Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw seriously ill

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

In one sequence Field Marshal Manekshaw recalls how, following the 1971 war against Pakistan, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi confronted him about rumours that he was planning a coup against her. "Don't you think I would not be a worthy replacement for you Madam prime minister? You have a long nose, so have I. I don't poke my nose in other people's affairs," he joked.

:D

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

"I am okay," was the last words uttered by Manekshaw to the medical team attending him at the Military Hospital in Wellington, Colonel BNBM Prasad, senior pulmonologist from Delhi, said on Friday. "These words uttered two days before his death are still echoing in my ears," Prasad told media-persons

[theguyinallblue]

Sam Bahadur: A soldier's general NEW DELHI: Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw crafted India's greatest military victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war that created just not history but also a new nation. Affectionately called "Sam Bahadur", Manekshaw (94) was the architect of many a military triumph but his finest hour came when Pakistani forces were vanquished in 14 days flat. And Bangladesh was born. Handsome, witty and sporting his trademark handlebar moustache, Manekshaw had the rare distinction of being honoured for his bravery - Military Cross - right on the battle front itself during the Second World War. He was also the first Indian officer to command the Gorkhas after India got Independence. Manekshaw, who got a second life after the young Captain survived near fatal wounds during the Second World War in Burma, is the first of only two Indian military officers to hold the highest rank of Field Marshal of the Indian Army (The other being Field Marshal K M Cariappa). 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. Just before the Bangladesh operations in December 1971, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi asked Manekshaw ,who was the Army Chief then, "General are you ready" (for the war). Pat came the reply from the dapper officer, "I am always ready sweetie." Gandhi was not unpleased, nor offended. :haha: On another occasion, Gandhi asked him whether he was planning to take over the country. Pointing to his long nose, the General replied: "I don't use it to poke into other's affairs." When 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). Manekshaw said he would only go if it were to accept the surrender of the entire Pakistani army. 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. Adopting a mature war strategy, he masterminded the rout of the Pakistan Army in one of the quickest victories in the recent military history to liberate Bangladesh. Born on April 3, 1914 in Amritsar to Parsi parents who migrated to Punjab from the small town of Valsad on the Gujarat coast, Manekshaw rose to be the Eighth Chief of Staff of the Indian Army in 1969. The year of the General's birth was around the time when the First World War broke. During World War II, Manekshaw saw action in the Burma campaign on Sittang River as a Captain with the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment. Manekshaw was leading a counter-offensive against the invading Japanese Army in Burma. During the course of the offensive he was hit by a burst of LMG bullets and was severely wounded in the stomach. Major General D T Cowan spotted Manekshaw holding on to life and was aware of his valour in face of stiff resistance from the Japanese. Fearing the worst, Major General Cowan quickly pinned his own Military Cross ribbon on to Manekshaw saying, "A dead person cannot be awarded a Military Cross." But luck was on the young Captain's side and he survived to be one of India's most popular Army Chiefs. Manekshaw became the 8th Chief of Army Staff when he succeeded