Dear Friends,
In Jake we have lost an icon of our Army. Many Veterans have written about his demise and have expressed their sincere regrets. It was unfortunate that he was to become the center of some critical comments in 2011 and had to feel sorry. The reason was the two books he had written. Also, some of his remarks about Sam Manekshaw and Aurora, which did not go well with his detractors. Below is my own obituary to the great Military leader.
His true value in the 1971 Victory was in engineering the 'Unconditional Surrender' of the Pakistan Troops in the Eastern Wing of that country. Here, he definitely exhibited tremendous ingenuity, tact and resourcefulness, even in bypassing the hurdles posed by USA backed UNO's effort to organise a conditional surrender, instead of the 'unconditional' one. He could really browbeat Niazi into submission and obtain his signature on the document of surrender, not in Niazi's office as requested by him, but, at the Dacca Race Course, in full public view.Later, Niazi complained ( in his book ) about the browbeating techniques of an unrelenting Gen Jacob. " Jacob cheated me " is what Niazi wrote later.
In 2011, we had a detailed discussion on various aspects of this campaign, triggered mainly by some adverse but logical comments by R Prasannan, in his article " Petty Genius". Gen Jacob was very upset and had expressed his anguish, based on which, Col Anand, in We Gunners blog, had requested the Veterans to end the discussion.
Lt Gen JFR Jacob, has been voicing his views for many years, even when FM Sam Manekshaw was alive. He has said the same things in his book, "Surrender at Dacca" published in 1997. What ever appearing in his second book are not new. I find that all these remarks,( but for a very few like Gen Aurora taking the tray from a waiter to serve drinks himself), are from his Book published in 1997.
I will just quote one paragraph from the Book (page 154) where Gen Jacob states.
" I myself hold Sam Manekshaw in very high esteem. Despite differences in military assessments he was always kind, tolerant and considerate to me, for which I am for ever grateful. He was very popular with the rank and file and was respected by all. He was dedicated to the Army and upheld its dignity. As Army Chief and Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff during the 1971 war, the overall responsibility for operations was his. He bore this responsibility well and earned the honour he received. Sam can rightly take his place amongst the great leaders of Independent India "
The final plan to capture Dacca, instead of isolating the same, was made only on the night 9/10 Dec 1971, because of the rapid advances our troops could make due to the excellent performance of our Corps of Engineers & the IAF. The Navy had also peaked at the right time with effective embargo of the entire coast of East Pakistan, including Khulna and Chittagong.
Jacob states that even as late as 13 Dec 1971, Dacca was not in the Agenda of Sam. This claim may be contentious. The decision to launch the 50 Parachute Brigade, to capture Dacca was taken somewhere around 9/10 Dec 1971. This was a joint operation. Therefore, the IAF would also have the record.
But, as far as my study goes, Jacob, right from the beginning wanted Dacca to be declared as the final objective. But his view was not supported by his own Commander, Lt Gen Aurora, till late in the campaign.
Govt of India, late on 15 Dec 1971, had cleared the Invitation to lunch on 16 Dec 1971, given by Gen Niazi to Gen Jacob, at the Officers' Mess, HQ,East Pakistan Army, Dacca. Gavin Young of 'Observer', who also happened to be present for the lunch, captioned it as " The surrender Lunch" in his dispatch. It was a scoop for both- the Indian Armed Forces as well as the International Press.
Gen Jacob was well past his 90s in Dec 2014 and definitely would not be in a conciliatory mood to entertain any criticism about his role in 1971 War. Though many of his other claims on the conduct of the campaign and his claims of sole proprietorship to various decisions pertaining to strategy, tactics and politics, may not be readily accepted by the students of Military History, no one can deny the stellar role played by him in ensuring the unconditional surrender, which resulted in total moral and physical victory by our Armed Forces, over our adversary.
Thus his name will remain in the glorious chapters of our Military History, for ever. He was also the recipient of high decoration by the Govt of Bangladesh.
May his soul rest in peace, with the realization that our Nation is indeed proud of him.
Col TN Raman (Retd.)
