Armed revolution by Subhas Bose (contd - 7) , Working Group India, ,

Very soon a working group, India was established in the information department of the Foreign Office . This became in reality forerunner of the "Special department for India". which was as we have already said , placed under the control of Von Trott and Werth.Sometimes later a German trade union leader and also an Infian specialist, Mr. F.J. Furtwaengler, joined this department.
After arrival on 9th April , Bose submitted a memorandum containing three points. A supplementary notes to his original memorandum of 9 April was submitted to his original memorandum He pointed out simultaneously the need of the Indian and the entire Arab problem to be co-ordinated and to be taken up as one problem by the German Govt. As a result , the information dept. of the German Foreign office, to which also belonged the Working Group, India.
Along with the propaganda programme , Bose organized the Indian Legion in Berlin to utilise it in his freedom struggle. The Government of Germany planned and decided , earlier in 1940, to organise an Indian Legion "with the idea of employing it in the disturbedcvregions of North-West Frontier Province of India.
At the invitation of Bose, Harbich, the first German Officerof the Indo-Geman Commando group, met him (Bose) in the Hotel Excelsior and discussed in detail the recruitment and training of the unit. Bose visited Meseritz ( Here is a selection of images of the former German town of Meseritz in the province of Posen / Neumark, Prussia, now Miedzyrzecz, Poland.) often and was inspired by the Indo-German Commando group, towards the organization of a bigger Independent Indian Legion in Germany.
Bose also met Dr. Adalbert Seifriz and discussed the problems that were impaling the organization of the Indian Legion . Soon a close friendship sprang up between the two . "After the war, Dr. Seifriz founded the Indo-German Society which in certain ways resumed the work of the Indian Information Bureau established in 1929 in Berlin by the Indian National Congress at the initiative of Jawaharlal Nehru."
There were no less than 10,000 Indian prisoners of war in the camps of War of Germany and North africa. Bose visited in December 1941, the Annaberg Camp , in Germany, very often, where the Indian prisoners of war were kept. He met  them individually , gave a patient hearing to their hardships and sympathised with them and later, after taking them into his confidence , invited them to the Indian Legion to fight for the Indian freedom. Within four months 300 Indian prisoners of war joined the Legion. , unmindful of the non-commissioned officers discussion , as Bose announced promotions , purely on merit and not on previous ranks . The number doubled in another six months.
The first batch of the Legion completed its training at the Frankenberg Camp ( on 26 Dec 1941)The POW's underwent further higher training at Koenigsbrueck, the permanent training camp of the German Army near Dresden.
A military honour was conferred on Netaji in the autumn of 1942, by the Indian Legion of about 3000 men. On the occasion Col. Satoshi Yamamoto , the military attache of the Japanese embassy in Berlin, and a friend of Bose was present. They took an oath led
by Lt.General Krappe (top right).in the presence of Bose and Col. Satoshi Yamamoto (left). under the tri-colour Indian flag with springing tiger, embossed.
By Dec 1942 the Indian Legion grew up to the size of a regiment with four battalions of about 4000 men.
The Provisional Government of Free India , which was originally known in Europe as the Free India Centre, received at this time regular advances in the form of loans from the German Government which were to be repaid when the Provisional Government Of India would be installed in Delhi. The Free India Centre received regular advances in the form of loans from the German Government. The monthly Grant was Rs. 18000 ($ 1,200)in 1941, which rose to Rs. 48,000 ( $3,200) in 1944. The expenses of Broadcasting and the maintenance of the Indian Legion were entirely borne by the German Govt.
Bose repaid the first installment , half a million yen , before independence, in 1944, through the German ambassador in Tokyo, with the knowledge of the Japanese Government. This amount was part of the subscriptions collected by him from the Indians in South - East Asia.