Chittagong Armoury Raid

An event so dramatic it has inspired two major feature films. On April 18 1930 in a small corner of the mighty British Empire a ragtag bunch of revolutionaries unfurled the Indian flag after raiding the armoury. They were led by a Congress volunteer Surya Sen affectionately called Masterda. Nobody including the revolutionaries thought the revolt would last more than a few days. They were wrong. The British Army despite possessing far superior firepower failed to vanquish the revolutionaries in the famous battle on Jalalabad Hill. Many revolutionaries escaped to the countryside and lived underground for months. Eventually one by one they were captured. Subodh Roy (Jhunku) was at 14 the youngest participant in this heroic episode. After his capture he was tortured tried and sentenced to the infamous Cellular Jail in the Andamans. Here he became a Communist.