ABSTRACT
The written and oral accounts by Dr Lakshmi Swaminadhan (1914–2012) provide a unique window into the conception and recruitment of the all-female Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army. Whereas Subhas Chandra Bose’s rallies awakened a desire among Indian girls and women in Japanese-controlled Singapore and Malaya to join the regiment, Dr Lakshmi used a door-to-door approach to gain parental consent. Following the first female guard of honour on 12 July 1943, Bose and Lakshmi mobilised 156 women and girls from a diverse range of backgrounds to open the regiment’s main camp in Singapore on 22 October.