General Kumaramangalam on June 7, 1969. His years of military experience were soon put to the test as thousands of refugees from the erstwhile East Pakistan started crossing over to India as a result of oppression from West Pakistan. The volatile situation erupted into a full-scale war in December 1971 and the rest is history. During the 1971 war, Manekshaw showed uncanny ability to motivate the forces, coupling it with a mature war strategy. The war ended with Pakistan's unconditional surrender, and the formation of Bangladesh. More than 45,000 Pakistani soldiers and 45,000 civilian personnel were taken as POWs. This led to the Shimla Agreement which opened the door to the creation of the nation of Bangladesh as separate from Pakistan. The Field Marshal's wit was legendary. Once on a visit to his unit as Commanding Officer he asked what action was taken against a man who contracted veneral disease and when he was told the man's head was shaved off, he roared. "Shaved off? Dammit. He didn't do it with his head.":haha: After completing his schooling in Amritsar and Sherwood College (Nainital), he joined the first batch of 40 cadets at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun on October 1, 1932. He passed out of the IMA in December 1934 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army. He held several regimental assignments and was first attached to the Royal Scots and later to the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment. Having recovered from those near-fatal wounds in Burma, Manekshaw went for a course at Staff College, Quetta and later also served there as an instructor before being sent to join 12 Frontier Force Rifles in Burma under General (later Field Marshal) Slim's 14th Army. He was once again involved in a fierce battle with the Japanese, and was wounded for a second time. In 1937, at a social gathering in Lahore Manekshaw met Silloo Bode. They fell in love and were married on April 22, 1939. Silloo, a graduate of Bombay's Elphinstone College made an admirable wife and a wonderful mother. Towards the close of World War II, Manekshaw was sent as Staff Officer to General Daisy in Indo-China where, after the Japanese surrender, he helped rehabilitate over 10,000 POWs. He then went on a six-month lecture tour to Australia in 1946, and after his return served as a First Grade Staff Officer in the Military Operations Directorate. Manekshaw showed acumen for planning and administration while handling the issues related to Partition in 1947, and later put to use his battle skills during the 1947-48 Jammu and Kashmir Operations. After command of an Infantry Brigade, he was posted as the Commandant of the Infantry School and also became the Colonel of 8 Gorkha Rifles (which became his new regimental home, since his original parent regiment The 12th Frontier Force Regiment went on to join the new Pakistan Army at partition) and 61 Cavalry. He commanded a Division in Jammu and Kashmir and a Corps in the North East, with a tenure as Commandant of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) in between. As GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, he handled the tricky problem of insurgency in Nagaland and the grateful nation honoured him with a Padma Bhushan in 1968. For his distinguished service to the country, the President of India awarded him a Padma Vibhushan in 1972. The President conferred upon him the rank of Field Marshal, a prestigious honorary rank, on January one, 1973. Manekshaw retired a fortnight later (although technically Field Marshals of the Indian Army never retire because the rank is conferred for life), on January 15, 1973, after completing nearly four decades of military service. In 1961, his outspoken frankness got him into trouble with Defence Minister V K Krishna Menon and his protege of the time 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. After retirement, Manekshaw settled down in Tamil Nadu.

