Pran Nath Thapar Explained

Honorific-Prefix:General
Pran Nath Thapar
Width:200px
Office:4th Chief of the Army Staff
President:Rajendra Prasad
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Primeminister:Jawaharlal Nehru
Term Start:8 May 1961
Term End:19 November 1962
Predecessor:General Kodendera Subayya Thimayya
Successor:General JN Chaudhuri
Office2:Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan
Primeminister2:Lal Bahadur Shastri
Gulzarilal Nanda
Indira Gandhi
Term Start2:August 1964
Term End2:1 January 1969
Birth Date:1906 5, df=yes
Birth Place:Lahore, Punjab, British India
(now in Pakistan)[1]
Death Place:New Delhi, India
Module:
Embed:yes
Allegiance:
India
Branch:
Serviceyears:1926 - 19 Nov 1962
Rank:General
Servicenumber:IA-558
Unit: 1st Punjab Regiment
Commands: Chief of Army Staff
Western Army
Southern Army
161st Indian Infantry Brigade
1/1 Punjab
Battles:World War II
Sino-Indian War
Spouse:Bimla Thapar
Children:Karan Thapar (son)
Relations:Daya Ram Thapar (brother)
Romesh Thapar (nephew)
Romila Thapar (niece)
Valmik Thapar (great-nephew)

General Pran Nath Thapar (23 May 1906  - 23 June 1975) was the fourth[2] Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army. The Sino-Indian War was fought during his term, in which the Indian Army fared poorly. Thapar resigned during the last stages of the war, handing charge to Lt. Gen. J. N. Chaudhuri.

Personal life

Thapar was born at Lahore into a prominent Punjabi Khatri family.[3] He was the youngest son of Diwan Bahadur Kunj Behari Thapar of Lahore.[4] His elder brother was Daya Ram Thapar, an officer in the Indian Medical Service and later Director General Armed Forces Medical Services.

Thapar was distantly related to the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru through his wife. In March 1936, Thapar married Bimla Bashiram, the eldest daughter of Rai Bahadur Bashiram Sahgal and granddaughter of Rai Bahadur Ramsaran Das. Bimla Thapar was a sister of Gautam Sahgal, whose wife Nayantara Sahgal was a daughter of Vijayalakshmi Pandit and niece of Jawaharlal Nehru.[5] [6]

General Thapar and Smt. Bimla Thapar had four children, of whom the youngest is the journalist Karan Thapar.[7] The historian Romila Thapar is his niece and the conservationist and tiger expert, Valmik Thapar is his great nephew.

Career

After graduating from Government College, Lahore, he trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, passing out on 4 February 1926 as a second lieutenant. He passed out in the same batch as K.S. Thimayya, who also went on to become Chief of the Army Staff. He spent the next year attached to a British Army battalion stationed in India. On 18 April 1927 he was formally appointed to the Indian Army, ranking as a second lieutenant. He did his regimental duties with the 2nd battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment for ten years and later attended the staff courses at Quetta in India and Minley Manor in England.[8]

He served in Burma during the second World War in 1941 and later in the Middle East and Italy. By October 1942 he was serving on the staff as a brigade major.[9] He was appointed as assistant military secretary in 1945, and commanded the 1st Battalion of the 1st Punjab Regiment in Indonesia in 1946. Subsequently, he went on to serve as the commander of the 161 Indian Infantry Brigade in East Bengal. During the Partition of India, Thapar officiated as the Director of Military Operations and Intelligence.[1]

In November 1947, he was promoted to the acting rank of major general. He served as the Chief of the General Staff for a few months and later as Military Secretary until August 1949. He was appointed Master General of the Ordnance on 8 August 1949.[10]

On 1 January 1950, Thapar was promoted to substantive major-general, and was given command of an infantry division on 10 April.[11] He commanded a division for four years until 1954 and was promoted to the local rank of lieutenant general in 1954 as Commander of a Corps. He was selected to attend the Imperial Defence College, London in 1955. After successful completion of the course, he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command on 21 January 1957, with the acting rank of lieutenant-general,[12] and was promoted to the substantive rank on 1 February.[13] He became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Command in 1959. Thapar took over as Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army on 8 May 1961 and served until 19 November 1962, when he resigned from the army after the defeat by China in the Sino-Indian War of October and November. He was also colonel of the Rajputana Rifles.

