Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, whose military victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war led to the creation of Bangladesh, died at the Military Hospital at Wellington in Tamil Nadu on Friday. He was 94.
The Padma Vibhushan and Military Cross awardee, who was admitted to the hospital for some time for "progressive lung disease", had slipped into a coma earlier in the day and the end came just after midnight at 00:30 am, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Manekshaw had developed 'acute bronchopneumonia with associated complications' and was placed under intensive care four days ago after his condition became serious.
The body of one of India's greatest soldiers will kept at the Madras Regiment Centre grounds in Wellington between 1100 hours and 1300 hours on Friday for the public to pay homage.
In a rare gesture, the Centre has decided to accord a state funeral to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the Defence Ministry said.
"The government has decided that the rare honour of a state funeral, usually given only to public figures, will be a fitting manner to honour Field Marshal Manekshaw. This is the first time a military person is being given a state funeral," a defence ministry official said.
Union Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju would represent the Central government at the funeral, while a representative of the Chief of Royal Bhutan Army Kinley Dorji would attend, representing the Bhutanese Army.
Vice Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General M L Naidu and a Tamil Nadu minister would also be attending the funeral.
Defence minister A K Antony will not be attending the funeral.
"The defence minister will not be able to travel as it involves a long flight and then a journey by road to reach the place," the official said. He added that the participation of the chiefs of the three defence services was doubtful.
"The vice chief of army staff has already left. The chief of army staff is not in town and will not be attending. The other services will also be well-represented," the official said.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government announced a day's official mourning today. The National flag would fly at half mast throughout the state, an official press release said. Educational institutions in the Nilgiris would remain closed today as a mark of respect to the departed General, the release added.
According to Manekshaw's family members, the body will be taken to a cemetery in Ooty, where his wife was buried.
The Padma Vibhushan and Military Cross awardee, who was admitted to the hospital for some time for "progressive lung disease", had slipped into a coma earlier in the day and the end came just after midnight at 00:30 am, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Manekshaw had developed 'acute bronchopneumonia with associated complications' and was placed under intensive care four days ago after his condition became serious.
The body of one of India's greatest soldiers will kept at the Madras Regiment Centre grounds in Wellington between 1100 hours and 1300 hours on Friday for the public to pay homage.
In a rare gesture, the Centre has decided to accord a state funeral to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the Defence Ministry said.
"The government has decided that the rare honour of a state funeral, usually given only to public figures, will be a fitting manner to honour Field Marshal Manekshaw. This is the first time a military person is being given a state funeral," a defence ministry official said.
Union Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju would represent the Central government at the funeral, while a representative of the Chief of Royal Bhutan Army Kinley Dorji would attend, representing the Bhutanese Army.
Vice Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General M L Naidu and a Tamil Nadu minister would also be attending the funeral.
Defence minister A K Antony will not be attending the funeral.
"The defence minister will not be able to travel as it involves a long flight and then a journey by road to reach the place," the official said. He added that the participation of the chiefs of the three defence services was doubtful.
"The vice chief of army staff has already left. The chief of army staff is not in town and will not be attending. The other services will also be well-represented," the official said.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government announced a day's official mourning today. The National flag would fly at half mast throughout the state, an official press release said. Educational institutions in the Nilgiris would remain closed today as a mark of respect to the departed General, the release added.
According to Manekshaw's family members, the body will be taken to a cemetery in Ooty, where his wife was buried.
Manekshaw was born on April 3, 1914 in Amritsar. He had his schooling at Nainital's Sherwood College. After completing his schooling, he should have gone to England to pursue higher studies; this was the promise made to him by his father but, fortunately for the Indian Army, Dr Manekshaw felt that this particular son was far too young to be on his own in a foreign country, even with his two elder brothers already studying there. So he was admitted to the Hindu Sabha College, Amritsar.
After a stint in Hindu College, he applied for and was accepted for entry into the first batch of the newly opened Indian Military Academy at Dehradun for training Indians for commissioned rank in the British Indian Army. He received his commission on 4th February 1934 and, after an attachment as was the practice then with a British Infantry Battalion, the 2nd Battalion the Royal Scots, he joined the 4th Battalion, 12 Frontier Force Regiment, commonly called the 54th Sikhs.
In 1937, at a social gathering in Lahore he met his future wife, Silloo Bode; they fell in love and were married on 22nd April 1939. Silloo is a graduate of Bombay's renowned Elphinstone College and also studied at the JJ School of Arts there. A voracious reader, a gifted painter and an extremely intelligent and interesting conversationalist, she has made an admirable wife and a wonderful mother. The outbreak of the Second World War saw the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment in action in Burma with the famed 17 Infantry Division. Sam was separated from his family for over three years and this separation was the cause of a celebrated example he was later to give while answering questions put to him in his capacity as Chief of the Army Staff by the Pay Commission.
After a stint in Hindu College, he applied for and was accepted for entry into the first batch of the newly opened Indian Military Academy at Dehradun for training Indians for commissioned rank in the British Indian Army. He received his commission on 4th February 1934 and, after an attachment as was the practice then with a British Infantry Battalion, the 2nd Battalion the Royal Scots, he joined the 4th Battalion, 12 Frontier Force Regiment, commonly called the 54th Sikhs.
In 1937, at a social gathering in Lahore he met his future wife, Silloo Bode; they fell in love and were married on 22nd April 1939. Silloo is a graduate of Bombay's renowned Elphinstone College and also studied at the JJ School of Arts there. A voracious reader, a gifted painter and an extremely intelligent and interesting conversationalist, she has made an admirable wife and a wonderful mother. The outbreak of the Second World War saw the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment in action in Burma with the famed 17 Infantry Division. Sam was separated from his family for over three years and this separation was the cause of a celebrated example he was later to give while answering questions put to him in his capacity as Chief of the Army Staff by the Pay Commission.
