Page 125 - Leadership in the Indian Army

Brigade, under the command of Brigadier R.S. Paintal. It had three infantry
battalions and an engineer company. Later, two more battalions, and a
company of Mahar machine-gunners were also added. Thorat selected

Brigadier Gurbaksh Singh, DSO, to be his deputy commander. In July 1953,
when the Armistice was signed, about 30,000 North Korean and Chinese
prisoners were captured by the United Nations Command. The Korean
Peoples Army (KPVA) and the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV)
Command held several hundred British, American and South Koreans as
prisoners. All these were transferred to the custody of CFI, under Thorat,
having refused repatriation after the cease-fire. It was hoped that after some

time in custody of the neutral CFI, the effects of propaganda and
brainwashing would wear off, and the prisoners would agree to be
repatriated.
The first contingent of the CFI left Madras on 18 August 1953 by sea,
reaching Inchon on 14 September. The fifth contingent, which was also the
last, left on 5 September and reached on 28 September. They were divided

into three groups and housed in canvas tents at a place known earlier as
Tong-Jong-Ni. Thorat gave it the name Hindnagar, which soon became well
known. The prisoners were housed in compounds, each accommodating
about 500. The compounds had separate tents for living, kitchen, dining
hall, and latrines. They were surrounded by a double wire fence, with the
space between them used for patrolling. A number of compounds were
grouped together into an enclosure, which also had a double wire fence

around it. Initially, prisoners from both sides were quite friendly with the
Indian troops guarding them. However, this changed as soon as some of
them began to ask for repatriation. The others resented this and beat up the
prisoners who wanted to surrender to the guards, sometimes even killing
them. The Indian troops tried to prevent such incidents, and this brought
them into conflict with the prisoners who were against repatriation.

On 25 September 1953, there was an anti-India demonstration in one of
the camps. Thorat entered the compound accompanied by a few officers and
left after talking to the prisoners. As they were leaving, the prisoners caught
hold of the interpreter, Major H.S. Grewal, and bodily carried him back into
the compound. Thorat turned back and rushed in followed by about a dozen
Indian soldiers. The prisoners closed the gates and attacked the Indians held
captive inside with wooden poles and stones, causing injuries to some of

them. Thorat gave his men strict orders not to retaliate, realising that they