Mahatma Gandhi

“The fire of independence is burning just as bright in my breast in the most fiery breast in this country, but ways and methods differ.”
There is a lost part of history that the British Government has kept secretive since the end of World War Two. This is a forgotten chapter in the book of India’s History. There were actually thousands of Indian Soldiers that were duped into fighting for Germany under the rouse that they would be fighting to rid India of the British. In April of 1941 Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian revolutionary leader, came to Berlin in hopes of securing aid in his quest for Indian Independance. Within six months the Germans began issuing propeganda speaches, radio broadcasts and flyers in hopes of getting more Indians to join the fight. In 1941 Germany recognized Bose as the leader of the provisional Free Indian Government in exile. He thought the Germans would train the soldiers and give them provisions, weapons and uniforms in order to take back India by force. In the POW camps Germany recruited thousands of Indian soldiers captured from Rommel’s Afrika campaign. These soldiers became known as the Free India Legion. They swore an oath to Germany that is said to be “I swear by God this holy oath that I will obey the leader of the German race and state, Adolf Hitler, as the commander of the German armed forces in the fight for India, whose leader is Subhas Chandra Bose.”
The Free India Legion believed they would be trained by the Germans and parachuted to India to combat the British. However, things were not to be for them. After the battle of Stalingrad it was clear that Germany would neither be in the position to assist much less drive the British out of India. Bose saw that there would be no hope for the German alliance and fled to Japan where he tried to raise a force to march on India. The Free India Legion never made it to India and was used in various propeganda battles in Holland and France until they were driven out with the other German troops after D-Day. A year after the war the Indian troops were sent home and released after short jail terms. A few leaders were put to trial but the charges were dropped after the Indian Army mutinied and civilians protested in the streets.Eventually Indian Independance was secured by Gandhi’s non-violent policies that showed the British that India would no longer be a co-operative part of it’s empire. Bose never got to see India’s independance as he died in 1945. Though at least now the story his attempts to free India will be known.