236 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
had been immense. The German seaman who took the photographs of
this daring voyage and transfer was killed on his next mission. He left
his pictures with his mother, saying that someone from India would
one day ask for them.^85
The German of fi cers and crew had been friendly and courteous
to their Indian guests throughout the arduous journey, in the most
cramped conditions. Yet on boarding the Japanese submarine, Bose
and Hasan felt “something akin to a home- coming.” “Immediately we
had that feeling,” Abid Hasan remembered. “Netaji had that feeling. We
could be less formal, although we had to be more formal.” The Japa-
nese submarine was also more spacious than the German one. The
flotilla commander, Masao Teraoka, vacated his cabin for Bose. The
captain of the submarine, Juichi Izu, or ga nized a party on April 29 to
celebrate the unique achievement of successfully transferring Bose and
his aide, and to honor the Japanese emperor on his birthday. The In-
dians felt they had “come back to an Asian nation,” and the food pre-
pared by the Japanese cooks with Indian spices obtained in Penang
suited their taste. Four meals a day were, however, a little too much for
Bose. “Do we have to eat again, Captain Teraoka?” he asked with a
smile as he was overwhelmed with Japanese hospitality.^86
The I- 29 passed to the south of India on its way to Southeast Asia.
Outside the British patrolling radius, it picked up a radio message from
Penang with instructions to detour and take the passengers to Sabang,
a tiny islet off the north Sumatran coast. Swirling rumors in Pe-
nang about Bose’s impending arrival made this diversion necessary. On
May 6, 1943, the I- 29 safely docked in the harbor at Sabang. It had
played its part in the his tory of World War II. Juichi Izu was soon
transferred; he became the skipper of I- 11, which went missing in the
central Pacific early next year. An American submarine eventually sank
the I- 29 near the Philippines, in July 1944. Subhas Chandra Bose posed
for a photograph with the entire crew of the Japanese submarine be-
fore disembarking at Sabang. He autographed this picture with a heart-
felt message: “It was a great plea sure to sail aboard this submarine. I
believe this will mark a milestone in our fight for victory and peace.”^87
Bose’s friend Colonel Yamamoto, the former military attaché in Ber-
lin, was on hand to greet him at the pier in Sabang. After a few days’