Among the famous Indian military Commanders after independence but who is less known outside military circles, was General KS Thimayya, but he was a giant of a man both physically and professionally. General Thimayya rose to be independent India’s sixth Army Chief, but before that he displayed exceptional leadership in World War II as the Commander of the all Indian Brigade in Burma which was recognized as the finest fighting formation by Mountbatten, and then as the GOC of the Division in the first war over Kashmir in 1947-48. But as the Indian Army Chief, he infamously confronted Prime Minister Nehru, that was the undoing of his most illustrious career. These details are given in this essay below.
Born on 31 March 1906, in Madikeri in the Coorg District of Karnataka, General Thimayya did his initial schooling at St Joseph’s School in Coonoor and Bishops Cotton School in Bangalore. He was then admitted in RIMC Dehradun and was subsequently among six cadets selected for RMA Sandhurst, to be commissioned as an Army Officer.
He was commissioned into Indian Army on 04 Feb 1926 as a Second Lieutenant and was subsequently attached to the Highland Light Infantry, prior to the permanent posting with a Regiment of the British Indian Army. He was soon posted to the 4th Battalion of the 19th Hyderabad Regiment (now known as Kumaon Regiment) and honed his soldiering skills on that famous training ground in the Northwest Frontier, battling recalcitrant Pathan tribals.
But when he was standing on the Sandhurst parade ground to march into officer hood, he along with his colleagues witnessed an unusual scene. The Adjutant of his parade was the dashing Major ‘Boy’ Browning, then said to be the youngest Major in the British Army. But more than that he is better known for what he did at Thimayya’s passing out parade and what he later said to Field Marshal Montgomery in World War II in Europe.
At Sandhurst, the Adjutant commands their passing out parade on horseback. In Thimayya’s day, when Major ‘Boy’ Browning was commanding the parade, there was an unexpected downpour, which was very unusual for June. To ensure that the rain didn’t spoil the Adjutant’s expensive fancy uniform on parade, Major Browning marched his horse into the main Sandhurst building which forms the backdrop of their passing out parade’ like the Chetwode Building in IMA. This later became the tradition not only at Sandhurst but also at IMA, Dehradun.
And then in World War II, Major Browning ( later as a General and a Staff Officer) became famous as Lieutenant General Sir ‘Boy’ Browning who said to have told Field Marshal Montgomery in World War II – when the attack on Arnhem was being planned, that – ‘Sir, aren’t you going a Bridge too far?’. (This became the title of a film). But Montgomery was keen to show the Americans – with the likes of General Patton– that the British could do a grand operation too. But even though Monty’s ‘Operation Market Garden’ failed to cross that bridge on Arnhem, it was said to be half successful. Scores of soldiers were killed for Montgomery to make his point.
Back on the Indian front, Thimayya initially became famous for commanding the first Indian Brigade which had all three
Battalion Commanders of Indian origin. Here he met Lord Mountbatten and General ‘Boy’ Browning. Thimayya’s Brigade
performed exceptionally in Burma and it drew praise from the overall British Commander Mountbatten for its operations.
After that war, promoted to a General’s rank, Gen Thimayya first responsibility as Major-General was to command 4 Infantry Division and to ensure the movement of people to India and Pakistan was peaceful.
The following year the he was posted as GOC 19 Infantry Division in Jammu and Kashmir and was placed in charge of operations to stall the Pakistan Army’s invasion of J&K. He led the operations effectively, and left a huge mark on the history of that operation. It was to commence on 30th October 1947, but on 1st November 1947 the operation was implemented because of bad weather to clear the area of intruders along what is now the LoC.
The operation saw the use of Stuart tanks of 7 Cavalry commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Rajinder Singh Sparrow, but since the tank’s turret made the A-vehicles too heavy and unwieldy, Thimayya had the turret’s dismantled, and led the tanks from the front. This shocked the Pakistani invaders who withdrew in haste. Led by Major General Thimayya, the tanks charged up to Zojila – the highest point then for a tank operation – and from there he decided to move to Ladakh. Enroute he saved Kargil in the first war over J&K, from capture.
General Thimayya then boarded a military Dakota aircraft piloted by Air Commodore Meher Singh and landed in Leh even though Leh didn’t have a proper air field. The local residents were shocked, thinking this was a bird from the heavens! And so were the Pakistani led invaders, who beat a hasty retreat from Leh.
He then briefly was Commandant of the IMA, and commanded the Indian UN Force after the Korean war where he showed exceptional leadership in dealing with POWs in Korea, many of whom had refused to return home, ashamed as they were of their role in the Korean war. On his return in January 1953 he was appointed as the Southern Army Commander.
He had the privilege of being the General Officer Commanding in Chief (over separate tenures) of all the three Commands that existed at the time i.e. Southern, Eastern and Western. He was also the first Indian Colonel of the Kumaon Regiment from 1949 to 1961during which he raised the Company of Ahirs in 13 KUMAON, who acquitted themselves with exception courage in the Battle of Rezang La in 1962.
In 1953 he was awarded “Padma Bhushan” for his outstanding service to the nation and was appointed the Army Chief on 07 May 1957.
In later years when General Thimayya was Army Chief, his first hand understanding of Ladakh gave him grounds to contest Pandit Nehru’s assertions on Aksai Chin and Ladakh. Reports that Chinese troops had occupied Aksai Chin East of Ladakh in the mid1950s were initially denied by the Nehru government, but when cornered, Panditji announced – without checking with the Army Chief General Thimayya – that he had ordered the Army to throw out the Chinese. This took the Army brass by surprise.
In those days the Chinese border was under the watch of Assam Rifles in Ladakh and in Assam. This upset General Thimayya, who drove up to Teen Murti Bhawan and confronted Panditji on the matter and handed in his with his resignation. Nehru talked him out of it, but when this news hit the press, Nehru told Parliament that he had ‘ordered’ Thimayya to withdraw his resignation, which Thimayya did because he put the nation before his ego. Though this incident left General Thimayya at a loss, he decided to serve on, but as a lame duck Chief! Later Nehru used his Defence Minister Krishna Menon to brow beat General Thimayya into silence. who threatened the General with charges of betraying the nation as the Chinese threats grew larger on the borders. However, Nehru and Menon didn’t use the good General’s advice on China, but instead went along with General s Thapar, Kaul, and some others to set the scene for the debacle of 1962.
He was on retirement appointed Commander of the UN force in Cyprus, at the end of his tenure he died of a heart attack at the age of 59 in December 1965 in Nicosia, Cyprus. Thirty-two years after his death, on 18 December 1997 His body was exhumed from the Wilson grave yard and placed with full military honours in the ASC graveyard in Bangalore.
In February 2021, President Ram Nath Kovind, who inaugurated General Thimayya Memorial Museum at Madikeri in Kodagu District in Karnataka and said it commemorates the services and valour of one of the greatest soldiers of India.
Unfortunately, his illustrious military reputation was destroyed – in the eyes of the public by the manouverings of Nehru and Menon. But this was the beginning of the tight control of the civilian politico-bureaucratic nexus of the military’s leadership.
