Page 94 - Leadership in the Indian Army

The Pakistanis felt that they did not have enough experienced officers to
replace British officers. However, the Indians decided to go ahead, and
British officers began to resign from the Boundary Force. General Lockhart,

the C-in-C, was furious with Thimayya for having given the suggestion to
Nehru without consulting either him or his superior, General Rees. In the
presence of the latter, Thimayya told Lockhart about his first and only
conversation with Rees, and felt that he had acted correctly. When Lockhart
did not agree, Thimayya offered to resign. Lockhart immediately cooled
down and asked Thimayya to forget about the affair.
After a few months, Thimayya was transferred to 11 Brigade, located at

Jullunder, which was also part of the Boundary Force. A little later, Rees
was recalled to Delhi, and Thimayya was given command of the force, with
the rank of Major General. He was a shocked witness to the atrocities and
violence that occurred during Partition. His troops were responsible for
restoring law and order, as well as for implementing relief measures, which
included disposing of the dead. The senseless killings traumatised him and

left a deep scar on his memory.
Soon after Independence, he was in Lahore, as a guest of his counterpart
in Pakistan, Major General Iftikhar. He heard some Pakistani officers
talking about locating their regiments at Gulmarg and Pahalgam. He was
surprised, as Kashmir had still not acceded to either Pakistan or India. In
October 1947, Pakistani raiders entered the Kashmir Valley. After Maharaja
Hari Singh had signed the Instrument of Accession, Indian troops were sent

in. Srinagar was saved in the nick of time and the raiders driven back.
Gradually, the momentum of the raids increased, leading to a build-up of
Indian troops, and the Jammu and Kashmir Force, comprising two brigades,
was created under the command of Major General Kalwant Singh. This, in
turn, was under the Delhi and East Punjab (DEP) Command, located at
Delhi. In January 1948, Cariappa took over as C-in-C, DEP Command, and

moved it to Jammu. In April 1948, Thimayya took over from Kalwant as
GOC, Jammu and Kashmir (JAK) Force. A few days later, the force was
split and two divisions were created. Sri Division was to be located at
Srinagar to look after the defence of the Kashmir valley, while another
division, based in Jammu, was to look after the Jammu region. Thimayya
was given command of Sri Division and moved to Srinagar on 4 May 1948.
Thimayya had two brigades under his command: 161 Infantry Brigade

under Brigadier L.P. ‘Bogey’ Sen was looking after the Uri sector, while