Subhas Chandra Bose (1897–1945) led the Azad Hind (Free India) movement and reorganised the Indian National Army (INA) during the Second World War, allying with the Axis powers to seek Indian independence by force. Its Southeast Asia campaigns, the INA soldiers, and the post-war trials at the Red Fort became a significant chapter in India's freedom struggle, one still assessed in varied ways by historians.
Who was Subhas Chandra Bose?
Subhas Chandra Bose was born on 23 January 1897 in Cuttack, in present-day Odisha. He studied in Calcutta and later at the University of Cambridge, and in 1920 qualified for the Indian Civil Service — a prestigious appointment he resigned to join the national movement. He rose within the Indian National Congress and was elected its president twice, in 1938 (Haripura) and 1939 (Tripuri).
Bose's political outlook differed on questions of method and strategy from some other Congress leaders. Following disagreements after the 1939 session, he resigned the presidency and formed the Forward Bloc within the Congress. In 1940 he was placed under house arrest by the colonial authorities. In early 1941 he left Calcutta in a widely documented escape, travelling overland through Afghanistan and the Soviet Union to reach Germany. His life and career are set within the wider movement in our freedom fighters of India overview.
Key milestones in Bose's life
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1897 | Born on 23 January in Cuttack |
| 1920 | Passed the Indian Civil Service examination; resigned to join the national movement |
| 1938 & 1939 | Elected Congress president (Haripura, then Tripuri) |
| 1939 | Resigned as president; founded the Forward Bloc |
| 1941 | Left India; travelled to Germany |
| 1943 | Reached Southeast Asia; assumed leadership of the INA and formed the Azad Hind government |
| 1945 | Reported to have died on 18 August in a plane crash in Taipei |
The origins of the Indian National Army
The Indian National Army was first formed in 1942 in Southeast Asia, drawing largely on Indian prisoners of war captured by Japanese forces after the fall of Singapore, together with Indian civilians resident in the region. Captain Mohan Singh was associated with the earliest formation of the force. This first INA faced internal difficulties and was effectively disbanded later in 1942 amid disagreements over its role and its relationship with the Japanese command.
The Indian Independence League, in which figures such as Rash Behari Bose were active, provided the political framework in the region. When Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Southeast Asia in 1943, he took over leadership of the League and revived and reorganised the INA, giving the movement renewed organisation and a defined political leadership. The INA's story sits within the broader chronology set out in our India freedom struggle timeline.
Azad Hind: the Provisional Government of Free India
On 21 October 1943, in Singapore, Bose proclaimed the Provisional Government of Azad Hind (Free India), with himself as head of state, head of government and minister for war. The Azad Hind government issued its own currency, stamps and civil code, and was recognised by several Axis and Axis-aligned states. It declared war on Britain and the United States.
A notable feature of the movement was the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, a women's combat unit led by Captain Lakshmi Sahgal. Bose promoted the slogans "Jai Hind" and "Chalo Delhi", and he is popularly attributed with the exhortation "Give me blood and I will give you freedom," associated with a speech he delivered in Burma in 1944.
Symbols and institutions of Azad Hind
- A provisional government with its own ministries and administrative structure
- Issued currency, postage stamps and official proclamations
- The Rani of Jhansi Regiment, a women's military unit
- The slogans "Jai Hind" and "Chalo Delhi"
- Administration extended over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were placed under nominal Azad Hind control
The Southeast Asia campaigns
In 1944, INA units advanced alongside the Japanese Army from Burma toward north-eastern India in the campaigns associated with Imphal and Kohima. INA troops crossed into Indian territory in Manipur and Nagaland, and the movement placed great symbolic weight on planting its flag on Indian soil. The offensive, however, was halted. The Japanese and INA forces faced severe logistical shortages, monsoon conditions, disease and sustained resistance, and by mid-1944 the campaign had failed with heavy casualties.
As the war turned against Japan through 1944 and 1945, the INA's position deteriorated. With the Japanese surrender in August 1945, the military phase of the movement came to an end. On 18 August 1945, Bose was reported to have died in a plane crash at Taipei, in Japanese-occupied Taiwan. The circumstances of his death have been the subject of official inquiries and enduring public debate, and remain contested in some accounts.
The INA trials and their impact
After the war, captured INA personnel were brought back to India, and the British authorities held courts-martial at the Red Fort in Delhi beginning in late 1945. The first and most prominent case involved three officers — Prem Kumar Sahgal, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and Shah Nawaz Khan — tried together on charges including waging war against the King-Emperor.
The trials attracted extraordinary public attention across India. A defence committee that included prominent Congress lawyers took up the cases, and the proceedings became a focal point for nationalist sentiment, cutting across community lines. The three officers in the first trial were found guilty and sentenced, but the sentences of transportation were remitted amid widespread public reaction, and the officers were released. The period also saw associated unrest, including the Royal Indian Navy events of early 1946.
The INA trials at a glance
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Venue | Red Fort, Delhi |
| Start | Late 1945 |
| First case | Sahgal, Dhillon and Khan tried together |
| Principal charge | Waging war against the King-Emperor |
| Outcome | Convictions in the first trial; sentences of transportation remitted; officers released |
| Wider effect | Broad public mobilisation; contributed to the atmosphere of 1945–46 |
How historians assess the INA and Bose
The Indian National Army and Subhas Chandra Bose are assessed across a range of scholarly views, and this article presents that range without adjudicating between them.
- On military impact, some historians emphasise that the INA's Southeast Asia campaign did not achieve its objectives and was militarily defeated, while others stress its symbolic significance for the independence movement.
- On the trials, assessments differ over how much the public response to the Red Fort courts-martial, and the associated unrest, weighed in Britain's calculations about the position of the armed forces and the timing of the transfer of power, relative to other factors.
- On the alliance with the Axis, historians have debated Bose's decision to seek support from Germany and Japan; some frame it strictly in terms of wartime strategy against colonial rule, while others weigh it against the character of those regimes. Scholars continue to discuss these questions.
- On strategy versus the mainstream movement, accounts vary on how the armed, externally supported approach related to the predominantly non-violent mass movement in India.
These debates form part of the wider, genuinely contested history of the freedom struggle, in which the contributions of revolutionaries, constitutionalists and mass movements are studied together rather than ranked. Readers can place these events within the full narrative through our Independence Day 2026 pillar and the account of what happened on 15 August 1947, when British rule ended and the Partition of India in 1947 also took place.
The 80th Independence Day and remembering the INA
India marks 15 August 2026 as its 80th Independence Day, which corresponds to 79 completed years of independence since 1947. It is sometimes described inaccurately as the "79th Independence Day" — the reasoning behind the correct count is explained in our guide to the 80th vs 79th Independence Day 2026 question. As the country observes the day, the INA and Bose are among the many strands of the freedom movement remembered in official commemorations and public memory.
Quick review quiz
Test your recall of the key facts covered above.
- In which year did Bose proclaim the Provisional Government of Azad Hind? (1943)
- Where were the most prominent INA courts-martial held? (Red Fort, Delhi)
- What was the name of the women's regiment of the INA? (Rani of Jhansi Regiment)
- Which north-eastern campaigns did INA units join in 1944? (Imphal and Kohima)
- How many completed years of independence does 15 August 2026 mark? (79 completed years — the 80th Independence Day)