Azad Hind - Free India Movement
German Plans for India in World War II
Jul 26, 2009 William Silvester
The story behind Azad Hind begins in 1938 when the Indian Nationalist Party, whose purpose was to expel the British from India, chose Netajii Subhas Chandra Bose as its leader. Not long afterwards, Bose was arrested and incarcerated and remained in prison until 1941 when he was released due to ill health. By this time Britain had become embroiled in a war with Germany.
German India
Bose's activities had come to the attention of German intelligence (Abwehr) and with their assistance he escaped British surveillance. Bose left India, traveled through Afghanistan and got in touch with Soviet intelligence (NKVD). They were not interested in helping him so he continued on to finally arrive in Berlin where he was met by German Foreign Office officials.
World War II
By early 1942 Bose had convinced the Germans to support his Free India (Azad Hind) movement and proclaimed a provisional government. Bose then met with a group of Indian POWs who had been recruited by the Germans and began forming an Indian regiment. He toured the POW camp at Annaberg and recruited enough men to form a regiment. In time some 2000 Indians would join the Indian Legion and be sent to Frankenberg for training where they were designated the Indian Volunteer Legion Regiment 950 and attached to the German 404th Infantry Division in the Zeeland region of Holland.
The Indians had no desire to fight for the Germans, nor did they consider themselves fascists. Bose had hoped the legion would be sent to India to fight but the Germans had other ideas. Many of the regiment refused to go to Zeeland. They were court martialed and sent to Holland regardless. Later they were transferred to France and in 1944 suffered their first casualties fighting a Free French force in Dun. In 1945 the regiment attempted to escape to neutral Switzerland but were intercepted by French and American forces and shipped back to India to be tried for treason.
Operation in Iran
Meanwhile, another group of Indian troops was being trained as paratroopers and saboteurs. They were known as the 800th Special Purpose Construction Training Division Brandenburg. In January 1942 they were dropped into Iran from where they were to infiltrate the Indian border and begin operations against the British. The operation was disbanded before it began.
Andaman and Nicobar
Bose, meanwhile, had been taken by the German submarine U-180 to an area near Madagascar where he was transferred to the Japanese submarine 1-29. In October 1943 he was taken to Singapore where he set up the provisional government of Azad Hind (Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind). He organized the Indian National Army into three divisions and this force saw extensive fighting alongside the Japanese. The islands of Andaman and Nicobar were the only Indian territories actually under the control of Azad Hind under Japanese subordination. Bose was killed in the plane crash on Formosa in August 1945 and Azad Hind ceased to exist when the last contingent surrendered in Rangoon.
Stamps
Just how seriously the Germans took Bose and his movement is not known. The German postal service did, however, arrange for stamps to be printed for Azad Hind by the Government Printing Office in Berlin. Wcrner and Maria von Axter-Heudtlass, two top artists, were appointed to design the stamps in February 1943. There were ten different denominations printed with six designs. Seven were to be semi-postal with the surcharge going to the administration of the islands of Andaman and Nicobar.
Sources:
A Beacon Across Asia: A Biography of Subhas Chandra Bose – Sisir K. Bose – 1973
A History of India – Vol 2 – Percival Spear - 1968
Encyclopedia Britannica
Azad Hind Postage
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