08-08-2006, 07:25 PM
<!--emo&:ind--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/india.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='india.gif' /><!--endemo--> Fauji Beat
1947 Army split and after
As August 15 draws near, oneâs memory travels back to the time of Partition of the country. It was in August 1947 that a âdivideâ was created in the British Indian Army to form two separate armies-the Indian Army and the Pakistan Army. It was difficult to imagine how these two armies, which fought as one cohesive force in both World Wars made unparalleled sacrifices together and won a large array of gallantry awards could be so sharply split overnight. So much that by casting away their comradeship, they turned into bitter enemies. The rest is history.
What cannot be denied is that one of the best institutions that the British left in India at the time of Partition was the Army. Since the British officers manned the higher echelon of the Army at that time, Partition brought a palpable vacuum in it. To fill this vacuum, junior officers had to be catapulted to the senior ranks. Notwithstanding this, the Army gave a good account of itself in the 1947 Jammu and Kashmir War, which Pakistan forced on India in October 1947.
In 1948, the late General then Maj-Gen K.S. Thimayya as the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 19 Infantry Division was responsible for the security of the valley. He had requested Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to give him just three more months to reach Muzaffarabad. Had Pandit Nehru acceded to his request, India would not have been facing the languishing Kashmir problem today.
1947 Army split and after
As August 15 draws near, oneâs memory travels back to the time of Partition of the country. It was in August 1947 that a âdivideâ was created in the British Indian Army to form two separate armies-the Indian Army and the Pakistan Army. It was difficult to imagine how these two armies, which fought as one cohesive force in both World Wars made unparalleled sacrifices together and won a large array of gallantry awards could be so sharply split overnight. So much that by casting away their comradeship, they turned into bitter enemies. The rest is history.
What cannot be denied is that one of the best institutions that the British left in India at the time of Partition was the Army. Since the British officers manned the higher echelon of the Army at that time, Partition brought a palpable vacuum in it. To fill this vacuum, junior officers had to be catapulted to the senior ranks. Notwithstanding this, the Army gave a good account of itself in the 1947 Jammu and Kashmir War, which Pakistan forced on India in October 1947.
In 1948, the late General then Maj-Gen K.S. Thimayya as the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 19 Infantry Division was responsible for the security of the valley. He had requested Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to give him just three more months to reach Muzaffarabad. Had Pandit Nehru acceded to his request, India would not have been facing the languishing Kashmir problem today.