battle of Imphal, and Battle of Kohima
Radio transmitting set seized from INA agents in Calcutta, 1944. Four agents had been landed by submarine on the Indian coast, tasked with setting up a wireless post.

The plans chosen by Bose and Masakazu Kawabe, chief of the Burma area army, envisaged the INA being assigned an independent sector in the U-Go offensive. No INA units were to operate at less than battalion strength. For operational purposes, the Subhas Brigade was placed under the command of the Japanese General Headquarters in Burma. Advance parties of the Bahadur Group also went forward with advanced Japanese units. As the offensive opened, the INA's 1st Division, consisting of four guerrilla regiments, was divided between U Go and the diversionary Ha-Go offensive in Arakan. One battalion reached as far as Mowdok in Chittagong after breaking through the British West African Division. A Bahadur Group unit, led by Col. Shaukat Malik, took the border enclave of Moirang in early April. The main body of the 1st Division was however committed to the U-Go, directed towards Manipur. Led by Shah Nawaz Khan, it successfully protected the Japanese flanks against Chin and Kashin guerrillas as Renya Mutaguchi's three divisions crossed the Chindwin river and the Naga Hills, and participated in the main offensive through Tamu in the direction of Imphal and Kohima. The 2nd Division, under M.Z. Kiani, was placed to the right flank of the 33rd Division attacking Kohima. However, by the time Khan's forces left Tamu, the offensive had been held, and Khan's troops were redirected to Kohima. After reaching Ukhrul, near Kohima, they found Japanese forces had begun their withdrawal from the area. The INA's forces suffered the same fate as Mutaguchi's army when the siege of Imphal was broken. With little or nothing in the way of supplies, and with additional difficulties caused by the monsoon, Allied air dominance, and Burmese irregular forces, the 1st and 2nd divisions began withdrawing alongside the 15th Army and Burma Area Army. During the withdrawal through Manipur, a weakened Gandhi regiment held its position against the advancing Maratha Light Infantry on the Burma–India road while the general withdrawal was prepared. The 2nd and 3rd INA regiments protected the flanks of the Yamamoto force successfully at the most critical time during this withdrawal, but wounded and diseased men succumbed to starvation along the route. Commonwealth troops following the Japanese forces found INA dead along with Japanese troops who had died of starvation. The INA lost a substantial number of men and amount of materiel in this retreat. A number of units were disbanded or used to feed into new divisions.

1945

See also: Battle of Pokoku and Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay

As the Allied Burma campaign began the following year, the INA remained committed to the defence of Burma and was a part of the Japanese defensive deployments. The Second Division was tasked with the defence of Irrawaddy and the adjoining areas around Nangyu, and offered opposition to Messervy's 7th Indian Division when it attempted to cross the river at Pagan and Nyangyu during Irrawaddy operations. Later, during the Battles of Meiktila and Mandalay, the forces under Prem Sahgal were tasked with defending the area around Mount Popa from the British 17th Division, which would have exposed the flank of Heitarō Kimura's forces attempting to retake Meiktila and Nyangyu. The division was obliterated, at times fighting tanks with hand grenades and bottles of petrol. Many INA soldiers realised that they were in a hopeless position. Many surrendered to pursuing Commonwealth forces. Isolated, losing men to exhaustion and to desertion, low on ammunition and food, and pursued by Commonwealth forces, the surviving units of the second division began an attempt to withdraw towards Rangoon. They broke through encircling Commonwealth lines a number of times before finally surrendering at various places in early April 1945. As the Japanese situation became precarious, the Azad Hind government withdrew from Rangoon to Singapore, along with the remnants of the 1st Division and the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. Nearly 6,000 troops of the surviving units of the INA remained in Rangoon under A. D. Loganathan. They surrendered as Rangoon fell and helped keep order until the Allied forces entered the city.

