Kodandera Madappa Cariappa - Military Career

Military Career

After World War I concluded in 1918, Indian politicians at that time raised a demand to sanction Indians to the King's Commission. After strict screening, Cariappa was selected as one among the privileged few, who were selected for the first batch that underwent rigorous pre-commission training. In 1919, he joined the first batch of KCIOs (King's Commissioned Indian Officers) at The Daly College at Indore and was commissioned into the Carnatic Infantry at Bombay as a Temporary Second Lieutenant. He was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant in 1921 (retroactive to 1920). In 1922, he received his permanent commission as a Second Lieutenant(retroactive to 1919). The future Major General Muhammad Akbar Khan of the Pakistan Army(seniormost officer of Pakistan Army at the partition, and commissioned as PA-1) was also commissioned at the same time, but was outranked by Cariappa, who had seniority. Muhammad Ayub Khan, who graduated with him, is sometimes confused with the future ruler who ruled from 1958-69 but was really a minor officer from Scinde Horse. Cariappa was promoted to Lieutenant in 1923.

In 1927, Cariappa was promoted to Captain, but the appointment was not officially gazetted until 1931. He saw active service with the 37 (Prince of Wales) Dogra in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) and was later posted to the 2nd Queen Victoria's Own Rajput Light Infantry, which became his permanent regimental home. He was the first Indian officer to undergo the course at Staff College, Quetta in 1933. He was promoted to Major in 1938. The following year, he was appointed a Staff Captain.

Cariappa served in Iraq, Syria and Iran from 1941–1942 and then in Burma in 1943-1944. He spent many of his soldiering years in Waziristan. He earned his 'Mentioned in Despatches' as DAA and QMG of General (later Field Marshal) Slim's 10th Division. He was the first Indian Officer to be given command of a unit in 1942. By 1944, Cariappa was a Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel. After command he volunteered to serve in 26 Division engaged in clearing the Japanese from Burma, where he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

In 1946, he was promoted as the Brigadier of the Frontier Brigade Group. It was during this time that Colonel Ayub Khan - later Field Marshal and President of Pakistan, 1962-1969 - served under him. In 1947, Cariappa was the first Indian who was selected to undergo a training course at Imperial Defence College, Camberly, UK on the higher directions of war. During the traumatic period of partition, he handled the division of the Indian Army and sharing of its assets between Pakistan and India, in a most amicable, just and orderly manner. He was then the Indian officer in charge of overseeing the transition.

Post-Independence, Cariappa was appointed as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff with the rank of Major General. On promotion to Lieutenant General he became the Eastern Army Commander. On outbreak of war with Pakistan in 1947, he was moved as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command and directed operations for the recapture of Zojila, Drass and Kargil and re-established a linkup with Leh. In all this, he showed tremendous energy in moving troops, against considerable odds and finally ensuring success. This ensured his elevation to the supreme post of commander in chief. He had two officers senior to him — both King Commissioned Officers (from Sandhurst) of the 1918 batch, KS Mahadeo Singh and MS Himmat Singh ji. KS Mahadeo Singh ji had not enough combat experience and was superseded by Cariappa during the Second World War and finally retired in 1948; he is better remembered now as first Indian commandant of IMA, Dehradun. MS Himmat Singh ji remained as a prisoner of war in Japan for 4 years (1939–43), which made him lose war experience. When he returned, he remained with PSY war/ propaganda section at army HQ and later took charge of the integration of princely state forces into the Indian Army after the states' accessions. In 1950, Cariappa headed a committee on the northern frontiers.

On 15 January 1949 Cariappa was appointed as the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, succeeding Lieutenant General Sir Roy Bucher, who had been in the post only a year. He was displaced owing to differences with the Indian government over the invasion of Hyderabad and the operations in Kashmir. Cariappa was then instrumental in turning an imperial army into a national army.