Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam

(Redirected from P. P. Kumaramangalam) Indian Army general (1913–2000)

GeneralP P KumaramangalamDSO, MBE, FRHS


6th Chief of the Army Staff
In office 8 June 1966 – 7 June 1969
President	Zakir Husain V. V. Giri
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri
Succeeded by	Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw

Personal details
Born	Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam (1913-07-01)1 July 1913 Kumaramangalam, Salem District, Madras Presidency, British India (now Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu, India)
Died	13 March 2000(2000-03-13) (aged 86) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Resting place	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Military career
Allegiance	British India (1933-1947) India (after 1947)
Service / branch	British Indian Army Indian Army
Years of service	1933–1969
Rank	General
Service number	IA-1282
Unit	Regiment of Artillery
Commands	Eastern Army
Battles / wars	World War II Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 Sino-Indian War Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Second Sino-Indian War
Awards	Padma Vibhushan Distinguished Service Order Member of the Order of the British Empire
Relations	P. Subbarayan (Father) Mohan Kumaramangalam (Brother) Rangarajan Mohan Kumaramangalam (Brother's Grandson)

General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam, DSO, MBE, FRHS (1 July 1913 – 13 March 2000) was the 6th Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) of the Indian Army from 1967 to 1969. He was one of the last British-trained King's Commissioned Indian Officer (KCIO) to serve in the Indian Army, and the last KCIO to lead the Indian Army.

Early life and education

Kumaramangalam was born to P. Subbarayan, who served as Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency between 1926 and 1930, and was a member of the zamindari family of Kumaramangalam from Thiruchengode Taluk, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu.

He was educated at the preparatory St Hugh's School (then in Kent), and at Eton College. He then studied at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was commissioned into the British Indian Army as an unattached second lieutenant in 1933. He was appointed to the British Indian Army on 12 November 1934.

Military life

World War II

During World War II, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) as a temporary major for action in Libya on 27 May 1942 at Point 171, south of Bir Hakiem commanding the 7th Field Battery, 2nd Field Regiment, Indian Artillery.

The citation recommending Kumaramangalam for a Distinguished Service Order runs as follows:

4 June 1942
Captain (Ty. Major) PARAMASIVA PRABHAKAR KUMARAMANGALAM (IA 1282), 2nd Indian Field Regiment, 3rd Indian Motor Brigade
For great courage and devotion to duty.
On 27 May 1942 during the action which took place 3 miles S.E. of BIR HACHEIM, Major Kumaramangalam showed great bravery in controlling the fire of his battery under heavy enemy fire. He continually encouraged the gun detachments, and by his cool demeanour in the face of machine gun and anti-tank fire from enemy tanks undoubtedly inspired his men with the confidence with which they withstood the final tank attack. When one of his troops was over run and captured, he acquired an armoured car left at the position and tried to drive the Italian tanks away which were encircling it. Subsequently he led a patrol back to the position and recovered three guns.

He was taken Prisoner of War (PoW) by the Italians later in 1942 and held in a PoW camp in Italy. With the Italian Armistice in September 1943 he escaped on 19 November; however, he was captured again in January 1944 and imprisoned, this time in Germany, where he was transferred to Stalag Luft III, a high security camp for PoWs. At the end of the war in 1945, he returned to India.

Postwar

On 18 April 1946, Kumaramangalam was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). He became an acting Brigadier in 1948, with the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel on 2 February 1951. As a brigadier, he was appointed to command a paratroop brigade on 14 February 1955, and was given command of an infantry division on 9 September 1956, with the acting rank of major-general.

Kumaramangalam was promoted to substantive major-general on 1 August 1958, and appointed the Commandant of the Defence Services Staff College on 25 February 1959. He was appointed Adjutant-General on 5 October 1959, with the acting rank of lieutenant-general. Promoted lieutenant-general on 8 May 1961, he took over as General Officer Commanding, Eastern Command on 1 May 1963, with appointment as GOC-in-C, Eastern Command on 4 April 1964. On 16 November 1964 he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Army Staff followed by appointment as Vice Chief of the Army Staff on 15 January 1965. General Kumaramangalam took over as the Chief of the Army Staff on 8 June 1966, the first Indian gunner officer and paratrooper to reach this coveted appointment. The tenure of General Kumaramangalam as Chief of the Army Staff was marked by an unpublicised but exhaustive re-organisation of the service, up-gradation of weapons, training and tactics based on the lessons learned from the 1965 War. He served in the Indian Army with distinction for 36 years until his retirement on 7 June 1969. He received the Padma Vibushan in 1970.

