Legion Freies Indien
- David Lehmann
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Indian army consisted of a lage number of Sikhs. Today both Sikh and Christians comprise more than 20 per cent of our forces even though their number is under 4 per cent of the population. So spotting Sikhs soldiers was never an unusual thing. The Brits exploited the division among Hindus and the Muslims but Bose ensured this was put to an end. He brought all under one umbrella. Even Gandhi could not persuade Christians to fight the colonial Brits.
Why do we see same faces in the Legion pictures? I think these pictures were propaganda pictures and some people were selected to pose. There may have been other pictures but nobody cared to locate them.
Anyhow, the Legion was a symbolic force, around 5,000 troops only. What Bose wanted was guerilla warfare from the place Osama bin Laden is hiding these days. Pakistan was India then. But Hitler was not ready for that due to engagements elsewhere. In SE Asia to Bose tried guerilla warfare. He contacted Ho Chi Minh little beofre he disappeared from Saigon.
Why do we see same faces in the Legion pictures? I think these pictures were propaganda pictures and some people were selected to pose. There may have been other pictures but nobody cared to locate them.
Anyhow, the Legion was a symbolic force, around 5,000 troops only. What Bose wanted was guerilla warfare from the place Osama bin Laden is hiding these days. Pakistan was India then. But Hitler was not ready for that due to engagements elsewhere. In SE Asia to Bose tried guerilla warfare. He contacted Ho Chi Minh little beofre he disappeared from Saigon.
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About medals I would not know. Bose and some of his men could speak German. One of them was NG Swami who was trained by the Nazis in secret service. Swami followed Bose to SE Asia in a submarine. i dont recall if he was caught by the Allies. Later on, he joined Indian intellgece service. In fact most of Bose' top men had good life after the war. Nehru did not want them to regroup in India so he gave them good jobs in foreign missions.
Btw, Bose paid back all the money, 10 million marks I think, that the Nazis had spent on him and the Legion. With thanks ofcourse. Indians in SE Asia gave huge donations.
Btw, Bose paid back all the money, 10 million marks I think, that the Nazis had spent on him and the Legion. With thanks ofcourse. Indians in SE Asia gave huge donations.
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Legion of Free Indians
What was the religious/regional breakdown of the group? Does anyone know?
Re: Legion of Free Indians
Marcus' Factbook had the information before but it is not there anymore AFAIK, it mentioned 2/3rd Hindu and 1/3rd Muslim... though I am not too confident about that number (and it's wrong to consider Sikhs as Hindus).Misty Dawn Bright wrote:What was the religious/regional breakdown of the group? Does anyone know?
I think if you try a search on the Legion Freies Indien der Waffen SS, you might find this because I remember having made a post about this a few weeks/months back
It's hard to find any picture as there, as I understand it, was only one meeting between Bose and Hitler. But I'll keep on looking.
Found this though. Don't know if it is of interest but here goes. Some stamps depicting Bose and Azad Hind
Stamps
And some more pictures
From this page: Foreign Volunteers in the German Armed Forces 1939 - 1945
/Mikael Sundholm
Found this though. Don't know if it is of interest but here goes. Some stamps depicting Bose and Azad Hind
Stamps
And some more pictures
From this page: Foreign Volunteers in the German Armed Forces 1939 - 1945
/Mikael Sundholm