FIELD MARSHAL SHFJ MANEKSHAW, MC
1. Introduction:-
a. Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, MC "Sam Bahadur" (3 April 1914 – 27 June 2008) was an Indian Army officer.
b. In a long career spanning nearly four decades, Manekshaw rose to be the 8th chief of staff of the Indian Army in 1969 and under his command, Indian forces concluded a victorious campaign during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
c. Sam Manekshaw was the first of only two Indian military officers to hold the highest rank of Field Marshal in the Indian Army (the other being Field Marshal K M Cariappa).
d. His distinguished military career spanned four decades and through five wars, including World War II.
Early life and education:-
2 Manekshaw was born in Amritsar, Punjab to Parsi parents, Hormusji Manekshaw, a doctor, and his wife Heerabai, who moved to the Punjab from the small town of Valsad on the Gujarat coast.
3 After completing his schooling in Amritsar and Sherwood College (Nainital), he asked his father to send him to college abroad to study medicine.
4 When his father refused, in an act of rebellion, he applied to join the IMA and as a result became part of the first intake of 40 cadets at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, on 1 October 1932.
5 He passed out from the IMA on 4 February 1934 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Indian Army. He held several regimental assignments and was first attached to the 2nd Bn The Royal Scots and later to the 4/12th Frontier Force Regiment. Later on it was known as 8th Gorkha Rifles.
Military career
1 World War II:
i. During World War II, Manekshaw saw action in Burma in the 1942 campaign on the Sittang River as a captain with the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment and had the rare distinction of being honoured for his bravery on the battle front itself.
ii. He was commanding his battalion's 'A' Company in a counter-attack against the invading Japanese Army and...