Jatindra Mukherjee. The Indo-German Conspiracy Many Indian nationalists, including Roy, became convinced that only through an armed struggle against the British would they be able to separate India from the British Empire. To further this end, revolutionary nationalists looked to a rival imperial power, that of Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany, as a potential source of funds and weapons. In August 1914, World War I began, affecting both the UK and Germany. Expatriate Indian nationalists organised as the Indian Revolutionary Committee in Berlin made an informal approach to the German government in support of aid to the cause of anti-British armed struggle in India. These contacts were favourable and towards the end of the year word reached India the Germans had agreed to provide money and necessary materials to start an armed struggle against British rule. Revolution seemed near. The task of getting funds and armaments for the coming struggle was entrusted to Naren Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya was sent to Java, where over the next two months he was able to obtain limited funds, and no armaments. Early in 1915, Bhattacharya set out again, leaving India in search of vaguely promised German armaments which were believed to be en route, somewhere on the Pacific. Roy would not see his homeland again for 16 years. The actual plan seemed fantastic, as Bhattacharya-Roy later recounted in his posthumously published memoirs: "The plan was to use German ships interned in a port at the northern tip of Sumatra, to storm the Andaman Islands and free and arm the prisoners there, and land the army of liberation on the Orissa coast. The ships were armoured, as many big German vessels were, ready for wartime use. they also carried several guns each. The crew was composed of naval ratings. They had to escape from the internment camp, seize the ships, and sail.... Several hundred rifles and other small arms with an adequate supply of ammunition could be acquired through Chinese smugglers who would get then on board the ships." At the last minute, money for the conduct of the operation failed to materialise and "the German Consul General mysteriously disappeared on the day when he was to issue orders for the execution of the plan," Bhattacharya recalled. Disgusted but still holding out hope, Bhattacharya left Indonesia for Japan, hoping to win Japanese support for their cause, despite Japan's nominal alliance with Great Britain. There he met with Chinese