As a young Captain, while posted in Burma and fighting a war
with the Japanese in 1942, he was critically wounded with as many as nine
bullets lodged in his body. While battling for life, his valiant Sikh orderly
Sepoy Sher Singh came to his rescue and saved him from certain death.
Who could forget 1971 war veteran Field Marshal Sam
Manekshaw, who is known as the hero of
this war.It was due to him that India could defeat Pakistan in 1971 war
and it resulted into the creation of a country which was later came to be known
as Bangladesh.
During an interview he had revealed some instances which
happened during the war. Manekshaw had said that the then Prime Minister of
India Indira Gandhi was very much worried about the situation prevailing in
Eastern part of Pakistan. She called an emergency meeting on April 27 in that
year and expressed her concern for the things going on there. Incidentally,
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw was also invited in the meeting.
Sam told her that at that time neither Indian Army was fully
prepared nor it had been given any training so that India could win the war
with less number of casualties. He frankly told her that situation was quite
adverse then.
He remained adamant on his point and frankly told her that
he required time to mobilise and train the Indian Army. Manekshaw said that he
would tell her everything when the Indian Army would move there which, however,
didn’t like by Gandhi and went on to soured his relations with her. But later
on Manekshaw went meet her after preparing a blueprint on war Gandhi as well as
her Cabinet colleagues enquired from him how long this war would go Manekshaw
told her that as Bangladesh was as large as France it would take at-least one
and half month to two months to cover the distance from one end to another end
and so, war would an equal time to end.
Fortunately, it lasted for only -14 days. At this Gandhi’s
cabinet colleagues asked Manekshaw why didn’t he reveal it earlier?Field
Marshal Manekshaw said that if the war had stretched to 15 days in place of 14
–days, her cabinet colleagues would have dragged him.
He said that when the war was in its last phase, he put an
agreement paper before Pakistan Army Chief and asked him to put his signature
on it.He then asked Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora who was the General
Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command of the Indian Army during
War to prepare four such copies .He further asked One copy to be given to Amir
Abdullah Khan Niazi, the then lieutenant-general of the Pakistan Army while
second one was to be given to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi , while third one
should be given to Lieutenant General Arora while fourth copy he asked to be
kept in his office.
He said that when he came back to India with a contingent of
more than 90,000 Pakistani Army personnel, he had to manage the fooding as well
as lodging of the Pak Army.
During the war he also went to visit Pakistani camp and met
Subedar as well as Major rank officials who shook hands with him . He then
enquired about the facilities available in the Pakistani camp and shared meal
with them.
He also went to meet an army personnel in the camp who
refused to shake hands with him.
When Manekshaw asked him as to why he did so at first the he
hesitated but at last he shook hands with him . The Army man said that now I
have realized how you managed a victory. The Pakistani Army personnel said that
our officer General Niyazi had never met him with open hearts the way he had
come forward to receive him.
Pakistani Army personnel said that General Niyazi was an
egoistic person and didn’t give importance to anybody. The army man become
emotional after saying so.
In fact, Sam Manekshaw was such an army official who used to
love his companions very much. He was always ready to share their happiness as
well as grief. It was a quality in him which made him favorite of all in Indian
Army.
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Article
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw | The Man and His Times
Reviewed by Col. Kunnur. Rated:
9/
10 (Excellent)