Page 354 - Leadership in the Indian Army

troops, squadrons and regiments. Since he believed that only the Germans
had a thorough understanding of mobile warfare, he studied in detail the
campaigns and battles fought by the Panzer formations and units during

World War II. Based on these principles, he developed unit-level tactics,
which he tried out with his troop and squadron during training. After
making the appropriate modifications, he disseminated them to other
officers of the regiment. He kept detailed notes of the entire process,
updating them over the years.
In December 1960, Hanut returned to the regiment. After attending the
junior command course at the Infantry School in 1961, he began to prepare

for the Staff College entrance examination. He qualified and proceeded to
Wellington to attend the course in 1963. His colleagues in Wellington
remember him as a thoroughly dedicated professional, who had little time
for distractions like the races at Ooty or the weekly dances at the Gymkhana
Club. Even as a student, his leadership qualities were obvious to both his
instructors and colleagues.

There is an interesting anecdote related to Wellington, which brings out
Hanut’s character and style. During the telephone battle, he was given the
appointment of a divisional commander. As is customary, he was wearing
the badges of rank of a major general, though he was actually a major. This
was done to make the exercise seem more realistic. After he had given his
orders, the actual ‘battle’ commenced. At about 9 p.m., after the ‘enemy’
had made his opening moves, Hanut told his staff that he was retiring for

the night, and was not to be disturbed unless there was a situation that
required his decision or personal intervention. This caused some surprise,
since it was contrary to the normally accepted, nail-biting image of a GOC,
supposedly under pressure, who remained on tenterhooks and kept
harassing his staff and subordinates, instead of leaving them alone to get on
with their jobs. This meant that by the time he was actually required to do

something, he was already bleary-eyed and his mind fogged for want of rest
and sleep.
After delivering his instructions, Hanut went to his allotted office and
went to bed on the camp-cot, which he had placed there. He slept soundly,
and awoke next morning to the twittering of birds. It seemed strangely
quiet, so he went out to see what was going on. He found all the rooms
locked, with no sign of the other student officers or directing staff. He later

learnt that as the ‘enemy’ had failed to make any headway, the exercise had