“Give me blood and I will give your freedom.” rallying cry of the Indian National Army (“INA”).
James joined the INA in 1943 in Singapore. He held the rank of Lieutenant. His motivations for joining the movement, unlike many other who were fighting for the independence of India, was his anti colonist ideals.
Veena Sikri previous indian high commissioner wrote a book
After the Battle of Imphal, on June 3 1944, INA and Japanese retreated to the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy. It was there that the INA was tasked to hold back the advancing British army. Heavily outnumbered and without air cover and artillery, the INA force was overwhelmed and forced to retreat again to Mount Popa from where they staged the guerilla attacks on the British supply lines.
Subash Chandra Bose left Burma on the 25 April 1945.
James was starving with his platoon in the jungles. They were completely cut off from the rest of the regiment and has no supplies. On one occassion he used a grenade to kill fish in a stream to feed his men. Although they were low on ammunitions, their survival was paramount.
James was captured and was interned in a Prisoner of War camp. He made friends with his guards. One of the guards gave him and British Indian Army uniform and smuggled him out of the camp to board a Dakota plane sent to airlift the British Army soldiers back to Calcutta.
The three field commanders Colonel Prem Sahgal, Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, and Major General Shah Nawaz Khan were captured by the British forces in their assault on the INA stronghold on Mount Popa on 17 May 1945.