Francis P Sempa
World War II birthed the anti-colonial Indian National Army (INA), a force composed of former imperial troops and civilian recruits that fought with Japan against the British and helped to accelerate India’s independence from Great Britain. Like most aspects of World War II, these developments were messy, complicated, and filled with tragedy. Gautam Hazarika, a former banker turned World War II historian, tells the story of one of the war’s lesser-known tragedies—the fate of Indian prisoners of war in the aftermath of Japan’s conquest of Malaya and Singapore.
This is Hazarika’s first book. It is a well-sourced and highly-detailed account of “surrender, loyalty, betrayal, and hell”. Approximately 67,000 Indian soldiers helped the British defend Malaya and Singapore, to no avail. Hazarika notes that the well-planned Japanese offensive caught the British by surprise and led to an ignominious retreat and defeat. Britain even lost two of its warships—the Prince of Wales and Repulse—which resulted in Japan controlling the sea, air, and land in and around Singapore.
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