As the Japanese withdrawal from Burma progressed, other remnants of the INA began a long march overland and on foot towards Bangkok. In what has been called an "epic retreat to safety", Bose walked with his troops, refusing to leave them despite Japanese soldiers finding him transport. The withdrawing forces regularly suffered casualties from Allied planes strafing them and in clashes with Aung San's Burmese resistance, as well as from Chinese guerrillas who harassed the Japanese troops. Bose returned to Singapore in August to what remained of the INA and Azad Hind. He wished to stay with his government in Singapore to surrender to the British, reasoning that a trial in India and possible execution would ignite the country, serving the independence movement. He was convinced not to do so by the Azad Hind cabinet. At the time of Japan's surrender in September 1945, Bose left for Dalian near the Soviet border in Japanese-occupied China to attempt to contact the advancing Soviet troops, and was reported to have died in an air crash near Taiwan. The remaining INA troops surrendered under the command of M.Z. Kiani to British-Indian forces at Singapore.

End of the INA

Repatriation to India

See also: CSDIC(I)
Troops of the Indian National Army who surrendered at Mount Popa. Circa April 1945.

Even before the end of the war in South Asia, the INA prisoners who were falling into Allied hands were being evaluated by forwarding intelligence units for potential trials. Almost fifteen hundred had been captured in the battles of Imphal and Kohima and the subsequent withdrawal, while larger numbers surrendered or were captured during the 14th Army's Burma Campaign. A total of 16,000 of the INA's 43,000 recruits were captured, of whom around 11,000 were interrogated by the Combined Services Directorate of Investigation Corps (CSDIC). The number of prisoners necessitated this selective policy which anticipated trials of those with the strongest commitment to Bose's ideologies. Those with lesser commitment or other extenuating circumstances would be dealt with more leniently, with the punishment proportional to their commitment or war crimes. For this purpose, the field intelligence units designated the captured troops as Blacks with the strongest commitment to Azad Hind; Greys with varying commitment but also with enticing circumstances that led them to join the INA; and Whites, those who were pressured into joining the INA under the circumstances but with no commitment to Azad Hind, INA, or Bose.

By July 1945, a large number had been shipped back to India. At the time of the fall of Japan, the remaining captured troops were transported to India via Rangoon. Large numbers of local Malay and Burmese volunteers, including the recruits to the Rani of Jhansi regiment, returned to civilian life and were not identified. Those repatriated passed through transit camps in Chittagong and Calcutta to be held at detention camps all over India including Jhingergacha and Nilganj near Calcutta, Kirkee outside Pune, Attock, Multan and at Bahadurgarh near Delhi. Bahadurgarh also held prisoners of the Free India Legion. By November, around 12,000 INA prisoners were held in these camps; they were released according to the "colours". By December, around 600 Whites were released per week. The process to select those to face trial started.

The British-Indian Army intended to implement appropriate internal disciplinary action against its soldiers who had joined the INA, whilst putting to trial a selected group in order to preserve discipline in the Indian Army and to award punishment for criminal acts where these had occurred. As news of the army spread within India, it began to draw widespread sympathy support and admiration from Indians. Newspaper reports around November 1945 reported executions of INA troops, which worsened the already volatile situation. Increasingly violent confrontations broke out between the police and protesters at the mass rallies being held all over India, culminating in public riotings in support of the INA men. This public outcry defied traditional communal barriers of the subcontinent, representing a departure from the divisions between Hindus and Muslims seen elsewhere in the independence movement and campaign for Pakistan.

