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<\/a><\/p>\nClick\u00a0 to Buy: Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw: The Man and His Times<\/div>\n
It\u00a0 was on New Year\u2019s Day of 1973 that the nation got to know that the architect of\u00a0 India \u2019s greatest military victory in centuries had been elevated to the rank of\u00a0 field marshal. This came as a surprise to most of us. Only a couple of months\u00a0 earlier, the then defence minister had told the press at Chennai that India\u00a0 would not have a field marshal or a five-star general. I remember a friend of\u00a0 mine telling me at that time that if Pakistan had won the 1971 war, Yahya would\u00a0 have been made a field marshal the very next day. I disagreed with him, saying\u00a0 he would not have been made field marshal, but would have made himself one, like\u00a0 Ayub Khan.<\/div>\n
My\u00a0 thoughts went back to 1946, when for the first time three Indian officers were\u00a0 posted to the Military Operations Directorate at Delhi , hitherto the exclusive\u00a0 preserve of British officers and British clerks. They were Lt. Col. Sam Hormusji\u00a0 Faramji Manekshaw, Major Yahya Khan and I in the rank of captain. Who could then\u00a0 have predicted the path the careers of Manekshaw and Yahya would take?\u00a0 Inscrutable are the ways of providence.<\/div>\n
I\u00a0 had the privilege of serving under Sam Manekshaw in all the ranks that he held\u00a0 from Lt. Col. to Army Chief. He had a tremendous capacity for work and was a\u00a0 brilliant professional, contributing immensely in every appointment. He combined\u00a0 all this with a great sense of humour and ready wit. As a senior staff officer\u00a0 at Army Headquarters in 1971, I saw how meticulously he planned for the coming\u00a0 war during the nine months preparatory time he had managed to obtain. The\u00a0 resounding victory in that war was the crowning achievement of the foremost\u00a0 military leader of our Army.<\/div>\n
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Field\u00a0 Marshal never retires. He would therefore be entitled to full pay for the rest\u00a0 of his life.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
I\u00a0 was functioning as adjutant-general, the Army\u2019s chief of personnel, in January\u00a0 1973 and had to work out his entitlements in his new rank. I went to his office\u00a0 to congratulate him and found him examining the badges of rank in cloth that had\u00a0 been prepared by Bastani Brothers, the tailor in South Block. Apparently Sam had\u00a0 been informed of his promotion a day or two earlier. To maintain secrecy, his\u00a0 personal staff told the tailor that a Nepalese field marshal was to come and his\u00a0 badge of rank had to be stitched. Sam told me that an investiture was to be held\u00a0 two days later at Rashtrapati Bhavan and I had to work out all the details with\u00a0 the government. I replied that it would be both an honour and a pleasure.<\/div>\n
However,\u00a0 I told him that the cloth badges of rank would be of no use, he would have to be\u00a0 in his ceremonial uniform for which he would need metal badges of rank.\u00a0 Moreover, the badges of rank made by the tailor were not correct. The Ashoka\u00a0 Lion at the top of the wreath had to be in miniature and touching the top of the\u00a0 two loops in one badge of rank. He asked me how I knew this. I replied that when\u00a0 Field Marshal Auchinleck used to visit the Operations Room in 1946, I used to\u00a0 closely watch his badges of rank and ribbons. He said he saw more of Auchinleck\u00a0 than me but was not sure what I said was correct. He wanted something authentic.\u00a0 I went back to my office and tried to find some written authority, but nothing\u00a0 was available. I rang up our military attach\u00e9 in London . He told me that the\u00a0 War Office was closed for the Christmas holidays and he would not be able to\u00a0 send me anything for a week. I then thought of looking up the Encyclopedia\u00a0 Britannica.<\/div>\n
I\u00a0 was happy to find a colour picture of a field marshal\u2019s badges of rank. That\u00a0 satisfied Sam. I said I would get them fabricated at the Army workshop in Delhi\u00a0 Cantonment. Working round the clock, our electrical engineers made a good job of\u00a0 it and completed the task within 24 hours.<\/div>\n
We\u00a0 worked out the privileges Sam was now entitled to. A field marshal never\u00a0 retires. He would therefore be entitled to full pay for the rest of his life. He\u00a0 had to have a ceremonial baton which would now be part of his uniform. Besides,\u00a0 he would have to be given a small secretariat and personal staff. We also had to\u00a0 work out the procedure to be followed for the investiture at Rashtrapati Bhavan.\u00a0 A meeting was held, attended by home ministry officials, the additional\u00a0 secretary, ministry of defence, and me, with the home secretary in the chair.\u00a0 Having been an old hand in Army Headquarters, I was fully aware of the hostility\u00a0 of the civilian bureaucracy towards the Army.<\/div>\n