Views on America

General Kumaramangalam trained at the artillery school in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. From his letters it is evident he was not very impressed with the Americans. He saw them as suffering from an "aggressive inferiority complex" and cautioned a newly independent India against coming under American influence. The following is an excerpt from a letter written by him to C. Rajagopalachari in 1947:

"This country is not one that I will ever get fond of. I have not got a very high opinion of them. The people that I have to deal with are very kind, hospitable and have been very good to the two of us. But somehow I feel there is a trace of artificiality in that and also it is the result of trying to impress one. They I think are very jealous of the old world and its background and culture and this results in an aggressive inferiority complex. As for their state of morality, there is none. People seem to delight in trying to outwit each other by any means, mainly crooked. The politicians are racketeers and big business has a tight grip on everything in the country. The small country trader and the farmer I think have their hands securely tied by the big men. I do hope that our country proceeds with caution and doesn't get entirely under the influence of the States."

Other interests

He was also a polo player, horseman, show jumper, and cricketer. He was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club, a fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society, and president of Indian Polo Association and Equestrian Federation of India. On retirement as army chief, he was elected President of the World Wildlife Fund - India (WWF-India) during its formative stages.

Death

He died following a heart attack on 13 March 2000.

Awards and decorations

Padma Vibhushan	Sena Medal	Sainya Seva Medal	General Service Medal 1947	Indian Independence Medal
Distinguished Service Order	Member of the Order of the British Empire	1939–1945 Star	Africa Star	War Medal 1939–1945

Dates of rank

Rank	Component	Date of rank
Second Lieutenant	British Indian Army	31 August 1933
Lieutenant	British Indian Army	2 May 1935.
Captain	British Indian Army	1940 (acting) 3 February 1940 (temporary) 2 February 1941 (substantive)
Major	British Indian Army	1942 (temporary) 1 July 1946 (substantive)
Major	Indian Army	15 August 1947
Brigadier	Indian Army	1948 (acting)
Lieutenant-Colonel	Indian Army	1948
Lieutenant-Colonel	Indian Army	26 January 1950 (substantive; recommissioning)
Colonel	Indian Army	2 February 1951
Brigadier	Indian Army	1955
Major General	Indian Army	9 September 1956 (acting) 1 August 1958 (substantive)
Lieutenant-General	Indian Army	5 October 1959 (acting) 8 May 1961 (substantive)
General (COAS)	Indian Army	8 June 1966

Notes

^ 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."

References

^ "Recommendation for Award for Kumaramangalam, Paramasiva Prabhakar". The National Archives (UK). UK Government. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
^ "No. 33974". The London Gazette. 1 September 1933. p. 5733.
"No. 34129". The London Gazette. 1 February 1935. p. 775.
"Page 3543 | Issue 35665, 11 August 1942 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk.
"Major Kumaramangalam Escapes". The Indian Express. Associated Press. 20 November 1943. p. 1. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
"No. 37536". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 April 1946. p. 1949.
^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 24 March 1951. p. 57.
^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 9 April 1955. p. 72.
^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 5 January 1957. p. 2.
^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 24 October 1959. p. 261.
"Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 9 May 1959. p. 2.
^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 21 November 1959. p. 286.
^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 16 September 1961. p. 245.
"Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 2 May 1964. p. 172.
"Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 19 December 1964. p. 509.
"Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 6 February 1965. p. 73.
^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 25 June 1966. p. 375.
P.P. Kumaramangalam to C. Rajagopalachari, 22 December 1947, in File 82, Fifth Installment, C. Rajagopalachari Papers, NMML.
"List of Chief of Army staff of the Indian army". 17 April 2012.
"No. 34173". The London Gazette. 21 June 1935. p. 4012.
Indian Army List for October 1945 (Part I). Government of India Press. 1945. p. 187.
"No. 35165". The London Gazette. 16 May 1941. p. 2827.
"No. 38069". The London Gazette. 12 September 1947. p. 4286.
^ "New Designs of Crests and Badges in the Services" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2017.
"Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 11 February 1950. p. 227.

