indian volunteers

[italianwaffenSS]

Could I know your opinion? Thanks Gian
SHIELD

[italianwaffenSS]

Medal

[peter monahan]

Gian

Here is an address for some very good photos of the Azad Hind Fauj. Most show men who don't appear to be wearing any insignia at all!

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=28008&hl=azad hind&st=0

[peter monahan]

I would be very suspicious of such apparently rare items. I'm not an expert but I've done a little reading about the Azad Hind Legion and its numbers were very small. Insigni and medals would be very rare. I think, based on that but no real knowledge about German awards, that these are likely to be reproductions. What does the seller say about how/where they came to him?

I believe that the "Free Indian Legion" aka "Indian Infantry Regiment 950" only ever numbered a couple hundred men, though I can't locate my source for that right now. The Wikipedia entries on this and the Indian National Army, who served alongside the Japanese in Asia are, in my view, highly unreliable in the numbers they give, apparently having been written by Indian nationalists who regard these men as nationalist heroes, not traitors to the British Empire.

The unit saw some action in France in 1944, apparently, I believe as anti-aircraft gunners but were eventually captured and shipped back to India to be tried for treason. Again, pretty unlikely that these items would have survived!

Peter

[italianwaffenSS]

thanks

[Finnishlion178]

I am not sure about the Medal. I remember reading about how some of these medals were still being awarded up in until the 1960s and as for the insignia. That one is a fake, it is one coming out of israel now.

[Gordon Craig]

italianwaffenSS,

I would tend to agree with the others about the authenticity of these items. In particular the medal. These awards were made by Souval in Vienna during the war and they continued making them after the war. The organization that had them made continued to exist following the war and until shortly after the British left India.
Souval continued to produce these awards, for the collector market, for several years after the end of the Raj. In the main, they used the original dies and the awards were well made though as the years passed the quality did suffer. The quality of your medal is not up to what I would have expected Souval to produce.

Regards,

Gordon

[juoneen]

Also seems strage the suspension rings are rusty.

[peter monahan]

I am not sure about the Medal. I remember reading about how some of these medals were still being awarded up in until the 1960s and as for the insignia. That one is a fake, it is one coming out of israel now.

I wouldn't be surprised if, after independence, some persons or groups in India attempted to legitimize the actions of the Indian Legion by awarding the medals to members who survived and could be located.

However, whether a non-governmental group - I assume it was NOT the Indian government - can legitimately award a government award created by another, defunct government government [Nazi Germany] is debatable at best.

BTW, I say "legitimize' above because of the situation of the 'Free Indian' volunteers. It is one thing, and a laudable thing, to fight for the independence of your homeland, at least in open warfare. It is another to voluntarily join an army and then desert it to fight against it. Sure, it has been done countless times throught history. Still wrong, IMHO and, in fact, such volunteers had a very hard time getting captured by Indian units they fought against. Most wound up dead, despite strict orders to the contrary. Not a surprise, I would submit. The half million Indians who joine up in WWII, all volunteers, and stayed loyal, took a very dim view of Bose's "Indian Natiional Army."

Having said all that, I's steer clear of the medal as well as the badge: chances of it being 'legitimate', whatever that means in this case, are slim to nil, IMHO.

Peter

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

One more comment on the Azad Hind awards. They were never an official award of any legitament government. Nazi Germany or any other. They were created by an individual and more on the history of this award can be found on WIKI at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azad_Hind_Decorations
This is a stub of an article and just gives the basic outline of when and how it was created. There is actually much more to the story than is shown in this WIKI article.

Regards,

Gordon

[italianwaffenSS]

I thank you for the interesting information on the indian volonteers that you have me fornito;Le my insignias that I have shown you them are worthy of to be in a collection of original objects WW2 or is it better to get away? Thanks Gian

[Gordon Craig]

Gian,

The suggestion is that you get away from these items.

Regards,

Gordon

[italianwaffenSS]

You are right; thanks