Red Fort trials

Main article: Indian National Army trials

Between November 1945 and May 1946, approximately ten courts-martial were held in public at the Red Fort in Delhi. Claude Auchinleck, the Commander-in-Chief of the British-Indian army, hoped that by holding public trials in the Red Fort, public opinion would turn against the INA if the media reported stories of torture and collaborationism, helping him settle a political as well as military question. Those to stand trials were accused variously of murder, torture and "waging war against the King-Emperor". However, the first and most celebrated joint courts-martial – those of Prem Sahgal, Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon and Shah Nawaz Khan – were not the story of torture and murder Auchinleck had hoped to tell the Indian press and people. The accusations against them included the alleged murder of their comrades-in-arms in the INA whilst in Burma. Peter Fay highlights in his book The Forgotten Army that the murders alleged were, in fact, courts-martial of captured deserters the defendants had presided over. If it was accepted that the three were part of a genuine combatant army (as the legal defence team later argued), they had followed due process of written INA law and of the normal process of conduct of war in execution of the sentences. Indians rapidly came to view the soldiers who enlisted as patriots and not enemy-collaborators. Philip Mason, then-Secretary of the War Department, later wrote that "in a matter of weeks ... in a wave of nationalist emotion, the INA were acclaimed heroes who fought for the freedom of India." The three accused were from the three major religions of India: Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism. Indians felt the INA represented a true, secular, national army when judged against the British-Indian Army, where caste and religious differences were preserved amongst ranks. The opening of the first trial saw violence and a series of riots in a scale later described as "sensational". The Indian National Congress and the Muslim League both made the release of the INA prisoners an important political issue during the campaign for independence in 1945–1946. Lahore in Diwali 1946 remained dark as the traditional earthen lamps lit on Diwali were not lit by families in support of prisoners. In addition to civilian campaigns of non-cooperation and non-violent protest, protest spread to include mutinies within the British-Indian Army and sympathy within the British-Indian forces. Support for the INA crossed communal barriers to the extent that it was the last major campaign in which the Congress and the Muslim League aligned together; the Congress tricolour and the green flag of the League were flown together at protests.

The Congress quickly came forward to defend soldiers of the INA who were to be court-martialled. The INA Defence Committee was formed by the Indian Congress and included prominent Indian legal figures, among whom were Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai, Kailashnath Katju and Asaf Ali. The trials covered arguments based on military law, constitutional law, international law, and politics. Mithi Mukherjee call the trials a "key moment in the elaboration of an anticolonial critique of international law in India." Much of the initial defence was based on the argument that they should be treated as prisoners of war as they were not paid mercenaries but bona fide soldiers of a legal government – Bose's Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind. Nehru argued that "however misinformed or otherwise they had been in their notion of patriotic duty towards their country", they recognized the free Indian state as their sovereign and not the British sovereign. Peter Fay points out that at least one INA prisoner – Burhan-ud-Din  a brother of the ruler of Chitral – may have deserved to be accused of torture, but his trial had been deferred on administrative grounds. Those charged after the first celebrated courts-martial only faced trial for torture and murder or abetment of murder. Charges of treason were dropped for fear of inflaming public opinion.

In spite of aggressive and widespread opposition to the continuation of the court-martial, it was completed. All three defendants were found guilty in many of the charges and sentenced to deportation for life. The sentence, however, was never carried out. Immense public pressure, demonstrations, and riots forced Claude Auchinleck to release all three defendants. Within three months, 11,000 soldiers of the INA were released after cashiering and forfeiture of pay and allowance. On the recommendation of Lord Mountbatten and with the agreement of Jawaharlal Nehru, former soldiers of the INA were not allowed to join the new Indian Armed Forces as a condition for independence.

Some mutinies in the Royal Indian Navy in 1946 are thought to have been caused by the nationalist feelings inspired by the opposition to INA trials. Historians like Sumit Sarkar, Peter Cohen, Fay and others suggest that these events played a crucial role in hastening the end of British rule.

Post 1947

Within India, the INA continues to be an emotive and celebrated subject of discussion. It continued to have a stronghold over the public psyche and the sentiments of the armed forces until as late as 1947. It has been suggested that Shah Nawaz Khan was tasked with organising INA troops to train Congress volunteers at Jawaharlal Nehru's request in late 1946 and early 1947. After 1947, several members of the INA who were closely associated with Subhas Bose and with the INA trials were prominent in public life. A number of them held important positions in independent India, serving as ambassadors immediately after independence: Abid Hasan in Egypt and Denmark, A. C. N. Nambiar in the Federal Republic of Germany, Mehboob Hasan in Canada, Cyril John Stracey in the Netherlands, and N. Raghavan in Switzerland. Mohan Singh was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He worked for the recognition of the members of Indian National Army as "freedom fighters" in the cause of the nation's independence in and out of Parliament. Shah Nawaz Khan served as Minister of State for Rail in the first Indian cabinet. Lakshmi Sahgal, Minister for Women's Affairs in the Azad Hind government, was a well known and widely respected public figure in India. In 1971, she joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was later elected the leader of the All India Democratic Women's Association. Joyce Lebra, an American historian, wrote that the rejuvenation of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, then a fledgling Tamil political party in southern India, would not have been possible without participation of INA members.

