Asiatica Association

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The Indian National Army and Japan, by Joyce Chapman Lebra

by , 7 Apr 2009 | in reviews | no comments yet

We have just received the book The Indian National Army and Japan, by Joyce Chapman Lebra (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 2008, pp. 257 + xvi). The book is a reprint of Jungle Alliance: Japan and the Indian National Army, which was originally published in 1971. It covers the beginnings of the Indian National Army (INA) as a part of a Japanese military intelligence operation and moves forward to the arrival of the Bengali national hero Subhas Chandra Bose, the enlarged INA and the India provisional Government under his direction (1943 - August 1945).

Before directing the INA, Bose, under the name of Orlando Massota, came to Europe to meet with Hitler and Mussolini, who both wanted the British crown to be defeated. In Italy Bose got in touch with politicians and the main representatives of Fascist cultural politics, including the famous Buddhologist, Tibetologist and Indologist Giuseppe Tucci.