The
Indian Legion , officially the
Free India Legion or
Infantry Regiment 950 (Indian) and later the
Indian Volunteer Legion of the Waffen-SS , was a military unit raised during
World War II in
Nazi Germany. Intended to serve as a liberation force for
British-ruled India, it was made up of Indian
prisoners of war and
expatriates in Europe. Because of its origins in the
Indian independence movement, it was known also as the "Tiger Legion", and the "Azad Hind Fauj". Initially raised as part of the
German Army, it was part of the
Waffen-SS from August 1944. Indian independence leader
Subhas Chandra Bose initiated the legion's formation, as part of his efforts to win India's independence by waging war against Britain, when he came to
Berlin in 1941 seeking German aid. The initial recruits in 1941 were volunteers from the Indian students resident in Germany at the time, and a handful of the Indian prisoners of war who had been captured during the
North Africa Campaign. It would later draw a larger number of Indian prisoners of war as volunteers.