Later life

After resigning from the army, he was appointed as Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan from August 1964 to January 1969. He died on his farm, White Gates, in Chhattarpur, New Delhi, on 23 June 1975 at the age of 69.[14]

Awards and decorations

Param Vishisht Seva MedalGeneral Service Medal 1947Videsh Seva MedalIndian Independence Medal
1939–1945 StarBurma StarWar Medal 1939–1945India Service Medal

Dates of rank

Insignia Rank Component Date of rank
4 February 1926
British Indian Army 4 May 1928.
British Indian Army 4 February 1935
British Indian Army 1940 (acting)[15]
1 January 1941 (temporary)
4 February 1943 (substantive)
British Indian Army 20 August 1944 (acting)
20 November 1944 (temporary)
10 August 1946 (war-substantive)
British Indian Army 2 November 1945 (acting)
10 August 1946 (temporary)
15 August 1947[16]
Indian Army November 1947 (acting)
1 January 1950 (substantive)
Indian Army 26 January 1950 (recommissioning and change in insignia)[17] [18]
Indian Army 1 September 1953 (local)[19]
21 January 1957 (acting)
1 February 1957 (substantive)
General
(COAS)
Indian Army 8 May 1961[20]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: New Director of Military Intelligence: Brigadier Thapar Appointed. Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 16 July 1947. 18 July 2020.
  2. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/ARMY/Army-Chiefs/Chiefs-Army07.html B-R
  3. Book: Puri, Baij Nath. The Khatris, a Socio-cultural Study. 1988. M.N. Publishers and Distributors. en.
  4. Web site: Why is Karan Thapar complaining? His dynasty holds a key to Lutyens' Delhi. Nandita Singh. 2018-07-24. ThePrint. en-US. 2020-06-01.
  5. News: When the Devil's Advocate has the Last Word . The Hindu . 10 June 2013. 14 January 2014 . Prashant . Jha .
  6. News: Singh . Nandita . Why is Karan Thapar complaining? His dynasty holds a key to Lutyens' Delhi . 2 April 2019 . The Print . 2 January 2019.
  7. Web site: Why is Karan Thapar complaining? His dynasty holds a key to Lutyens' Delhi . 24 July 2018 .
  8. http://indianarmy.nic.in/coas07.html Indian-Army
  9. Indian Army List October 1942
  10. News: Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) . 1230 . 3 September 1949 . The Gazette of India.
  11. News: Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) . 70 . 24 June 1950 . The Gazette of India.
  12. News: Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) . 58 . 9 March 1957 . The Gazette of India.
  13. News: Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) . 59 . 9 March 1957 . The Gazette of India.
  14. Web site: General Thapar Passes Away. Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 23 June 1975. 2 August 2024.
  15. Book: 146–147. Indian Army List Special Edition for August 1947. Government of India Press. 1947.
  16. Upon independence in 1947, India became a Dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations. As a result, the rank insignia of the British Army, incorporating the Tudor Crown and four-pointed Bath Star ("pip"), was retained, as George VI remained Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces. After 26 January 1950, when India became a republic, the President of India became Commander-in-Chief, and the Ashoka Lion replaced the crown, with a five-pointed star being substituted for the "pip."
  17. Web site: New Designs of Crests and Badges in the Services. Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20170808193914/http://pib.nic.in/archive/docs/DVD_38/ACC%20NO%20807-BR/HOM-1950-01-06_484.pdf. 8 August 2017. dmy-all.
  18. News: Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) . 227 . 11 February 1950 . The Gazette of India.
  19. News: Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) . 262 . 5 December 1953 . The Gazette of India.
  20. News: Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) . 134 . 27 May 1961 . The Gazette of India.