Azad Hind Fauj .Hitler's indian soldiers

[SecularNationalist]

 

[gangsta_rap]

there were sikh and muslim soldiers in it too - mainly captured troops who fought in the north african and Mediterranean theater

 

[hussain0216]

 

[INS_Vikrant]

Had Germany defeated Soviet Union, netaji bose could have led this army through USSR then Afghanistan and attacked British India from NothWest. With Proper Nazi Germany backing they could have managed to liberate vast stretches of India as most of British Indian troops were present in SE Asia fighting Japan.

 

[Imran Khan]

Had Germany defeated Soviet Union, netaji bose could have led this army through USSR then Afghanistan and attacked British India from NothWest. With Proper Nazi Germany backing they could have managed to liberate vast stretches of India as most of British Indian troops were present in SE Asia fighting Japan.

librated my arse they was used by nazis and once GB loose controls nazis will took it . bose was just a pawn

 

[proudindian20]

librated my arse they was used by nazis and once GB loose controls nazis will took it . bose was just a pawan

Pawan nahi pawn.

 

[SecularNationalist]

Had Germany defeated Soviet Union, netaji bose could have led this army through USSR then Afghanistan and attacked British India from NothWest. With Proper Nazi Germany backing they could have managed to liberate vast stretches of India as most of British Indian troops were present in SE Asia fighting Japan.

Agree

 

[cloud4000]

Subhas Chandra Bose was an Axis pawn not once, but twice. First with Germany then later for Japan. His Indian National Army did not fare well with either. Bose and INA were more valuable as propaganda than as a fighting force.

 

[Signalian]

there were sikh and muslim soldiers in it too - mainly captured troops who fought in the north african and Mediterranean theater

13th Waffen Mountain Division (1st Croatian) had Bosnian Muslims in its ranks. The formation was used in COIN Ops in Yugoslavia.

 

[gangsta_rap]

13th Waffen Mountain Division (1st Croatian) had Bosnian Muslims in its ranks. The formation was used in COIN Ops in Yugoslavia.

Handschar division was an experiment by heinrich himmler to see if the martial aspects of muslim religious thought can be used in conflict.

 

[waz]

It's sad many of these men were misled, used as plain cannon fodder etc. They were defeated wherever they went. But it has to be said fitting end to the "azad" fauj who would have handed over everything to Imperial Japan for mass enslavement, rape and extermination. A world ruled by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan how wonderful....
They then went back to engage in the worst partition violence with their skills on civilians. Whilst the proper armies saved refugees, helped build their respective countries etc.
My grandfather and entire elder generation came across a few of them and felt pity for them. They were in a proper state.

 

[Hamza913]

I do find it very interesting to come across many people describe people who worked for the Indian National Army or Indische Legion as misled canon fodder just because they utilised Axis support to free the region from the clutches of the British, but do not use such terminology for those who actually fought for the very people colonising us. The fact of the matter is, just as there are nuances when it comes to those who signed up to fight within the British military from our part of the world, there are also nuances when it comes to those who fought with the assistance of the Axis from our part of the world.

When you wish to fight for your freedom and face an overwhelming opponent, it is understandable to see people seek less than morally exemplary entities for assistance, especially if they have much power. People like Chandra Bose were doing what they considered most practical for their particular cases, to simply etch them away as evil Axis collaborators who just committed war crimes is absurd. This is made readily apparent when one considers that some of these people such as Major Malik Munawar Khan literally fought tooth and nail for the Pakistani nation after the Indian National Army was disbanded, or that Dr Muhammad Iqbal Shedai became a staunch supporter of Pakistan later on in his life.

Furthermore, let's not forget that whilst we can discuss what the Axis may have done within what was British India, the British actually did commit such heinous acts. To equate a hypothetical with an actuality is absurd (and no, I'm not absolving the Axis of their improper ideals/actions either, lest someone accuse me of doing such).

@Desert Fox @Indus Pakistan @Talwar e Pakistan

Your thoughts?

 

[Rakesh]

It's sad many of these men were misled, used as plain cannon fodder etc. They were defeated wherever they went. But it has to be said fitting end to the "azad" fauj who would have handed over everything to Imperial Japan for mass enslavement, rape and extermination. A world ruled by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan how wonderful....
They then went back to engage in the worst partition violence with their skills on civilians. Whilst the proper armies saved refugees, helped build their respective countries etc.
My grandfather and entire elder generation came across a few of them and felt pity for them. They were in a proper state.

...But it has to be said fitting end to the "azad" fauj who would have handed over everything to Imperial Japan for mass enslavement, rape and extermination. A world ruled by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan how wonderful....

So, there were fighting to liberate india from British and hand over to Evil Japan ? You are questioning wisdom of Bose who cleared ICS in London.

.....They then went back to engage in the worst partition violence with their skills on civilians. Whilst the proper armies saved refugees, ......

Please elaborate. (other than anecdotal evidence of your grand father).

 

[waz]

...But it has to be said fitting end to the "azad" fauj who would have handed over everything to Imperial Japan for mass enslavement, rape and extermination. A world ruled by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan how wonderful....

So, there were fighting to liberate india from British and hand over to Evil Japan ? You are questioning wisdom of Bose who cleared ICS in London.

He was fighting to hand over control to the Japanese. You do realise that the Japanese pulled all the strings and the INA were hardly stakeholders at all? Poorly equipped, not treated as equals etc, this all led to their incredibly poor performances on the field.

