Any nation in
this world since time immemorial cannot exist without leadership. Take a group,
tribe or a country, people need leaders to endure. A leader has vision and pluck
to take everyone on a path which will lead to certain objective and beyond. If
you look back into history, there were kings with their state forces chiefs in
a kingdom. Moving ahead in history, the required proviso for a king changed;
for example in Mougal era, emperors before becoming emperors served with their
army in provinces and led their army in battles. Lets come into modern era,
most of the US presidents had undergone military training in their youth.
Leadership of a nation is based on two pillars
in the modern era. The first pillar is politcal leadership and the other pillar
is military leadership. Remove any of them and the spine of the country will
break. Oh now you must be thinking that politcal leaders are corrupt and incompetent
in a country like India. I don’t agree with you my friend, I have a different
opinion with justification. Take example of Pakistan, whenever there was a
military coup and military leaders cracked politcal leadership, the country
detiorated.
For any
country, the biggest threat is its own army. To keep a balance, politcal
leadership supported by bureocrats is surely needed. India is an example to the
world in keeping the balance between the two pillars.
Nevertheless,
the whole concept got divereted when I saw Outlook magazine which had cover
story of India’s top 50 CEOs after indpendence. This instigated an
inqusitiveness in my mind; I wondered who are the top 5 Military Leaders of
India.
It wasn’t an
easy task for me to come to a conclusion of top 5 military leaders of india
post independence. I had a deep discussion with several serving Indian Army officers
and after that I have compiled the list depnding upon following dynamics.
1. Military
Impact
2. Influence
3. Circumstances.
4. Welfare
5. Popularity
among troops.
6. End
Result.
There were several other factors which were minor but
taken into consideration which I haven’t mentioned in this blog post. Following
is the list of top 5 military leaders of Indian Army post independence from
bottom to top.
RANK 5: CAPTAIN VIKRAM BATRA, PARAM VEER CHAKRA
Captain Vikram Batra, Company (approx. 120
men) was tasked to attack enemy defences at 15000 feet. Captain Batra along
with his men reached within assaulting distance of the enemy. Captain Batra
reorganized his men and motivated them to physically assault the enemy
positions. Leading from the front, he in a daredevil assault pounced on the
enemy and killed four of them in a hand-to hand fight. On 7 July 1999, in another
operation in the area Pt 4875, his company was tasked to clear a narrow feature
with sharp cuttings on either side and heavily fortified enemy defences that
covered the only approach to it. For speedy operation, Captain Batra assaulted
the enemy position along a narrow ridge and engaged the enemy in a fierce hand
–to-hand fight and killed five enemy soldiers at point blank range. Despite
sustaining grave injuries, he crawled towards the enemy and hurled grenades
clearing the position with utter disregard to his personal safety, leading from
the front, he rallied his men and pressed on the attack and achieved a near
impossible military task in the face of heavy enemy fire. The officer, however,
succumbed to his injuries. Inspired by his daredevil act, his troops fell upon
the enemy with vengeance, annihilated them and captured Point 4875.
Captain Vikram Batra, thus, displayed the most conspicuous
personal bravery and leadership of the highest order in the face of the enemy
and made the supreme sacrifice in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.
RANK 4: LT COL A B TARAPORE, PARAM VEER CHAKRA
On 11 September 1965, the 17 Poona Horse regiment launched attack
on Phillora in the
Sialkot, Pakistan. He was commanding 400 odd men. The troops, commanded by Lt.
Col. Tarapore advanced towards Phillora. Between Phillora and Chawinda,
Pakistan launched an attack on Indian advancing troops. Lt. Col. Tarapore held
his ground and gallantly attacked Phillora under continuous enemy tank and
artillery fire. When wounded, he refused to be evacuated and rescued his buddy
out a burning tank. He led his regiment to capture Wazirwali on 14
September, and Jassoran and Butur-Dograndi of Pakistan on 16 September 1965.
