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2014-06-27 India-Pakistan

70 years after defeating Japan, India forgets Imphal

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Posted by John Frum 2014-06-27 16:45|| || Front Page|| [11136 views ] Top

#1 Interesting.

Posted by JohnQC 2014-06-27 17:41|| 2014-06-27 17:41|| Front Page Top

#2 http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/dec/18chin.htm

The roots of politicisation of the army are to be found in Nehru's hatred for the man in uniform. Soon after Independence the first commander-in-chief of the Indian armed forces, General Sir Robert Lockhart, presented a paper outlining a plan for the growth of the Indian Army to Prime Minister Nehru.

Nehru's reply: "We don't need a defence plan. Our policy is non-violence. We foresee no military threats. You can scrap the army. The police are good enough to meet our security needs."

He didn't waste much time. On September 16, 1947, he directed that the army's then strength of 280,000 be brought down to 150,000. Even in fiscal 1950-51, when the Chinese threat had begun to loom large on the horizon, 50,000 army personnel were sent home as per his original plan to disband the armed forces.

After Independence, he once noticed a few men in uniform in a small office the army had in North Block, and angrily had them evicted.

It was only after the 1947-48 war in Jammu and Kashmir that he realised that the armed forces are an essential ingredient of any independent, sovereign nation. But he still wanted a compact army rather than great volume, whatever that meant. Defence requirements worked out after a careful assessment of threats carried no weight with him.

For some reason, he disliked Field Marshal K M Cariappa despite his excellent leadership during the 1947-48 war that saved Kashmir. But his attempts to supersede him and make General Rajendrasinhji the first commander-in-chief of India failed when Gen Rajendrasinhji declined.

Soon after Independence he separated the army, navy, and air force from a unified command and abolished the post of commander-in-chief of the armed forces, thus bringing down the status of the seniormost military chief.

He continued to demote the status of the three service chiefs at irregular intervals in the order of precedence in the official government protocol, a practice loyally continued by successive governments to the benefit of politicians and bureaucrats

"I remember many a time when our senior generals came to us, and wrote to the defence ministry saying that they wanted certain things... If we had had foresight, known exactly what would happen, we would have done something else... what India has learnt from the Chinese invasion is that in the world of today there is no place for weak nations... We have been living in an unreal world of our own creation."
Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajya Sabha, 1963

Posted by John Frum 2014-06-27 17:46|| 2014-06-27 17:46|| Front Page Top

#3 I have read some of this before, for reasons crazy India unilaterally disarmed hoping against hope that Karma would prevail. The Chinese and Paks saw it for what it was, stupid.

Posted by Shipman 2014-06-27 17:52|| 2014-06-27 17:52|| Front Page Top

#4 WWII would have gone very differently without the Indian Army. They were the largest volunteer army in history and served, with distinction, in Africa, Italy, the Middle East and the China-Burma-India theater.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Indian_Army#Second_World_War

Posted by Chantry 2014-06-27 17:52|| 2014-06-27 17:52|| Front Page Top

#5 And more on topic, all hail General Slim, maybe, just maybe the best General the allies had during the war.

Posted by Shipman 2014-06-27 17:53|| 2014-06-27 17:53|| Front Page Top

#6 Defeat into Victory by Field Marshal Bill Slim is a very good account of the war in the CBI Theater.

Posted by Chantry 2014-06-27 18:00|| 2014-06-27 18:00|| Front Page Top

#7 "We have been living in an unreal world of our own creation"

..a concept that just shifted to the contemporary White House these days.

Posted by Procopius2k 2014-06-27 19:15|| 2014-06-27 19:15|| Front Page Top

#8 Ashamed to say I didn't know anything about these battles or their part in history. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Posted by Charles 2014-06-27 21:10|| 2014-06-27 21:10|| Front Page Top

#9 "Forget Imphal + Kohima" > Yokay, I'll bite, SEZZES WHO???

Posted by JosephMendiola 2014-06-27 22:49|| 2014-06-27 22:49|| Front Page Top

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