The Forgotten Army Is Story Of Azad Hind Fauj Via The Eyes Of The Trooper

The Forgotten Army Is Story Of Azad Hind Fauj Via The Eyes Of The Troopers

The first INA trial, which was held in public, grew to become a rallying point for the independence motion from the autumn of 1945. The launch of INA prisoners and the suspension of the trials came to be the dominant political marketing campaign, superseding the marketing campaign for independence. Christopher Bayly notes that the "INA was to become a means more powerful enemy of the British empire in defeat than it had been during its ill-fated triumphal march on Delhi." The Viceroy's journal describes the autumn and winter of 1945–1946 as "The Edge of a Volcano". 

The setting of the trial at Red Fort was taken by Indian public as a deliberate taunt by the British Raj over the vanquished INA, recalling the INA's battle cries of unfurling the Indian tricolour over the Red Fort. Many compared the trials to that of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor tried in the identical place after the failed 1857 rebellion. Support for the INA grew rapidly and their continued detention and news of impending trials was seen an affront to the motion for independence and to Indian identification itself.

British Colonies

Fujiwara, later self-described as "Lawrence of the Indian National Army" is claimed to have been a man dedicated to the values which his office was supposed to convey to the expatriate nationalist leaders, and found acceptance amongst them. His initial contact was with Giani Pritam Singh and the Thai-Bharat Cultural Lodge.At the outbreak of World War II in South-East Asia, 70,000 Indian troops had been stationed in Malaya. In Japan's spectacular Malayan Campaign many Indian prisoners-of-war were captured, together with practically forty five,000 after the autumn of Singapore alone. The circumstances of service within the British-Indian Army and the social conditions in Malaya had led to dissension amongst these troops. From these prisoners, the First Indian National Army was fashioned underneath Mohan Singh.