Ex-INA member Lakshmi Sahgal in later life, at a political meeting in India

Some accounts suggest that the INA veterans were involved in training civilian resistance forces against the Nizam's Razakars prior to the execution of Operation Polo and annexation of Hyderabad. It has been also documented that some INA veterans led Pakistani irregulars during the First Kashmir war. Mohammed Zaman Kiani served as Pakistan's political agent to Gilgit in the late 1950s. Of the very few ex-INA members who joined the Indian Armed Forces after 1947 R. S. Benegal, a member of the Tokyo Boys, joined the Indian Air Force in 1952 and later rose to be an air commodore. Benegal saw action in both 1965 and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, earning a Maha Vir Chakra, India's second-highest award for valour.

Among other prominent members of the INA, Ram Singh Thakur, composer of a number of songs including the INA's regimental march Qadam Qadam Badhaye Ja, has been credited by some for the modern tune of the Indian national anthem.

Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon and Lakshmi Sahgal were later awarded the Indian civilian honours of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan respectively by the Indian Government in the 1990s. Lakshmi Sahgal was nominated for the Indian presidential election by communist parties in 2002. She was the sole opponent of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, who emerged victorious. Subhas Bose himself was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna in 1992, but this was later withdrawn over the controversy over the circumstances of his death.

Former INA recruits in diasporic Singapore, however, faced a different situation. In Singapore, Indians – particularly those who were associated with the INA – were treated with disdain as they were "stigmatized as fascists and Japanese collaborators". Some within this diaspora later emerged as notable political and social leaders. The consolidation of trade unions in the form of National Union of Plantation Workers was led by ex-INA leaders. In Malaya, notable members of the INA were involved in founding the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) in 1946; John Thivy was the founding president. Janaky Athi Nahappan, second-in-command of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, was also a founding member of the MIC and later became a noted welfare activist and a distinguished senator in the Dewan Negara of the Malaysian Parliament. Rasammah Bhupalan, also of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, later became a well-known welfare-activist and a widely respected champion for women's rights in Malaysia.

Relations

See also: India in World War II

Japanese Army

The INA was known as the puppet army of the Japanese empire. In early days, the officers in the INA distrusted the Japanese. Leaders of the first INA sought formal assurances from Japan before committing to war. When these did not arrive, Mohan Singh resigned after ordering his army to disband; he expected to be sentenced to death. After Bose established Azad Hind, he tried to establish his political independence from the regime that supported him. Indeed, he had led protests against the Japanese expansion into China, and supported Chiang Kai-shek during the 1930s. Azad Hind depended on Japan for arms and material but sought to be as financially independent as possible, levying taxes and raising donations from Indians in Southeast Asia". On the Japanese side, members of the high command had been personally impressed by Bose and were willing to grant him some latitude; more importantly, the Japanese were interested in maintaining the support of a man who had been able to mobilise large numbers of Indian expatriates – including, most importantly, 40,000 of the 45,000 Indians captured by the Japanese at Singapore. However, Faye notes that interactions between soldiers in the field was different. Attempts to use Shah Nawaz's troops in road building and as porters angered the troops, forcing Bose to intervene with Mutaguchi. After the withdrawal from Imphal, the relations between both junior non-commissioned officers and between senior officers had deteriorated. INA officers accused the Japanese Army high command of trying to deceive INA troops into fighting for Japan. Conversely, Japanese soldiers often expressed disdain for INA soldiers for having changed their oath of loyalty. This mutual dislike was especially strong after the withdrawal from Imphal began; Japanese soldiers, suspicious that INA defectors had been responsible for their defeat, addressed INA soldiers as "shameless one" instead of "comrade" as previously had been the case. Azad Hind officials in Burma reported difficulties with the Japanese military administration in arranging supply for troops and transport for wounded men as the armies withdrew. Toye notes that local IIL members and Azad Hind Dal (local Azad Hind administrative teams) organised relief supplies from Indians in Burma at this time. As the situation in Burma became hopeless for the Japanese, Bose refused requests to use INA troops against Aung San's Burma National Army, which had turned against Japan and was now allied with Commonwealth forces.

