Page 177 - Leadership in the Indian Army

tenure at Delhi, he was transferred to Mhow as Commandant, Infantry
School, in January 1955. At that time, the training manuals were little more
than reproductions of British manuals. Sam believed in realistic and

practical training and began having free-for-all discussions, where tactical
concepts laid down in training manuals were questioned. Based on these
discussions, he had his staff revise the training pamphlets on various
operations of war. This was a significant contribution to the indigenisation
of tactical concepts in the Indian Army.
In 1957 Sam was sent to London to attend the Imperial Defence College
course. He spent about a year in England with his wife and two daughters.

The family enjoyed their sojourn and went for picnics on weekends, where
Sam did the cooking. Though not an expert, Sam had picked up the
rudiments of the art from his mother and practised them whenever he got a
chance. He is especially proud of his koru na murumba (white pumpkin
preserve) and eeda pakh (a sweet made with eggs, cream etc.).
On his return from the UK in December 1957, Sam was promoted Major

General and posted as GOC 26 Infantry Division. At that time Thimayya
was the Chief of Army Staff and Krishna Menon the Defence Minister.
During a visit to his division, Menon asked Sam what he thought of
Thimayya. Sam said that he was not permitted to ‘think’ about his Chief.
Menon was annoyed, and said, ‘Stop your British way of thinking. I can get
rid of Thimayya, if I want.’ Sam replied, ‘You can get rid of him. But then I
will get another Chief, and I won’t be allowed to think about him too. You

know, it is very wrong to ask a Major General what he thinks of the Chief.
Tomorrow, you will be asking a Brigadier what he thinks of me. This is not
done in the Army.’ This put Menon in his place, and he fell silent.
In September 1959, Sam was posted as the Commandant of the Defence
Services Staff College, at Wellington. Very soon, he was involved in an
unsavoury incident, which almost ended his career. In May 1961, Thimayya

retired and was succeeded by General P.N. Thapar as Chief of Army Staff.
A year earlier, B.M. Kaul had been promoted Lieutenant General and
appointed Quarter Master General against the recommendations of
Thimayya, who had been overruled by Krishna Menon, leading to
Thimayya’s resignation. As soon as Thimayya retired, Kaul was appointed
Chief of General Staff (CGS) to replace Bogey Sen, who went to Eastern
Command as GOC-in-C. The CGS was then the most important

appointment in Army HQ next to the COAS, and Kaul, because of his