From StuartL - Indian National Army

In my last post, I said that here in Japan we don't have a quarantine. Well, we still don't. Last week the government issued an emergency declaration, but they have no legal way to enforce a full lockdown. Instead companies are being asked to close if they can or to reduce staff in the office where possible. So, I have been furloughed for a month or so. While I understand that teaching a foreign language when all overseas travel has stopped is not a top priority, it was still a bit of a blow to my ego to be informed that I was non-essential. On the other hand, it should give me a bit more time for painting, assembling minis and working on the lead mountain.

For this entry, I have painted up some units for the Indian National Army. As I guess most people are generally less well informed about the WW2 battles in Burma and India than say, Normandy, I feel I should offer some explanation.

Once the Japanese army overran the British in Singapore, Malaysia and Burma they took a large number of prisoners. Among the large number of Indian prisoners captured, there were some of them who thought that the Japanese might be the best way to free their homeland of British rule. In 1942 the POW's formed the first Indian National Army, but it was disbanded later that year. It reformed under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose, a young, radical politician who was in hiding from the British and looking to gain support for an independent India from both Germany and later Japan. As well as those hoping for a way to create massive political change at home, there were also a lot of soldiers who signed up as a way out of the Japanese POW camps.

Equipped with captured British equipment, including the older style Khaki Drill uniforms and lightly armed in comparison to both the British-Indian army and their Japanese allies, the INA was meant to lead the Japanese way into India. The idea was that upon seeing their former comrades 'liberating' India, other local units would defect and overthrow the British. When they encountered their fellow Indians, the INA troops were seen as being traitors and were often shot by their fellow countrymen if they were captured. When this harsh reality came to light, it severely damaged the morale of the INA. Add to this the fact that the Japanese high command saw them as being more of a nuisance than a professional fighting force, often assigning them guard duties or construction tasks, and it should come as no surprise that the INA was not successful in it's aims during the war. 

Even if the INA had been successful in liberating India from the British Raj, they were aware that their allies might simply have moved in to replace the Raj, thus preventing Indian independence. On the Japanese side of things, there was certainly the benefit of propaganda to be had from the INA, but they were largely sidelined during the attempted invasion of India that led to the battles of Kohima and Imphal. When the Japanese invasion was halted and then reversed, parts of the INA force formed a rearguard for the fleeing Japanese formations, holding back the British advance before falling back themselves. 

After the war was over, the Indian view of the INA changed quite quickly. While they had been criticized for taking up arms against their fellow countrymen during the war, post-war they were treated as true patriots. Trials of captured INA soldiers generated massive sympathy across the country and, despite being convicted and sentenced to exile from India, the INA commanders were instead released. All captured INA troops were released as well, though they lost any pay or allowances they would have been due if they had remained POW's. They were also forbidden from joining the newly formed Indian Armed Forces as one of the conditions for Independence. Subhas Chandra Bose died in 1945 while attempting to flee to Russia, unfortunately never living to see India becoming free of the Raj.

All of the models are from Warlord Games' plastic British 8th Army set. Sadly very little information about this formation exists, especially in English sources. There is an Osprey coming out in a few months time that covers the INA along with some other Japanese allies, so I will definitely be picking that up. As such, I have had to paint up the troops in what I hope is somewhat accurate colours and hope for the best. Since I'm the only real button counting grognard in my group, I doubt anyone will care except me though. These troops will serve as an allied contingent for my growing Japanese army for the Burma campaigns.

If anyone wants to know more about the battles in Burma and India, I thoroughly recommend Road of Bones by Fergal Keane.

In total there are 30 figures, but since 5 of them are prone and only count for half, I'll be adding 137.5 points to my overall score and my Bolt Action Era side duel. This should give me a total of 292.5 overall and 222.5 respectively.
If anyone else wants to join in the side duel, the rules are simple.

The Bolt-action Brush Battle.

Duelists attempt to paint the most minis from the era of the bolt action rifle, roughly 1825-1955 (The first bolt action rifle was developed in 1824 and the last major conflict before it was largely replaced by automatic weapons was the Korean War).

Any scale, any army, any type of miniature is fine. Models need not have an actual rifle, just fit into the appropriate period, so aircraft, ships and buildings are all acceptable.

Scoring will be done by participants using the usual AHPC scoring system found here: http://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/11/x-marks-spot-10th-annual-analogue.html.

Participants are responsible for tracking their own scores.