TERRITORIAL FORCE

An article published in "THE HINDU"dated May 30, 1958 read as under:

"TERRITORIAL FORCE"

"An appeal to industrialists to help to promote public interest in the territorial and other auxiliary forces which were playing a very useful part in maintaining national solidarity and in the defence of the country was made by Mr. V.K. Krishna Menon, Defence Minister, during a meeting at Rajaji hall, Madras, on May 28. The State Government convened this preliminary meeting with a view to forming an association in Madras similar to the Welfare Association for Auxiliary Forces formed in Bombay under the guidance of Mr. Naval H. Tata. The objects of the Association were to promote public interest in territorial and other auxiliary forces, assist in recruitment to them, encourage liaison between the various forces and the services and provide amenities and comforts for the units and members of the services."

It is pertinent to mention that TERRITORIAL FORCE (or TERRITORIAL ARMY) is also known as the CITIZENS' ARMY .Now, looking back on the article....can someone tell where are these associations which were promised in 1958 ???????

There is an urgent need to bring all Territorial on a common platform whether serving or retired.It is,highly unfortunate that a trained manpower of this magnitude has gone unrecognised in India.This manpower can surely act as a force multiplier in all our nation building activities.Our policymakers needs to give a serius thought to it.They can even be utilised in combating terrorism during disembodied state.

WOMEN IN TERRITORIAL ARMY

Following is a writeup from my book "ITS TIME FOR INDIAN CITIZENS' ARMY" (to be published soon).A piece of information on women's role in the Indian Armed Forces.

TERRITORIAL WOMEN’S AUXILIARY CORPS OF INDIA WAC(I)

"Women from the Indian sub-continent, (present day India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
And Pakistan), played a considerable part in the Allied war effort during the Second World War. The Territorial Women’s Auxiliary Corps of India WAC(I), was established in 1942 and by the end of the war over 10,000 Indian

Women had served in its ranks. The Territorial Women’s Auxiliary Corps of India WAC (I) was an all ranks women’s corps. The object of the Corps was to release men for more active duties in the Second World War by engaging women in military appointments at static formations of the Army. Later, it was widened to permit the employment of members of the Corps with the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) and the Royal Air Force (RAF), and allow them to replace other ranks and civilian clerks in certain establishments. Indian women also served as nurses, worked in the vital warIndustries and in civil defense. Indian princess Noor Inayat Khan served first in the WAAF(RAF) and then with the Special Operations Executive in occupied France. Captured and tortured by the Germans in October 1943, she was executed at Dachau concentration camp on 12 September1944. Her gallantry was recognized on 5 April1949 when she was posthumously awarded the George Cross."

In today's modern India,when there is a debate on whether to grant permanent commission to lady officers in our Armed Forces or not,this historic fact needs to be given a serious thought.

A REAL BRAINSTORMING FOR INDIAN ARMY

Recently a story published on NDTV read as under:

"Savneet Paul's husband, an army officer is fighting insurgency in Kashmir but back home in Patiala, she is fighting a different battle. She has decided to take legal action against her husband's superior officer Col D.S Loomba and his wife.

This after Col Loomba made adverse remarks in her husband's annual confidential report (ACR) because of her non-participation in the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) activities during their posting at Meerut last year. Savneet says, she could not follow the orders given by the CO's wife since she was pregnant.

"I was pregnant and I was not well and I am not serving in the Army. My husband is in the army. Why should I? See I have married an army officer. I have not married the Army. I have not joined the Army. They are not paying me," says Savneet Paul, wife of Maj P S Paul.

The Annual Confidential Report showers praises upon Maj P S Paul but towards the end says: On the social front, nil AWWA activities. The couples' performance was found to be below average.

Savneet, claims she was under depression as there was a social boycott against them inside the Army campus once she refused.

Indian Army earlier had declared under oath that the AWWA is not a part of its functioning. If that was the case this case has surprised many. Now an officer is judged on the conduct of his wife.

"It is very surprising when Army is saying that it's a welfare organization, an NGO - how can working with an NGO affect the officer's career? It is surprising and shocking. AWWA has nothing to do with an officer's capability," said Major (retd) Guneet Choudhary, Advocate.

There is a saying that behind every successful man there is a woman. Savneet Paul doesn't want this saying to be proved wrong. She is working hard to get her husband's ARC amended. It may not be very easy but then there are many who believe it is not fair to mention the contribution of AWWA activities in an officer's ACRs."

It is also important to mention that Army had earlier disowned AWWA in a written oath to the court.Please reply to arouse a public opinion on this story.