British-Indian Army

See also: Jiffs

The first interaction of the INA with the British-Indian forces was during the months during the First Arakan offensive, between December 1942 and March 1943. The morale of Sepoys during this time was low and knowledge about the INA was minimal. The INA's special services agents led a successful operation during this time in encouraging the Indian troops to defect to the INA. By the end of March 1945, however, the Sepoys in the British-Indian Army were reinvigorated and perceived the men of the INA to be savage turncoats and cowards. Senior British officers in the Indian Army considered them "rabble". Historians Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper mention that sepoys in field units shot captured or wounded INA men, relieving their British officers of the complex task of formulating a formal plan for captured men. After Singapore was retaken, Mountbatten ordered the INA's war memorial to its fallen soldiers to be blown up.

As the story of the INA unfolded in post-war India, the view of Indian soldiers on the INA – and on their own position during the war – also changed. The Raj observed with increasing disquiet and unease the spread of pro-INA sympathies within the troops of the British-Indian forces. In February 1946, while the trials were still going on, a general strike by ratings of the Royal Indian Navy rapidly deteriorated into a mutiny incorporating ships and shore establishments of the RIN throughout India. The mutineers raised slogans invoking Subhas Bose and the INA, demanding an end to the trials. The mutiny received widespread public support. In some places in the British-Indian Army, non-commissioned Officers started ignoring orders from British superiors. In Madras and Pune British garrisons faced revolts from within the ranks of the British-Indian Army. These were suppressed by force. At the conclusion of the first trial, when the sentences of deportation were commuted, Fay records Claude Auchinleck as having sent a "personal and secret" letter to all senior British officers, explaining:

... practically all are sure that any attempt to enforce the sentence would have led to chaos in the country at large, and probably to mutiny and dissension in the Army, culminating in its dissolution.

Influence

World War II

Sidney Bradshaw Fay concludes that the INA was not significant enough to beat the British-Indian Army by military strength. He also writes that the INA was aware of this and formulated its own strategy of avoiding set-piece battles, gathering local and popular support within India and instigating revolt within the British-Indian Army to overthrow the Raj. Moreover, the Forward Bloc underground movement within India had been crushed well before the offensives opened in the Burma–Manipur theatre, depriving the army of any organised internal support. However, despite its small numerical strength and lack of heavy weapons, its special services group played a significant part in halting the First Arakan Offensive while still under Mohan Singh's command. The propaganda threat of the INA and lack of concrete intelligence on the unit early after the fall of Singapore made it a threat to Allied war plans in Southeast Asia, since it threatened to destroy the Sepoys' loyalty to a British-Indian Army that was demoralised from continuing defeats. There were reports of INA operatives successfully infiltrating Commonwealth lines during the Offensive. This caused British intelligence to begin the "Jiffs" propaganda campaign and to create "Josh" groups to improve the morale and preserve the loyalty of the sepoys as consolidation began to prepare for the defence of Manipur. These measures included imposing a complete news ban on Bose and the INA that was not lifted until four days after the fall of Rangoon two years later.

During the Japanese U-Go offensive towards Manipur in 1944, the INA played a crucial (and successful) role in diversionary attacks in Arakan and in the Manipur Basin itself, where it fought alongside Mutaguchi's 15th Army. INA forces protected the flanks of the assaulting Yamamoto force at a critical time as the latter attempted to take Imphal. During the Commonwealth Burma Campaign, the INA troops fought in the battles of Irrawaddy and Meiktilla, supporting the Japanese offensive and tying down Commonwealth troops.

