Indian Legion

The Oxford Companion to World War II | 2001 | 700+ words | Copyright

Indian Legion, precursor of the Indian National Army formed in 1941 by the Indian revolutionary Subhas Chandra Bose from Indian prisoners-of-war captured during the Western Desert campaigns to further his cause for an independent India. Out of 15,000 prisoners 4,000 volunteered. They finished training in December 1942 and three battalions of 1,000 men each were formed, but they were officered by Germans who gave their orders in German. In early 1943 Bose left Germany for Japan to try to realize his ambitions for an independent India and two months after his departure the Legion mutinied as its members wished only to fight the UK, not the USSR. Ten men were shot out of hand and the battalions were then absorbed into the German Army, becoming Infantry Regiment No. 950 which was posted to France. In the summer of 1944 the regiment was absorbed into the Waffen-SS and its survivors were subsequently put on trial by the British at the Red Fort in Delhi.

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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Indian Legion." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Indian Legion." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-IndianLegion.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Indian Legion." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-IndianLegion.html

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