The attitude of the Legion's soldiers was similar to that of the Italian "Battaglione Azad Hindoustan", which had been of dubious loyalty to the Axis cause—it was disbanded after a mutiny. In one instance, immediately prior to the first deployment of the Legion in the Netherlands in April 1943, after the departure of the 1st Battalion from Königsbrück, two companies within the 2nd Battalion refused to move until convinced by Indian leaders. Even in Asia, where the Indian National Army was much larger and fought the British directly, Bose faced similar obstacles at first. All of this goes to show that many of the men never possessed loyalty to the Nazi cause or ideology; the motivation of the Legion's men was to fight for India's independence. The unit did allegedly participate in atrocities, especially in the Médoc region in July 1944, and in the region of Ruffec, including rapes and child murder and the department of Indre during their retreat, and in addition, some elements of the unit undertook anti-partisan operations in Italy.