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Blackhorse -> Indian National Army (7/26/2004 3:14:16 AM)
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I recommend adding the four brigades and headquarters of the Azad Hind Fauz (Indian National Army, or INA) to the Japanese OOB, appearing in Singapore on December 1st, 1943.
I suspect that the relatively small size of the INA, and their limited historical combat role did not warrant all of the research necessary to wade through controversial questions about the size / organization / quality of the force and its leaders, and when it should be come available. So I have taken a stab at answering all those questions. Forgive my arrogance! I welcome any corrections.
I will post a justification and brief history of the INA on the WitP main board for anyone who wants to debate / discuss the merits of including this force. But, if for no other reason, the INA should be included to allow the Japanese player the ironic ability to attack with the Gandhi brigade! [X(]
Organization
The INA consisted of a headquarters, and four light infantry brigades (Azad, Gandhi, Nehru, Subhas) of about 7,000 men each – the TO&E for a 1941 Japanese Independent Mixed Infantry Brigade would be a fair representation of these forces. Nominally, these brigades were organized into divisions – but the divisions were paper organizations without support troops, and the INA units fought as independent battalions and brigades, so I ignored the division structure.
Information about the composition of headquarters is sketchy. The “Hind Field Force” had a small engineering component, as well as intelligence, espionage and sabotage. The “Rani Jhansi Regiment’ was an all-woman support force. The INA had no aviation support. Perhaps 4,000 people, total.
Availability
Headquarters and all four brigades of the INA should arrive as reinforcements in Singapore on December 1st, 1943, at full strength and 80% preparation. Mistrust between the Indian military leaders and their Japanese patrons prevented the effective organization of the INA until the charismatic and respected Indian nationalist Netaji (“Great Leader”) Subhas Chandra Bose reached Tokyo from Germany in May, 1943. By December, 1943 the Japanese agreed that the INA was adequately trained and equipped for combat. In January, the INA shifted to Rangoon.
Experience and Morale
The Subhas brigade was the elite INA force, comprised of soldiers hand-picked from the other three brigades. Experience: 60, Morale 70. Most of the soldiers of the Azad and Ghandi brigades were veterans of combat against the Japanese in Malaysia and had received some intermittent training since being captured, but the rank-and-file probably included many who only served to get out of the POW camps, and some of the best soldiers were “cherry-picked” for Subhas. Experience 60, Morale 50. The Nehru brigade saw the least combat, and is rarely mentioned even by those who over-inflate the accomplishments of Bose and the INA. It may have been fleshed out with civilian volunteers. Experience 50, Morale 40.
Leaders:
The senior commanders of the INA had mostly been Captains in the British army. If my ratings for even the best leaders seem mediocre it is because they “sat out” two years of the war. Familiar with companies, they had to lead brigades in 1944 against Slim’s seasoned 14th Army.
INA Headquarters: Netaji S.C. Bose
Overall: 40 Inspir: 90 Naval: 0 Air: 0 Land: 30 Admin: 60 Aggress: 80
Azad Brigade: Col. M. Z. Kiani.
Overall: 55 Inspir: 50 Naval: 0 Air: 25 Land: 65 Admin: 50 Aggress: 40
Kiani was the First Division commander,and he was considered the best of the INA commanders by Bose and his peers. Kiani oversaw the Azad brigade during the Imphal campaigns, so I have substituted him for the actual brigade commander (Col Gulzara Singh).
Gandhi Brigade: Col. B.J.S. Garewal
Overall: 25 Inspir: 10 Naval: 0 Air: 10 Land: 35 Admin: 40 Aggress: 40
Garewal defected to the British after the Imphal campaign. [:-]
Nehru Brigade: Col. Shah Nawaz (aka Shahnawaz Khan)
Overall: 50 Inspir: 60 Naval: 0 Air: 20 Land: 40 Admin: 60 Aggress: 60
Nawaz, was Bose’s Chief of Staff, and commanded ad hoc detached one-or-two battalion sized task forces. He was named Second Division commander, and often oversaw the Nehru Brigade and its actual commander, Col G.S. Dhillon.
Subhas Brigade : Col. Thakur Singh
Overall: 40 Inspir: 40 Naval: 0 Air: 15 Land: 50 Admin: 35 Aggress: 70
The “elite” brigade of the INA, Subhas was almost completely destroyed by the fighting in Imphal, and the subsequent retreat.
Replacements:
Replacements can be addressed in one of three ways: 1. Give the INA a separate force pool with enough replacement points to replace 10,000 soldiers. When they are gone, no more replacements. 2. Make the INA brigades overstrength by 2,500 men each at start, and ‘hardwire’ them permanently set to “replacements off.” 3. Let the INA draw from the Japanese replacement pool.
Sources:
"Great in adversity": Indian prisoners of war, Peter Stanley – Australian War Memorial
Hugh Toye, The Springing Tiger (London: Cassell, 1959).
"A Paper Tiger: The Indian National Army in battle, 1944-1945", Chandar Sundaram, War & Society, vol.13, no.1, May 1995, pp.35-59,
And lots of online Indian newspaper and magazine articles (mostly exalting Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose).
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