[theguyinallblue]

When Sam quoted chapter and verse to Mrs Gandhi resident Richard Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger had only one question for the United States chief of army staff who had just returned from India: how long will it take the Indians to liberate East Pakistan? General William C Westmoreland, who was shown around the garrisons in West Bengal and elsewhere in the country by his Indian counterpart General Sam Manekshaw, did not hesitate: ''one-and-a-half months to two months, sir,'' he replied. The conflict ended in only 13 days giving birth to Bangladesh and upsetting US calculations. ''What is it Sam that you did not show me,'' Gen Westmoreland, who got a thorough dressing down from Nixon, later asked the Indian war hero. Interestingly, the American general did not know that for Manekshaw, at that time it was only a thin line between getting promoted or being sacked. ''I have seen several angry women, including my wife. But never one like Mrs Gandhi,'' said the field marshal while releasing last evening in Delhi the book, Liberation and Beyond: Indo-Bangladesh relations , written by J N Dixit, former foreign secretary. It was the afternoon of April 29, 1971. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had called an urgent cabinet meeting. Those present were Defence Minister Jagjivan Ram, Agriculture Minister Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Finance Minister Y B Chauhan, External Affairs Minister Sardar Swaran Singh, and a special invitee, army chief Gen. Sam Manekshaw. ''What are you doing?'' a fuming Mrs Gandhi asked the general, throwing reports of refugee influx from East Pakistan send by the West Bengal Chief Minister, Siddartha Shankar Ray, on the table, Manekshaw recalled. ''I want you to walk into East Pakistan,'' Mrs Gandhi told her army chief. ''That means war,'' the general said. ''I don't mind if it is war,'' was Mrs Gandhi's characteristic reply. Manekshaw was unruffled by the outburst. ''Have you read the bible?'' he asked the PM in his usual breezy manner. ''What has the bible got to do with this?'' Swaran Singh intervened. ''In the beginning there was darkness. God said let there be light and there was light. He then divided light from the darkness,'' Manekshaw quoted the Genesis to impress upon the ministers that the army was not prepared for a sudden war. ''I have only 30 tanks and two armoured divisions with me. The Himalayan passes will be opening anytime. What if the Chinese give an ultimatum? The rains will start now in East Pakistan. When it rains there the rivers become oceans. I guarantee 100 per cent defeat,'' Manekshaw told Mrs Gandhi, disapproving the idea of an immediate attack. Mrs Gandhi, who adjourned the meeting to 1600 hrs held back Manekshaw, who was the last man to leave the room. ''Shall I send in my resignation, on grounds of health, mental or physical?'' he asked. Mrs Gandhi finally gave her army chief the time he wanted to elaborate his strategy. Seven months and four days later the war began when Pakistan president Gen. Yahya Khan lost patience and ordered his forces to attack Indian troops near the border on the evening of August 3, 1971. Manekshaw had by then amassed two brigades within the border for going in the next day. Thirteen days later Bangladesh was born marking one of the high points in Indian diplomacy: in nine months the country was able to isolate the US, bring Western Europe on to our side and win over the world media. Manekshaw was at his evocative best when he recalled his acquaintance with President Yahya Khan when the latter had worked under him in the military operations directorate of the British Indian Army just before partition. Yahya Khan, then a colonel, was impressed by Manekshaw's James motorcycle which he had bought for Rs 1400. ''I told him that he could have the vehicle for as much. He said he would give only Rs 1000. I said okay,'' Manekshaw recalled. ''But I don't have a thousand rupees now, I will send it to you later,'' Yahya Khan said. It was August 13, 1947. Twenty-one years later Yahya Khan became the president of Pakistan. ''I never received the Rs 1000, but he gave me the whole of East Pakistan,'' Manekshaw said amid thunderous applause. :haha: Liberation and Beyond, (pp. 317, Rs.395), published by Konark, captures the defining moment in the sub continent's history and deals with politics and diplomacy during the war and the task ahead. The blurb of the book says it also answers many questions often raised: why was the founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, keen that India should return Pakistani prisoners of war to Islamabad? Why did he not hold war crime trials against Pakistani military officers? Why did Indo-Bangladesh relations start deteriorating while Mujibur Rahman was still in power? Dixit, who headed the special division in the external affairs ministry to deal with the political dimensions of the East Pakistan crisis in 1971, was later sent by Mrs Gandhi as the first head of the Indian mission in newly-liberated Bangladesh.

[theguyinallblue]

