Honor,Welfare and Comfort of the men

The safety, honour and welfare of your country comes first, always and every time.

The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next.

Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time.

 Field Marshal Sir. Philip Chetwode Commander-in-Chief at the inauguration of IMA in 1932

All the Officers who have been commissioned in the Indian Army  are well well aware of the above dictum  and by and large most of them followed it in letter and spirit. Then how come we, with alarming regularity in the recent times,  are confronted with painful news items of suicide by soldiers, fragging, beating up officers by men, collective insubordination in supposed to be the most disciplined arms like Artillery and Armoured Regiments. Are the Commanding Officers where such events took place only to be blamed?  Or are there varying other causes contributing to  such cases.

That the first of the above dictum has been scrupulously followed is a proven fact. The number of officers who have led their men in various wars and campaigns, the ultimate sacrifices they have made in the cause of defending the country and saving its honour need no reiteration. 

The next two of the above dictum appears to have fallen wayside in many of the units. That the British had scant regard for the welfare of the Indian troops to a large extent and even to the British troops to a considerable extent is a proven fact.  I will quote a few examples.

First Afghan War :

                              In the 1830s, Russia, wanting to increase its presence in South and Central Asia, had formed an alliance with Persia which had territorial disputes with Afghanistan. The British feared a possible Russian invasion of India through Afghanistan as the Russians had expanded towards the British dominion of India. ( It is no surprise that this was the same fear and one of the major reasons , as late as 1940, for the British to create a buffer state between India and Afghanistan by partitioning India before granting it Independence  - on this more of it in later posts). Lord Auckland's plan was to install Shuja Shah Durrani , who was pro British as the new ruler in Afghanistan in place of Emir Dost Mohammad Khan ,then current Afghan ruler.

 An army of 21,000 British and mostly Indian troops under the command of Sir John Keane (subsequently replaced by Sir Willoughby Cotton and then by William Elphinstone) set out from Punjab in December 1838. By late March 1839, the British forces had reached the Afghan city of Quetta, crossed the Bolan Pass and begun their march to Kabul. After  advancing  through rough terrain,  finally set up camps at Kandahar on 25 April 1839.  On 22 July 1839, in a surprise attack, the British-led forces captured the fortress of Ghazni. In August 1839, Shuja was again enthroned in Kabul.

The majority of the British troops returned to India and only about 8,000 (mostly Indian troops) remained in Afghanistan.  As the occupation dragged on, the British allowed his soldiers to bring their families to Afghanistan in order to improve morale  infuriated the Afghans, since they feared that the British were setting up a permanent occupation and they resented the despotic rule of Shuja. Between April and October 1841, disaffected Afghan tribes  started lending  support to Dost Mohammad's son, Akbar Khan. In November 1841, a senior British officer, Sir Alexander 'Sekundar' Burnes, and his aides were killed by a mob in Kabul. The British forces took no action in response to the incident, which encouraged further revolt. The British situation soon deteriorated when Afghans stormed the poorly defended supply fort inside Kabul  in November. The British  tried to negotiate with Akbar Khan. Macnaghten secretly offered to make Akbar Afghanistan's vizier in exchange for allowing the British to stay, while simultaneously disbursing large sums of money to have him assassinated. Akbar Khan got wind of this plan. A meeting for direct negotiations between MacNaghten and Akbar was held near the cantonment on 23 December, but MacNaghten and the three officers accompanying him were seized and slain by Akbar Khan. Macnaghten's body was dragged through the streets of Kabul and displayed in the bazaar. Elphinstone had partly lost command of his troops already and his authority was badly damaged. While rage and a thirst for revenge consumed the lower ranks of the army, those at the top became increasingly indecisive and anxious to appease. 

On 1 January 1842, an agreement was reached that provided for the safe exodus of the British garrison and its dependants from Afghanistan. Five days later, the withdrawal began. The departing British contingent numbered around 16,500, of which about 4,500 were military personnel, and over 12,000 were camp followers. The military force consisted mostly of Indian units and one British battalion, 44th Regiment of Foot.

Elphinstone, ( many roads in Indian cantonments are still  named after him) was hopelessly indecisive, lacking in moral courage, irrational and totally lacking in compassion. 

There is a vivid description of the withdrawal from Afghanistan in the book  " The psycholgy of Military Incompetence" by Norman Dixon and i quote from page 77 of the book.

" It was a disastrous plan of trying to reach Jalalabad  during the severe winter across mountain ranges infested with hostile tribesmen. With deep snow on the ground , night temperatures that fell to well below freezibng , and blood-thirsty Afghans preparing to fall upon them as they traversed the narrow passes, the only hope of successfully reaching Jalalabad lay in speed of movement. Elphinstone , fearful of moving by night took to calling a halt at the end of each day. 

