Cariappa & Manekshaw : Field Marshals who defined courage

AFTER 1947, among India’s first six Army chiefs, two were, in the literal sense, sons of the soil: schooling and college in India, one, KM Cariappa, commissioned from the temporary Cadets Facility in Daly College, Indore, and the other, SFJ Manekshaw, from the inaugural session of IMA, Dehradun; both graduated from the Defence Services Staff College, Quetta; both were blooded and distinguished over battlefields during WW II, the first was thrice decorated for distinguished service — in Iraq, Persia and Burma — with a Mention-in-Despatches and an OBE, the second with MC for Valour in Burma and Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan for Services in India.

The first was conferred the Honorary Rank of Field Marshal at age 86 on April 28, 1986 and the second promoted to Field Marshal while in service on January 1, 1973. Both led the Army to victory in wars, one in 1948-49 and the other in 1971 and they remain the only two to have attained the pinnacle.

Yet, both were personalities apart — the first an inspirer par excellence and patriotic to the core, the second charismatic, with a touch of flamboyance and a magnetic mentor. Both exuded self-confidence and led from the front.

When the nascent Indian Army was challenged by Pakistan in late October 1947 in Jammu and Kashmir, Lt Gen KM Cariappa, as the GOC-in-C of the newly created Western Command, addressed all ranks at the Headquarters 19 Infantry Division in Srinagar with his forthright resolve: “We will not allow General Tariq to capture Leh. We have got to stop this. We must link up with Leh as soon as possible through Zoji Pass, Dras and Kargil. The successful conduct of this Operation will then depend on how far we are successful in getting the tanks up to the top of Zoji Pass which is very nearly 10,500 ft above sea level. This kind of thing has never been done before. Anyhow we will have a good shot at it."

Fortunately, with the foresight of Maj Gen KS Thimayya, DSO (distinguished service order), this voice recording was preserved in the footage of a film made on site by Serbjeet Singh, a refugee from Lahore settled in Jalandhar. Otherwise, historic moments such as a wireless radio operator’s communication on November 1, 1948, saying: “Hello Victor, Zoji La captured at 2 pm" and the flight path of the Dakota aircraft which made the first landing over a mud strip on Leh’s outskirts in May 1948 flown by Sqn Ldr Mehar Singh, DSO with Maj Gen Thimayya, DSO on board, would have been lost to posterity.

The honour of commanding the lead tank which neutralised enemy bunkers and crossed past Zoji La onwards to Dras was of Capt SDS Jamwal, who, on August 13, 2025 turned 100, but remains unsung.

The rest is history; Dras fell on November 16 and India’s first Tricolour was hoisted at Kargil on November 24, 1948. But Leh and Ladakh, as yet bereft of sufficient Army presence, were extremely vulnerable. Maj Gen Thimayya exhorted his troops: “The loss of Ladakh Province will be a grave strategic blow to India. We must defend it at all cost…." So, as a last resort, Lt Gen Cariappa ordered 2/8 Gorkha Rifles Battalion, located in Ferozepur, to move post haste to Leh.

And this was an audacious mission; the Commanding Officer with two companies moved by train and lorries from Pathankot to Srinagar, thence in driblets landed at the Leh airstrip. On arrival, through an extraordinary gazette notification, the Commanding Officer was appointed Governor of Ladakh and he lost no time to create de novo administrative machinery.

Meanwhile, the rest of the battalion, under the second-in-command, marched on foot, armed with .303 rifles, six Vickers machine guns, from Manali on August 25, reaching Leh on September 18, covering a distance of some 350 km in 25 days. Thus, a new chapter was added to Ladakh’s history.

As though by an act of providence, Sardar Patel had Col SFJ Manekshaw, manning the Military Operations Directorate at the Army Headquarters, flown in a Dakota aircraft to Srinagar in the wee hours of October 1947 to assess the ground situation and report. And based on his brief, the decision to go to war was taken post-haste and thus by now Brigadier (Acting) Manekshaw would have the best overview of the launch, buildup, day-to-day progress and performances of events and commanders till the ceasefire on January 1, 1949.

Now, coming to arguably the most imperishable legacy deed of General Cariappa. During the 1965 Indo-Pak war, his son Flt Lt KC Cariappa’s aircraft was hit, he was taken POW and Pak President Ayub Khan (who had served under the then Col Cariappa in Iraq during WW II) promptly, via Radio Pakistan and Pakistan’s High Commissioner in New Delhi, offered to have his son repatriated, but the Old Soldier’s stoic response was: “Look after all of them (Indian POWs) well. They are all my sons!”

Gen Manekshaw’s finest hour was when he spoke truth to power that neither was the Indian Army yet prepared for the task nor the topography of East Pakistan favoured warfare at the peak of monsoon and refused to be persuaded to act otherwise. The rest is history and the nation made him her first Field Marshal!

As for his legacy deeds, in my reckoning, the first concerns his staff car driver Havildar Shyam Singh’s request for premature retirement from the service. The Chief tried to dissuade him with a promise of promotion. But Shyam Singh humbly said, “Having driven you, Sahib, I simply cannot drive anyone else in my life."

On learning that Shyam Singh neither had any agricultural land nor inheritance, the Chief was baffled but agreed to the request. On the last day of his service, the Chief handed him an envelope with the order to open it on reaching home. Attached with the letter was a transfer deed to Shyam Singh of 25 acres of agricultural land in Sonepat district. The land was given to Field Marshal SHF Manekshaw as war jagir after the 1971 war.

January 1, 1973 is a red letter day in the Army as Gen Manekshaw was conferred the rank of Field Marshal. But the bureaucracy showed insensitivity and lack of grace over the payment of salary of a Field Marshal, a rank he held for a lifetime. Only 34 years later, in April 2007, following the intervention of President APJ Abdul Kalam, the Supreme Commander, a cheque for Rs 1.16 crore — covering arrears since 1973 — was finally delivered by the Defence Secretary to the ailing Field Marshal in the Military Hospital, Wellington.

And, the Field Marshal donated the amount to the Army Widows Welfare Fund! Sadly, the lingering lack of grace remained so pervasive that no serving Army, Navy or Air Force chief paid homage at his funeral on June 26, 2008.

Lt Gen Baljit Singh (retd) is former Chief of Staff, Central Command.

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