Roads to Delhi 297I and my comrades here are engaged in a grim struggle. Our comrades
at the front have to play with death. Even those who are not at the front
have to face danger ev ery minute of their existence. When we were in
Burma, bombing and machine- gunning were our daily entertainment.
I have seen many of my comrades killed, maimed and injured from the
enemy’s ruthless bombing and machine- gunning. I have seen the entire
hospital of the Azad Hind Fauj in Rangoon razed to the ground, with
our helpless patients suf fering heavy casualties. That I and many others
with me are still alive today is only through God’s grace. It is because
we are living, working and fight ing in the face of death that I have a
right to speak to you and to advise you. Most of you do not know what
bombing is. Most of you do not know what it is to be machine- gunned
by low- fly ing bombers and fighters. Most of you have had no experi-
ence of bullets whistling past you, to your right and to your left. Those
who have gone through this experience and have kept up morale dare
not even look at Lord Wavell’s offer.^136The Fourth of July may be the date of the American Declaration of
Inde pen dence, but it was no less sig nifi cant in the his tory of the Azad
Hind movement in East Asia. On July 4, the day he had taken over the
leadership of the movement in 1943, Netaji addressed a large gathering
in Singapore for two hours in Hindustani; the audience reaf firmed
their determination to achieve liberty or death. On July 8, 1945, Netaji
laid the foundation stone of a memorial to the martyrs of the INA who
had laid down their lives in the cause of freedom. At the end of the
month, he traveled north to Seremban and Kuala Lumpur. Even at this
stage, he seems to have believed that he would have time, perhaps even
up to a year, to determine his future course of action.^137
The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6
and 9, 1945, brought the war in East Asia to an abrupt end. By Au-
gust 9, news of the utter devastation in Hiroshima had spread through-
out the world. At midnight on August 10, a phone call came from In-
ayat Kiani in Kuala Lumpur, informing Netaji that the Soviet Union
had entered the war against Japan. The following night he received
news of Japan’s intention to surrender. “So, that is that,” he said with a