MEMBERS OF INDIAN TERRITORIAL ARMY CONDUCTED A TRUE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

The volunteers (Territorial Army of modern India) have performed some of the most outstanding feats of gallantry in the history of Indian military warfare. Unfortunately these acts were either ignored by our historians or not considered worth enough to be studied at India’s military institutions. In a nutshell, we can broadly say that volunteers were responsible for shaping the glory of Indian Army right from its inception days. They were the largest officer producing units during the first world war and in the second world war, they created history, when few middle aged part time soldiers from the Calcutta Light Horse and the Calcutta Scottish formed their own boarding party and destroyed the secret transmitter aboard a German Ship which had sought shelter in the neutral territory of Goa, a Portuguese colony. This was perhaps one of the best operations of the Second World War which remained classified till 1978.

Calcutta Light Horse

The Calcutta Light Horse was raised in 1872 and formed part of the Cavalry Reserve in the British Indian Army. The regiment owned its origin to the first British Governal General , Robert Clive, who in 1759 raised a formation of irregular cavalry from Europeans in Calcutta to frustrate a Dutch attack on what was then a new British settlement.The Calcutta Light Horse was disbanded following India's independence in 1947.It is pertinent to mention that Robert Clive was a clerk in the East India Company before volunteering part time in Army.He can truely be hailed as the FATHER OF INDIAN TERRITORIAL ARMY.

Operation creek

Inactive since the Boer War, they were the most noted for their attack with members of the Calcutta Scottish against the German ship, Ehrenfels that was sending coded messages to German U-boats in the Indian Ocean. These messages revealed the location of ships, which were then torpedoed and sunk. The problem facing the British was that the radio transmitter was on a ship that was interned in a neutral territory, Goa, on India’s western coast.
This was a true “mission impossible.” The British did not want to violate Goa’s neutral status, so they devised a plan to destroy the transmitter by using civilian volunteers. The remarkable thing about the volunteers was that they were all retired military men, members of the Calcutta Light Horse, which last saw active service in the Boer War in 1900. Simple mathematics tell us that in 1943, these men were all in their sixties or even, perhaps, in their seventies.
They were advised that they would get no recognition, no pay, no medals, and if they were caught, they would be on their own. Still, they willingly risked their lives to serve their country.
The operation was organized by SOE's (SPECIAL OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE UNDER MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC WARFARE) India Mission. It was kept covert, to avoid the political ramifications of contravening Portuguese neutrality in Goa, and was not revealed until thirty-five years afterwards, in 1978. The Ehrenfels was known to be transmitting information on Allied ship movements to U-boats from Marmagoa harbour in Portugal's neutral territory of Goa on 9 March 1943.The Light Horse embarked on the barge Phoebe at Calcutta and sailed around India to Goa. After the Ehrenfels erupted in a fireball and was sunk by the team of British saboteurs, British intelligence dispatched an open message over the wire falsely warning that they would invade Goa. The crews of the other two German ships in the harbor, the Drachenfels and Braunfels, received the message and scuttled their ships in Goa's harbour in the belief that they were protecting their ships from capture by the British. Italian ships in the harbour were also destroyed. In 1951 all three ships were salvaged.

Prominent Members

Honorary Colonel Louis Mountbatten (1947)
Corporal John Raymond
Colonel Bill Grice
Colonel Lewis Pugh, Commander of covert mission in Goa
Sir Owain Jenkins

James Leasor, an ex British Army officer who participated in the second world war wrote the book Boarding Party :The Last Action of the Calcutta Light Horse in 1978. The Hollywood film The Sea Wolves based on the book was made in 1980, with actors David Niven, Gregory Peck, Trevor Howard and Roger Moore .The movie recounts how these men commandeered a river barge in Calcutta and a few of them sailed it around the tip of India. They briefly stopped to pick up the rest of the volunteers, who had traveled by train to the meeting place. The entire group then sailed to the harbor at Goa, boarded the German ship, restrained the crew, found the hidden radio room, took the code books, and then destroyed the vessel.
One of the technical advisors of this movie was Major General Lewis Pugh, who was the military leader of this 1943 mission as Lt Col. Also credited as technical advisor's were four survivors of the German ship. Consequently, In fact, it is assumed that most of the details of this mission were accurate.
The mission was a huge success. The movie ends with the following statement: “During the first 11 days of March 1943, U-boats sank 12 Allied ships in the Indian Ocean. After the Light Horse raid on Goa, only one ship was lost in the remainder of that month.”

NOTE: Above writeup has been taken from my book "INDIA'S TERRITORIAL FORCES" (to be published soon)