Indian independence

See also: Bombay Mutiny

The first INA trial, which was held in public, became a rallying point for the independence movement from the autumn of 1945. The release of INA prisoners and the suspension of the trials came to be the dominant political campaign, superseding the campaign for independence. Christopher Bayly notes that the "INA was to become a much more powerful enemy of the British empire in defeat than it had been during its ill-fated triumphal march on Delhi." The Viceroy's journal describes the autumn and winter of 1945–1946 as "The Edge of a Volcano". The setting of the trial at Red Fort was taken by Indian public as a deliberate taunt by the British Raj over the vanquished INA, recalling the INA's battle cries of unfurling the Indian tricolour over the Red Fort. Many compared the trials to that of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor tried in the same place after the failed 1857 uprising. Support for the INA grew rapidly and their continued detention and news of impending trials was seen an affront to the movement for independence and to Indian identity itself. It was further feared that the Congress would exploit the INA to gain mass support against the Raj and possibly start an armed struggle with weapons smuggled from Burma. Nehru was suspected of using INA men to train Congress volunteers. The political effects of the INA trials were enormous and were felt around India as late as 1948, much to the chagrin of the Congress government in independent India, which feared that pro-INA sympathies could help alternative sources of power.

Historians such as Sumit Sarkar, Sugata Bose, and Ayesha Jalal conclude that the INA trials and its after-effects brought a decisive shift in British policy towards independence Indian. Particularly disturbing was the overt and public support for the INA by the soldiers of the Indian Army and the mutinies. The Congress's rhetoric preceding the 1946 elections gave the Raj reasons to fear a revival of the Quit India Movement of 1942. Gandhi noted:

... the whole country has been roused ... even the regular forces have been stirred into a new political consciousness and have begun to think in terms of independence ...

British colonies

See also: Royal Air Force mutiny

After the war ended, the story of the INA and the Indian Legion was seen as so inflammatory that, fearing mass revolts and uprisings across its empire, the British Government forbade the BBC from broadcasting their story. The use of Indian troops for the restoration of Dutch and French rule in Vietnam and Indonesia fed into the already growing resentment within the forces. Indian troops sent to suppress Sukarno's agitations in Indonesia in 1946 rapidly identified with the nationalist sentiments in the previous Dutch colony. The South East Asia Command reported growing sympathy for the INA and dislike of the Dutch. There were similar pro-nationalist sentiments among Indian troops sent to Vietnam, Thailand and Burma. This led to the realisation by 1946 that the British-Indian Army, the bulwark of the policing force in the British colonies, could not be used as an instrument of British power. INA-inspired strikes emerged throughout Britain's colonies in Southeast Asia. In January 1946, protests started at Royal Air Force bases in Karachi and spread rapidly to Singapore. This was followed by a full-scale mutiny by a British Army unit in Singapore. In British Malaya, men of the Parachute Regiment refused to obey orders from their officers. Authors like Nilanjana Sengupta attribute these to a combination of dissatisfaction over pay and work conditions and conflicts of comradeship over the INA trials. Former INA members in Malaya identified closely with the left-wing organisations in opposing British colonial authority. The majority of prominent left-wing union leaders in Malaya after the war were members of the INA. The activities of the trade unions in the newly established Tamil schools were particularly influential, leading to the establishment of an inspector system by the British to supervise the curriculum and teaching in these schools. Joyce Lebra notes that the INA had a particularly strong unifying influence over ethnic Indians residing in Malaya. Lebra concludes that the experience of the INA was useful in challenging British authority in the post-war period in Malaya, and in improving the socio-economic conditions of the Indian community.

Controversies

British and Commonwealth troops viewed the recruits as traitors and Axis collaborators. Almost 40,000 Indian soldiers in Malaya did not join the army and remained as PoWs. Many were sent to work in the Death Railway, suffered hardships and nearly 11,000 died under Japanese internment. Many of them cited the oath of allegiance they had taken to the King among reasons not to join a Japanese-supported organisation, and regarded the recruits of the INA as traitors for having forsaken their oath. Commanders in the British-Indian Army like Wavell later highlighted the hardships this group of soldiers suffered, contrasting them with the troops of the INA. Many British soldiers held the same opinion. Hugh Toye and Peter Fay point out that the First INA consisted of a mix of recruits joining for various reasons, such as nationalistic leanings, Mohan Singh's appeals, personal ambition or to protect men under their own command from harm. Fay notes some officers like Shah Nawaz Khan were opposed to Mohan Singh's ideas and tried to hinder what they considered a collaborationist organisation. However, both historians note that Indian civilians and former INA soldiers all cite the tremendous influence of Subhas Bose and his appeal to patriotism in rejuvenating the INA. Fay discusses the topic of loyalty of the INA soldiers, and highlights that in Shah Nawaz Khan's trial it was noted that officers of the INA warned their men the possibility of having to fight the Japanese after having fought the British, to prevent Japan exploiting post-war India. Carl Vadivella Belle suggested in 2014 that among the local Indians and ex-British-Indian Army volunteers in Malaya, there was a proportion who joined due to the threat of conscription as Japanese labour troops. Recruitment also offered local Indian labourers security from continual semi-starvation of the estates and served as a barrier against Japanese tyranny.

