The Indian National Army (INA) had been formed in 1942 from the Indian POWs of the British Indian army captured by the Japanese in the Battle of Singapore. After arrival in Singapore, Bose enlisted Indian civilians, chiefly Tamil ones, in Malaya and Singapore. The Japanese had come to support a number of puppet and provisional governments in the captured regions. With Japanese support, a Provisional Government of Free India under Bose was formed in the Japanese-occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Although the Japanese military at all times exercised firm control over the islands, Bose's visit in December 1943 was widely publicized. Charismatic and driven, Bose displayed unflagging enthusiasm for the cause of liberating India. The INA under Bose became a model of diversity by region, ethnicity, religion, and gender. However, the Japanese considered Bose to be militarily unskilled and unrealistic, and Bose's military effort was short-lived. In late 1944 and early 1945, the British Indian Army first halted and then devastatingly reversed the Japanese attack on India. Almost half the Japanese forces and fully half the participating INA contingent were killed. The INA was driven down the Malay Peninsula and surrendered with the recapture of Singapore. Bose chose not to surrender with his forces or with the Japanese. He aimed to escape to Manchuria with a view to seeking a future in the Soviet Union which he believed to be turning anti-British. En route to Manchuria, his plane crashed in Taiwan, and he died from third-degree burns. Some Indians did not believe that the crash had occurred. Many among them, especially in Bengal, believed Bose would return to gain India's independence.