On 3 July 1943, Subhas Chandra Bose stepped off a Japanese military plane in Singapore, pledged to finally free India from British rule, and created what was perhaps the first female infantry fighting unit in military history, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment (RJR). His young recruits were from Indian families of the diasporas in Singapore, Malaya and Burma, and consisted entirely of civilian volunteers lacking any prior military training. These women soldiers, deployed to the steamy jungles of Burma during the two last years of World War II, were determined to follow their commander to victory and to the liberation of India. More than seven decades later, their history has been forgotten, and their service and the role played by Bose himself unexplored with true rigour. Through in-depth interviews with the surviving Ranis - now in their late seventies and nineties - and meticulous archival research, historian Vera Hildebrand has uncovered extensive new evidence that separates the myth of the Bengali hero and his jungle warrior maidens from historical fact. The result is a wholly fresh perspective on the remarkable women of the RJR and their place in Indian and world history. The truth is every bit as impressive as the myth.
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Vera Hildebrand has a doctorate in Indian history and culture from Georgetown University, Washington, DC. She is a senior research fellow at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Previously, she taught at Harvard University and University of Copenhagen.