Arathil Candeth Narayanan Nambiar (1896 – 17 January 1986)[1] was an Indian Nationalist and a friend and colleague of Subhas Chandra Bose.

Originally from Thalassery, Kannur, Kerala,[2] Nambiar spent much of his life serving the Indian independence movement in Europe.

(The declassified documents also included correspondence between Nambiar and Bose captured after the surrender of German submarine U-234.

Nambiar was a reluctant recruit; his anti-Nazi politics put him in an uncomfortable position, but he finally succumbed to Bose's persuasiveness and moved to Berlin.

[6] In January 1943 Bose secretly transferred by submarine to the Japanese theatre of war, leaving Nambiar in charge in Germany.

The attitude of Bose and Nambiar towards Nazi Germany slowly transformed from seeing it as a convenient way of obtaining material support for their cause to believing that German victory was essential for them to succeed.

By August the Centre's operations became severely disrupted by Allied bombing and Nambiar's own house was destroyed.

He persuaded the reluctant German commander of the Legion (Lieutenant Colonel Krappe) to allow a small contingent into action as an experiment.

The initial reconnaissance party immediately deserted, followed by the entire company refusing to go into action on the grounds that the Poles were not their enemy.