Subhash Chandra Bose by Hugh Toye

Author:Hugh Toye
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jaico Publishing House

7

DEFEAT IN BURMA

The story of the I.N.A. in the Japanese campaign of 1944 is long, intricate and closely interwoven with the actions of the Japanese regiments and divisions with which its soldiers campaigned. That story will one day be told. But although he followed it as well as Japanese Intelligence would allow, Bose had very little part in it and the barest outline will suffice here.

The Japanese employed three divisions in the Imphal offensive, rather more than one in the linked operation in Arakan. With each of the Imphal Division there were one hundred and fifty to two hundred irregulars of the I.N.A. special groups, organised in small parties to act as guides, interpreters, propagandists and spies, as the invaders probed forward through the vast, mountainous jungle. The force in Arakan had a similar group of about two hundred and fifty. These parties were of some nuisance value to the Japanese, shouting propaganda or confusing orders in encounters with British-Indian troops, leading them sometimes into Japanese ambushes and spying out their defence positions. On four occasions propaganda played some part in the capture of bodies of Indian soldiers, bodies of never more than platoon strength. One such incident, the subversion of an outspot platoon of the Gwalior Lancers in Arakan, may have contributed to the initial surprise achieved there by the Japanese. There were also atrocities: at Lamtong on about March 19th, a prisoner was bayoneted to death by two Indians under Japanese instructions. There was nothing else. For the most part the I.N.A. agents did what was expected of them when under the Japanese eye, but deserted as soon as there was a reasonable chance of escape.

The exploits of the I.N.A. regiments were more varied. Three were involved, the 1st (Subhash) Regiment with a strength of about three thousand men, the 2nd and 3rd Regiments each two thousand strong. One battalion of the 1st Regiment reached the Kaladan Valley on March 24th, as the 81st West African Division was withdrawing, and suffered a few casualties in two or three days of skirmishing with the rearguards. It remained there intact, without further encounter, until September, posting a company at Mowdok in the Sangu Valley, on Indian soil, during the monsoon.

The other two battalions, under Shah Nawaz and his Regimental Headquarters, maintained up to two companies in the Chin Hill Villages, Haka and Falam, from the beginning of March. There were three or four clashes with the British-led Chin Levies and one small expedition to capture a British patrol-base, before the monsoon broke. At the end of May six companies, by then reduced to about half-strength, were taken to reinforce the Japanese at Kohima. None of them reached Kohima: only Shah Nawaz and a few of his staff went further than Ukhrul, and then only for reconnaissance.

The 2nd and 3rd regiments, under the I.N.A. Divisional Commander, were in action on the left and right flanks respectively of the Japanese force on the Tamu-Palel road, during May, June and July. The 2nd

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