Promotion to Captain and my last trip to Assam
With the end of the war quite a few battalions of the Regiment raised during the war were ordered for disbandment of which 6/1st Punjab stationed in Singapore was taken prisoners of war when that island fell to the Japanese. Some of the soldiers had joined the Indian national Army (I.N.A) under Subhash Chandra Bose. Consequently the soldiers were listed as Black, Grey and White according to their degree of involvement with the I.N.A. Those declared White came to our No 2 Company for redrafting to our regular battalions after conversion training. Similarly 8/1st Punjab which was transferred to the Royal Indian Navy, (was) ordered for disbandment. Those soldiers-cum-sailors (who) wished to continue in the Army arrived in the company for redrafting. There was a time the company had nearly 1700 personnel with only Captain Jones, Company Commander and myself to look after. Being the only junior officer I had to attend to all training and administrative works which I accepted with enthusiasm.
During the month of October, Captain Jones on some minor pretext punished the Sikh soldiers who revolted against him. This caused a lot of tension in the Company. After investigation it was revealed that he had misused his power and was removed from Command. Colonel Drake was much impressed with the way I handled the situation and despite my age and experience, promoted me to Captain and ordered me to take over the Company. I was then hardly 20 years officially and caused a lot of heart burning amongst those seniour to me.
I met Captain (later retired as Colonel) Badar Uddin of Calcutta, a friend of Motika, who then working in the Judge Advocate General’s Branch in Northern Command Headquarters in Rawalpindi. When I saw this first Bengali Muslim officer in our Jhelum mess I introduced myself to him. From the first meeting he was patronising and advised me to join as a Sub-Registrar now that the war was over. I on the other hand told him that I was keen to make Army as a career. Instead of giving encouragement he told me that I would be a misfit in the peace time Army. I rejected his advice, applied for a Regular Commissioned Officer which had been opened for Emergency Commissioned officer like me and in due course was granted.
Towards the end of 1945 I was granted 36 days war leave and visited Calcutta, Gauhati, Jorhat and Dibrugarh. On return to Jhelum I found Colonel Drake was transferred and Colonel Garaway as our new commandant. This old colonel did not like me much. His main objection was that I without any battle experience was commanding the most important and large Company in the Centre then.
Seeing his attitude, I told him that it was not my fault that I was kept in the Centre by his predecessors who had confidence in me to Command the largest Company without any battle experience and requested him to post me to 2/1st Punjab in Java with 5 Indian Division. Accordingly in March 1946 I left Jhelum for Calcutta en route to Java (Indonesia).
At Calcutta I reported at Barrackpore transit camp were I met Major (later retired as Colonel) Ali Mohammad and Lieutenant Lal Khan also proceeding to join 2/1st Punjab. On 30th March we heard (that) 5 Indian Davison was returning to India and we were told to proceed to Ranchi and act as Advance Party for our respective Battalions and brigades of the Division. On reaching Ranchi we found our Division was to relieve 8 East African Division returning to Africa. The Battalion was allocated Barkakhana camp.
Skeleton advance parties from battalion had already arrived. Since we had tentage accommodation and I was ordered to take over all vehicles from outgoing Division Headquarters for the Battalion. In this I was assisted by Havildar Gujjan Singh of the M.T. Platoon. Before the battalion arrived in April all handing/taking over was completed.
On due date 2/1st Punjab – one of the most decorated battalion with one V.C one G.M, 3 DSO bar, 4 DSO’s, 2 MC and Bar, 70 MES and a number of 10M,1DSM,MM’s – arrived and I was proud to be associated with this Battalion. Soon the British C.O and second-In-Command left and came Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Atma Singh and Major (later Major-General) M.Umrao Khan came as our new C.O. and Second-In-Command respectively. In May being junior most Captain and extra to the establishment I reverted to Lieutenant.
During the next few months we were visited by Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, the C-In-C and Lieutenant General Sir Francis Tucker, G-O-C-in-C, Eastern Command and many other high dignitaries. In July 1945 I was granted 28 days War leave and went to Dibrugarh. During that period the battalion was transferred from Ranchi to Peshawar.
Whilst I was in Dibrugarh I heard all about the Great Calcutta Killing between Hindus and Muslims. I left, Dibrugarh on the 156th August and reached Gauhati, (in what turned out to be my last visit to Assam) and was told that all train service to and from Calcutta had been suspended. I remained in Gauhati for three days and then left for Calcutta by special train.
On the 20th August I reached Calcutta in the evening and reached Grand Hotel in an ambulance jeep. From the Station to the hotel I saw number of dead bodies in the deserted streets. Next morning I contacted Noqika on the phone and was much relieved to know that he was safe. He also informed me about Motika and his family who got stranded in a Hindu majority area. Luckily he was also safe and came to see me in my hotel the same afternoon. He left for Gauhati next day and I left for Peshawar by Khyber Mail which was running very late due to disturbance and eventually reached Peshawar. Communal tension was gaining its momentum. In November late Pandit Nehru visited Peshawar. Despite Congress ministry there under Dr. Khan Saheb and influence of Khan Abdur Ghaffar Khan, the Pathans in Peshawar greeted Nehru with black balloon and black flag. The battalion was ordered to remain at short notice to come in aid to the Civil Power. Fortunately nothing unpleasant happened in the city.
