Description
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss The Forgotten Army (2020), a Hindi-language miniseries directed by Kabir Khan about the Indian National Army: the soldiers who broke away from the British Indian Army and allied with Japan to fight for India’s independence during World War II. We talk about the all-female combat regiment, the Rani of Jhansi, and World War II as a hinge in history. For India, it meant independence, though the end of World War II was only the beginning of that fight.
The Thin Red Line trailer
What else to listen to and watch
First of all, the documentary The Forgotten Army was based on:
And here are the podcasts we listened to:
The Forgotten Army Historical Context
The British Indian Army
The British Indian Army was the largest volunteer army in history, with over two and a half million soldiers deployed during World War II. Indians who served were often motivated by loyalty, economic necessity, or the expectation that military service would lead to greater political concessions from Britain. When those concessions failed to materialise after World War I, disillusionment fuelled the nationalist movements that defined the interwar years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Indian_Army
The Fall of Singapore
In February 1942, Japanese forces captured Singapore in eight days, facing a British garrison that outnumbered them almost three to one. The Japanese conquered the Malay Peninsula on bicycles (Bicycle Blitz), even though the British had thought the terrain impassable. Churchill called it the worst military disaster in British history. The fall undermined British imperial authority across Asia and inspired independence movements throughout the region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Singapore
The Indian National Army
The Indian National Army was formed in 1942, after Indian prisoners of war captured by Japan sided with them after the fall of Singapore. Led by nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bose from 1943 onward, the INA declared war on Britain and launched a campaign toward the Indian border. Though ultimately defeated in the battles of Imphal and Kohima, the INA’s post-war trials galvanised Indian public opinion and helped determine the end of British rule.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Army
The Rani of Jhansi Regiment
The Rani of Jhansi Regiment was an all-women combat unit within the INA, led by Dr Lakshmi Sahgal. Around 80 per cent of its members were teenage plantation workers from Malaya and Singapore with no prior military experience. They trained in weapons handling, jungle warfare, and medicine. Although the INA’s advance was turned back before the regiment could be deployed in frontline combat, the regiment was considered a full combat unit and held significant symbolic value against British colonial rule.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_of_Jhansi_Regiment
The Battles of Imphal and Kohima
In 1944, Japanese forces, with the support of the INA, launched Operation U-Go, aimed at capturing British supply bases at Imphal, on the Indian border. The British held on and brought up reinforcements that the Japanese had not anticipated. Caught in monsoon conditions without supplies, the Japanese 15th Army suffered big losses: of 85,000 men, an estimated 53,000 were killed or went missing. It was one of the biggest defeats in Japanese military history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Imphal
The INA Trials and Indian Independence
In late 1945, the British court-martialled three prominent INA officers at the Red Fort in Delhi. A Sikh, a Muslim, and a Hindu, all Punjabi, were charged with waging war against the King. The choice of defendants backfired spectacularly: the trials became a focal point for nationalist outrage, and the story of the INA spread across India. By the time the sentences were suspended in early 1946, the Royal Indian Navy had mutinied, and British rule in India was effectively finished. India achieved independence in August 1947.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Army_trials
Partition of India
When India became independent in August 1947, the British divided the subcontinent into two states: India and Pakistan. The border was drawn in 36 days by a lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe, who had never set foot in India. The partition caused one of the largest mass migrations in human history, displacing approximately 15 million people and killing hundreds of thousands in the violence that erupted after. Many INA veterans who had fought for a free India found themselves refugees in the country they had fought to liberate.
Other episodes mentioned
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