Though his own tank was hit several
times, he did not quit and maintained the tradition of Indian Army of leading
troops with exemplary courage. Inspired by his leadership, the regiment fiercely
attacked the enemy and destroyed approximately sixty Pakistani Army tanks,
suffering only nine tank casualties. However, Lt. Colonel Tarapore’s tank was
hit and was enveloped in flames and he died a hero’s death. Pakistan town named
Phillora was captured at the end of the battle. For his exemplary leadership
which motivated his troops and courage he was awarded the highest gallantry award
Param Veer Chakra.
RANK 3: HONORARY CAPTAIN BANA SINGH,
PARAM VEER CHAKRA
Subedar Bana Singh volunteered to be a member of a task force
constituted in June 1987 to clear an intrusion by an adversary in the Siachen
Glacier area at an altitude of 21,000 feet. He was leading 30 men during this
operation. The post was virtually an impregnable glacier fortress with ice
walls, 1500 feet high, on both sides. Subedar Bana Singh led his men through an
extremely difficult and hazardous route. He inspired them by his indomitable
courage and leadership. The brave Subedar and his men crawled and closed in on
the adversary. Moving from trench to trench, lobbing hand grenades, and
charging with the bayonet, he cleared the post all intruders. It is said that
there were 80 odd special force soldiers of Pakistan. He along with his 30 odd
troops killed many of them and forced rest of the Pakistani Special Forces
soldier to run away for their life. The operation was so furious that several
Pakistani soldiers jumped off from the top of the cliff towards Pakistan side
to save their life. At end of the operation, Subedar Bana Singh was the only
Indian soldier alive on the top of the cliff. His exemplary courage, leadership
to take his men till the top and initiative made him to earn India’s highest gallantry
award PARAM VEER CHAKRA. He is still alive. Indian Army has awarded him rank of
Honorary Captain, and he is an inspiration for several soldiers.
RANK 2: FIELD MARSHAL K M CARIAPPA
Field Marshal K M Cariappa has a vast military history associated with
him. It is impossible to cover his achievement in few lines in this article. He
belongs to Rajput Regiment and he became first Indian to command any battalion in
British era. He commanded a Rajput battalion in 1942. He also received Order of
British Empire for his exceptional peace keeping work and leadership shown on
foreign soil. After independence, he played important role in architecture of
Indian Army. He had strong influence on political leadership and never allowed
politics to influence the army. He improved the training standards of troops
and led the Indian Army with pride and honour.
RANK 1: FIELD MARSHAL SAM MANEKSHAW
I challenge you; ask any of the army officers about finest or greatest
military leader of India, everyone will say Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. He led
his troops in 2nd world war with courage; he was morally upright and
a strong personality. He is the man responsible for birth of Bangladesh which
none of the armies on this planet in the modern era has achieved till now. As 26
Infantry Division commander, he improved the living the standard of troops and
officers. I remember, in his biography it is mentioned that when he sent the
proposal for construction of married accommodation to defence ministry, the
ministry in reply approved with the clause to utilise the troops for
construction. Manekshaw refused by saying, ‘my troops are not labours, they are
here to prepare and fight the war’. From a sub-unit commander till the Army
chief and beyond he set personal examples of leadership.
EXCEPTIONAL LEADERS. There are many more military leaders in our
country, few retired and many still serving. It is difficult to mention them in
this blog post. There are few names which I feel deserves to be known as the
greatest military leaders. The names are as follows.
1. Col Balwan Singh,
MAHA VEER CHAKRA (2ND HIGHEST GALANTRY AWARD IN INDIA)
2.
General PS Bhagat Victoria Cross, PVSM
3.
Major Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri, MAHA VEER CHAKRA (2ND HIGHEST
GALANTRY AWARD IN INDIA)
4.
LT GENERAL HARBAKSH SINGH
5.
Col K S Badhwar, SENA MEDAL
6. Brigadier Saurabh
Singh Shekhwat, KIRTI CHAKRA, SHAURYA CHAKRA, SENA MEDAL, VSM
I am sure that you also know several such military leaders of India
which I have missed in this article. I request you to mention the names of the
military leaders which you feel are the greatest in the comments below.
Jai Hind!
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