Kodendera Subayya Thimayya

Kodendera Subayya Thimmayya, PB, DSO ( Kodava Kannada : ಕೊದಂಡೇರ  ಸುಬ್ಬಯ್ಯ  ತಿಮ್ಮಯ್ಯ ) was a distinguished soldier of the Indian Army who served as Chief of Army Staff from 1957 to 1961 in the crucial years leading up to the conflict with China in 1962. After the Korean War, Thimmayya headed a United Nations unit dealing with the repatriation of prisoners of war. After his retirement from the Indian Army, he went on to command the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus. While in Cyprus, he died of a heart attack, in 1965.

Childhood
Thimmayya was born in Madikeri, the district town of Kodagu ( also known as Coorg), Karnataka, on 30 March 1906 as the son of a wealthy planter. On his father's side, he belonged to Kodendera clan to which India's first commander-in-chief Cariappa also belonged. His mother Cheppudira Chittauwa was from the Cheppudira family. She was a recipient of the Kesar-e-hind for her philanthropic contributions. . His maternal uncle C B Ponnappa was in first batch of commissioned officers from Indore school and a batchmate of Cariappa. Desiring that he receive a good education, he was sent at the age of eight years to St Joseph's College in Coonoor a convent run by Irish brothers. Later, Thimmayya was sent to Bishop Cotton Boys' School in Bangalore. After completing school, Thimmayya was sent to the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College, a necessary stepping stone for a commission in the Indian Army.His elder brother Ponappa (later joined INA )as well as younger brother Somayya (died in a mine accident in 1947-48 Kashmir operations) joined 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 Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the British Indian Army in 1926.

Early career
After completing his training, he was commissioned into the Army in 1926 as a Second Lieutenant and was 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) and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1928 Appointed the regimental adjutant in September 1930, Thimmayya honed his soldiering skills on that famous training ground in the Northwest Frontier (present-day Pakistan), battling recalcitrant Pathan tribals.

In January 1935, Thimmayya married Nina Cariappa(no relation to K M Cariappa), and was promoted to Captain the following month. On 20 March 1936, they had a daughter, Mireille. The same April, Thimmayya 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.

World War II
After this tenure, Timmy was posted to his battalion in Singapore. In October 1941, he was transferred at his request to India. Thimmayya was posted as the Second-in-Command of a new raising at the Hyderabad Regimental Centre in Agra. He was then detailed to attend the Staff College at Quetta where he and his wife had earlier made a name for themselves by selfless service during the 1935 Quetta earthquake. Thimmayya was promoted to Major in February 1943, and served as GSO 2 (Ops) (a Grade II Staff Officer) of 25th Indian Division, the first Indian officer to get this coveted staff appointment.

His infantry division was conducting jungle warfare training and was preparing to go into Burma to face the Japanese Army during World War II where it served in the Second Arakan campaign. Thimmayya was promoted to temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in May 1944. In Burma, he was posted to his old regiment as Commanding Officer of the 8/19th Hyderabads, which he led with outstanding success in battle. For a short while the battalion was under the command of the 3rd Commando Brigade, with Brigadier C R Hardy at the helm, who during the height of a battle presented a trophy to the 8/19th Hyderabads. It was a green beret - the command's head dress - with a little typed message on a card, "We cannot buy anything here but we would like you to accept this as a token of our great admiration for the bravery and achievement of your battalion." He was also promoted to the rank of Brigadier in the field on 25 March 1945. For his outstanding service in battle, he was awarded the much coveted Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O) and also a Mention-in-Dispatches.

His innate talents of professional soldiering and leadership were soon recognized by Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army. He was specially selected to lead the 268th Indian Infantry Brigade as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan after World War II. He got this assignment due to his outstanding battle experience as a Brigadier and being the only Indian to command a battle formation in the field. As an independent brigade, the 268th had done excellent work in the Burma Campaign and was detailed as part of BRINDIV led by Maj Gen D.T. "Punch" Cowan.

Timmy proved to be an outstanding commander and his diplomatic skills emerged as he had to deal with General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Southwest Pacific Theatre, the other Allies and the vanquished Japanese. Thimmayya's personality, charm of manners and unassailable reputation, impressed the Japanese of the calibre of Indian commanders. Thimmayya was called on here to defuse the sit-down strike by the 2nd Battalion, 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles at the palace of the Mikado in Tokyo when the battalion refused to obey its British officers.

Thimmayya represented the country during the surrender of the Japanese in Singapore, followed by the surrender of the Japanese in the Philippines. At the ceremony of Japanese surrender in Singapore, Timmy signed on behalf of India. He was awarded the 'Keys to Manila' when he was sent to the Philippines. As Indian Independence approached, he was recalled to India by then Commander-in-chief of British India, Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck.

Role in independent India
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 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 forwardmost tank, the surprise attack on Zoji La on 1 November 1948 by a brigade with Stuart Light Tanks of the 7th Light Cavalry, succeeded in driving out the entrenched raiders and Pakistan Army regulars and the eventual capture of Dras, Kargil and Leh. He established the best of relations with Sheikh Abdullah and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad and even Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, but his pleas to give him three more months to drive the raiders back to Muzzarfarabad fell on deaf ears and instead, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru went to the United Nations. The rest is history.

Thereafter, Timmy served as the Commandant of the prestigious Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun. 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, Southern Command, with the rank of Lieutenant-General, in January 1953. He took over the reins of the Indian Army on 7 May 1957.

Chief of Army Staff
General Kodandera Subayya Thimmaiah assumed charge of the Indian Army, as the 6th Chief of the Army Staff, on 7 May 1957. He briefly resigned his post in 1959 over a dispute with V. K. Krishna Menon, then minister for defence, He retired from the army in 1961, almost 15 months before the Chinese invasion of India in November 1962.

In 1959, he handed his resignation in protest to Prime Minister Nehru due to Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon's refusal to consider his plans for preparing the Army for the forthcoming Sino-Indian conflict of 1962. Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru refused to accept it and persuaded him in withdrawing his resignation. However, little action was taken on Thimmayya's recommendations and he continued as the Army Chief till his retirement on 7 May 1961, completing 35 years of distinguished military service.

After retirement
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 as 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),the Richmond Road in Bangalore and the main road through Larnaca/Cyprus (East to West) were renamed as Gen Thimmayya Road, in his memory. The Republic of Cyprus, also honored him by issuing a commemorative stamp in his memory in 1966.