Without food, firewood or any shelter many died each night. By day , as they traversed the grim passes of Khoord-Kabul, Jugdullock and Gandamac, thousands more died at the hands of the murderous Ghilzyes. At the end of four days, with seventy miles still to go , only 850 remained of the original 4500 soldiers. By the end of tenth day their number reduced to 450."  The civilian losses were estimated to be about 12000 mostly women, children and other camp followers. 

This following passage is particularly noteworthy as to how scant regard for the welfare of men under command  was practiced more so if the troops were natives. 

"To the misery of hunger was added the misery of cold... The indian troops suffered particularly from the cold but although there was a complete stock of firing, fires were not allowed. Strut pressed Elphinstone and Shelton taht at least fires be permitted at night so that men coming off duty from the ramparts might warm themselves and dry their frost encrusted clothes, but nothing was done and the miserable troops sank deeper into apathy and numbe despair."

When an officer suggested,  after seeing the Afghans covered their legs with rags as the first snow fell, that old horse-blankets be cut into strips which the troops could roll puttee-fashion round their feet and legs. This sensible suggestion seemed to the high command both slovenly and unsoldierly.  Within a few hours of the start of the march the frost had done its work and hundreds were suffering the agonies of frost-bitten feet."

The siege of Kut:

In 1914, the Indian Government , under orders from Whitehall (The name "Whitehall" is often used to refer that part of the civil service which is involved in the government of the United Kingdom, similar to the use of "Kremlin" to refer to the Russian government or "White House" for the executive branch of the United States government- Wikipedia) sent a small force to protect the British oil interests in Mesopotamia. After the entry of Turkey into the war, this was augmented to a division strength again under pressure from Whitehall.

The ' British Expeditionary Force D ' comprising the the 6th (Poona) Division of the Indian Army, under Major-General Charles Townshend, was entrusted with this task. The force comprised mostly Indian Troops.  To reach Kut cost Townshend 7000 casualties, during the ensuing siege a further 1600 died; attempts to relieve force accounted for another 23000 casualties; when he eventually surrendered to the Turks,13000 of his troops went into captivity and of those 7000 died while still prisoners of war. Through an admixture of self-interest, personal ambition, ignorance, obstinacy and sheer crass stupidity, the Sir Beauchamp Duff, the C-in-C India, General Nixon, Army Commander Basra, and major general Townshend sealed the fate of thousands of British and Indian soldiers.

The British Empire forces arrived at Kut around 3 December 1915. They had suffered significant losses and were down to around 11,000 soldiers (plus cavalry). General Townshend chose to stay and hold the position at Kut instead of continuing the march downriver towards Basra. Though Kut offered a good defensive position the problem was how to get supplies, since it was a long way from Basra. The pursuing Ottoman forces arrived on 7 December 1915. The Ottomans had enough forces to lay siege to Kut and they did . After a month of siege, Townshend wanted to break out and withdraw southwards but his commander, Sir John Nixon saw value in tying down the Ottoman forces in a siege. He persuaded his Army Commander to hasten the relief since he had only one month's supply for his British troops. To sustain this lie he deliberately restrained from rationing either his British or Indian troops nor he made any attempt to to unearth stocks grain concealed in the town. However all the efforts of the British forces to relieve Kut were in vain.

After 147 days, Townshend's food supplies which had originally said would last only a month ran out. Confident from his exchange with the Turkish Commander that he would be treated generously, he surrendered on April 19, 1916and handed hisweak and starving men over to the not so tender mercy of the Turks. While he was transported in the greatest comfort to Baghdad and thence to Constantinople, his 13000 men began their 1200 mile march across the arid wastes and freezing heights of Asia Minor to reach Anatolia. While he was wined and dined as a personal guest of the Turkish Commander in Chief, his men died in their thousands of starvation, dysentery, cholera, typhus and from the whips of the bad tempered Kurdistan guards. In all , seventy percent of the British and fifty percent of the Indian troops perished in captivity. ( Extracts from the book by Norman Dixon).  After the surrender, the Poona Division ceased to exist until another 6th Division was raised in 1920 for the Iraq Rebellion.

The above two instances clearly indicate that neither the honour nor the safety leave aside welfare of the men under command was of any consequence to  many of  the British Officers more so when they commanded Indian Troops. The initial breed of  Indian Officers who were mostly drawn from aristocracy and royalty were more British than the British themselves. I have seen even as recent as 1970, the Commanding Officer of a battalion of the Brigade of the Guards will not take of his glove to shake hands with other officers if at all he ever chose to shake hands. However there have been a lot of changes in the mental make up of later day officers.  Field Marshal Cariapppa  and Field Marshal  Sam Manekshaw  were enthusiastic to meet and mix with troops and junior officers. 

