The soldiers' General
V. R. RAGHAVAN
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Biography of one of the most respected Generals of the Indian Army
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THIMAYYA — An Amazing Life: C. B. Khanduri; Knowledge World: 5A/4A, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 1095.
What makes a great General is a question much discussed but never satisfactorily answered. The issue of placing a judgment on a General is also tied up with his acumen in combining the political and military dimensions of high command responsibilities. In the middle ages, a single battle on a single day decided the fate of a nation and its monarch. It is no wonder that Clausewitz exhorted his prince on the central need for victory in battle. Modern wars are fought over time, space and in the arena of political opinion. Today the end to be sought is not just victory but peace after the war. What after military victory is the essential question to be answered by political and military leaders before waging war.
The quality of a Commander-in-Chief in the welter of demands made of him is therefore never easy to determine. Military competence, leadership, a vision of the future and the ability to see the politico-military realities of modern wars are some key factors. In the 20th century, Montgomery, Macarthur and Slim became part of modern military legend. Later, Mao Tse-Tung, General Giap, and even Che Guevara attained a military mystique. In India, Maneckshaw and Aurora will be remembered as part of modern India's military pantheon. General Thimayya who led the Indian Army from 1957 to 1961, proved himself to be a great General by most yardsticks of generalship. Passage of time and short public memory may have denied him a status, which was rightly his. This has not diminished the respect and admiration which he evoked amongst professional military minds. The book under review amply highlights Thimayya's military skills.
Battle-tested commander
He was one of the very few battle-tested field commanders when India attained independence. He had earned a Distinguished Service Order (DSO), the equivalent of the Maha Vir Chakra, while commanding a battalion against the Japanese in Burma. He was the Indian officer invited to attend the ceremony at which the Japanese military generals surrendered to General Macarthur. Thimayya, more than anyone else, conceptualised the Indian response when Pakistan invaded Jammu and Kashmir. He not only conducted multiple thrusts in sectors separated by high mountain chains, but visualised the need to mount a strategic offensive to secure Ladakh. The amazing operation to take tanks over the Zojila Pass was his idea. More than that, the launch of a long but decisive thrust to seize Leh and then link with forces coming from Zojila, turned the war decisively in India's favour. He demonstrated the military vision a year and more before that fine campaign.
Leadership
He later made history as Chairman of the Neutral Nations' Repatriation Commission, which organised the transfer of Chinese and North Korean soldiers after the Korean War. His imperturbable leadership and impartiality made him known all over the world.
General Thimayya became the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) in 1957. He had to function in a political environment of a new kind, to which he was unused. Notwithstanding the respect and affection he commanded from Pandit Nehru, Thimayya found his Defence Minister unwilling to take the wise military counsel that was being offered. Worse still, the upright soldiers' General witnessed political interference in the internal autonomy of running the army. Things came to a pass and he resigned from the office of the COAS. On Nehru's personal persuasion, he withdrew his resignation, and immediately became what is now termed a `lame duck' COAS.
Civil-military relations
This was India's first major civil-military relations confrontation and it did little to strengthen the COAS' stature, even as his military reputation remained undiminished. The political dimensions of military command and the principle of civil supremacy over the army in a democracy were driven home powerfully by the episode. Thimayya's resignation and then changing his decision, is of interest for understanding the evolution of civil-military relations in India. The personal dilemmas he faced, or, the anguish the honourable soldier suffered, were immense and deeply saddening. Thimayya later died an unbowed but sad man in Cyprus a few years later.
There is an important lesson military and political leaders must draw from the Thimayya episode. Chiefs are not appointed to resign but to make a system work, even if it is flawed. A resignation only pleases the nation's enemies. The political executive must never forget that the Chief of the Army has a unique place in public perception. Forcing him into an invidious position only reduces the respect people have for the maturity of political leaders. Thimayya was proved right in 1962, when the Chinese forced a defeat on India. The price of that defeat had to be borne by the political leadership and the political Generals that had been preferred by it. The cost of playing politics with the military high command is always heavy.
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