"'Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away?'' " Sam Manekshaw, the first field marshal in the Indian army, was at the ringside of events when Independent India was being formed. Then a colonel, he was chosen to accompany V P Menon on his historic mission to Kashmir. This is his version of that journey and its aftermath, as recorded in an interview with Prem Shankar Jha. At about 2.30 in the afternoon, General Sir Roy Bucher walked into my room and said, 'Eh, you, go and pick up your toothbrush. You are going to Srinagar with V P Menon. The flight will take off at about 4 o'clock'. I said, 'why me, sir?' 'Because we are worried about the military situation. V P Menon is going there to get the accession from the Maharaja and Mahajan.' I flew in with V P Menon in a Dakota. Wing Commander Dewan, who was then squadron leader Dewan, was also there. But his job did not have anything to with assessing the military situation. He was sent by the Air Force because it was the Air Force which was flying us in.' Since I was in the Directorate of Military Operations, and was responsible for current operations all over India, West Frontier, the Punjab, and elsewhere, I knew what the situation in Kashmir was. I knew that the tribesmen had come in - initially only the tribesmen - supported by the Pakistanis. Fortunately for us, and for Kashmir, they were busy raiding, raping all along. In Baramulla they killed Colonel D O T Dykes. Dykes and I were of the same seniority. We did our first year's attachment with the Royal Scots in Lahore, way back in 1934-5. Tom went to the Sikh regiment. I went to the Frontier Force regiment. We'd lost contact with each other. He'd become a lieutenant colonel. I'd become a full colonel. Tom and his wife were holidaying in Baramulla when the tribesmen killed them. The Maharaja's forces were 50 per cent Muslim and 50 per cent Dogra. The Muslim elements had revolted and joined the Pakistani forces. This was the broad military situation. The tribesmen were believed to be about 7 to 9 kilometers from Srinagar. I was sent into get the precise military situation. The army knew that if we had to send soldiers, we would have to fly them in. Therefore, a few days before, we had made arrangements for aircraft and for soldiers to be ready. But we couldn't fly them in until the state of Kashmir had acceded to India. From the political side, Sardar Patel and V P Menon had been dealing with Mahajan and the Maharaja, and the idea was that V.P Menon would get the Accession, I would bring back the military appreciation and report to the government. The troops were already at the airport, ready to be flown in. Air Chief Marshall Elmhurst was the air chief and he had made arrangements for the aircraft from civil and military sources. Anyway, we were flown in. We went to Srinagar. We went to the palace. I have never seen such disorganisation in my life. The Maharaja was running about from one room to the other. I have never seen so much jewellery in my life --- pearl necklaces, ruby things, lying in one room; packing here, there, everywhere. There was a convoy of vehicles. Jawaharlal Nehru The Maharaja was coming out of one room, and going into another saying, 'Alright, if India doesn't help, I will go and join my troops and fight (it) out'. I couldn't restrain myself, and said, 'That will raise their morale sir'. Eventually, I also got the military situation from everybody around us, asking what the hell was happening, and discovered that the tribesmen were about seven or nine kilometres from what was then that horrible little airfield. V P Menon was in the meantime discussing with Mahajan and the Maharaja. Eventually the Maharaja signed the accession papers and we flew back in the Dakota late at night. There were no night facilities, and the people who were helping us to fly back, to light the airfield, were Sheikh Abdullah, Kasimsahib, Sadiqsahib, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, D P Dhar with pine torches, and we flew back to Delhi. I can't remember the exact time. It must have been 3 o'clock or 4 o'clock in the morning. (On arriving at Delhi) the first thing I did was to go and report to Sir Roy Bucher. He said, 'Eh, you, go and shave and clean up. There is a cabinet meeting at 9 o'clock. I will pick you up and take you there.' So I went home, shaved, dressed, etc. and Roy Bucher picked me up, and we went to the cabinet meeting. The cabinet meeting was presided by Mountbatten. There was Jawaharlal Nehru, there was Sardar Patel, there was Sardar Baldev Singh. There were other ministers whom I did not know and did not want to know, because I had nothing to do with them. Sardar Baldev Singh I knew because he was the minister for defence, and I knew Sardar Patel, because Patel would insist that V P Menon take me with him to the various states. Sardar Patel Almost every morning the Sardar would sent for V P, H M Patel and myself. While Maniben (Patel's daughter and de facto secretary) would sit cross-legged with a Parker fountain pen taking notes, Patel would say, 'V P, I want Baroda. Take him with you.' I was the bogeyman. So I got to know the Sardar very well. At the morning meeting he handed over the (Accession) thing. Mountbatten turned around and said, ' come on Manekji (He called me Manekji instead of Manekshaw), what is the military situation?' I gave him the military situation, and told him that unless we flew in troops immediately, we would have lost Srinagar, because going by road would take days, and once the tribesmen got to the airport and Srinagar, we couldn't fly troops in. Everything was ready at the airport. As usual Nehru talked about the United Nations, Russia, Africa, God almighty, everybody, until Sardar Patel lost his temper. He said, 'Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away'. He (Nehru) said,' Of course, I want Kashmir (emphasis in original). Then he (Patel) said 'Please give your orders'. And before he could say anything Sardar Patel turned to me and said, 'You have got your orders'. I walked out, and we started flying in troops at about 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock. I think it was the Sikh regiment under Ranjit Rai that was the first lot to be flown in. And then we continued flying troops in. That is all I know about what happened. Then all the fighting took place. I became a brigadier, and became director of military operations and also if you will see the first signal to be signed ordering the cease-fire on 1 January (1949) had been signed by Colonel Manekshaw on behalf of C-in-C India, General Sir Roy Bucher. That must be lying in the Military Operations Directorate.