On 22nd February 1942, occurred the much-publicised event when Sam was wounded. The retreat through the Burma jungle ended abruptly for him on 22nd February 1942, when seven bullets from a Japanese machine gun whipped through his body. The young captain who had just led two companies in the courageous capture of a vital hill was awarded the Military Cross.
"We made an immediate recommendation," a senior officer explained, "because you can't award a dead man the Military Cross." His orderly Sher Singh evacuated him to the Regimental Aid Post where the regimental medical officer, Captain G M Diwan, treated him overruling his protestations that the doctor treat other patients first. Sam was evacuated to the hospital at Pegu where he was operated upon, and then evacuated further to Rangoon, from where he sailed for India in one of the last ships to leave that port before it fell to the Japanese. He still carries the scars of this wound and I am not quite sure whether it is that or regular exercise that keeps his stomach in -- to the envy of people much younger than he.
"We made an immediate recommendation," a senior officer explained, "because you can't award a dead man the Military Cross." His orderly Sher Singh evacuated him to the Regimental Aid Post where the regimental medical officer, Captain G M Diwan, treated him overruling his protestations that the doctor treat other patients first. Sam was evacuated to the hospital at Pegu where he was operated upon, and then evacuated further to Rangoon, from where he sailed for India in one of the last ships to leave that port before it fell to the Japanese. He still carries the scars of this wound and I am not quite sure whether it is that or regular exercise that keeps his stomach in -- to the envy of people much younger than he.
Promotions followed in rapid succession and 1959 saw Manekshaw as commandant of the Defence Services Staff College. There his frankness got him into trouble with the defence minister, V K Krishna Menon, and his protege of the time, the late Lieutenant General B M Kaul; a court of inquiry was ordered against him.
The court of inquiry that was convened with the late Lieutenant General Daulet Singh, then Western Army commander, as presiding officer, exonerated Sam, but before a no case could be announced, fate intervened in the shape of the Chinese hordes that swept over what was always considered the impregnable Himalayas.
The court of inquiry that was convened with the late Lieutenant General Daulet Singh, then Western Army commander, as presiding officer, exonerated Sam, but before a no case could be announced, fate intervened in the shape of the Chinese hordes that swept over what was always considered the impregnable Himalayas.
On 4th December 1963, Manekshaw took over as Army commander in the west, the second rung from the top. One of his brigade commanders was H S Yadav, the man who had been the principal prosecution witness in the case cooked up against him in 1961. At a party in an officers mess in Kashmir one evening, talk veered round to Yadav, and the senior brass, knowing the background and not averse to making a few points with the army commander, started on what each planned to do to catch or embarrass Yadav.
The army commander heard this for some moments and then butted in ('before I got sick' as he told me later) with 'Look chaps, professionally, Kim Yadav is head and shoulders above most of you, so forget about trying to catch him out. He just lacks character and there is nothing anyone of you can do about that.'
The army commander heard this for some moments and then butted in ('before I got sick' as he told me later) with 'Look chaps, professionally, Kim Yadav is head and shoulders above most of you, so forget about trying to catch him out. He just lacks character and there is nothing anyone of you can do about that.'
At a meeting in Delhi a few months later, Chavan, then the defence minister, asked him his views on which Army command Manekshaw considered most important, challenging and threatened. Eastern, said Sam, as it had the Chinese in the North, East Pakistan in the South and on its flank insurgency rampant in Nagaland and the Mizo Hills and, if all that was not enough to fill the hands of the incumbent, the troubled state of West Bengal certainly would. Chavan thought over the answer for a few moments and then asked if Sam would like to accept the challenge of taking over that command.
He accepted immediately. Manekshaw became the 8th Chief of Army Staff when he succeeded General Kumaramangalam on 7 June 1969. His years of military experience were soon put to the test as thousands of refugees from the erstwhile East Pakistan started crossing over to India as a result of oppression from West Pakistan. The volatile situation erupted into a full-scale war in December 1971.
During this Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Manekshaw showed uncommon ability to motivate the forces, coupling it with a mature war strategy. The war ended with Pakistan's unconditional surrender, and the formation of Bangladesh. More than 45,000 Pakistani soldiers and 45,000 civilian personnel were taken as POWs. He masterminded the rout of the Pakistan Army in one of the quickest victories in the recent military history. This led to the Shimla Agreement which opened the door to the creation of the nation of Bangladesh as separate from Pakistan.
The country honoured him with Padma Bhushan in 1968 and Padma Vibhushan in 1972.
He accepted immediately. Manekshaw became the 8th Chief of Army Staff when he succeeded General Kumaramangalam on 7 June 1969. His years of military experience were soon put to the test as thousands of refugees from the erstwhile East Pakistan started crossing over to India as a result of oppression from West Pakistan. The volatile situation erupted into a full-scale war in December 1971.
During this Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Manekshaw showed uncommon ability to motivate the forces, coupling it with a mature war strategy. The war ended with Pakistan's unconditional surrender, and the formation of Bangladesh. More than 45,000 Pakistani soldiers and 45,000 civilian personnel were taken as POWs. He masterminded the rout of the Pakistan Army in one of the quickest victories in the recent military history. This led to the Shimla Agreement which opened the door to the creation of the nation of Bangladesh as separate from Pakistan.
The country honoured him with Padma Bhushan in 1968 and Padma Vibhushan in 1972.
No comments:
Post a Comment