INA troops were alleged to engage in or be complicit in torture of Allied and Indian prisoners of war. Fay in his 1993 history analyses war-time press releases and field counter-intelligence directed at Sepoys. He concludes that the Jiffs campaign promoted the view that INA recruits were weak-willed and traitorous Axis collaborators, motivated by selfish interests of greed and personal gain. He concludes that the allegations of torture were largely products of the Jiffs campaign. He supports his conclusion by noting that isolated cases of torture had occurred, but allegations of widespread practice of torture were not substantiated in the charges against defendants in the Red Fort trials. Published memoirs of several veterans, including that of William Slim, portray the INA troops as incapable fighters and as untrustworthy. Toye noted in 1959 that individual desertions occurred in the withdrawal from Imphal. Fay concluded that stories of INA desertions during the battle and the initial retreat into Burma were largely exaggerated. The majority of desertions occurred much later, according to Fay, around the battles at Irrawaddy and later around Popa. Fay specifically discusses Slim's portrayal of the INA, pointing out what he concludes to be inconsistencies in Slim's accounts. Fay also discusses memoirs of Shah Nawaz, where Khan claims INA troops were never defeated in battle. Fay criticises this too as exaggerated. He concludes the opinions held by Commonwealth war veterans such as Slim were an inaccurate portrayal of the unit, as were those of INA soldiers themselves. Harkirat Singh notes that British officers' personal dislike for Subhas Chandra Bose may have prejudiced their judgement of the INA itself.

Commemorations

See also: INA Martyr's Memorial and Former Indian National Army Monument
The plaque erected by the National Heritage Board at Esplanade Park, marking the INA Monument site in Singapore
Postage stamps released by Indian National Army in display at Netaji Birth Place Museum, Cuttack

The INA is memorialised in the Swatantrata Sainani Smarak, which is located at the Salimgarh Fort in Delhi, adjacent to the Red Fort. Its exhibits include the Indian National Army uniform worn by Colonel Prem Sahgal, riding boots and coat buttons of Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and photographs of Subhas Chandra Bose. A separate gallery holds material and photographs from excavations carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India inside the fort in 1995. The Indian National Army Memorial at Moirang, Manipur, commemorates the place where the flag of Azad Hind was raised by Col. Shaukat Hayat Malik. Moirang was the first Indian territory captured by the INA.

The INA War Memorial at Singapore commemorating the "Unknown Warrior" of the INA was unveiled by Bose in July 1945. Situated at the Esplanade Park, it was destroyed on Mountbatten's orders when Allied troops reoccupied the city. In 1995, the National Heritage Board of Singapore, with financial donations from the Indian community in Singapore, erected the Former Indian National Army Monument at the site where the old memorial stood. The site is now officially one of the historical sites of Singapore.

The INA's battle cry, Jai Hind, was declared the "national greeting" of India by Nehru and remains a popular nationalist greeting. Today it is used by all Indian prime ministers to conclude their Independence Day speeches. The cry became independent India's first commemorative post mark on 15 August 1947. The first postage stamps issued by Independent India are called the Jai Hind series of stamps, showing the Indian flag with the letters Jai Hind in the top right hand corner. These were a part of the series issued on 15 August 1947. Commemorative postage stamps were also issued by the Indian government in 1968 and 1993 respectively to commemorate the 25th and the 50th anniversaries of the establishment of Azad Hind at Singapore. The Department of Posts also includes the six unused Azad Hind stamps in its commemorative book India's Freedom Struggle through India Postage Stamps. The Azad Hind Fauj Marg (Azad Hind Fauj Road) in New Delhi is named after the INA and houses the Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology.

