Key Points:
Japan took over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from March 1942 to August 1945
he Japanese army pillaged, tortured and raped indiscriminately, killing more than 3,000 people
Japan was aligned with Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army, which governed the islands for the last two years of the occupation
More than 25 lakh Indians fought in World War II. They faced Axis forces across Europe, Africa and Asia at the behest of the British, while back home citizens struggled for their Independence. As the war waged, they faced artillery, famine and colonial oppression. By the end, more than 30 lakh civilians and 87,000 soldiers were killed. Forgotten amidst all this lies the story of India’s only occupation by a non-Western empire.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands were an important strategic outpost in the Southeast Asian theatre of the war. Until 1938, the British government used the islands as a penal colony for freedom fighters and political prisoners – the infamous Kala Pani prison housed over 300 dissidents. During the war it was converted into a naval base.
In 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army had secured decisive victories in Burma (now Myanmar) and Singapore. As it planned to continue its advance into the subcontinent, the British knew they wouldn’t be able to defend the outpost. In the last few weeks leading up to Japan’s invasion, they evacuated as many people as they could – mostly British citizens and pandits – leaving around 40,000 people stuck on the island – prisoners, some British officers and administrators, a garrison of Indian troops, and mostly indigenous people.
On March 23, 1942, Japan laid siege to the islands. They arrived at South Andaman, landing on Ross Island and Port Blair, quickly taking control of the region. The prisoners were freed, the Indian troops surrendered, the British officers were shipped to Singapore as prisoners of war, while the administrators were jailed. The indigenous citizens, initially, were unharmed and happy. But this wouldn’t last – the Japanese army had already exhibited its brutality a few years earlier during its invasion of Nanking in 1937
A few days after their arrival, a group of Japanese soldiers went parading around Port Blair. After a few drinks they began barging into nearby houses and harassing women. A young boy, Zulfiqar Ali, made a stand. He fired an air gun at them, scaring them enough to run away. Ali went into hiding and the soldiers returned to look for him, looting, killing and raping indiscriminately in retaliation. The next morning Ali was found. The soldiers beat him, bent his arms backwards till they broke, then shot him. He was the first victim of the Japanese occupation. Today, a memorial at the spot where he was shot.
Things only got worse from there. Some British officers had been detained instead of being sent to prisoner of war camps – among them was Major AG Bird. Bird met a similar fate to Ali. His arms and legs were bent backwards till they broke, then he was beheaded by Colonel Bucho, in-charge of the South Andaman Islands. Some other officers and administrators were shot while digging their own graves.
Japanese soldiers also began taking liberties with the locals – houses were burned, people were beaten regularly, women were forced into sexual slavery and men into bonded labour. Indians aligned with the Japanese were appalled – their saviours turned out to be more heinous than their masters. Among them was Dr. Diwan Singh. He was a medical officer from the British administration but had been kept on by the Japanese for the sway he held over the local population.
Dr. Singh set up a Peace Committee to stop the violence against the islanders. But with the constant bombing by British and American forces, constant hunger due to a food embargo, and the constant labour needed to develop the outpost, there was no time for peace. As the Allies ramped up the pressure on the islands, the Japanese began to suspect spies in their midst. In October 1942, they arrested 300 people on charges of espionage, many prominent members of the population who had served under the Japanese administration. Some were tortured; others were killed.
In 1943, Colonel Bucho was replaced by Colonel Jochi, who had served at Nanking. Under Jochi, the army launched an operation on the Nicobar Islands to round up labour for their developmental projects. In the Andamans, more than 600 people were jailed and tortured, including Dr. Singh, who had become a thorn in the side of the Japanese administration for long protesting their treatment of the local population. He spent 82 days in prison before dying from his injuries in January 1944.
It was during Dr. Singh’s time in prison that Subhas Chandra Bose declared Indian rule on the islands.
See Also: Japan’s Secret WWII Torture Lab: The Atrocities of Unit 731 the World Was Never Meant to Know
Subhas Chandra Bose was much a freedom fighter as Gandhi, though they were as different as could be. While Gandhi advocated for non-violence, Bose fought for revolutionary change. In 1942, when Gandhi was jailed for leading the Quit India Movement, Bose was exiled in Germany, turning to Hitler for help. He believed that the best way to gain Independence was to side with Britain’s enemies. So, while he was neither a fascist nor an imperialist, he aligned himself with Axis Powers.
When the Nazis couldn’t give him the help he needed, he turned his attention eastward. Upon learning of Japan’s success in the Pacific Theatre, he departed Germany by boat in 1943. After a meeting with top Japanese officials in Tokyo, he formed the Indian National Army (INA) in July that year. The INA was a Japanese-backed militia made of expatriates and prisoners of war with the goal of achieving Independence from British rule. The INA fought alongside the Japanese army during Operation U-Go – Japan’s invasion of Manipur – and the Burma Campaign – defending the territory from Allied Forces.
Dr. Diwan Singh himself was a member of the INA. While he was jailed, Subhas Chandra Bose made his first and only visit to the Andaman Islands. It is unclear whether Bose was aware of the atrocities being committed in the territory by his allies, but it is known that the Japanese took extreme measures to keep their crimes hidden from him.
On December 29, 1943, Bose raised the tricolour flag of the INA at Port Blair, declaring the islands under the governance of Azad Hind, the provisional government established by him. He renamed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep. He appointed General AD Loganathan of the INA as Governor of the islands before departing. Loganathan revealed after the war that he had refused most responsibilities as Governor. Though officially in-charge on paper, the Azad Hind government had limited control over the territory after Bose’s departure. The main power remained with the Japanese army, who controlled the police. A month after the Islands were declared independent, Dr. Singh died in jail.
On 30 January 1944 came one of the worst atrocities of the occupation – the Homfreyganj Massacre. 44 prisoners accused of espionage were taken to Homfreyganj, an area 12Km from Port Blair, where they were shot by firing squad. This marked the beginning of the most brutal phase of the occupation – the end.
As the Axis Powers weakened and pressure on the islands increased, the lack of resources started to take its toll. Japanese soldiers started by killing off the old and infirm, leaving only those who could still work as labour. Then, on August 13, 1945, between 300-700 prisoners were loaded onto a boat and shipped off to an uninhabited island to grow food. They were pushed off the boat in the dark with around 1/3 of them drowning before making it to shore. Of those who did, only twelve survived. The next day, on August 14, 800 civilians were shipped to another island, where they were shot and stabbed by Japanese soldiers. The next day, on August 15, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of the Japanese Empire in World War II. The Japanese army on the islands surrendered to Lieutenant Colonel Nathu Singh Rathore the same day.
Two months later British forces recaptured the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Japanese army surrendered, but not before destroying all evidence of their misdeeds. Search and rescue operations were launched to the uninhabited islands. An estimated 3,000 people were killed during Japan’s three-and-a-half year long occupation of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. [Rh/DS]
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