WOMEN AT WAR

Vera Hildebrand

In July 1943, Subhas Chandra Bose, fighting British rule in India with the aid of the Japanese, created what was perhaps the first fighting female infantry unit in military history: the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. The young civilian volunteers of the regiment were from Indian diaspora families in places such as Singapore, Malaya and Burma. Through archival research and interviews with surviving “Ranis,” the historian Vera Hildebrand has uncovered new evidence that separates the myth of Bose and these warrior women from historical fact.

HarperCollins, 332 pages, Rs 499