In popular culture

Main article: Indian National Army in popular culture

The Indian National Army remains a significant topic of discussion in the popular history of India; it is an emotive topic which has been the subject of numerous works of literature, art, and visual media within India and outside. Some of the earliest works in print media were created at the time of the INA trials. These include works of fiction like Jai Hind: The Diary of a Rebel Daughter of India published in 1945 by Amritlal Seth. The book, a work of fiction narrating the story of a recruit of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, is believed to be loosely based on the story of Lakshmi Sahgal. In later decades works by authors like Amitav Ghosh, such as his book The Glass Palace, have used the backdrop of the Azad Hind and the Japanese occupation of Burma for the narrative of the story. The Day of the Scorpion and The Towers of Silence, the second and third books in Paul Scott's Raj Quartet, mention Jiffs in the political and social context in which the term found use in the Eastern Army during the war. The 1984 British TV series The Jewel in the Crown, based on Scott's quartet, also includes the role of the INA as part of the political backdrop of the story.

In visual media, the INA has been the subject of a number of documentaries. The War of The Springing Tiger made by Granada Television for Channel 4 in 1984 examined the role of the Indian National Army in the Second World War, the motivation of its soldiers and explored its role in the independence movement. In 1999 Film India released a documentary, The Forgotten Army. Directed by Kabir Khan and produced by Akhil Bakshi, it followed what was called the Azad Hind Expedition between 1994 and 1995, retracing the route taken by the INA from Singapore to Imphal, before ending at Red Fort. Amongst the members of the expedition team were Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon, Lakshmi Sahgal and Captain S.S. Yadava, an INA veteran and once the general secretary of the All India INA Committee. The documentary went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Film South Asia festival in 1999. The National Archives of Singapore digitised its available resources in 2007 as Historical Journey of the Indian National Army. In 2004, the Indian Legion in Europe was the subject of a BBC magazine article authored by Mike Thomson, but it did not attempt to distinguish the differences between the Legion and the INA. The Hindustan Times, a large broadsheet in India, dedicates a part of its website to INA resources as Indian National Army in East Asia.

Indian cinema has also seen a number of films in many different Indian languages, where the INA is a significant part of the narrative. These include Pahla Admi by Bimal Roy and Samadhi by Ramesh Saigal, both produced in 1950 based on fictional INA veterans. More recently, Indian, a 1996 Tamil film directed by S. Shankar, incorporates a lead character (played by Kamal Hassan) in its story who is a veteran of the INA. Shyam Benegal produced Netaji: The Forgotten Hero in 2004, which traces the last five years of Subhas Chandra Bose. Benegal describes the story of the INA in small details in his film whilst focusing on its leader. The film was also widely noted for A. R. Rahman's music. The INA's marching song, Qadam Qadam Badhaye Ja, has since become a famous patriotic song in India. Today it is in use as the regimental quick march of the Indian Parachute regiment. More recently, a 2017 Hindi movie Rangoon, starring Kangna Ranaut, Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor is based against the backdrop of the INA presence in Rangoon, with the movie centred around the protagonists trying to get across a jewelled sword to the INA. In 2020 Amazon Prime Video released a five-part series called The Forgotten Army - Azaadi Ke Liye! Which tells the story of the INA through the eyes of one of its Captains and the woman he loves. In 2017 only, a show was released namely, Bose: Dead/Alive, it showed Netaji's mysterious disappearance in 1945. In this show too Azad Hind Fauj was shown.

See also

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Bibliography

Further reading

  • The Springing Tiger: A Study of a Revolutionary by Hugh Toye (1959).
  • History of the Indian National Army by Kalyan Kumar Ghosh (1966).
  • Jungle Alliance, Japan and the Indian National Army by Joyce C. Lebra (1971).
  • Brothers Against the Raj — A Biography of Indian Nationalists Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose by Leonard A. Gordon (1990), Princeton University Press, 1990.
  • The Forgotten Army: India's Armed Struggle for Independence, 1942–1945 by Peter Fay (1995).
  • Women Against the Raj: The Rani of Jhansi Regiment by Joyce C Lebra (2008).

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