The Forgotten Army: India's Armed Struggle For Independence 1942-1945

600 Pages·1993·37 MB·English

by  Peter Ward Fay

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The last days of the Raj bring to mind
Gandhi’s nonviolence and Nehru’s
diplomacy. These associations ob¬
scure another reality: that an army of
Indian men and women tried to throw
the British off the subcontinent. Now
The Forgotten Army brings to life for
the first time the story of how Subhas
Chandra Bose, a charismatic Bengali,
attempted to liberate India with an
army of former British Indian sol¬
diers—the Indian National Army
(INA).
The story begins with the British
Indian Army fighting a heroic
rearguard action against the invading
Japanese down the Malaysian penin¬
sula, loyally holding out until the fall
of Singapore, and ends with many of
these same soldiers defeated in their
effort to invade India as allies of
Japan. Peter Ward Fay intertwines
powerful descriptions of military
action with a unique knowledge of
how the INA was formed and its role
in the broader struggle for Indian
independence.
The author incorporates the personal
reminiscences of Prem Sahgal, a
senior officer in the INA, and Lakshmi
Swaminadhan Sahgal, leader of its
women’s sections, to help the reader
understand the motivations of those
who took part. Their experiences offer
an engagingly personal element to the
political and military history.
(Continued on back flap.)
Digitized by the Internet Archive
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The Forgotten Army

The Forgotten Army
India's armed struggle for independence
1942—1945
Peter Ward Fay
ANN ARBOR
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 1993
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
1996 1995 1994 1993 4321
The photographs that appear in this book are courtesy
of Prem and Lakshmi Sahgal, and Netaji Bhawan.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fay, Peter Ward, 1924-
The forgotten army: India’s armed struggle for independence,
1942—1945/Peter Ward Fay.
p. CM.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-472-10126-9 (alk. paper)
1. Indian National Army—History—World War, 1939-1945.
2. India—History—Autonomy and independence movements.
3. World War, 1939-1945—India. I. Title.
D767.63.F39 1993 93-6005
954.03*59—DC20 CIP
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction i
I Prem's Youth ii
2 Lakshmi’s Youth 33
3 The Fall of Malaya 51
4 Farrer Park 73
INA
5 The Beginning of the 87
6 “Quit India!" 113
7 Waiting for a Leader 137
8 Subhas Chandra Bose 153
9 Congress Rebel 171
io A Fresh Start 201
ii “And They Were All My Brothers" 223
12 High Hopes in Burma 239
H Disaster at Imphal 273
H “Blood! Blood! Blood!" 305
Mount Popa 325
i5
16 The Leader Lost 361
Let India Learn 387
17
VI CONTENTS
18 Jiffs 409
19 Auchinleck’s Dilemma 439
20 Trial at the Red Fort 465
21 The Triumph of the INA 493
Appendix 525
Notes 527
Glossary 549
A Note on Sources 553
Index 565
Maps
India and Burma 15
Singapore 45
Malaya 53
Burma and Malaya 97
North Central Burma 267
North Burma 277
The Chindwin 289
South Central Burma 331