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GEN THIMAYYA MEMORIAL LECTURE :
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY LT GEN AVADHESH PRAKASH, PVSM,AVSM,VSM
1. It is indeed a matter of immense pride and privilege for me today to be standing
in front of this august gathering which amongst others also has Mr Gopal Krishna
Pillai, the Home Secretary present amongst us. As the Col of the illustrious KUMAON
& NAGA Regt, it is indeed a rare honour to have been invited to introduce the Gen
Thimayya Memorial Lecture, instituted in the memory of an officer who is a legend
not only within the Regt but also in the Indian Army. I must, therefore, thank the
Gen Thimayya Trust and its patrons to afford me the opportunity, not only to speak
to all of you but also to experience first hand the hallowed portals of the Bishop
Cotton School, Gen Thimayya’s alma mater.
2. It would be difficult for me to chronicle the exploits of Gen Thimayya in the
short time that I have today but I would definitely like to dwell on the character
of a man who was the very epitome of an officer and a gentleman. Gen Thimayya, as
we all know, hailed from an affluent family and was sent out at an early age to
a boarding school to acquire quality education considered so essential during the
times. Bishop Cotton School was a significant milestone that the General touched
along this journey. Interestingly, his arrival at the school, accompanied by his
brother, was by itself, very eventful. Addressed derogatorily by a group of students,
he retaliated in a manner that he considered appropriate, with his fists. On being
admonished for landing the first blow and held responsible for initiating the fight,
Thimayya chose to leave immediately and not join the school at all. This primarily
because he was convinced that the course he had adopted was correct and one which
he proceeded to defend zealously. However, the principal’s adroit and cheerful handling
of the episode left a lasting impression on the young man’s mind and eventually
paved the way for the boys to be admitted into the school. The school provided him
the wherewithal to express himself in multifarious fields, especially as a sportsman
and also notably as a singer in the school choir. Very significant progress though
was made in the way Thimayya began to see the British. In his earlier school, he
had seen them as a master race, haughty displinarians who lacked sensitivity. Here
he observed a new side to them, warm, wiser and gifted. He began to admire them,
their ways and also the manner in which they conducted their social lives. These
were experiences that were to pave the way for the young man to consider a career
as an Army man although the final decision to do so was taken in consultation with
his father and led to Thimayya joining the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military
College a necessary stepping stone towards the Indian Army in those days.
3. Thimayya’s military career began at Sandhurst for which he was one of the only
six Indian cadets nominated after a stringent selection process which culminated
with an interview by none less than the Viceroy of India himself. Needless to say,
he gave a fitting account of himself despite the somewhat biased conditions that
prevailed in the academy for Indian cadets. On commissioning in 1926, he spent his
initial year in the 2nd Battalion of the Highland Infantry, a pure British
troops unit. Later he was assigned the 4/19 Hyderabad Regiment which became his
parent unit for the rest of his military career. It was also the beginning of a
glittering career that saw him handling various appointments of repute on his way
to reaching the pinnacle i.e. the COAS.
4. Before I wax eloquent on Gen Thimayya’s contributions to the Army, I must speak
of his association with the KUMAON Regt, which is today the largest and amongst
the most decorated in the Indian Army. It also has the unique distinction of being
the only Regt which has had three of its doyens rising to be Chiefs of Army Staff.
Gen Thimayya, as I mentioned earlier was commissioned into the 4/19 Hyderabad Regiment
which was amongst the battalions that later formed the KUMAON Regt of today and
is presently called 4 KUMAON. The 4/19 was peculiar in its class composition in
that it drew troops from the Kumaon hills as also Ahirs from areas south of Delhi.
Compared to other battalions which were pure in their composition, such a mix was
considered a man-management challenge but Timmy as he was popularly called, brought
his inherent communication skills to the fore and made certain that the hyderabad’s
did not suffer in comparison to their illustrious peers in any activity, operational,
administrative or extra-curricular. Thimayya commanded the 8/19 Hyderabad Regt in
Burma during the second world war and here too he achieved perfect synchronization
amongst the Kumaonis and Ahirs, to achieve outstanding success where supposedly
more superior British units had failed. A very interesting episode highlights the
canny ability that Timmy possessed of alleviating the troubles of his men. The Ahirs
in his unit depended on milk as a primary source of their nutrition but were getting
almost none in Burma. The deficiency was beginning to affect their health. Timmy
hit upon an ingenuine idea of offering them nutritious soup made from pork and beef
kidneys. It was ofcourse blasphemous to expect the Moslem Ahirs or Hindus to drink
it but Timmy drank the soup in front of a Subedar and remarked how lip smacking
it was. Further, before the officer could question him about the contents, he proceeded
to give him a sermon on the heating mechanism of the tin that carried the soup.
The nonplussed Subedar drank the soup, endorsed it as delicious and soon the entire
lot of troops was drinking it in loadfulls. His conscience did not bother him in
the slightest in making the men do something that may have been considered morally
reprehensible. The men were innocent; they suffered nothing spiritually and physically
they showed visible improvement (which was in any case the aim of the whole exercise).
The 8/19 Hydrabads especially distinguished themselves under his leadership in the
now famous battle of Kangaw.
5. Thimayya’s innate talents of professional soldiering and leadership were soon
recognized by Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, the Commander-in-Chief of the
Indian Army and he was specially selected to lead the 268 Infantry Brigade as part
of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. H proved to be an outstanding
commander and his diplomatic skills emerged wonderfully in his dealings with General
Douglas Macarthur, the supreme allied commander of the South Pacific Theatre, the
other allies and the vanquished Japanese. He represented the country during the
surrender of the Japanese in Singapore followed by the one in Phillipines.
6. Thimayya returned to India in 1947 and was a member of the committee to agree
to the allotment of weapons, equipment and Regiments that were to remain in India
after partition. Later as GOC of 19 Infantry Division he gave a glowing account
of his generalship when he first halted the raiders in the Kashmir valley and then
drove them beyond Uri. The master stroke however was to employ tanks of the 7 Light
Cavalry at the dizzying, snow ladden heights of Zoji La Pass thereby striking terror
into the hearts of the raiders who had entrenched themselves on dominating heights.
Timmy yet again had thought beyond the ordinary and won the day for his country.
His plan was to drive the raiders all the way back to Muzzaffarabad but his pleas
for three months to do this fell on deaf ears and the rest as they say is history.
7. General Thimayya took over as the COAS in May 1957 and continued till May 1961,
completing a glittering career spanning 35 years. His standing up to Mr VK Krishna
Menon, the then Defence Minister in 1959 in protest to what he considered interference
in purely military matters was symptomatic of his forthright personality. Timmy
then went to head the United Nations Mission in Cyprus and here his earlier experience
as the Commander of the UN Repatriation Commission in Korea stood him in good stead.
Needless to say, he excelled and after his death in Jul 1964, while still in Cyprus,
he was accorded the rare privilege of a road being named after him in Larnaca, Cyprus
and also here in Bangalore.
8. At the end I must salute one of the finest soldiers and officers to have donned
uniform and I feel extremely proud to be part of the Regiment that the great General
served in all over the world. I also assure all who sit here today and many others
who matter and have not been able to make the journey that the KUMAON & NAGA Regiment
is carrying on the worthy legacy of General Thimayya and will continue to do him
proud in times to follow.
Jai Hind!
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