Page 109 - The English Carnival 7

The most popular and respected Indian General he never minced words and one can
never forget his quote, “A ‘Yes man’ is a dangerous man. He is a menace. He will go

very far. He can become a minister, a secretary or a Field
What you Think?ou Think?
Marshall but he can never become a leader nor, ever be What y
respected. He will be used by his superiors, disliked by his What is the famous
colleagues and despised by his subordinates. So discard the quote of the General ?
‘Yes man’.”

Manekshaw was born in Amritsar, Punjab to Parsi parents, Hormusji Manekshaw, a
doctor, and his wife Heerabai,Field Marshal Shamsherji Hormusji Framji Jamshedji who

moved to Punjab from the small town of Valsad on the Gujarat coast. After completing
his schooling in Punjab and Sherwood College, Nainital, and achieving a distinction in
the School Certificate examination of the Cambridge Board at the age of 15, he asked his
father to send him to London to become a gynecologist. When his father refused to send
him until he was older, in an act of rebellion, Manekshaw took the entrance examination
for enrollment into the Indian Military Academy (IMA) at

Dehradun. He was successful and as a result became part of
What you Think?ou Think?
the first intake of 40 cadets on 1 October 1932. He graduated What y
What do you know
from the IMA on 4 February 1934 and was commissioned about the family
as a second lieutenant in the British Indian Army (which background of the
General.
later became the Indian Army after Independence).
After taking over as chief of army staff, at a function on 8 June 1969 to mark the centenary

of Sherwood College, Field Marshal Shamsherji Hormusji Framji Manekshaw recalled
that his years at the college had prepared him for war as they had taught him to live
alone and independently, to fight without relent, tolerate hunger for long periods and
to hate his enemy.

On commissioning, as per the practices of that time, Manekshaw was first attached to
the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Field Marshal Shamsherji Hormusji Framji battalion, and
then later posted to the 4th Battalion, 12th Frontier Force Regiment, commonly known as

the 54th Sikhs. During World War II, the then Captain Manekshaw saw action in Burma
in the 1942 campaign on the Sittaung River with the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment, and
had the rare distinction of being honoured for his bravery on the battlefield.

Manekshaw attended the 8th Staff Course at Command and Staff College, Quetta, from
23 August to 22 December 1943. He was then posted as the brigade major of the Razmak
Brigade, serving in that post until 22 October 1944 when he was sent to join the 9th

Battalion, 12 Frontier Force Regiment in Burma, as part of General William Slim’s 14th
Army. Towards the end of World War II, Manekshaw was sent to serve on General
Daisy’s staff in Indo-China where, after the Japanese surrender, he helped repatriate over
10,000 former prisoners of war (POWs). He then went on a six-month lecture tour to

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