Birendra Nath Mazumdar

Birendra Nath Mazumdar M.D. (1914 or 1915 – December 1997) was an Indian medical officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps serving in France in 1940. At the time, he was the only Indian officer in the British Army, and after his capture by the Germans, he was the only Indian POW to be held in Oflag IV-C, Colditz. After forcing a transfer to an all-Indian POW camp in France, he escaped to Switzerland in 1943.

Early life Mazumdar was the son of a surgeon, born into a wealthy Bengali Brahmin family. The two walked 900 kilometres in 6 weeks to Switzerland and freedom. He resumed his medical career and worked as a GP firstly in Wales and then in Essex before retiring to Galmpton in Devon.