Field Marshal K. M. Cariappa: Man of valor and courage

BY: DEBADYUTI DESGUPTA PUBLISHED ON FEBURARY 7, 2021

Field Marshal Cariappa was born in 1898 to Madappa and his wife, who worked with the revenue department. Cariappa was the second child to four brothers and 2 sisters as his siblings. Cariappa is an alumni of the Central High School at Madikeri, and passed his schooling in 1917. He attended the Presidency college in Chennai and there he learnt about the recruitment of men into the army. He had a subtle wish to serve in the armed forces though he was pursuing higher education, so he enrolled as a cadet and out of 70 cadets who wished to enroll, he was one of the 42 cadets to have been selected and was sent to Daly Cadet college in Indore.

And on 1st December, 1919, field Marshal Cariappa, graduated, coming 7th in his class. He was granted a temporary commission until 9th September 1920- when he was given a Permanent commission. He received his commission in the 2nd Battalion of the 88th Carnatic Infantry as temporary Lieutenant. But he was soon transferred from the 88th Carnatic Infantry to the 2/125 Napier Rifles and sent to Iraq, where he was promoted as a Lieutenant on 17th July 1921.

In 1927, he was given his famous nickname “Kipper”, by a British officer’s wife in Fategarh, as she found his name difficult to be said. And in that year, he was promoted to Captain and in 1938, just in time before the outbreak of World War 2, he was promoted as Major- as a Battalion Commander.

And by 1939, he already had 19 years of service in the army! So, for his experience of being with the army for so long, the Skeen Committee was set up for the Indianisation of the Indian army officer ranks, to which he openly expressed his disgust at the treatment of Indian soldiers by the British commanders.

When he was promoted as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 7th Rajput Machine gun Battalion at Fategarh, he became the first Indian to command a Battalion in the Indian army, and the army was still heavily subjugated by the British.

At the outbreak of the war, Cariappa was first appointed as Brigade Major to the 20th Indian Brigade stationed at Derajat and later DAQMG of the 10th Indian division in Iraq. This is here, where he saw intense combat and was Mentioned-in-Dispatches. Soon, he served in Iran and Syria as well, fighting off the Japanese in Burma in 1943-1944.

On 1st April, he was appointed as the AQMG of the Eastern command, but Cariappa’s wishes to see combat, wasn’t fulfilled. Still, he led the 26th Indian Division stationed at Buthidaung in Burma and the division played a vital role in kicking the Japanese out from the Arakan province. And for his services in the war, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1945.

For his services in the British Empire, his units had also captured POWs from Netaji’s Indian National Army and he had once gone to visit them. But he was struck at how badly the British were treating them in the POW camps, and he personally wrote a letter to the Adjutant General to improve their living conditions and pardon some of them.

Cariappa pointed out that these prisoners had considerable support from the Indian leaders, who would later rule the motherland. This led the British to release most of the prisoners.

And just before independence, Cariappa was appointed as the first Indian Major General. Pakistan’s later President and military dictator Ayub Khan, had also served under him.

After independence, he was appointed as the deputy chief of the general staff and in November, 1947, he was appointed as the Lieutenant General and commanded the Eastern army. In 1948, as the war in Kashmir worsened, he took the responsibility of the East Punjab command, renamed it to Western command and moved his headquarters to Jammu. Soon, in response to Pakistan’s aggression on the Kashmiri people, he launched 3 operations in Kashmir- Operation Kipper, Easy and Bison and to capture Naushera, Poonch, Jhangar, Jozi-la, Dras and the Kargil sector. He had plans to completely drive out the Pakistani occupation out from Kashmir, but the US intervened and Cariappa himself protested!He was not willing to leave an inch of Kashmir in enemy hands.

Despite of US intervention, with just one Brigade he launched his operations in Kargil and disobeying orders he also pushed forward into Ladakh. But the war had ended by then, and for his services, in 1949, he was appointed as the Commander in Chief of the Indian army, replacing Lieutenant General Sir Roy Bucher.

Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw admired Field Marshal Cariappa for his actions to keep the army out of political affairs, despite pressures from Prime minister Nehru himself. He adopted the “Jai Hind”, the slogan of the Indian National Army in the army, which everyone knows, is the formal phrase between Army personnel to greet each other. He also turned down the reservations in the army for Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribes.

He retired in 1953, serving as the Indian High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand. When he passed away in 1993, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw was one of the attendees in his funeral.

From 1919-1953, he had a long service record and did a lot in the Army. One of the first Indians to achieve high ranks in an arny still commanded by the British, Field Marshal Cariappa was indeed a man of military excellence.

The author is writer, thinker and founder of 1971 War Book Series.