Photos such as this and this crop up at times from the re-telling of the Second World War.
These photos were an example of the Germans attempting to support uprisings against British
Rule where possible, one such location being India, the crown jewel of the British Empire.
Independence movements saw this as a golden opportunity to rid themselves of British imperialism,
and over 4,500 Indians would join the German army to further their independence goals.
The Indian Legion was born, and in this video, we will be covering it's history, and the
part it played in the second world war.
The Axis Powers attempted to use any pre-existing unrest to try and advance their own goals.
Here, the unrest from sections of the populace would be exploited in the crown jewel of the
British Empire, India.
India had a rather active independence movement, one which had been already exploited to some
degree during the first World War, with Germany giving funding and support to an armed mutiny
of Indian nationals across Asia.
As WW2 drew on, the same plan would be implemented by all major axis powers, with them giving
support in some fashion to uprisings against the British, which included raising dedicated
Indian military units.
Here, the Axis would see support from a few members of the Indian National Congress, the
lead organization leading the struggle for Indian independence.
The British had declared India as a co-belligerent against the Axis Powers without consulting
the Indian people or the Congress first.
While most members would later signal conditional support for the war against Fascism, others
such as former president Subhas Chandra Bose, were outraged, and would stage anti-British
protests around the nation, as he had long held views that more direct action should
be taken against British Imperialism.
For his protests, he would be arrested in June of 1940 and kept under strict house watch.
He would escape in early January of '41, heading north into the Soviet Union where he hoped
that he could drum up support to start a pro Indian, anti-British radio broadcast, with
the goal of eventually creating an army to fight against the British.
Reaching no agreements with Moscow, Bose would go to Berlin in April of 41 with the same
plea, and somewhat surprisingly to Bose, both foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and
Hitler signaled their support for his idea, giving him funds and logistical support to
put his plan into motion.
From here, he would establish the Azad Hind Radio station, which commenced broadcasting
on shortwave frequencies, reaching tens of thousands of Indians.
Soon after, Bose would get the go ahead to start forming an Indian legion that he hoped
could be used to trigger the downfall of the British Raj.
The first men of this new legion came from POW's taken after the battles surrounding
Tobruk in North Africa.
27 POW's would be recruited as potential officers and flown to Berlin in May of '41, primarly
to act as recruiters from the thousands of prisoners that were being transferred to Germany.
While the turnover rate was very low, over 20,000 Indians would become prisoners Germans,
and the number of defectors gradually grew.
As the Legion grew, they would be transferred to K nigsbr ck to get their training and their
official uniforms.
They would be issued the standard Wehrmacht uniform, on their right upper arm was a badge
in the shape of a shield with three horizontal stripes of saffron, white, and green, featuring
a leaping tiger.
Additionally, Freies Indien was inscribed in black above the tricolor.
Sikhs in the legion were permitted to wear a turban as dictated by their religion instead
of the usual peaked field cap as well.
The formation of the Indian Legion would be announced in January of '42, though wouldn't
be formed until late August of the same year.
Bose had managed to attain a number of concessions from German high command in regards to the
troops.
They were to be given equal pay and weapons training as regular soldiers, there were not
to be mixed with other German units, and only to be deployed against the British.
All total, by the end of '42, the Legion had a maximum strength of 4,500 men.
Most of them being deployed along the Atlantic sea wall as they received training.
With the German failures both in North Africa and in the east, Bose himself knew that any
hope of a combined Indo-German invasion via Persia was out of the window, likely even
before the German failures, so he, along with most of his staff were transferred to Japanese
occupied Singapore, helping to create the Indian National Army, and the Provisional
Azad Hind government in Japanese occupied India, but those will be covered in a future
video.
The Legion would be stationed in Zealand Netherlands in April of 1943 , then later transferred
to Bordeaux in September.
When the D-Day landings commenced, the legion was tasked with fighting against local French
resistance units until pulled back in August.
25 of the legion would desert to the resistance during this time on the condition that they
be eventually handed over to Allied command, but all 25 would be executed shortly after
surrendering.
On August the 8th, the legion would be transferred over to the Waffen-SS being renamed to the
Indische Freiwilligen Legion der Waffen-SS and were ordered to retreat back to Germany.
They would fight French regulars at the town of Dun on August 18th, American armor at Nuits-Saint-Georges
and French resistance all along the way, reaching Stetten am kalten Markt just as Winter drew
in, and there, they would stay until the coming spring.
With the fall of Germany on the horizon, the legion would make a trek along Lake Constance,
attempting to enter Switzerland via the alpine passes, but Swiss border guards refused to
let them enter, so they were instead forced to surrender to American and French Moroccan
forces, some of which were killed at the town of Immenstadt before being handed over to
the British to face trail.
Though those of the legion and even the much larger INA, very few faced severe punishment,
while many of the regular soldiers faced limited if any punishment for their role in the war.