Hitler's secret Indian army By Mike Thomson :BBC
Rudolf Hartog remembers parting with his Indian friends Legionnaires were recruited from German POW camps Hitler's secret Indian army By Mike Thomson BBC News Last Updated: Thursday, 23 September 2004, 23:52 GMT 00:52 UK In the closing stages of World War II, as Allied and French resistance forces were driving Hitler's now demoralised forces from France, three senior German officers defected. The information they gave British intelligence was considered so sensitive that in 1945 it was locked away, not due to be released until the year 2021. Now, 17 years early, the BBC's Document programme has been given special access to this secret file. It reveals how thousands of Indian soldiers who had joined Britain in the fight against fascism swapped their oaths to the British king for others to Adolf Hitler - an astonishing tale of loyalty, despair and betrayal that threatened to rock British rule in India, known as the Raj. The story