During the month of October, Captain Jones on some minor pretext punished the Sikh soldiers who revolted against him. This caused a lot of tension in the Company. After investigation it was revealed that he had misused his power and was removed from Command. Colonel Drake was much impressed with the way I handled the situation and despite my age and experience, promoted me to Captain and ordered me to take over the Company. I was then hardly 20 years officially and caused a lot of heart burning amongst those seniour to me.
I met Captain (later retired as Colonel) Badar Uddin of Calcutta, a friend of Motika, who then working in the Judge Advocate General’s Branch in Northern Command Headquarters in Rawalpindi. When I saw this first Bengali Muslim officer in our Jhelum mess I introduced myself to him. From the first meeting he was patronising and advised me to join as a Sub-Registrar now that the war was over. I on the other hand told him that I was keen to make Army as a career. Instead of giving encouragement he told me that I would be a misfit in the peace time Army. I rejected his advice, applied for a Regular Commissioned Officer which had been opened for Emergency Commissioned officer like me and in due course was granted.
Towards the end of 1945 I was granted 36 days war leave and visited Calcutta, Gauhati, Jorhat and Dibrugarh. On return to Jhelum I found Colonel Drake was transferred and Colonel Garaway as our new commandant. This old colonel did not like me much. His main objection was that I without any battle experience was commanding the most important and large Company in the Centre then.
Seeing his attitude, I told him that it was not my fault that I was kept in the Centre by his predecessors who had confidence in me to Command the largest Company without any battle experience and requested him to post me to 2/1st Punjab in Java with 5 Indian Division. Accordingly in March 1946 I left Jhelum for Calcutta en route to Java (Indonesia).
At Calcutta I reported at Barrackpore transit camp were I met Major (later retired as Colonel) Ali Mohammad and Lieutenant Lal Khan also proceeding to join 2/1st Punjab. On 30th March we heard (that) 5 Indian Davison was returning to India and we were told to proceed to Ranchi and act as Advance Party for our respective Battalions and brigades of the Division. On reaching Ranchi we found our Division was to relieve 8 East African Division returning to Africa. The Battalion was allocated Barkakhana camp.
Skeleton advance parties from battalion had already arrived. Since we had tentage accommodation and I was ordered to take over all vehicles from outgoing Division Headquarters for the Battalion. In this I was assisted by Havildar Gujjan Singh of the M.T. Platoon. Before the battalion arrived in April all handing/taking over was completed.
On due date 2/1st Punjab – one of the most decorated battalion with one V.C one G.M, 3 DSO bar, 4 DSO’s, 2 MC and Bar, 70 MES and a number of 10M,1DSM,MM’s – arrived and I was proud to be associated with this Battalion. Soon the British C.O and second-In-Command left and came Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Atma Singh and Major (later Major-General) M.Umrao Khan came as our new C.O. and Second-In-Command respectively. In May being junior most Captain and extra to the establishment I reverted to Lieutenant.
During the next few months we were visited by Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, the C-In-C and Lieutenant General Sir Francis Tucker, G-O-C-in-C, Eastern Command and many other high dignitaries. In July 1945 I was granted 28 days War leave and went to Dibrugarh. During that period the battalion was transferred from Ranchi to Peshawar.
Whilst I was in Dibrugarh I heard all about the Great Calcutta Killing between Hindus and Muslims. I left, Dibrugarh on the 156th August and reached Gauhati, (in what turned out to be my last visit to Assam) and was told that all train service to and from Calcutta had been suspended. I remained in Gauhati for three days and then left for Calcutta by special train.
On the 20th August I reached Calcutta in the evening and reached Grand Hotel in an ambulance jeep. From the Station to the hotel I saw number of dead bodies in the deserted streets. Next morning I contacted Noqika on the phone and was much relieved to know that he was safe. He also informed me about Motika and his family who got stranded in a Hindu majority area. Luckily he was also safe and came to see me in my hotel the same afternoon. He left for Gauhati next day and I left for Peshawar by Khyber Mail which was running very late due to disturbance and eventually reached Peshawar. Communal tension was gaining its momentum. In November late Pandit Nehru visited Peshawar. Despite Congress ministry there under Dr. Khan Saheb and influence of Khan Abdur Ghaffar Khan, the Pathans in Peshawar greeted Nehru with black balloon and black flag. The battalion was ordered to remain at short notice to come in aid to the Civil Power. Fortunately nothing unpleasant happened in the city.
posted by Mac Haque at 8:40 PM
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