2016-03-18 Fri

On 18th March 1944, the Azad Hind Fauj also called as Indian National Army (INA) entered India crossing Burma border. The Japanese armies joined them in the plains of Imphal. The allied forces captured many parts of north-eastern India.

The Indian National Army was an armed force formed by Indian nationalists in 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. Its aim was to secure Indian independence from British rule. The army was first formed in 1942 under Mohan Singh, by Indian PoWs (Prisoners of War) of the British-Indian Army captured by Japan in the Malayan campaign and at Singapore. It was revived under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose after his arrival in Southeast Asia in 1943. This second INA fought along with the Imperial Japanese Army against the British and Commonwealth forces in the campaigns in Burma, in Imphal and at Kohima, and later against the successful Burma Campaign of the Allies.

The Battle of Imphal took place in the region around the city of Imphal, the capital of the state of Manipur in northeast India from March until July 1944. Japanese armies attempted to destroy the Allied forces at Imphal and invade India.

A set of six Cinderella stamps of different designs were produced in 1943 by Nazi Germany for Subhas Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army). These stamps were known as ‘The Azad Hind Stamps’.

Also, a 1 rupee + 2 rupees stamp depicting a variant of Purna Swaraj Flag with the words “AZAD’ on the saffron band on top, “HIND” on the bottom green band and in the centre white band a ‘Springing Tiger’. These semi-postal stamps were printed in 1943 at Reichsdruckerrei, Berlin, designed by the team of Warner and Maria Von Axter-Heudtlass, whose “AXHEU” signature appears inconspicuously in each design.