The Terrible Price of Freedom 233death, Linlithgow expected “six months’ unpleasantness steadily de-
clining in volume; little or nothing at the end of it.”^79 The prime minis-
ter and the viceroy, along with L. S. Amery, the secretary of state for
India, were keen to expose Gandhi as a fraud: they hoped to find evi-
dence that he was taking glucose with his water. The Americans were
alarmed at the prospect that Gandhi might die in British custody, but
the British brushed aside their advice that it would be wise to be con-
ciliatory. Linlithgow thanked Churchill for refusing to yield to “the
world’s most successful humbug” who was engaged in a “wicked sys-
tem of blackmail and terror.”^80
At a time when the Quit India movement was nearly crushed and
the Mahatma was being treated with scant respect, Bose alone was
showing grit and a determination to fight the colonial masters. Though
the Allies knew from intercepts and decodes of Japanese and German
telegraphic communications that their inveterate opponent was again
on the move, they did not have the precise intelligence or military re-
sources to strike at him under the sea. The U- 180 navigated through
the small belt of the Danish waters toward Kristiansand on the Nor-
wegian coast, and then entered the North Sea. It passed through the
strait north of Scotland and south of Iceland, successfully avoiding
British depth charges, whose booming could be heard in the distance.
The journey south through the Atlantic Ocean included a refueling off
the Spanish coast. The U- boat, of the 9D type, surfaced at night to re-
charge its batteries. It had a speed of 18 knots per hour on the surface
and up to 7.7 knots when submerged.^81
“I was quite fascinated by the romance of having to travel by the
submarine,” Abid Hasan recalled. “But the moment I entered the sub-
marine, all the romance of it went away.” The atmosphere inside the
U- boat was “suffocating.” The stench of diesel oil permeated the air, the
food, and the blankets. Bose was given a bunk in a small recess along
the passage, which served as the of fi cers’ quarters. Hasan’s heart sank
when they were served their first meal, consisting of tough greasy
chunks of beef and damp bread. He rushed to the kitchen and found a
bag of rice and some lentils. Fortunately, Bose’s po lit i cal and military
aide knew how to cook, and fed him a simple Indian diet that he could