Indian National Army

Indian National Army (INA), formed by Pritam Singh'sIndian Independence League and Major Fujiwara Iwaichi's F. Kikan (see Japan, 6) in February 1942 from Indian Army prisoners-of-war (POW) captured in the Malayan campaign and the fall of Singapore. Later it also included a women's unit, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, which was named after an Indian heroine of the 1857 Indian Mutiny and was led by a woman doctor from Singapore, Laxmi Swaminathan. The INA (Azad Hind Fauj) failed militarily but not politically, for its existence was influential in gaining India its independence in 1947.

Fujiwara and Pritam Singh worked together during the Malayan campaign to sap the morale of the badly organized Indian troops and to recruit them into Pritam's organization. One POW recruited into the League, a Sikh captain called Mohan Singh, became the INA's first commander and he and Fujiwara spoke of an independent India to a vast throng of Indian prisoners in Singapore where the INA was inaugurated in February 1942. Out of some 60,000 Indian prisoners, about 20,000 volunteered, but in December 1942 Singh, who had become suspicious of Japanese intentions in India, was arrested and the INA was virtually disbanded. However, in June 1943 it was reconstituted when the Indian revolutionary, Subhas Chandra Bose, took command of it.

Bose wanted the INA to spearhead a Japanese thrust into India as this would result, he predicted, in rebellion against the British. The Japanese were sceptical. They preferred the INA fragmented into small units attached to Japanese formations, employed in sabotage and propaganda and used as guides and interpreters, a role in which they had some success in the Admin Box battle during the Burma campaign. A compromise involved some 7,000 INA troops being attached to Japanese units during the Imphal offensive into India while the rest were used as auxiliaries.

But even the fighting elements of the INA were poorly equipped and trained, and their morale was suspect. During the Imphal offensive more men surrendered or became deserters than were casualties, and the rest fought no better at Meiktila when Slim's Fourteenth Army advanced into Burma. Near Pyu the entire 1st Division of 3,000 men surrendered without firing a shot, as did the 5,000-strong INA garrison at Rangoon. Total casualties amounted to 400 killed and 1,500 dead from other causes, a small loss compared to the 11,000 Indian prisoners-of-war who died in Japanese hands.

After the war, INA survivors were put on trial by the British, and became heroes to many of those who sought India's independence. See also Indian Legion.

Bibliography

Lebra, J. , Jungle Alliance: Japan and the Indian National Army (Singapore, 1971).