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Douglas L asked in Arts & HumanitiesHistory · 8 years ago

Indian Solders than joined the Japanese in WW2?

Many Indian solders in the British army joined the Japanese in WW2 after they were captured.

Why were they not all shot after the war ended? Certainly they were traitors.

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  • 8 years ago
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    Those that are still alive get a military pension from the Indian government still today.

    The 2 million + who fought for the British (the largest volunteer army in history) get nothing,and never have got anything from the Indian government since independence.

  • 8 years ago

    No, many Indian nationalists remained in Japan after the war as refugees. This is why Indian food is nothing new in Japan. In postwar Japan, being restaurateurs was one of the few ways they could make a living. Since it was already decided that the Raj would end by the summer of 45, no one pursued the "traitors". If they were in the US zone of occupation, it's not as if the Americans would be keen to enforce British colonial extraterritoriality in "their" Japan in any case. In the chaos of post-war Japan, how could they prove that a given Indian was once in the British army, and not in Japan as one of Bose's men in the first place?

  • 8 years ago

    Traitors to whom? To the British, certainly. To their fellow Indians, not so much.

    While these men were obviously misguided, they were doing what they felt would help India. It's just such a shame that they let their hatred of the British guide their actions. The Japanese would have been much, much worse for India.

  • 8 years ago

    I don't know about that but some did join the Germans(the SS even had an Indian division).

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