Last days and journeys Death of Subhas Chandra Bose

the last airplane journeys of subhas chandra bose. paths of completed flights shown in blue. on 16 august 1945, left singapore bangkok, siam (now thailand). on either 16th or on 17th morning, flew bangkok saigon, ho chi minh city. on 17 august afternoon, flew saigon tourane, french indo-china, da nang, vietnam. next morning @ 5 am, left tourane taihoku, formosa, taipei, taiwan. @ 2:30 pm on 18 august, left dairen, manchukuo, dalian, china, plane crashed shortly after take off, , bose died within few hours in japanese military hospital. had crash not occurred plane have dropped off bose @ dairen , proceeded tokyo along flight path shown in red.

reliable strands of historical narrative bose s last days united point. however, separate briefly period between 16 august, when bose received news of japan s surrender in singapore, , shortly after noon on 17 august, when bose , party arrived @ saigon airport saigon city board plane. (see map 2.)

in 1 version, bose flew out singapore saigon, stopping briefly in bangkok, on 16th. after arriving in saigon, visited field marshal hisaichi terauchi, head of japanese forces in southeast asia, , requested him arrange flight soviet russia. although until day before, russia had been belligerent of japan, seen, @ least bose, increasingly anti-british, and, consequently, possible base of future operations against british raj. terauchi, in turn, cabled japan s imperial general headquarters (ighq) in tokyo permission, denied. in words of historian joyce chapman lebra, ighq felt unfair of bose write off japan , go on russia after receiving japan. terauchi added in talking bose unreasonable him take step opposed japanese. privately, however, terauchi still felt sympathy bose—one had been formed during two-year-long association. somehow managed arrange room bose on flight leaving saigon on morning of 17 august 1945 bound tokyo, stopping en route in dairen, manchuria—which still japanese-occupied, toward soviet army fast approaching—where bose have disembarked , have awaited fate @ hand of russians.

in version, bose left singapore party on 16th , stopped en route in bangkok, surprising ina officer in-charge there, j. r. bhonsle, made arrangements bose s overnight stay. word of bose s arrival, however, got out, , local members of indian independence league (iil), ina, , thai indian business community turned @ hotel. according historian peter ward fay, bose sat half night holding court—and in morning flew on saigon, time accompanied general isoda ... arriving in saigon, late in morning, there little time visit field marshal terauchi, in dalat in central highlands of french indo-china, hour away plane. consequently, isoda himself, without consulting higher ups, arranged room bose on flight leaving around noon.

in third sketchier version, bose left singapore on 17th. according historian christopher bayly , tim harper, on 17 august issued final order of day, dissolving ina words, roads delhi many , delhi still remains our goal. flew out china via french indo-china. if else failed wanted become prisoner of soviets: ones resist british. fate them .

the mitsubishi ki-21 twin-engine heavy bomber (allies code name sally) subhas chandra bose , habibur rahman boarded @ saigon airport around 2 pm on 17 august 1945.

around noon on 17 august, strands again reunite. @ saigon airport, mitsubishi ki-21 heavy bomber, of type code named sally allies, waiting bose , party. in addition bose, ina group comprised colonel habibur rahman, secretary; s. a. ayer, member of cabinet; major abid hasan, old associate had made hazardous submarine journey germany sumatra in 1943; , 3 others. dismay, learned upon arrival there room 1 ina passenger. bose complained, , beleaguered general isoda gave in , hurriedly arranged second seat. bose chose habibur rahman accompany him. understood others in ina party follow him on later flights. there further delay @ saigon airport. according historian joyce chapman lebra, gift of treasure contributed local indians presented bose board plane. 2 heavy strong-boxes added overweight plane s full load. sometime between noon , 2 pm, twin-engine plane took off 12 or 13 people aboard: crew of 3 or four, group of japanese army , air force officers, including lieutenant-general tsunamasa shidei, vice chief of staff of japanese kwantung army, although fast retreating in manchuria still held manchurian peninsula, , bose , rahman. bose sitting little rear of portside wing; bomber, under normal circumstances, carried crew of five.

that these flights possible few days after japan s surrender result of lack of clarity had occurred. although japan had unconditionally surrendered, when emperor hirohito had made announcement on radio, had used formal japanese, not entirely intelligible ordinary people and, instead of using word surrender (in japanese), had mentioned abiding terms of potsdam declaration. consequently, many people, in japanese-occupied territories, unsure if had changed, allowing window of few days japanese air force continue flying. although japanese , bose tight lipped destination of bomber, assumed bose s staff left behind on tarmac in saigon plane bound dairen on manchurian peninsula, which, stated above, still under japanese control. bose had been talking on year importance of making contact communists, both russian , chinese. in 1944, had asked minister in cabinet, anand mohan sahay travel tokyo purposes of making contact soviet ambassador, jacob malik. however, after consulting japanese foreign minister mamoru shigemitsu, sahay decided against it. in may 1945, sahay had again written shigemitsu requesting him contact soviet authorities on behalf of bose; again reply had been in negative. bose had been continually querying general isoda on year japanese army s readiness in manchuria. after war, japanese confirmed british investigators , later indian commissions of inquiry, plane indeed bound dairen, , fellow passenger general shidea of kwantung army, have disembarked bose in dairen , have served main liaison , negotiator bose s transfer soviet controlled territory in manchuria.

the plane had flown north. time near northern coast of french indo-china, darkness had begun close in, , pilot decided make unscheduled stop in tourane (now da nang, vietnam). passengers stayed overnight @ hotel, , crew, worried plane overloaded, shed 500 pounds of equipment , luggage, , refueled plane. before dawn next morning, group flew out again, time east taihoku, formosa (now taipei, taiwan), scheduled stop, arriving there around noon on 18 august 1945. during two-hour stop in taihoku, plane again refueled, while passengers ate lunch. chief pilot , ground engineer, , major kono, seemed concerned portside engine, and, once passengers on board, engine tested repeatedly throttling , down. concerns allayed, plane took off, in different accounts, 2 pm, , late 2:30 pm, watched ground engineers.