Kodandera Subayya Thimayya

Kodandera Subayya Thimayya was born in Madikeri, the district town of Kodagu (formerly known as Coorg), Karnataka, on 31 March 1906, to Subayya and Sitamma.[1][2] His family was one of the leading coffee planters in the area. His mother, Sitamma, was highly educated and a social worker. She was the recipient of Kaisar-e-Hind Medal, in recognition of her work in public service.[7] Thimayya was the third of six children in his family. The eldest was Ponappa (m) (known as Ponnu), then Thimayya (known in the family as Dubbu, and by the British as Timmy), followed by Gangu (f), Dachu (f), Amavva (f) (known as Amie) and finally Somayya (m) (known as Freddie). All the three boys of the family rose to become officers in the Indian Army.[8]

On his father's side, Thimayya belonged to the Kodendera clan to which India's first commander-in-chief Cariappa also belonged (his uncle in fact). His mother, Cheppudi Chittauwa (or Cheppusi Chittavva), was from the Cheppudira family. His wife, Nina Thimayya, was a recipient of the Kaisar-e-Hind Medal for her philanthropic contribution during the 1935 Quetta earthquake. His maternal uncle, C.B. Ponnappa, was in the first batch of commissioned Indian officers from the Indore defence school and a batchmate of Cariappa. Desiring that he receive a good education, his family sent Thimayya, at the age of eight years, to St. Joseph's College in Coonoor, a convent run by Irish brothers. Later, Thimayya was sent to Bishop Cotton Boys' School in Bangalore, along with his brothers. After completing school, Thimayya was sent to the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College for military training and a stepping stone for a commission in the Indian Army. His elder brother Ponnappa (later joined INA) as well as younger brother Somayya (died in a mine accident in 1947–48 Kashmir operations) also joined the Indian army. Following his graduation from RIMC, "Timmy", as he was affectionately known, was one of only six Indian cadets selected for further training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

After completing his training, he was commissioned into the Indian Army on 4 February 1926 as a Second Lieutenant. Amongst the other newly commissioned officers in his batch was Pran Nath Thapar, who would one day succeed Thimayya as Chief of Army Staff.[9] Thimayya was subsequently attached to the Highland Light Infantry as was the norm then, prior to a permanent posting with a regiment of the British Indian Army. He was soon posted to the 4th Battalion of the 19th Hyderabad Regiment (now Kumaon Regiment), with date from 28 May 1927.[10] Appointed the regimental adjutant in September 1930, Thimayya honed his soldiering skills on that famous training ground in the Northwest Frontier (present-day Pakistan), battling recalcitrant Pathan tribals.

In January 1935, Thimayya married Nina Cariappa (no relation to K M Cariappa). On 20 March 1936, they had a daughter, Mireille. The same April, Thimayya was posted as an Adjutant at the University Training Corps in Madras, as a fitting example for young Indian undergraduates interested in joining the Indian Army, of what a good soldier should be.

He returned to India in 1947, during the Partition, as member of the committee to agree to the allotment of weapons, equipment and regiments that were to remain in India, or to be allotted to Pakistan. Soon after the commission was completed, he was promoted to the acting rank of Major-General in September 1947 and was then assigned the command of the 4th Infantry Division and also to take over the Punjab Boundary Force, dealing with the exodus and intake of refugees fleeing to their respective countries. In 1948 he was one of the active officers in the actions against the forces of Pakistan in the conflict over Kashmir. His next appointment was command of the 19th Infantry Division in Jammu & Kashmir where he succeeded in driving the raiders and the Pakistan Army out of the Kashmir Valley. Personally leading the attack in the forward-most tank, the surprise attack on Zoji La on 1 November 1948 by a brigade with Stuart Light Tanks of the 7th Light Cavalry,[13] succeeded in driving out the entrenched raiders and Pakistan Army regulars and the eventual capture of Dras, Kargil and Leh.

Thereafter, Thimayya served as the Commandant of the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun. On 1 January 1950, he was promoted to substantive major-general from his rank of brigadier.[5] On 1 October 1951, Thimayya was appointed Quartermaster General.[14] The experience gained by him in Japan stood him in good stead when he was specially selected by the United Nations to head the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission in Korea. It was a very sensitive and delicate task dealing with unruly Chinese and Korean prisoners. Here again, through sheer charisma, impartiality, firmness and diplomacy, he completed this task to the satisfaction of the world body. He returned to India and was promoted to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, with the rank of Lieutenant-General, in January 1953. In 1954, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan for Civil Service. He took over the reins of the Indian Army on 7 May 1957.[15]

General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya assumed charge of the Indian Army, as the 3rd Chief of the Army Staff, on 7 May 1957. He briefly resigned his post in 1959 over a dispute with V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Minister of Defence (India). Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru refused to accept his resignation and persuaded him into withdrawing it. However, little action was taken on Thimayya's recommendations and he continued as the Army Chief till his retirement on 7 May 1961, completing 35 years of distinguished military service. Hence retired from the army in 1961, almost 15 months before the Chinese invasion of India in November 1962.[15]

Kodandera Subayya Thimayya on a 2023 stamp of India

After retirement from the Indian Army, the United Nations sought his services yet once again when he was appointed as the Commander of UN Forces in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in July 1964. He died during his tenure at UNFICYP in December 1965 and his mortal remains were flown to Bangalore for the last rites.

The street perpendicular to East Street (a road parallel to MG road in Pune), Richmond Road in Bangalore, and the main road through Larnaca/Cyprus (East to West) were renamed as Gen Thimmayya Road in his memory. The road perpendicular to Hunsur Road in Mysore is also named as General Thimmayya Road. The Republic of Cyprus, also honored him by issuing a commemorative stamp in his memory in 1966.[16] The General K.S. Thimayya Memorial Trust, a Trust instituted by some Old Boys of Bishop Cotton Boys' School, annually hold the General K S Thimayya Memorial Lecture Series in his memory.[17] General Thimayya enjoys an unmatched legacy in the Indian Army. Of all the eulogies for him, the late Lieutenant General Premindra Singh Bhagat, VC (Retd.) summed it up best, "A General Thimayya is not born in every generation. The likes of him there will seldom be a soldier. The General is a man's man, the Army his soul and his soul the Army."[18] General Thimayya's house "Sunny Side" in Madikeri has been converted into a museum and a war memorial.[19] It was inaugurated in February 2021 in the presence of the President and Chief of Defence Staff.[20]

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

• "1962: The War That Wasn’t" by Shiv Kunal Verma, Publisher: Aleph Book Company
• Singh, Vijay Kumar (2005), Leadership in the Indian Army: Biographies of Twelve Soldiers, SAGE, ISBN 978-0-7619-3322-9
• Sharma, Satinder (2007), Services Chiefs of India, Northern Book Centre, ISBN 978-81-7211-162-5

• How Nehru, Menon conspired against army chief Thimayya
• "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.