Military offices
Preceded byP. S. Gyani	Commandant of the Defence Services Staff College 1963–1964	Succeeded bySam Manekshaw
Preceded byT. B. Henderson Brooks	General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command 1964–1964	Succeeded bySam Manekshaw
Preceded byMohinder Singh Wadalia	Deputy Chief of the Army Staff 1964–1965	Succeeded byMoti Sagar
New title New office	Vice Chief of the Army Staff 1965–1966	Succeeded byKashmir Singh Katoch
Preceded byJoyanto Nath Chaudhuri	Chief of the Army Staff 1966–1969	Succeeded bySam Manekshaw

v t e Recipients of Padma Vibhushan
Arts	Ebrahim Alkazi Kishori Amonkar Prabha Atre Amitabh Bachchan Teejan Bai M. Balamuralikrishna T. Balasaraswati S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Asha Bhosle Nandalal Bose Hariprasad Chaurasia Chiranjeevi Girija Devi Kumar Gandharva Adoor Gopalakrishnan Satish Gujral Gangubai Hangal Bhupen Hazarika M. F. Husain Zakir Hussain Ilaiyaraaja Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Bhimsen Joshi Ali Akbar Khan Amjad Ali Khan Allauddin Khan Bismillah Khan Ghulam Mustafa Khan Yamini Krishnamurthy Dilip Kumar R. K. Laxman Birju Maharaj Kishan Maharaj Lata Mangeshkar Sonal Mansingh Mallikarjun Mansur Zubin Mehta Mario Miranda Chhannulal Mishra Kelucharan Mohapatra Raghunath Mohapatra Jasraj Motiram Benode Behari Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee Rajinikanth Ram Narayan D. K. Pattammal K. Shankar Pillai Balwant Moreshwar Purandare Akkineni Nageswara Rao Kaloji Narayana Rao Satyajit Ray S. H. Raza Zohra Sehgal Uday Shankar Ravi Shankar V. Shantaram Shivkumar Sharma Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman M. S. Subbulakshmi K. G. Subramanyan Kapila Vatsyayan Homai Vyarawalla K. J. Yesudas
Civil service	Bimala Prasad Chaliha Naresh Chandra T. N. Chaturvedi Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri Suranjan Das Rajeshwar Dayal Basanti Devi P. N. Dhar Jyotindra Nath Dixit M. S. Gill Hafiz Mohamad Ibrahim H. V. R. Iyengar Bhola Nath Jha Dattatraya Shridhar Joshi Ajudhiya Nath Khosla Rai Krishnadasa V. Krishnamurthy P. Prabhakar Kumaramangalam Pratap Chandra Lal K. B. Lall Sam Manekshaw Om Prakash Mehra Mohan Sinha Mehta M. G. K. Menon Brajesh Mishra Sumati Morarjee A. Ramasamy Mudaliar Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan Braj Kumar Nehru Bhairab Dutt Pande Ghananand Pande Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit T. V. Rajeswar C. R. Krishnaswamy Rao Pattadakal Venkanna R. Rao V. K. R. V. Rao Bipin Rawat Khusro Faramurz Rustamji Harish Chandra Sarin Binay Ranjan Sen Homi Sethna Arjan Singh Harbaksh Singh Kirpal Singh Manmohan Singh Tarlok Singh Lallan Prasad Singh Balaram Sivaraman Chandrika Prasad Srivastava T. Swaminathan Arun Shridhar Vaidya Dharma Vira Narinder Nath Vohra
Literature and education	V. S. R. Arunachalam Jagdish Bhagwati Satyendra Nath Bose Tara Chand Suniti Kumar Chatterji D. P. Chattopadhyaya Bhabatosh Datta Avinash Dixit Mahasweta Devi John Kenneth Galbraith Sarvepalli Gopal Lakshman Shastri Joshi Kaka Kalelkar Dhondo Keshav Karve Gopinath Kaviraj Radheshyam Khemka Kuvempu O. N. V. Kurup Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Sitakant Mahapatra John Mathai Kotha Satchidananda Murthy Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir Basanti Dulal Nagchaudhuri Bal Ram Nanda R. K. Narayan P. Parameswaran Amrita Pritam K. N. Raj C. Rangarajan Raja Rao Ramoji Rao Hormasji Maneckji Seervai Rajaram Shastri Kalu Lal Shrimali Govindbhai Shroff Khushwant Singh Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh Premlila Vithaldas Thackersey Mahadevi Varma Bashir Hussain Zaidi
Medicine	Jasbir Singh Bajaj B. K. Goyal Purshotam Lal A. Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar S. I. Padmavati Autar Singh Paintal Kantilal Hastimal Sancheti Balu Sankaran V. Shanta Vithal Nagesh Shirodkar Prakash Narain Tandon Brihaspati Dev Triguna M. S. Valiathan Dilip Mahalanabis