I\u00a0 saw that in full force at this meeting. I found the bureaucrats opposing all our\u00a0 suggestions. They wanted the Cabinet Secretary, who was higher in protocol\u00a0 status to Service Chiefs, to have a higher place than Sam in the seating plan. I\u00a0 maintained that a field marshal should rank with Bharat Ratna awardees. The\u00a0 latter enjoyed much higher protocol status than the Cabinet Secretary.<\/div>\n
Frederick\u00a0 the Great had introduced the rank of field marshal as part of reforms in the\u00a0 Prussian Army in the 18th century. A conquering general was from then not\u00a0 allowed to keep any part of war booty. This was now to go to the state. Generals\u00a0 who had done exceptionally well in war would be promoted field marshal, which\u00a0 would entitle them to full salary for the rest of their lives. That is how the\u00a0 tradition of a field marshal never retiring originated. The field marshal was\u00a0 also to be given a ceremonial baton, somewhat like a monarch\u2019s orb. His protocol\u00a0 status was to be next only to the monarch. Thus originated the tradition of\u00a0 regimental flags dipping in salute only for a monarch or head of state and field\u00a0 marshal. They do not do so even for Prime Ministers. Gradually, all armies in\u00a0 Europe introduced this rank.<\/div>\n
The\u00a0 Duke of Wellington captured a French marshal\u2019s baton in Spain and sent it to his\u00a0 sovereign. He was made the first field marshal of the British Army.<\/div>\n
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Thirty-two\u00a0 years later, I learnt from press reports that the government had at long last\u00a0 taken a decision on the salary of a field marshal, consequent to the visit of\u00a0 President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to Staff College Wellington when he met Sam, then\u00a0 terminally ill in hospital.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A\u00a0 fortnight later, when Sam was demitting office, we had a ceremonial farewell\u00a0 parade for him on Army Day. For the first time we brought regimental flags on\u00a0 parade for the Army Day. I had kept it as a surprise for Sam. When he arrived\u00a0 for the parade, I mentioned this to him. He asked me in his usual manner, \u201cTell\u00a0 me, sweety, how do I respond to the salute?\u201d He took me by surprise. I did not\u00a0 know how a field marshal returns a salute. I later learnt that while doing so a\u00a0 British field marshal holds the baton in his left hand at an angle of 45 degrees\u00a0 to the middle of their left thigh. However, I had seen movies in which\u00a0 Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering used to raise his baton in his right hand. I\u00a0 promptly replied, \u201cSir, by raising the baton in your right hand.\u201d Sam accepted\u00a0 this. We started a new tradition of our own.<\/div>\n
Thirty-two\u00a0 years later, I learnt from press reports that the government had at long last\u00a0 taken a decision on the salary of a field marshal, consequent to the visit of\u00a0 President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to Staff College Wellington when he met Sam, then\u00a0 terminally ill in hospital. The defence secretary flew to Wellington to\u00a0 personally hand over a cheque of Rs 1.3 crores to Sam as his arrears of pay for\u00a0 over 30 years. A couple of weeks later, I went to the Staff College for a\u00a0 lecture. I met Sam in hospital and congratulated him for the arrears he had\u00a0 received. He replied, \u201cSweety, a babu from Delhi came and gave me a cheque. I\u00a0 have sent it to the bank. I do not know if it will be honoured.\u201d That was the\u00a0 last time I met Sam. Soon after, Sam died. It was a national shame that we did\u00a0 not give him an appropriate funeral.<\/div>\n
As\u00a0 per our protocol, a field marshal ranks with the Service Chiefs and below the\u00a0 Cabinet Secretary. Bureaucracy had its way. The government was represented by a\u00a0 mere minister of state at the funeral. The funeral should have taken place in\u00a0 Delhi with the President, the Prime Minister and the high commissioner of\u00a0 Bangladesh, or a high dignitary from that country, attending. When the Duke of\u00a0 Wellington died, several monarchs, Presidents and Prime Ministers attended his\u00a0 funeral and he was buried in Westminster Abbey.<\/div>\n
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Click\u00a0 to Buy: Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw: The Man and His Times It\u00a0 was… more