Born: 3 April, 1914, in Amritsar, India.
Died: 27 June, 2008, in Wellington, India, aged 94.
FIELD Marshal Hormusji Framji Sam Bahadur Jamshedji Manekshaw was a swashbuckling and outstanding military chief wh
o is perhaps independent India's greatest hero.
His career began in the 1930s as a junior officer in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Scots and culminated in a brilliant campaign in which he redrew the map of southern Asia, imposing a humiliating defeat on Pakistan in the 1971-72 India-Pakistan war and thus creating the new nation of Bangladesh.
Manekshaw, who was raised to the rank of field marshal from general in the wake of the 1971-72 conflict, was famed for his disarming friendliness, his love of a small glass of whisky for breakfast and his willingness to stand up to interference from politicians and bureaucrats.
Among the most furious of his rows was one in 1961 with the defence minister, Krishna Menon, an arrogant and humourless hardline socialist who accused the flamboyant Manekshaw, then commandant of the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, southern India, of running a famously efficient establishment that was "too English". Among Menon's allegations was that Manekshaw had a framed picture of Queen Elizabeth on his wall.
Manekshaw was suspended, but the following year Chinese troops poured across the eastern Himalayas, sending poorly equipped Indian troops into headlong flight. Krishna Menon resigned in disgrace and the terminally ill prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, recalled Manekshaw as eastern India commander to halt the Chinese drive towards the plains of India.
On arrival at the front line, Manekshaw summoned his demoralised officers. He said: "Gentlemen, I have arrived. There will be no more withdrawals in 4 Corps, thank you," and walked out. The Chinese advanced no further and later withdrew to a ceasefire line which persists to this day.
In later years, Manekshaw, who sported a 1940s-era British-style handlebar moustache, liked to quip: "It was the Chinese who came to my rescue."
In April 1971, Manekshaw, by now supreme army commander, stood up to Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, when, as prime minister, she demanded he launch an invasion of the then East Pakistan.
A furious Gandhi demanded he explain what he was going to do about the Pakistan military government's crackdown on the Bengali population of East Pakistan, leading to some three million deaths and sending ten million people fleeing into India as refugees.
Manekshaw allegedly replied: "Nothing, sweetie. And, prime minister, before you open your mouth further, may I send you my resignation on grounds of health, mental or physical?"
A chastened Gandhi instead sacked her top defence ministry civil servant, who had urged her to harass Manekshaw, then asked her army chief why he was unwilling to attack.
He said the monsoon was about to break, which would turn East Pakistan's maze of rivers and streams into a swampland where Indian troops would get stuck. Also, the United States secretary of state Henry Kissinger was backing Pakistan to achieve an opening to China, a Pakistan ally. Recalling 1961-62 all too vividly, Manekshaw reckoned the Chinese Red Army might launch an attack on India through the same eastern Himalaya passes as before. Wait, he said, until December, when heavy snow will make those gaps impassable even to soldiers infused by the thoughts of Chairman Mao.
Manekshaw and his top generals, admirals and air marshals planned meticulously throughout 1971, helping create a Bangladesh/East Pakistan guerrilla force, the Mukti Bahini, which harassed the Pakistan army and built a favourable international propaganda campaign.
Manekshaw planned to attack in late December, but on 3 December, 1971, the Pakistan air force in West Pakistan launched pre-emptive raids on airfields in north-west India, hoping to make gains that would relieve pressure on the east. Manekshaw gave the signal for war to begin on the eastern and western fronts. After a lightning campaign, Pakistani forces in East Pakistan surrendered on 16 December, 1971, and the creation of Bangladesh followed. Indian forces were advancing far into West Pakistan but Mrs Gandhi agreed to a ceasefire under intense American pressure.
In the sort of gesture that made him loved by his troops, Manekshaw refused Gandhi's order to accept the surrender of the Pakistan Army in the east. He gave that honour to the Indian army commander on the ground, General Jagjit Singh Aurora.
More than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers were taken prisoner. Pakistan lost half its navy, a quarter of its air force and a third of its army.
Although much loved, Manekshaw demanded discipline and honesty, rare qualities in wider Indian society in the 1970s. When a general accused of stealing funds told Manekshaw that it was dangerous to accuse a senior officer of dishonesty, he replied: "Your chief is not only accusing you of being dishonest, but also accusing you of being a thief. If I were you, I would go home and either shoot myself or resign." The general submitted his resignation that evening.
Manekshaw was the son of a doctor who was a member of the small Indian Parsee community.
Serving with the British Indian Army in Burma during the Second World War, he was seriously wounded when a Japanese soldier emptied a whole magazine of 18 bullets into his stomach. Because a dead person cannot be awarded the Military Cross, Manekshaw's commanding officer, Major-General DT Cowan, quickly ripped off his own MC ribbon and pinned it to the chest of the "dying" Manekshaw, who revived to survive many more adventures.
Manekshaw particularly enjoyed subsequent command of a regiment of Gurkhas, of whom he said: "If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha."
Manekshaw retired to a house surrounded by tea gardens at Coonoor in the beautiful Nilgiri Hills of southern India. There he grew roses and built up his whisky collection.
He was married for 64 years to Silloo Bode, an outstanding painter, who died in 2001. He is survived by several grandchildren and two daughters.
FRED BRIDGLAND
The full article contains 1018 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