Other	Sunderlal Bahuguna B. K. S. Iyengar Rambhadracharya Ravi Shankar Vishwesha Teertha Jaggi Vasudev B. V. Doshi
Public affairs	L. K. Advani Montek Singh Ahluwalia Aruna Asaf Ali Fazal Ali Adarsh Sein Anand Madhav Shrihari Aney Parkash Singh Badal Sikander Bakht Milon K. Banerji Mirza Hameedullah Beg P. N. Bhagwati Raja Chelliah Chandra Kisan Daphtary Niren De C. D. Deshmukh Anthony Lancelot Dias Uma Shankar Dikshit Kazi Lhendup Dorjee George Fernandes P. B. Gajendragadkar Benjamin Gilman Ismaïl Omar Guelleh Zakir Husain V. R. Krishna Iyer Jagmohan Lakshmi Chand Jain Arun Jaitley Aditya Nath Jha Murli Manohar Joshi Anerood Jugnauth Mehdi Nawaz Jung Ali Yavar Jung Vijay Kelkar Hans Raj Khanna V. N. Khare Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai Jivraj Narayan Mehta V. K. Krishna Menon Hirendranath Mukherjee Ajoy Mukherjee Pranab Mukherjee Padmaja Naidu Venkaiah Naidu Gulzarilal Nanda Govind Narain Fali Sam Nariman Hosei Norota Nanabhoy Palkhivala K. Parasaran Hari Vinayak Pataskar Sunder Lal Patwa Sharad Pawar Naryana Raghvan Pillai Sri Prakasa N. G. Ranga Ravi Narayana Reddy Y. Venugopal Reddy Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq Lakshmi Sahgal P. A. Sangma M. C. Setalvad Kalyan Singh Karan Singh Nagendra Singh Swaran Singh Walter Sisulu Soli Sorabjee Kalyan Sundaram Sushma Swaraj Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi Atal Bihari Vajpayee M. N. Venkatachaliah Kottayan Katankot Venugopal Jigme Dorji Wangchuck S. M. Krishna Mulayam Singh Yadav
Science and engineering	V. K. Aatre Salim Ali Norman Borlaug Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Rajagopala Chidambaram Charles Correa Satish Dhawan Anil Kakodkar A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Har Gobind Khorana Daulat Singh Kothari Verghese Kurien Raghunath Anant Mashelkar G. Madhavan Nair Roddam Narasimha Jayant Narlikar Rajendra K. Pachauri Benjamin Peary Pal Yash Pal I. G. Patel Venkatraman Ramakrishnan K. R. Ramanathan Raja Ramanna C. R. Rao C. N. R. Rao Palle Rama Rao Udupi Ramachandra Rao Vikram Sarabhai Man Mohan Sharma Obaid Siddiqi E. Sreedharan M. R. Srinivasan George Sudarshan M. S. Swaminathan Narinder Singh Kapany S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan
Social work	Baba Amte Pandurang Shastri Athavale Janaki Devi Bajaj Mirabehn Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Durgabai Deshmukh Nanaji Deshmukh Nirmala Deshpande Mohan Dharia U. N. Dhebar Valerian Gracias Veerendra Heggade Mary Clubwala Jadhav Gaganvihari Lallubhai Mehta Usha Mehta Sister Nirmala Nellie Sengupta
Sports	Viswanathan Anand Edmund Hillary Mary Kom Sachin Tendulkar
Trade and industry	Dhirubhai Ambani Ghanshyam Das Birla Ashok Sekhar Ganguly Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan Lakshmi Mittal Anil Manibhai Naik N. R. Narayana Murthy M. Narasimham Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi Azim Premji Prathap C. Reddy J. R. D. Tata Ratan Tata
Portal Category WikiProject

v t e Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army
Commander-in-Chief, Indian Army (1947–1948)	Sir Rob Lockhart Sir Roy Butcher
Chief of the Army Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Army (1948–1955)	Sir Roy Butcher** Kodandera M. Cariappa Rajendrasinhji Jadeja
Chief of the Army Staff (1955–present)	Rajendrasinhji Jadeja S. M. Shrinagesh Kodandera Subayya Thimayya Pran Nath Thapar Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam Sam Manekshaw Gopal Gurunath Bewoor Tapishwar Narain Raina Om Prakash Malhotra K. V. Krishna Rao Arun Shridhar Vaidya Krishnaswamy Sundarji Vishwa Nath Sharma Sunith Francis Rodrigues Bipin Chandra Joshi Shankar Roychowdhury Ved Prakash Malik Sundararajan Padmanabhan Nirmal Chander Vij Joginder Jaswant Singh Deepak Kapoor Vijay Kumar Singh Bikram Singh Dalbir Singh Bipin Rawat Manoj Mukund Naravane Manoj Pande Upendra Dwivedi (incumbent)
(**Seconded from the British Army)

Categories:

Misplaced Pages