After capture: Free Indian Legion in German service

Last week the name Free Indian legion appeared in:What have you learned about WW2 recently? and a few members responded with Posts 1372, 1374, 1375 & 1376. Later I found that there was a little more information here and in a few other places, such as YouTube.

This renegade unit formed mainly from Indian Army POWs captured in North Africa deserved its own thread. Some volunteered, others coerced and for doubtless other reasons.

First the older information found in only three threads. I expect there are far more on the Indian National Army (INA) formed after the surrender @ Singapore, but have not looked..

Rumdoodle (last logged in February 2023) started a thread: I’m interested in those Indians who joined the German army – the 950 regiment, Legion Freies Indien, Aza Hind Fauj. They were mostly recruited via Stalag IV D/Z Annaburg.

From: Indian POWs in Europe

Andreas added: Until December 1941, Indian POWs were the responsibility of the Italian forces in North Africa. The Germans then requested for them to be turned over, as they started with the Legion.

A 2006 thread covers the Legion, in part by relating the story of an Indian Officer who when a POW was asked to join: Indian POWs in Europe

Vob Poop added: he Indian legions and Chandra Bose were covered by some fascinating BBC programmes last year with some interesting pictures of German Uniforms topped by Turbans. The BBC had accounts of German Officers who had been all the way through the Eastern Front finally deserting as they were so appalled at the behaviour of the troops under their command. While Bose may have believed he was fighting for independence I suspect most of his men were more interested in getting out of POW camps. Good Feldgrau Article. No longer available

Another member added: As to the ex POWs, again those who joined the Germans were a very small number, whereas those who joined the Japanese numbered in the tens of thousands. Anyway, the Legion Freies Indien, were composed of students studying in Germany at the time of the start of the war, and a few POWs. As VP points out, a complete waste of time. The LGI were also mixed, religiously.

Kuno added in 2009: There were no Indian troops fighting alongside the Germans in North Africa. The only "fighting" unit was the 'Indian Legion' called 'Assad Hind' (Free India). They were equipped in tropical uniforms but have never seen a tropical region. Their main purpose was to act as a propaganda unit and later they were employed in France and Holland. During the later days they became known for some crimes against the civilian population.

The 'Indian Legion' was raised by the Abwehr under Admiral Canaris and a condition agreed with the soldiers and Bose was that they shall not be employed against any other Indian troops and only to free India from British rule. Fairly difficult for the Germans to employ the unit under this condition.

The Germans faced a lot of problems with them. Muslim Indians did not eat the food prepared in the same kitchen as the one for Hindu Indians etc.

Whilst Bose was dealing with the Abwehr, Nehru was doing the same with the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. Two 'competitive' organisations...

From: India during WWII

Post 14 has the B&W photo of Rommel inspecting an Indian Legion member.

Drew 522 added: Indian Legion - Wikipedia

The recent posts and a little research now.

Michael Bully’s post: With my interest in Occupied Netherlands/Flemish Belgium saw a feature made by Dutch TV about a descendant of an Indian Soldier who was serving with the Third Reich and stationed in Zandvoort, on the Dutch coast. Have located an English language programme on French TV Hitler's Indian Soldiers: The Free India Legion. These soldiers were originally fighting for Britain but taken prisoner by the Germans and Italians, largely in the North Africa campaign. Indian Nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose reached Berlin in April 1941 and established the Free India Centre there. And an Indische Legion was established.

The Occupied Dutch seemed to take to the Reich's Indian soldiers, including the young women.

Have to admit had not really considered the Indian soldiers who fought for the Reich, and how they were viewed both by the British and by the Indians in the run up to Indian independence. Fascinating aspect of the war.

Lindele: I think in these days some of the NS party leaders considered the Indians as Aryans. Stefan

Later: I think that the more mystical Nazis such as Himmler possibly felt an affinity with the Indians, I am not sure how Hitler viewed the Indians, but Indian nationalists could be a threat to the British Empire so there was a pragmatic case to offer support. and pause ideological concerns.

Not sure how many members the Indian Legion recruited at their peak; the above programme stated 3,000 which is not a large number compared with how many Indians fought for Britain

My post: A 2010 thread (with two posts) refers to a 2010 book. See: The Free Indian Legion - Home Page and led to a reply by Jedburgh:

These were the people who committed a lot of atrocities against civilians and the resistance in France during 1944. For 'political' reasons many escaped court-martial post war.

From: One for Hitler's Foreign Legion fans? The book is available, although almost no reviews found: https://www.amazon.co.uk/FREE-INDIA-INDIAN-SOLDIERS-GERMANY/dp/9460190162/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3IZGOTW6APK0A&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.C_SzvdMGq20Zxmbc28X8P7pVjLNrHudntU9DLNJXLnTy4DjmZvFNJGAqOUjenk9V1c1Ltd1oKh37rVDLmxtmvnMYpxDoQ8G7JqYpOh9MBrkRDJhPi-nKW9A8dojdQRyE.q3zEZngrbbGFxy22L0ITcpO9ex7-g8Unaq7E_270D4E&dib_tag=se&keywords=for+free+india&qid=1747230722&s=books&sprefix=for+free+india,stripbooks,93&sr=1-1

The Dutch TV documentary is short (12m) and in summary states the Legion was formed in 1941, underwent training for two years, moved to Holland, but were moved on before winter to SW France. They manned coastal defences until D-Day, when they started to retire - running for the first time into combat (not stated who with Free French / French Resistance / US Army) and those who survived if not shot were handed over to the British. They were returned to India, being held in the Red Fort, Delhi and after public agitation were released. Curiously it was an all-faiths unit.

Mark Felton has a 5min episode; he refers to 10k volunteers, 4.5k actually served. 59% Hindu, 25% Muslims, 14% Sikhs and 2% Others. They moved from Holland to SW France in September 1943. They became a three battalion regiment, 950th Panzer Grenadier Indian; with supporting arms. After D-Day it became a Waffen SS unit, in August 1944 it started to leave France. Some tried to escape into Switzerland, but the Swiss stopped that and most were captured by the French Army, the Moroccans shot many and the US Army. One company served in Italy on anti-partisan operations and surrendered to the British.
From:

Another YouTube clip refers to the unit be 'loathed and feared' in SW France, especially after D-Day around Bordeaux it joined in rounding up forced labour and anti-partisan action. There is one photo of Rommel inspecting some of them.
See:

There are few other YouTube clips - not id'd with Free Indian legion.

Jagan posted after accessing Indian records (January 2025):

The other day I read some files on Indian POWs in Europe, including reports of solders joining the free Indian legion and to my surprise, an Italian predecessor called the CMI that was disbanded within two months. There are tons of names, reports - it’s a gold mine for any IA researcher into Indian POWs in Europe. Link: https://www.abhilekh-patal.in/jspui/handle/123456789/2821066

From: The Indian National Archives - Abhilekh-Patal.in - Recent Updates

 

A useful round-up! Thank you David! There is a lot of good information in the de-briefs and assessments found in WO 106/5881 in the National Archives.
Amongst the papers there, is a copy of the Oath of Allegiance that members of the Free India Legion swore -

“I swear by God this holy oath, that I will obey the leader of the German race and state, Adolf Hitler, as commander of the German armed forces, in the fight for the freedom of India,
whose leader is Subhas Chandra Bose, and that as a brave soldier, I am willing to lay down my life for this oath."

The Italian "predecessor"; the Battaglione Azad Hindoustan was quietly shelved after three months when its members lost interest in the idea following the outcome of the battle of El Alamein!