SINGAPORE – Most histories of Indian soldiers during World War II start and end with the vexed anti-colonial nationalist hero Subhas Chandra Bose. But a new book by Singapore-based banker-turned-author Gautam Hazarika turns to the fate of forgotten leaders and prisoners of war (POWs) in Singapore to paint a fuller picture.

In The Forgotten Indian Prisoners Of World War II: Surrender, Loyalty, Betrayal And Hell (2025), Hazarika makes the case for unearthing this buried history. Despite there being 67,000 Indian troops who defended Singapore and Malaya at the start of WWII – amounting to about half of the Allied army – little is known about their agency and fate under the Japanese Occupation.