Obituary: Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw

Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji ''Sam Bahadur'' Jamshedji Manekshaw MC, who crafted India's greatest military victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, died in a military hospital in Wellington, Tamil Nadu late on Thursday night.

In a long career spanning nearly four decades, Manekshaw rose to be the 8th Chief of Staff of the Indian Army in 1969 and under his command, Indian forces concluded a victorious campaign during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Manekshaw was the first of only two Indian military officers to hold the highest rank of Field Marshal of the Indian Army (The other being Field Marshal K M Cariappa). His distinguished military career spanned four decades and through five wars, including World War II.

When Indira Gandhi asked him to go to Dhaka and accept the surrender of Pakistani forces, Manekshaw declined, magnanimously saying that honour should go to his army commander in the East (Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora).

Manekshaw said he would only go if it were to accept the surrender of the entire Pakistani army.

A shrewd tactician, Manekshaw meticulously planned the Indian attack on Pakistan on both fronts -- East and West.

While the Indian forces captured the then East Pakistan in the eastern sector, the army made heavy inroads in the western sector going up to Lahore.

Adopting a mature war strategy, he masterminded the rout of the Pakistan Army in one of the quickest victories in the recent military history to liberate Bangladesh.

Born on April 3, 1914 in Amritsar to Parsi parents who migrated to Punjab from the small town of Valsad on the Gujarat coast, Manekshaw rose to be the Eighth Chief of Staff of the Indian Army in 1969. The year of the General's birth was around the time when the First World War broke.

During World War II, Manekshaw saw action in the Burma campaign on Sittang River as a Captain with the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment.

Manekshaw was leading a counter-offensive against the invading Japanese Army in Burma. During the course of the offensive he was hit by a burst of LMG bullets and was severely wounded in the stomach.

Major General D T Cowan spotted Manekshaw holding on to life and was aware of his valour in face of stiff resistance from the Japanese.

Fearing the worst, Major General Cowan quickly pinned his own Military Cross ribbon on to Manekshaw saying, ''A dead person cannot be awarded a Military Cross.'' But luck was on the young Captain's side and he survived to be one of India's most popular Army Chiefs.

Manekshaw became the 8th Chief of Army Staff when he succeeded General Kumaramangalam on June 7, 1969. His years of military experience were soon put to the test as thousands of refugees from the erstwhile East Pakistan started crossing over to India as a result of oppression from West Pakistan.

The volatile situation erupted into a full-scale war in December 1971 and the rest is history.

During the 1971 war, Manekshaw showed uncanny ability to motivate the forces, coupling it with a mature war strategy.

The war ended with Pakistan's unconditional surrender, and the formation of Bangladesh. More than 45,000 Pakistani soldiers and 45,000 civilian personnel were taken as POWs.

This led to the Shimla Agreement, which opened the door to the creation of the nation of Bangladesh as separate from Pakistan.

The Field Marshal's wit was legendary. Once on a visit to his unit as Commanding Officer he asked what action was taken against a man who contracted veneral disease and when he was told the man's head was shaved off, he roared. ''Shaved off? Dammit. he didn't do it with his head.''

After completing his schooling in Amritsar and Sherwood College (Nainital), he joined the first batch of 40 cadets at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun on October 1, 1932. He passed out of the IMA in December 1934 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army. He held several regimental assignments and was first attached to the Royal Scots and later to the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment.

Having recovered from those near-fatal wounds in Burma, Manekshaw went for a course at Staff College, Quetta and later also served there as an instructor before being sent to join 12 Frontier Force Rifles in Burma under General (later Field Marshal) Slim's 14th Army.

He was once again involved in a fierce battle with the Japanese, and was wounded for a second time.