[theguyinallblue]

Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw (centre) with honourary Captain Ram Bhaj (left) and Captain Ganju Lama in New Delhi before leaving for Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on June 10, 1971. Sam Manekshaw belts up at Battersea heliport, London, on his way to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Chief of Army Staff Sam Menekshaw decorates a soldier.

[theguyinallblue]

Chief of Army Staff Sam Manekshaw speaks to wounded jawans in the lawns of Command Military Hospital in Lucknow in February 1972. (Courtesy: Ministry of Defence) Sam Manekshaw raises his baton after being sworn in as Field Marshal. Sam Manekshaw raises his baton after being sworn in as Field Marshal.

[theguyinallblue]

A file photo of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw during his 90th birthday celebrations.

[theguyinallblue]

A file photo of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw (right) with General V P Malik during the former's 90th birthday celebrations.

[theguyinallblue]

President Kalam Visit Sam Bahadur at Hospital. People pay homage to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw in Wellington. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw being laid to rest with full military honours. State funeral being accorded to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. :isalute::isalute::isalute::isalute::isalute::isalute:

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

Great pics TGB!

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

Sam is yet another legend from the miniscule Parsi community (numbering less than 100,00 people). We are truly blessed to have Iran's finest genes among us. Unfortunately the community is disappearing due declining birth rates & expatriation. I think Parsis should be compulsarily made to have atleast 4 children per couple.

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

3 Manekshaw quotes which created huge controversy. The first was when he famously refused to address then prime minister Indira Gandhi as “Madam”, saying the sobriquet was reserved for occupants of a “certain kind of house”. :winky: “I shall stick to prime minister,” he maintained.. The second was during the 1971 war when he had signboards reading “Hands in your pockets, You are entering Pakistani territory, Indian girls are prettier” erected at various spots as Indian troops advanced along the western frontier. Manekshaw was panned as being sexist and accused of insulting Indian womanhood but he stood his ground. “It’s the best way of telling the troops to behave and to concentrate on the job at hand,” he contended. The third happened at the very end of his career, days after he had retired from the Army. A young reporter from a tabloid asked a seemingly innocuous question: “What would have happened had you opted for Pakistan at the time of independence (in 1947)?” With a twinkle in his eye, Manekshaw replied: “I guess Pakistan would have won (the 1971 war).” All hell broke loose when this was reproduced in print and there were demands he be stripped of his field marshal’s rank but he stood his ground. “The question was asked in jest, the reply was in jest and I never dreamed it would get into print. Now that it has, I do not deny saying so,” Manekshaw maintained

[sandtest]

Sandeep, you diid a great job dedicating your time to upload tributes :hatsoff: A glorious life, proudly lived, in service of Matrubhoomi. Field Marshal Maneckshaw, a hero greater than any that India has had, in the post Independence era. His soul will always watch over this nation and protect it, as he did in life, inspiring thousands of present generation Indians producinng millions of Sam Bahadurs out of them.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Little Anecdote: Manekshaw's relationship with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is well known and he managed for a long time to get away with toying with her. One story goes that when, at one point in time, she heard rumours of a possible army takeover, she summoned her army chief, Sam, and asked him if there was any truth to them. “You keep your nose out of my affairs, Sweetie, and I will keep my nose out of yours,” he is said to have replied.

[flamy]

Wow, I didn't know this man till I read this thread. I'm ashamed. :(( :isalute: :isalute: :isalute:

[Guest dada_rocks]

Sadly his funeral was given a royal miss by all political parties , PM and president thanks to the mud-slinging rumours initated by Jia ul haq'a son ..