[Tri Servcies Veterans]
In Jake we have lost an icon of our Army. Many Veterans have written about his demise and have expressed their sincere regrets. It was unfortunate that he was to become the center of some critical comments in 2011 and had to feel sorry. The reason was the two books he had written. Also, some of his remarks about Sam Manekshaw and Aurora, which did not go well with his detractors. Below is my own obituary to the great Military leader.
His true value in the 1971 Victory was in engineering the 'Unconditional Surrender' of the Pakistan Troops in the Eastern Wing of that country. Here, he definitely exhibited tremendous ingenuity, tact and resourcefulness, even in bypassing the hurdles posed by USA backed UNO's effort to organise a conditional surrender, instead of the 'unconditional' one. He could really browbeat Niazi into submission and obtain his signature on the document of surrender, not in Niazi's office as requested by him, but, at the Dacca Race Course, in full public view.Later, Niazi complained ( in his book ) about the browbeating techniques of an unrelenting Gen Jacob. " Jacob cheated me " is what Niazi wrote later.
In 2011, we had a detailed discussion on various aspects of this campaign, triggered mainly by some adverse but logical comments by R Prasannan, in his article " Petty Genius". Gen Jacob was very upset and had expressed his anguish, based on which, Col Anand, in We Gunners blog, had requested the Veterans to end the discussion.
Lt Gen JFR Jacob, has been voicing his views for many years, even when FM Sam Manekshaw was alive. He has said the same things in his book, "Surrender at Dacca" published in 1997. What ever appearing in his second book are not new. I find that all these remarks,( but for a very few like Gen Aurora taking the tray from a waiter to serve drinks himself), are from his Book published in 1997.
I will just quote one paragraph from the Book (page 154) where Gen Jacob states.
" I myself hold Sam Manekshaw in very high esteem. Despite differences in military assessments he was always kind, tolerant and considerate to me, for which I am for ever grateful. He was very popular with the rank and file and was respected by all. He was dedicated to the Army and upheld its dignity. As Army Chief and Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff during the 1971 war, the overall responsibility for operations was his. He bore this responsibility well and earned the honour he received. Sam can rightly take his place amongst the great leaders of Independent India "
The final plan to capture Dacca, instead of isolating the same, was made only on the night 9/10 Dec 1971, because of the rapid advances our troops could make due to the excellent performance of our Corps of Engineers & the IAF. The Navy had also peaked at the right time with effective embargo of the entire coast of East Pakistan, including Khulna and Chittagong.
Jacob states that even as late as 13 Dec 1971, Dacca was not in the Agenda of Sam. This claim may be contentious. The decision to launch the 50 Parachute Brigade, to capture Dacca was taken somewhere around 9/10 Dec 1971. This was a joint operation. Therefore, the IAF would also have the record.
But, as far as my study goes, Jacob, right from the beginning wanted Dacca to be declared as the final objective. But his view was not supported by his own Commander, Lt Gen Aurora, till late in the campaign.
Govt of India, late on 15 Dec 1971, had cleared the Invitation to lunch on 16 Dec 1971, given by Gen Niazi to Gen Jacob, at the Officers' Mess, HQ,East Pakistan Army, Dacca. Gavin Young of 'Observer', who also happened to be present for the lunch, captioned it as " The surrender Lunch" in his dispatch. It was a scoop for both- the Indian Armed Forces as well as the International Press.
Gen Jacob was well past his 90s in Dec 2014 and definitely would not be in a conciliatory mood to entertain any criticism about his role in 1971 War. Though many of his other claims on the conduct of the campaign and his claims of sole proprietorship to various decisions pertaining to strategy, tactics and politics, may not be readily accepted by the students of Military History, no one can deny the stellar role played by him in ensuring the unconditional surrender, which resulted in total moral and physical victory by our Armed Forces, over our adversary.
Thus his name will remain in the glorious chapters of our Military History, for ever. He was also the recipient of high decoration by the Govt of Bangladesh.
May his soul rest in peace, with the realization that our Nation is indeed proud of him.
Col TN Raman (Retd.)
[Tri Servcies Veterans]
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