Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam: Difference between revisions

General
P.P. Kumaramangalam
DSO, MBE
General P.P. Kumaramangalam DSO, MBE
Personal details
Born	1 July 1913; Kumaramangalam, Madras Presidency, British Raj
Died	13 March 2000 (aged 86); Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Relations	P. Subbarayan (Father); Mohan Kumaramangalam (Brother)
Awards	Padma Vibhushan; Distinguished Service Order (DSO); Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
Military service
Allegiance	British India (1933-1947) ; India (after 1947)
Branch/service	Indian Army
Years of service	1933–1969
Rank	General
Commands	Eastern Army; Defence Services Staff College; 26th Indian Infantry Division
Battles/wars	World War II; Indo-Pakistan War of 1947; Sino-Indian War; Indo-Pakistan War of 1965

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General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam, DSO, MBE (1 July 1913 – 13 March 2000) was the 7th Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) of the Indian Army from 1967 to 1970. He was among the last of the King's Commissioned Indian Officers trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the Indian Army.

Early life and education

P.P. Kumaramangalam was born to the Former Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, P. Subbarayan in the zamindari family of Kumaramangalam in Tamil Nadu. He had his secondary education at Eton College and graduated from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in England. He was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery in the British Army on 31 August 1933, as only the second Indian Officer to be commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery.^[1] He was appointed to the British Indian Army on 12 November 1934,^[2] and was promoted to Lieutenant on 2 May 1935.^[3]

Military life

World War II

Kumaramangalam was promoted to captain on 2 February 1941.^[4] During World War II, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) as a temporary major for action in Libya on 27 May 1942.^[5] He was taken Prisoner of War (PoW) in Italy in 1942.^{[citation needed]} He escaped; however he was captured again and imprisoned, this time in Germany, where he was transferred to Stalag Luft III a high security camp for PoWs. At the end of the war in 1945, he returned to India.

Postwar

On 18 April 1946, Captain Kumaramangalam was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and was promoted to major on 1 July.^[6]^[7] He became a Brigadier in 1948. General Kumaramangalam took over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command in May 1963. In November 1964 he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Army Staff and on 15 January 1965 he became Vice Chief of the Army Staff. General Kumaramangalam took over as the Chief of the Army Staff on 8 June 1966, the first Indian gunner officer and a paratrooper to reach this coveted appointment. The tenure of General Kumaramangalam as Chief of the Army Staff was marked by an unpublicised but exhaustive re-organisation of the service, up-gradation of weapons, training and tactics based on the lessons learned from the 1965 War. He served in the Indian Army with distinction for 36 years until his retirement on 7 June 1969. He received the Padma Vibushan in 1970.

Views on America

General Kumaramangalam trained at the artillery school in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. From his letters it is evident he wasn't very impressed with the Americans. He saw them as suffering from an "aggressive inferiority complex" and cautioned a newly independent India against coming under American influence. The following is an excerpt from a letter written by him to C. Rajagopalachari in 1947:

"This country is not one that I will ever get fond of. I have not got a very high opinion of them. The people that I have to deal with are very kind, hospitable and have been very good to the two of us. But somehow I feel there is a trace of artificiality in that and also it is the result of trying to impress one. They I think are very jealous of the old world and its background and culture and this results in an aggressive inferiority complex. As for their state of morality, there is none. People seem to delight in trying to outwit each other by any means, mainly crooked. The politicians are racketeers and big business has a tight grip on everything in the country. The small country trader and the farmer I think have their hands securely tied by the big men. I do hope that our country proceeds with caution and doesn't get entirely under the influence of the States."^[8]

Other interests

He was also a polo player, horseman, show jumper, and cricketer. He was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club, a fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society, and president of Indian Polo Association and Equestrian Federation of India. On retirement as army chief, he was elected President of the World Wildlife Fund - India (WWF-India) during its formative stages.

Family

His brother was the renowned politician Mohan Kumaramangalam.

Death

He died following a heart attack on 13 March 2000.

References

^ "No. 33974". The London Gazette. 1 September 1933.
^ "No. 34129". The London Gazette. 1 February 1935.
^ "No. 34173". The London Gazette. 21 June 1935.
^ "No. 35165". The London Gazette. 16 May 1941.
^ "No. 35665". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 11 August 1942.
^ "No. 37536". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 16 April 1946.
^ "No. 38069". The London Gazette. 12 September 1947.
^ P.P. Kumaramangalam to C. Rajagopalachari, 22 December 1947, in File 82, Fifth Installment, C. Rajagopalachari Papers, NMML.

Military offices
Preceded by Lt. Gen. T. B. Henderson Brooks	General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command 1963-1964	Succeeded by Lt. Gen. Sam Manekshaw
Preceded by Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri	Chief of Army Staff 1966–1969	Succeeded by Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw

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[1] "No. 33974". The London Gazette. 1 September 1933.

[2] "No. 34129". The London Gazette. 1 February 1935.

[3] "No. 34173". The London Gazette. 21 June 1935.

[4] "No. 35165". The London Gazette. 16 May 1941.

[5] "No. 35665". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 11 August 1942.

[6] "No. 37536". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 16 April 1946.

[7] "No. 38069". The London Gazette. 12 September 1947.

[8] P.P. Kumaramangalam to C. Rajagopalachari, 22 December 1947, in File 82, Fifth Installment, C. Rajagopalachari Papers, NMML.

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-| honorific_prefix  = [[General officer|General]]
+| honorific-prefix  = [[General officer|General]]
 |name= P.P. Kumaramangalam
-| honorific_suffix  = [[Distinguished Service Order (United Kingdom)|DSO]], [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]]
+| honorific-suffix  = [[Distinguished Service Order (United Kingdom)|DSO]], [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]]
 |image=
 |caption=

v t e Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army
Commander-in-Chief, Indian Army (1947–1948)	Sir Rob Lockhart Sir Roy Butcher
Chief of the Army Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Army (1948–1955)	Sir Roy Butcher** Kodandera M. Cariappa Rajendrasinhji Jadeja
Chief of the Army Staff (1955–present)	Rajendrasinhji Jadeja S. M. Shrinagesh Kodandera Subayya Thimayya Pran Nath Thapar Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam Sam Manekshaw Gopal Gurunath Bewoor Tapishwar Narain Raina Om Prakash Malhotra K. V. Krishna Rao Arun Shridhar Vaidya Krishnaswamy Sundarji Vishwa Nath Sharma Sunith Francis Rodrigues Bipin Chandra Joshi Shankar Roychowdhury Ved Prakash Malik Sundararajan Padmanabhan Nirmal Chander Vij Joginder Jaswant Singh Deepak Kapoor Vijay Kumar Singh Bikram Singh Dalbir Singh Bipin Rawat Manoj Mukund Naravane Manoj Pande (incumbent)
(**Seconded from the British Army)