Remembering Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw

Remembering Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw on his 96th Birthday on 3 April – A Unique Soldier
There are very few persons who have done or brought so much honour and glory to the Country as late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. He had so many firsts to his credit that one wonders the esteem with which he worked. Such outstanding persons are, normally, confronted with jealousy but Sam had no such problems as all his colleagues liked or rather loved him. He had his own style of meeting people with humour and smile but without any ego. He reflected no feelings of superiority and mixed with one and all as if their own and participated in practically all events and functions. He was smart, handsome with a smiling countenance, always ready to crack jokes creating humour and happiness. It is during one of such meetings when the writer first encountered him sitting cross legged, in his typical style on a dining table in one of the transit messes, in the evening, entertaining with his jokes, young officers, who were going to join their units, mostly for the first time, looking tired, probably due to long dusty journey by convoys, which moved only during day time due to condition of roads in 1964. When one of the youngsters entered murmuring who the hell is sitting on the dining table like that, Gen Manekshaw simply smiled and told him to sit down by waving his hand and continued with his jokes. It was his unscheduled visit in civvies probably to see how the transit messes were running and above all to cheer up young Officers.

One of the finest officers of the Indian Army, Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, has had a long and illustrious career. Born on April 3, 1914 in Amritsar, Punjab, Field Marshal Manekshaw became the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army in 1969 and under his command, Indian forces achieved a splendid victory in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. and rose to become the First Field Marshal in Indian Armed Forces on 1.1.1973.

Though being a Parsi, he had all the traits of Amritsar where he was born. But it was at Sherwood where he developed his personality and learnt the art bullying by living amongst a variety of students some of whom in order to show off or satisfy their ego bullied others and at times got rebuff. He joined Hindu Sabha College Amritsar but was soon got selected for the first Batch of trainees of newly opened Indian Military Academy at Dehradun for commission in British Indian Army where he got his commission on February 4, 1934 in British Infantry in 2nd Battalion of Royal Scots. He later joined the 4th Battalion of 12 Frontier Force Regiment- commonly called the 54th Sikhs where in Second World War in Burma got a second life as young Captain he survived near fatal wounds during the War and had the rare distinction of being honoured for his bravery – Military Cross – right on the battle front itself during the Second World War.

Manekshaw, got a handsome, witty and sporting trademark of handlebar moustache, which distinguished his personality. He was also the first Indian officer to command the Gorkhas after India got Independence. He showed his strategic acumen during the 1947-48 Jammu & Kashmir Operations and later became commandant of the Infantry School before becoming the Colonel of 8 Gorkha Rifles. The Indian government, made a highly costly strategic blunder by sidelining him during the Indo-China war just because he didn’t wag his tail.

In 1961, his outspoken frankness got him into trouble with Defence Minister V K Krishna Menon and his adviser Lt Gen B M Kaul. He refused to toe Menon’s line and was sidelined. Manekshaw was vindicated soon after when the Indian army suffered a humiliating defeat in North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now Arunachal Pradesh, the next year, at the hands of the Chinese that led to Menon’s resignation. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru rushed Manekshaw to NEFA to command the retreating Indian forces. This had an electrifying effect on the demoralised officers.

In no time, Manekshaw convinced the troops that the Chinese soldier was not "10 feet tall". His first order of the day said, "There will be no withdrawal without written orders and these orders shall never be issued." The soldiers showed faith in their new commander and successfully checked further ingress by the Chinese.

He was appointed as GOC-in-C Eastern Command where he handled the insurgency in Nagaland. He became the 8th Chief of Army Staff on 7 June 1969. Affectionately called "Sam Bahadur", Manekshaw was the architect of many a military triumphs but his finest hour came when in 1971 Pakistani forces were vanquished in 14 days flat when Bangladesh was born. His distinguished military career spanned four decades from the British era and through five wars, including the Second World War.

Flamboyant by nature, Manekshaw always had his way with people, including his seniors and even the country’s Head of Government. At one stage his jocular remarks almost brought his career graph down and was denied of certain privileges he was entitled to. When Mrs.Gandhi asked him to go to Dhaka and accept the surrender of Pakistani forces, Manekshaw declined, magnanimously saying that honour should go to his army commander in the East (Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora).

A shrewd tactician, Manekshaw meticulously planned the Indian attack on Pakistan on both fronts — East and West. While the Indian forces captured the then East Pakistan in the eastern sector, the army made heavy inroads in the western sector going up to Lahore. This legendary soldier received several awards and accolades. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1968, the Padma Vibhushan in 1972 and was conferred the rank of Field Marshal on 1 January 1973.

He settled down in Coonoor, a town next to Wellington Military Cantonment where he had served as Commandant of the Defence Services Staff College. As Field Marshal, whereever he visited or was invited, he with his personality, grace and dignity he inspired in youth the Spirit of service and Sacrifice and cheerfully carrying out the assigned duties. He was a towering figure to emulate in every field as a true soldier.

He died of complications from pneumonia at the Military Hospital in Wellington, Tamil Nadu on 0030 hours, 27 June 2008 at the age of 94. He was laid to rest in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, with full military honours. The Nation remembers and pays gratitude to this great and unique Soldier, today, on his birthday. Keeping his exemplary record of service to the Nation he deserves to be conferred the Title of ‘Bharat Ratna’.
Brig KG Behl (Retd)
President Dehradun Ex- Services League