An excerpt from the Wikipedia entry on Subhas Chandra Bose:
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At the start o World War II, Bose traveled to Germany where he joined the Special Bureau for India under Adam von Trott zu Solz, broadcasting on the German-sponsored Azad Hind Radio. He founded the Free India Centre in Berlin and established the Indian Legion, (consisting of some 4500 soldiers) from Indian prisoners of war who had previously fought for the British in North Africa. The Azad Hind legion was attached to the Waffen SS, and they swore their allegiance to Hitler and Bose for the independence of India.
Recent research has shown that after the Normandy landings, the French resistance and military openly shot unarmed and surrendered Indian legionaries who had tried to escape to neutral Switzerland, in defiance of the norms of the Geneva Convention in 1944. Though there were a few incidents of the rape which its German liaison officers claimed that they were unable to control, on the whole it was a disciplined unit.
Bose had openly criticised Hitler's treatment of Jews, annulment of democratic institutions in Germany and Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.
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4500 soldiers out 2.5 million in the Indian Army? And that too, prisoners of war, who were told "either fight for India against Britain, or rot in prison"?
The more I read about these guys the more sympathy I have for them. They just wound up on the wrong side.
Interesting. The Waffen SS was a very multicultural force by the end of the war. Saw a documentary on them on the history channel over the weekend. Pretty much anybody they conquered they created a division out of the prisoners- ukranian, polish, even british. I guess you can add Indian to that list now, too.
keep in mind that wikipedia is hardly a reliable source. anyone can go and write anything they want.
4500 out of the garrisons of Tobruk and Crete.