Page 36 - Leadership in the Indian Army

disingenious and dangerous, or both.’ Cariappa took the advice and did not
talk about it again. However, he was not the only one who was against the
division of the army. Brigadier Nathu Singh, who belonged to the same

regiment as Cariappa had already taken up the matter with Defence
Minister Sardar Baldev Singh several months earlier. Cariappa could not
complete the course at the Imperial Defence College as he was recalled in
July to supervise the reorganisation of the army before partition.
Immediately on his return, he wrote to Nehru, making another fervent
appeal to prevent the division of the army. Nehru’s reply was non-
committal. On one occasion, he collared Jinnah at a social function, and

told him categorically that if the army was split, both India and Pakistan
would be vulnerable to outside attack. Jinnah laughed it off, saying that if
this happened, both countries would get together and face the enemy.
On 15 August 1947, the day India became independent, Cariappa was
promoted Major General and appointed Deputy Chief of General Staff
(DCGS) at Army HQ. He saw from close quarters the traumatic events

which followed the partition of the country. The Indian Army was also
partitioned, and there was considerable wrangling and heart-burning over
the division of regiments, military establishments and weaponry. But worse
was to follow. On 22 October 1947, hordes of Pakistani tribesmen entered
Kashmir. After dithering for a few days, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the
Instrument of Accession on 26 October, and Indian troops were airlifted to
Srinagar just before the raiders could capture the town. Then began the long

and difficult struggle to drive them out of Kashmir.
In November 1947, Cariappa took over as GOC-in-C Eastern Command,
relieving Lieutenant General Sir Francis Tuker. He was in Ranchi for just
over a month. As the Kashmir situation worsened, he was moved to replace
Lieutenant General Dudley Russel, who resigned as GOC-in-C, Delhi and
East Punjab (DEP) Command in January 1948 after he was denied entry

into Kashmir, which formed part of his command. HQ DEP Command was
then located at Delhi, and one of Cariappa’s first acts was to rename it as
Western Command. He soon took control of the situation and selected
Thimayya to replace Kalwant Singh as GOC JAK (Jammu and Kashmir)
Force, which was renamed as SRI Division (later 19 Division), at Srinagar.
Atma Singh was appointed GOC of Jammu Division (later 25 Division), at
Jammu. Cariappa also moved his own HQ to Jammu and raised a Corps HQ