Going to start a thread here, about someone DIFFERENT for a change.
Namely, the "Azad Hind" movement which eventually led to the I.N.A. and its leader, Subhas Chandra Bose.
Besides the Atlantic wall defences, anybody know off the top of their heads where else they served prior to THE Netanji heading off to East Asia and getting into some serious action against the Brits to help liberate Mother India?
Sto bog da, i sreca junacka
Wir Siegt on Allen Fronten!
+ Zivjela Hrvatska! +
-"Two things are unendless: the universe and human stupidity. But I am not so sure about the universe" Einstein
-Question: "Why do mountain climbers rope themselves together?" Answer: "To prevent the sensible ones from going home!" Anonymous
hi, in your thing there, no Azad Hind Legion Wehrmacht troops travelled to India into the INA. Only Bose travelled there, by U Boat. It would be intresteing to find a site about INA though.
Wait a second...recall something about TWO freighters flying either Norwegian or Swedish colors, dummy cargo of iron ore concealing smuggled personnel (The "Brand" and "Brand II") one of which did make it to the Far East, the second of which was intercepted...
This I think was from an INDIAN site about THE Netaji.
Now I have to find that link.
JAI HIND! JAI NETAJI! CHALHO DELHI!
Sto bog da, i sreca junacka
Wir Siegt on Allen Fronten!
+ Zivjela Hrvatska! +
As I recall the INA troopers both shipments were in mufti attempting to pass as Merchant Seamen if intercepted. (Didn't work so well when the Brand II got boarded...)
Sto bog da, i sreca junacka
Wir Siegt on Allen Fronten!
+ Zivjela Hrvatska! +
Just to add some interesting about Indian SS legionnaires,
There were several sources that mentioned the presence of individuals of Indian SS legionnaires who participated during the Battle of Berlin. A research from Scotland has kindly provided me copies of testimony from Uscha Willi Rogmann of the LSSAH Wachtbataillon in Berlin that KG Rogmann had a single Indian legionnaire. Tony Le Tissier's book on Battle of Berlin had accounts by Uscha Rogmann. There is also a possibility that staffs and the Indian SS legionnaires who were guards at the Free India Center in Berlin participated during the Battle of Berlin.
Another source is from the memoirs (published in 2005) of a Russian soldier who participated in Battle of Berlin that an Indian SS legionnaire was captured at the end of the battle. However, it was not mentioned what has become of the Indian SS legionnaire
Robert Forbes's book on French volunteers of the Waffen (Pour L'Europe), mentioned that the interpreter of the Charlemagne divisional staff, Uscha Robert Soulat met two Indian SS legionnaires in Neustrelitz in 1945 who were lost and appeared at the Charlemagne HQ
James Lucas's book The Last days of the Reich mentioned that remnants of the Indian SS legion, together with the Hungarian Crown Guard and the St. Laszlo Division were in Austria participating in rearguard battles against the Soviets
The Indian Legion was a flop. Its main body had the unusual distinction of deserting WITH one of its German liaison officers in France in 1944.
Certainly a few small groups may have turned up in various places at the end of the war, but they are essentially curiosities and victims of circumstance without wider significance.
Cheers,
Sid.
P.S. "Hind" has now been "Azad" for 70 years, and the Indian Legion contributed absolutely nothing to it, or, indeed, to the Third Reich.
The Indian Legion was a flop. Its main body had the unusual distinction of deserting WITH one of its German liaison officers in France in 1944.
Certainly a few small groups may have turned up in various places at the end of the war, but they are essentially curiosities and victims of circumstance without wider significance.
Cheers,
Sid.
P.S. "Hind" has now been "Azad" for 70 years, and the Indian Legion contributed absolutely nothing to it, or, indeed, to the Third Reich.
Now I know why people find it so hard to agree with you. You could have left that last statement out....
Panzermahn: I have the book With Our Backs to Berlin from Le Tissier. Is that the one you are talking about? I didn't notice any reference, but wasn't exactly looking either.
The Indian Legion was a flop. Its main body had the unusual distinction of deserting WITH one of its German liaison officers in France in 1944.
Certainly a few small groups may have turned up in various places at the end of the war, but they are essentially curiosities and victims of circumstance without wider significance.
Cheers,
Sid.
P.S. "Hind" has now been "Azad" for 70 years, and the Indian Legion contributed absolutely nothing to it, or, indeed, to the Third Reich.
Hi Sid,
I never heard that a German liaison officer of the Indian Legion deserted in France? May I ask what is your source for it?
Panzermahn: I have the book With Our Backs to Berlin from Le Tissier. Is that the one you are talking about? I didn't notice any reference, but wasn't exactly looking either.
Hi k98_man,
I don't think so. The account of Uscha Willi Rogmann was in one of the Le Tissier's early books on Battle of Berlin. I forgot the title but its probably published in the late 1980s.
By the way, Le Tissier was the last commandant of the Spandau prison which incarcerated Rudolf Hess until his suicide (if i am not mistaken)
You write "Now I know why people find it so hard to agree with you. You could have left that last statement out...."
Why leave the last statement out? Is it inaccurate in some way?
Has "Hind" not been "Azad" for some 70 years?
What did the Indian Legion contribute to "Azad Hind" or the Third Reich?
The only reason I can see that anyone might find it difficult to agree with me on account of this is if they have an aversion to the facts. Fortunately, their failings are not my problem!
The INA, unlike the Indian Legion, did have a significant political impact on the speed with which India became free.
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