Sam Manekshaw

Still image of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw in Pune

Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw ( Hindi : सैम मानेकशॉ; born April 3, 1914 in Amritsar , Punjab , India ; † June 29, 2008 in Wellington , India) was the first Field Marshal of the Indian Armed Forces and is considered to be the architect of the victory of India in Bangladesh - 1971 war.

Life

Military training and World War II

The son of a doctor from a Parsen family began to study medicine at Sherwood College in Naini Tal and at Hindu Sabha College in Amritsar after attending school , but joined the newly founded Indian Military Academy in Dehradun in 1934 as a member of the first officer candidate class a. This should enable local soldiers to pursue a career in the British Indian Army . First he did his military service in a regiment of the Royal Scots before joining a Gurkha regiment.

Manekshaw first gained attention as a captain . On February 22, 1942, he was wounded several times in a counterattack against the Imperial Japanese Army on the Sittong River in Burma (today's Myanmar ), but nevertheless continued to fight alongside his unit until he collapsed.

Fearing the imminent death of Manekshaw, the British commander, Major General DT Cowan, pinned his own Military Cross on, explaining that “a dead person cannot be awarded a Military Cross.” Manekshaw survived his severe wounds and continued his military Career continued. During the Second World War he returned to Burma and was wounded again there.

Advance to General and Bangladesh War

In 1947 he was entrusted as a colonel with the command of military operations of the Indian army after a conflict over Kashmir broke out between India and Pakistan , which both recently independent states claimed for themselves. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to brigadier general .

In the following years he had numerous other uses within the armed forces and finally rose to major general in December 1957. As such, there was a conflict with Defense Minister VK Menon in 1961 , but his military ability was demonstrated in late 1962 when he repulsed units of the Chinese People's Liberation Army trying to invade India via the Himalayan region. Defense Minister Menon, a confidante of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru , had previously resigned, whereupon Nehru was in charge of repelling Chinese troops. In December 1963, Manekshaw was promoted to lieutenant general.

In 1968 he was awarded the third highest Indian Order of Merit , the Padma Bhushan .

On June 8, 1969, Sam Manekshaw became general and eighth commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces and as such led the Indian army in 1971 to the war with Pakistan, which on December 16, 1971 led to the establishment of the state of Bangladesh , the former East Pakistan. In doing so, he rejected the immediate military invasion of East Pakistan, demanded by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the spring of 1971, in support of the rebels there. He justified this with the fact that such an operation should only take place after the end of the monsoon rain , since then the armed forces would be better prepared. Shortly before the war began in December 1971, when Prime Minister Gandhi asked if he was ready for the war, he is said to have replied that he was always prepared. Less than three weeks later, Pakistan was defeated.

The successes in the Bangladesh War made him a national hero of India and in 1972 he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan , the second highest Indian Order of Merit. On January 3, 1973, two weeks before his retirement, he was promoted to India's first Field Marshal.

Web links and sources

Commons : Sam Manekshaw  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• THE NEW YORK TIMES: Sam HFJ Manekshaw Dies at 94; Key to India's Victory in 1971 War (June 30, 2008)