CHRONOLOGY OF AZAD HIND FAUJ

Azad Hind Fauj was an army formed by Indians during second world war to overthrow the colonial powers from India. Largely forgotten but its action shook the very foundation of the British empire from which it never recovered. “War criminal” tag given by the colonists, endorsed by once colleague of Bose later first Prime Minister of India Nehru still effective today and surprisingly no efforts made since then to remove it even though classified files concerning Bose have been made public. Baffling! yet true. Anyways this is a discussion for some other time. Let’s look at Azad Hind Fauj’s timeline.

• 24^th June 1942
  Indian Independence League was established in Bangkok.
• 8^th February 1943
  Bose Boarded German U-Boat U-180 and travelled to Asia. Later Japanse submarine I-29 Picked him up.
• 8^th May 1943
  Bose landed in Sabang, Sumatra then an imperial Japanese held territory.
• 4^th July 1943
  Subhas Chandra Bose became the head of Indian Independence League.
• 5th July 1943
  Azad Hind Fauj (INA) was established. The exact number is not known as most documents were destroyed by INA while retreating. It is said to have over sixty-thousand soldiers with several brigades such as Gandhi brigade, Nehru brigade, Azad brigade, Subhas brigade, Bahadur brigade, Rani Jhansi regiment, Chand Bibi Brigade etc.
  
  
• 9th July 1943
  Time has come for three million Indians living in East Asia to mobilise all their available resources including money and manpower. Half-hearted measures will not do. …Out of this total mobilisation I expect at least three hundred thousand soldiers and three crores that is thirty million dollars.”
  Subhas Chandra Bose at Padang rally.

• 12^th July 1943
  History’s first women-only Rani Jhansi regiment was established. Bose named it after the Legendary queen of Jhansi Rani Lakshimbai who fought against the East India Company to make India free and martyred while fighting.
  
• 25^th August 1943
  Bose became the commander-in-chief of the Azad Hind Fauj.
• 21^st October 1943
  The Azad Hind Government or the provisional government was formed in Singapore on and Subhas Chandra Bose was elected as the head of state of the government. The government was recognised by 11 countries including Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the Socialist Republic of Italy.
  
• 22^nd October 1943
  Rani Jhansi Regiment camp was established.
  
• 25^th 1943
  Azad Hind government declares war on Britain and its allies.
• 8^th November 1943
  Andaman Nicobar Islands was transferred to Azad Hind Fauj by the Japanese.
• 30^th December 1943
  Indian flag (The springing tiger) was hoisted in Port Blair by Bose.
• 18^th March 1944
  Indian National army crossed into India.
• 22^nd March 1944
  Colonel A.C. Chatterji became the first governor of liberated areas.
• 5^th April 1944
  Azad Hind bank was established. Indians and Indian origin civilians especially women from Malaya, Burma, Thailand responded overwhelming, donations were made. Famed war chest filled with gold of INA is still missing. Some historians belives that today it would be close to a thousand crores.
  
• 14^th April 1944
  Colonel Shaukat Ali Malik of Bahadur group (special operation group) planted the flag in Moirang village.
  
• 4^th July 1944
  “Give me blood and I shall give you freedom”
  Said Netaji while attending a rally in Burma.
  20^th July 1944
  Japanese forces retreated to Burma but INA remained dug in the frontline.
• 24^th August 1944
  Due to monsoon, disease and almost no supply, all operation was halted.
• 24^th April 1945
  INA abandoned Rangoon and Left for Bangkok.
• 3^rd May 1945
  INA along with its Japanese allies surrendered Rangoon to the British and allied forces.
• 8^th July 1945
  Bose laid the foundation stone for a hurriedly-built war memorial dedicated to the unknown fallen soldiers of the Indian National Army. On the memorial, INA’s motto was inscribed i.e Unity (Ittehad), Faith (Ittemad) and Sacrifice (Qurbani). Later Lord Luis Mountbatten ordered the destruction of the memorial.
• 18^th August 1945
  Bose boarded the Japanese military plane which later crashed.

The official version is, Bose died in the crash. However, rejection of Mukherjee commission reports and declassified files which mention of Nehru governments surveillance on Bose’s family for a long time makes one curious.We may never fully know what actually happened on that fateful day and why successive Indian governments failed to reveal the secrets of Bose and his missing war chest but there is no doubt that people of India have been fed a story for the past six decades which is too good to be true.

Image Credit : National Archive of Singapore | Wikipedia | Forgotten Armies