Although Bose had ensured the INA’s participation in the fighting, he was frustrated by the reluctance of the Japanese to employ the INA in anything more than secondary roles. The Japanese, at all levels of IJA command, did not think highly of the Indian soldiers, and this attitude contributed to the INA’s poor combat performance. Japanese commanders limited the size of the INA, provided it with inadequate logistical support, and gave it substandard arms and equipment. Initially, the Indian soldiers received captured Allied weapons, much of them in a poor state of repair (including “old and rusty” rifles) with a general paucity of ammunition. However, even these severe restrictions might have been overcome had the Japanese possessed the confidence to deploy the INA in tactical operations as a cohesive unit rather than in a dispersed “penny packet” fashion.

The Indian National Army,1942-45

Thousands of soldiers from Britain’s “Jewel in the Crown” colony fought for the Japanese against British forces. Perhaps more than any other conflict,

www.historynet.com

.....They then went back to engage in the worst partition violence with their skills on civilians. Whilst the proper armies saved refugees, ......

Please elaborate. (other than anecdotal evidence of your grand father).

No problem at all;

All summer long, Punjabi Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs had been building up armed militias in preparation for the British withdrawal, ostensibly to defend themselves in the civil war many believed was inevitable. The Sikhs in particular feared that the new border between India and Pakistan would split their community in two; their militias had swelled from a few thousand members to nearly 20,000 by the end of July
Many of the fighters were ex-military—well-trained and battle-tested in the deserts of North Africa and jungles of Burma. Several had switched sides during World War II and fought for a Japanese-sponsored rebel force, the Indian National Army, in Southeast Asia.

Did Sikh squads participate in an organised attempt to cleanse East Punjab during Partition?

As the date for Partition approached, the community worst affected by the move was that of the Sikhs, which was split in large numbers between the regions of Punjab that were to become part of India and Pakistan. Many Sikh leaders had come to believe that an exchange of population between the...

caravanmagazine.in

You might also want to see the work Question of loyalty? The Indian National Army and the Royal Indian Navy mutiny, Daniel Marston, Australian National University, Canberra, on how many of them were involved in partition violence, and actually gave mobs a more deadly edge with their military training.


ex-INA soldiers and officers became actively involved in militant Hindu and
Muslim organizations. Some reports suggested that many incidents of organized violence against civilian population during mutual bloodletting of
partition were committed by these ex-INA men. Once breach of discipline is tolerated and condoned then soldier is no better than a brigand. Ex-INA
found no future and drifted towards their respective political or religious
organizations. Many were responsible for participating in the killings of unarmed and innocent civilians during partition holocaust

The INA (Indian National Army) – Brown Pundits

www.brownpundits.com

I know Amazon in India has made quite the romantic series about this force;

But stuff like this is probably going down very well in nationalist India. For us i.e. those who have family histories we literally laugh at this fawning over such a movement.

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

He was fighting to hand over control to the Japanese. You do realise that the Japanese pulled all the strings and the INA were hardly stakeholders at all? Poorly equipped, not treated as equals etc, this all led to their incredibly poor performances on the field.

Although Bose had ensured the INA’s participation in the fighting, he was frustrated by the reluctance of the Japanese to employ the INA in anything more than secondary roles. The Japanese, at all levels of IJA command, did not think highly of the Indian soldiers, and this attitude contributed to the INA’s poor combat performance. Japanese commanders limited the size of the INA, provided it with inadequate logistical support, and gave it substandard arms and equipment. Initially, the Indian soldiers received captured Allied weapons, much of them in a poor state of repair (including “old and rusty” rifles) with a general paucity of ammunition. However, even these severe restrictions might have been overcome had the Japanese possessed the confidence to deploy the INA in tactical operations as a cohesive unit rather than in a dispersed “penny packet” fashion.

The Indian National Army,1942-45

Thousands of soldiers from Britain’s “Jewel in the Crown” colony fought for the Japanese against British forces. Perhaps more than any other conflict,

www.historynet.com

No problem at all;

All summer long, Punjabi Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs had been building up armed militias in preparation for the British withdrawal, ostensibly to defend themselves in the civil war many believed was inevitable. The Sikhs in particular feared that the new border between India and Pakistan would split their community in two; their militias had swelled from a few thousand members to nearly 20,000 by the end of July
Many of the fighters were ex-military—well-trained and battle-tested in the deserts of North Africa and jungles of Burma. Several had switched sides during World War II and fought for a Japanese-sponsored rebel force, the Indian National Army, in Southeast Asia.

Did Sikh squads participate in an organised attempt to cleanse East Punjab during Partition?

As the date for Partition approached, the community worst affected by the move was that of the Sikhs, which was split in large numbers between the regions of Punjab that were to become part of India and Pakistan. Many Sikh leaders had come to believe that an exchange of population between the...

caravanmagazine.in

You might also want to see the work Question of loyalty? The Indian National Army and the Royal Indian Navy mutiny, Daniel Marston, Australian National University, Canberra, on how many of them were involved in partition violence, and actually gave mobs a more deadly edge with their military training.


ex-INA soldiers and officers became actively involved in militant Hindu and
Muslim organizations. Some reports suggested that many incidents of organized violence against civilian population during mutual bloodletting of
partition were committed by these ex-INA men. Once breach of discipline is tolerated and condoned then soldier is no better than a brigand. Ex-INA
found no future and drifted towards their respective political or religious
organizations. Many were responsible for participating in the killings of unarmed and innocent civilians during partition holocaust

The INA (Indian National Army) – Brown Pundits

www.brownpundits.com

I know Amazon in India has made quite the romantic series about this force;

But stuff like this is probably going down very well in nationalist India. For us i.e. those who have family histories we literally laugh at this fawning over such a movement.

That makes alot of sense. Thank you for your post.