"The Japanese encountered resistance from some indigenous peoples, to be sure, and not only from those ethnic groups and elites that had done relatively well under Western colonial rule. The overwhelming majority of Indians showed no interest in the kind of liberation the Japanese had in mind for them. In the Philippines the peasant Hukbalahap movement waged a guerrilla war against them; in Burma the Karen and Kachin hill tribes also resisted Japanese rule. Nevertheless, the Japanese had no difficulty in finding collaborators among both anti-European nationalists and opportunists. Indian nationalists had not forgotten the 1919 Amritsar Massacre; it was in March 1940 that Udham Singh assassinated Sir Michael O'Dwyer, who had been Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab at that time. Though the majority of Congress leaders eschewed collaboration with the Japanese - in practice, 'Quit India' meant neutrality, albeit with a great deal of circumlocution - Subhas Chandra Bose enthusiastically hailed 'the end of the British Empire' and called on Indians to join the Axis side. Around 3,500 answered the initial call from Berlin of the self-proclaimed Netaji ('leader') to form an Indian Army of Liberation, most of them Indians who had been taken prisoner by the Germans in North Africa. When he reached Asia - having travelled by U-boat from Kiel to Sumatra - Bose was able to recruit a further 45,000 men (again mostly prisoners from Singapore and elsewhere) to his Indian National Army and the Axis cause."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Niall Ferguson, The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West (2006), p. 500-501
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Subhas Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian nationalist whose defiant patriotism made him a hero in India, but whose attempt during World War II to rid India of British rule with the help of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan left an ambivalent legacy.
20 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Subhas Chandra Bose →
Related Quotes
"Give me blood and I will give you freedom."
"Reality is, after all, too big for our frail understanding to fully comprehend. Nevertheless, we have to build our li…"
"You will readily understand my mental condition as I stand on the threshold of what the man-in-the-street would call …"
"It is only on the basis of undiluted Nationalism and of perfect justice and impartiality that the Indian Army of Libe…"
"One of the dreams that have inspired me and given a purpose to my life is that of a great and undivided Bengal … a Be…"
"When we stand, the Azad Hind Fauz has to be like a wall of granite; when we march, the Azad Hind Fauz has to be like …"
"Nobody would be more happy than ourselves if by any chance our countrymen at home should succeed in liberating themse…"
"Gird up your loins for the task that now lies ahead. I had asked you for men, money and materials. I have got them in…"
"It is blood alone that can pay the price of freedom. Give me blood and I will give you freedom!"
"India is calling. Blood is calling to blood. Get up, we have no time to lose. Take up your arms ! we shall carve our …"