Bose, Subhas Chandra (1897-1945)

Indian nationalist politician, president of the Indian Congress Party 1938-39. During World War II, he recruited Indian prisoners of war to fight the British in his Indian National Army (INA).

He left India in 1941 to go to Germany in an attempt to recruit prisoners of war to the INA. A similar drive in Japan in 1943 gained only a small number of recruits and the INA was ineffectual as a fighting force, most of its members defecting to the British as soon as the opportunity occurred. Bose was killed while flying to Japan for a further recruiting drive in 1945.