While many of the senior officers of the rank of Brigadiers and above still have the mind set of ' keeping distance' the young officers are steadily losing their contacts with the men they lead . When I joined my first unit and was posted as a Company Commander, the Second in Command of the Battalion gave me one advice; that was you must know the pulse of the men under you at all times. In my time there were opportunities. The morning PT, the training during day time and the evening troop games. In the present day scenario where units are committed 24X7 whether in field or in peace, and when the number of officers posted is not even 60% of the authorized strength and the number officers physically present ( out of those posted) is not even touching 50%, it is well neigh  foolish to compare those days. In my younger days in service when Computers, Photocopiers, Fax machines were unheard of, the paper work ( desk bound work) for even a Company Commander was limited to signing the parade state and ration indent. The advent  of all these technological marvels have reduced clerical effort but not paper work.

The second reason why Officers are bound to desk work  is because in today's Army no one wants to take a chance or risk. Even a most minor incident in a unit which used to be disposed of at the level of a Platoon Commander is now required to be gone through a Court of Inquiry and attended paraphernalia. In addition there will be unit boards, station duties, station boards, station courts of inquiries which tie up the Officers' time. Added to that is the " Bull" . As Normon Dixon points out in his book " Why one of the more striking features of militarism should be associated with bovine excreta, remains a matter for debate". Let me not analyse whether it was coined by the Australian soldiers  in 1916 when they were awe struck by the spit and polish of the British Army.  . This includes ensuring all trees are given a coat of lime wash to a particular height to such absurdities as painting the aluminum cattle fencing in green to having standardized flower pots with standardized plants !( By the way the very idea of using Aluminium  is to avoid painting as it does not rust!) Our seniors have coined  another word for it ' attention to detail'.  As Norman Dixon points out these absurdities inflict more suffering upon the soldiers than the enemy. While this is surely an exaggeration, the time could be better utilised for training , sports and games where officers and men can have more physical close interaction. This will improve the ability to know the pulse of the people and reduce the gap between the Officers and the men they command which appears ever widening overtime.

 The incident that happened in Leh  in an artillery Regiment and the one that happened in Samba in an Armoured Regiment are being inquired into by the authorities and so to speak sub-judice. While I reserve my comments on them, it would be suffice to say that the "pulse" of the people under command was not diagnosed in time. 

The third reason is the degeneration in the conduct of the erstwhile " Durbar",  rechristened as " Sainik Sammelan" to be in tune with the times , to a mandatory ritual with fanfare concluding with a high tea and snacks. While it is mandatory to have the minutes recorded in an elaborately decorated ( some times leather bound) book subject to scrutiny during the Annual Administrative Inspection by the Formation Commander, the contents month after  month will be found to be boringly repetitive. Any point highlighting a shortcoming  or a suggestion  for improvement by a lower rank is viewed with trepidation. This only widens the chasm between the Officers and men and reduces the confidence levels they have for each other.

Compared to our times when the soldiers were predominantly from farming families and were attuned to the rigours of civilian life, hard work, hunger and thirst as a matter of routine, today's intake  include School and college graduates. While during the First world war Mahatma Gandhi had to tour the districts in Gujarat to goad people to join the British Army, a recruitment mela today vies with Kumbh Mela in terms of people attending and wanting to join forces. There have been instances that the local police had to be called in to control the surging aspirants. One way it is very encouraging for the Army in that they have wide choice to select the most physically fit and most educationally  qualified. That is one reason that the Officers now, more than ever before, need to be sensitized on the nuances of  human relationship management.

I was very much perturbed by the comments of an age old veteran about the soldiers he commanded  ( I read it in the internet but forgot to copy the link). While it is not verbatim , this is what he had to say about how he commanded his troops  " I ensured that they were fed, I used to drive them hard  during the day but made sure that they were comfortable in their stables at night  as this was the way we were taught to handle the men." Well , times have changed,   soldiers will not tolerate if you treat them as horses even if they are your pet horses.

Qualities of discipline, loyalty, integrity, devotion to duty  are the hall marks of Army men and these are what differentiate them to a large extent from the other sections of the society. The uniform, the head gear  and other accouterments are  for  physical distinction,  for inculcating pride and  to improve morale. The Officers have to set a very high standard in these qualities for themselves and  not only follow it but seen to be following it. Unlike in the olden days, the soldiers are today are exposed to a variety of  printed, audio and video media 24X7. The Indian Press and the Visual media , today take a sadistic pleasure in highlighting and in some case grossly exaggerating any misdemeanor connected to Army or Army personnel and in a few cases even when they were not even remotely connected.

According to Alexis de Tocqueville ( as quoted by Norman Dixon in his book)  , " When a military spirit forsakes ( or appear to forsake - my addition) , the profession of arms immediately ceases to be held in honour.... they are little esteemed and no longer understood   .... the best part of the nation shuns the military profession ( especially true of Officer Cadre - my addition) because that profession is not honoured , and the profession is not honoured because the best part of the nation has ceased to follow it"