Bose in Nazi Germany

Title: Bose in Nazi Germany

Author: Romain Hayes

Publisher:  Random House India, 2011 (First)

ISBN: 978-81-8400-184-6

Pages: 197

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is an enigmatic figure in Indian freedom struggle. His strong personal traits, firm beliefs and inimitable course of action soon alienated him from other Congress leaders who flocked under the wings of Gandhiji. Bose’s charisma rose skyward when he escaped from India, reached Germany during the Second World War and worked steadfastly to assure the nation’s freedom from British imperialist yoke. It was not his fault that the tide of the war turned against his allies. Though his mission ended in abject failure, many Indians still revere him as a superman with semi-mythical accoutrement. They even refuse to believe the fact that he died in a plane crash en route to Tokyo through war ravaged territory. This book, claimed to be the first account of Bose’s activities in Hitler’s Germany describes the two years from April 1941 to April 1943 when Bose stayed in Axis-controlled Europe. It is narrated by Romain Hayes, who is a historian who has specialized on German foreign policy during the Second World War. He is presently working on political and military interactions between Indian nationalists and the Japanese during the war. So we can safely expect a sequel to this good work.

Subhas Chandra Bose has a love-hate relationship with other Congress leaders, including Gandhiji. Though the latter helped him ascend the presidency of the party in 1938, within just one year found him to be a thorn in the flesh. Bose, however fought Gandhi’s candidate and won in the election held in 1939, but was soon to discover that non-cooperation was a Gandhian weapon not reserved for the British alone. Gandhi’s hostile acts forced him to resign the post and go back to Calcutta. While incarcerated at his own home there, he escaped and reached Berlin through Moscow and Kabul on fake Italian diplomatic credentials in April 1941. The early victories scored by Germany made him think that they would turn out to be the eventual winner. His plan was to persuade them to attack India through Afghanistan with the help of 50,000 German troops. Once the attack began, he hoped the Indian army would defect to their side. Also, plans were afoot to turn the lawless Afghan tribals headed by the Fakir of Ipi against the British. All these had a prerequisite in Germany recognising India’s independent status through a declaration, which, to Bose’s surprise, the Germans were unwilling to offer. Hitler was not prepared to alienate the British even at that point and was planning to make peace with them after he had finished with Soviet Union. The fact was that the Germans had planned to make Bose a pawn in their own tactical games, rather than the other way round. He was disgusted at the undue delay in getting a declaration and his failure, even to meet Hitler in person at that stage. Bose was a leftist, with known sympathies to the Soviet Union. When Germany invaded them, on June 22, 1941 as Operation Barbarossa, he was depressed. Initial German victories soon persuaded him to stay with the leaders, but without getting any political mileage.

When the Japanese plunged into the war on Dec 7, 1941, by attacking Pearl Harbour, Bose had to accommodate them also in his war plans. Stunning initial Japanese success in South East Asia and the wresting of British naval bases at Singapore imparted an aura of invincibility to them. They soon overran Burma and bombed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It seemed only a matter of time before they pounced on India. Bose met Japanese envoys in Berlin and was surprised to hear that they had already formed an Indian National Army (INA) out of captured prisoners-of-war in southeast Asia to fight alongside them. This detail, if it is historically correct, departs diametrically against the conventional wisdom in India where INA was thought and taught to be the brainchild of Bose. Impending Japanese success prompted him to switch sides once again by jumping on to the Asian side.

In April 1943, Bose was taken on a German submarine and secretly transferred to a Japanese one in the middle of Indian ocean. He reached Sumatra and flew to Tokyo to meet the dignitaries. A provisional free Indian government was established in Singapore in Oct 1943, in which he assumed the positions of Head of State, Prime Minister, Minister of War and Minister of Foreign Affairs. For increased legitimacy, Japan transferred the islands of Andaman and Nicobar to it. However, the tide had already turned against Axis powers by then. In March 1944, Japanese and INA troops launched a joint offensive against India from Burma, but was soon decimated. Hitler ridiculed their efforts claiming that they had ‘dispersed like a flock of sheep’. Bose remained defiant, but died in a plane crash during the closing days of the war.

The book assumes significance in bringing out the true nature of relationships between the prominent actors in the game. Present-day admirers of Bose are hardpressed to account for his aligning with a dictatorial and racist regime and even his own fascist and dictatorial leanings. Bose was an admirer of Mussolini who seemed to have reciprocated the feelings. Netaji was also fond of many fascist characteristics like supremacy of the state, planned industrialization, one-party rule and the suppression of opposition, which he desired to replicate in India. “Nothing less than a dictator is needed to put our social customs right”, he wrote privately to a friend (p.14). On the interesting aspect of Hitler’s true feelings towards India, this book is an eye opener. Since he captured office in 1933 till the onset of war, Hitler sought to please Britain as a quid pro quo for accepting German superiority in Europe while he was willing to recognise British dominance in overseas colonies. The Fuhrer’s real concerns about India was amply made clear when former Indian viceroy, Lord Irwin visited him prior to the war. Hitler said to him, “All you have to do is to shoot Gandhi. If necessary, shoot more leaders of Congress. You’ll be surprised how quickly the trouble will die down.” It is said that Lord Irwin stared at him first in bewilderment, then in contempt! Hitler is also known to have remarked that Indian independence movement was a rebellion of the inferior Hindu race against the valorous Anglo-Nordic which only had the right to dominate the world (p.4).

The book also force us to observe the double standards inherent in Bose’s wartime activities. In 1934, when he was touring Europe, he wrote ‘The Indian Struggle’, in which he stressed the need for closer relationships between Fascist-Nazi regimes and Congress. However, when he was to assume presidency of Congress in 1938 with Gandhi’s help, he changed track during a visit to Britain. He then said that “my political ideas have developed further since I wrote my book three years ago”. However, just two years later he again changed sides and stood with the winning side. His pro-left attitude didn’t prevent him from continue to ride along the Nazis when they treacherously turned against Soviet Union. The adage, ‘The end justifies the means’ is as true of him as it is to some politicians today. Even the oath taken by Bose’s recruited Indian soldiers in Konigsberg, Germany was Hitlerian. It ran thus, “I swear by God this holy oath, that I will obey the leader of the German state and people, Adolf Hitler, Commander of the German Armed Forces, in the fight for the freedom of India, in which fight the leader is Subhas Chandra Bose, and that as a brave soldier, I am willing to lay down my life for this oath” (p.136).

The book, though appearing to be impartial exhibits a subtle tilt towards Britian and her allies. Objectivity is however given due prominence that the reader is often compelled to believe that the events had been played out exactly as the author has described. The singularly compact nature of the window of history the book purports to address makes the narrative somewhat a chapter in a long stream of events. Perhaps Bose’s clandestine operations along side the Japanese might also find its due place in future editions. Anyway, the author is busy on it. The book also exhibits some of the characteristics of the product of academia, like a thesis paper for doctoral research. However, this is only conjecture. The work is easy to read and lucent to the extreme. You could even figure out what went inside Bose’s mind!

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star