Menezes, Stanley (Oral history)

Indian officer served with Bombay Grenadiers Regimental Centre, Nasirabad, India, 1943; served with 14/4th Bombay Grenadiers in Chhandwara, India, 1943-1945; served with 5/4th Bombay Grenadiers at Peshewar and North West Frontier, India, 1945-1946; served as senior group testing officer on 71st Regular Commission Selection Board, Meerut, India, 1946; served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Personnel Directorate, General Headquarters, Meerut, Indai, 1946-1947; served with 3rd Bn, Indian Grenadiers on North West Frontier, India, 1947; served as Assistant Adjutant General, GHQ, New Delhi, India, 1947- 1952; attended Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Nilgiris, India, 1952-1953; period with 3rd Bn, Assam Regt in Eastern India, 1953-1956; served as Military Assistant to Chief of General Staff, GHQ, New Delhi, India, 1956-1957; served as instructor at DSSC, Wellington, 1957-1960; served in command of 3rd Bn, Indian Grenadiers in Nagra Hills, India, 1960-1962; served as Assistant Quartermaster General at Headquarters, Western Command, Simla, 1962-1964; served in command of Tactical Wing, Infantry School, Mhow, India, 1964-1965; served in command of 70th Infantry Bde in Ladakh India, 1965-1968; served as chief operational staff officer at Headquarters, Western Command, Simla, India, 1968-1969; served in command of 14th Infantry Div at Dehra Dun, India, 1968-1971; served as Chief of Staff, Headquarters, I Corps on West Pakistan border, India, 1971-1972; served as Director General Staff Duties, Army Headquarters, New Delhi, India, 1972-1973; served as Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army, New Delhi, India, 1973-1975; served in command of IV Corps in North East Section, Tezpur, India, 1975-1978; served as Vice Chief of Staff, Indian Army, New Delhi, India, 1978-1980

REEL 1 Background in Bombay, Delhi and Agra, 1922-1942: review of father's career as engineer; parents' separation; boarding education at preparatory school and St George's College, Mussorie; educational qualifications and background to taking degree at St John's College, Agra, 1940-1942. Recollections of period as cadet with Officers' Training School at Lahore and Bangalore, 9/1942-5/1943: organisation of school and preparatory basic training for Indian cadets at Lahore; question of assignment to Indian Navy or Air Force; question of selection of educated Indians as opposed to those promoted from ranks; introduction of Indian military schools; British and Indian instructors; move to Bangalore, 11/1942; tactical training and exercises; unrest amongst educated Indian cadets over nature of treatment by British officer. REEL 2 Continues: question of discharge of educated Indian cadets; opinion of training; food rations and question of vegetarianism; accommodation; recreations; Hindu and Catholic background of family; question of choice of regiment. Recollections of period as Bombay Grenadiers Regimental Centre, Nasirabad, 6/1943-10/1943: opinion of Adjutant Captain Patrick Emerson; bungalow accommodation and Indian servants; nature of experimental battle course; support weapons course. Period with 14/4th Bombay Grenadiers in Chhandwara, 11/1943-2/1945: opinion of British officers including Colonel A J L Hughes, Captain R A K Wright and Major Hulloch; question of anti-Indian prejudice amongst British officers. REEL 3 Continues: question of anti-Indian prejudice amongst British officers; nature and purpose of jungle training within 14th Indian Div; stories of disputes with Major General A C Curtis. Recollections of period with 5/4th Bombay Grenadiers at Peshewar and North West Frontier, 2/1945-2/1946: promotion to acting-major; attitude to active service; opinion of Colonel H G V Boulter, Captain R A K Wright and Major Patterson; story illustrating loyalty required towards commanding officer; role as commander of Support Coy; cancellation of Operation Zipper; move to Landi Kotal, 9/1945; occupying defensive positions prepared in case of German advance; situation in Afghanistan; movements; story of attack on Wiltshire Regt picket. REEL 4 Continues: background to decision not to transfer to Indian Civil Service and to accept permanent regular commission, 12/1945; road opening columns and punitive expeditions against insurgent villages including attitude of British political officers, question of Colonel Boulter's policy in opening fire first, static and mobile pickets, absence of casualties, restrictions of speed due to necessity of not leaving wireless operator behind, makeshift hut accommodation and destruction of villages after negotiations and evacuation of civilians; question of role of RAF; absence of casualties; background to run down of Indian Army; disbandment of unit, 2/1946. Period as senior group testing officer on 71st Regular Commission Selection Board, Meerut, 2/1946-/1946: composition of board; psychological, intelligence and group tests; interviews; reports and grading system. REEL 5 Period as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Personnel Directorate, General Headquarters, Meerut, 9/1946-4/1947: approach of partition; role monitoring group testing of selection boards and question of biased it incompetent officers; opinion of Brigadiers Duke and Nathu Singh; relaxation in standards; opinion of Brigadier Nawab Agha Mohammed Raza; dispute over possible anti-Moslem bias in testing process; application for return to regimental duty. Period with 3rd Bn, Indian Grenadiers, Thal, North West Frontier, 4/1947-11/1947: reception; opinion of Colonel Shebbeare; nature of fort. REEL 6 question of departure of British officers; approach of Indian independence and arrival of Muslim second in command; background to independence, partition and status of NWF province; opinion of Abdul Ghaffar Khan and his organisation of boycott of referendum; reactions to Mountbatten's decision to partition India and assignment of NWF to Pakistan, 8/1947; shooting incidents in Thal, 14/8/1947; assignment of unit to Indian Army and question of future of Moslem personnel; question of Pakistan plans to invade Kashmir, 22/10/1947; question of attack planned on Sikhs within unit and prior signs of unrest. Account of troop train journey out of NWF, 9/1947-10/1947: role clearing rocks obstructing track during attack on train, 1/9/1947; further attacks. REEL 7 Continues: background to attacks; question of communications with advance troop train and brigade headquarters; withdrawal of trains to Kohat, 1/9/1947; circumstances of taking command of unit, 3/9/1939; role protecting airfield and railway line; question of suspect loyalty of Moslem officer; importance of establishing pickets; cremation of corpses; briefing of Major General Ross McKay; movement with Moslem Coy to Rawilpindi; disputes with Brigadier Raza, Director of Organisation, GHQ, Pakistan; isolate position after removal of engine from train at Lalamusa; Pakistan attacks on civilian trains; forcible removal of Moslem Coy at Lahore; uncoupled engine on arrival at new Indian border and provision of Indian engine; move into former refugee camp; arrival at Bombay, 18/10/1947; story of disciplinary problem over failure to report for new posting at GHQ, Delhi, 8/1947. REEL 8 Continues: background to ignorance of new posting at GHQ, Delhi, 8/1947; move to Bombay; reorganisation of Indian regiments; attending Deshira Festival and background to shooting of Moslem butcher of Ghurkha Regt; punishment march; reads Kipling quote relating to Afghan treatment of prisoners. Period as Assistant Adjutant General, GHQ, New Delhi, 11/1947-9/1952: changes in command structure; initial dispute over late arrival; responsibility for discipline and courts martial; question of amnesty over Indian and British military prisoners; circumstances of prior court martial and imprisonment of Colonel Cummings for affair with wife of Major Hulloch, 1944-1947; release of Cummings; question of General Lockhart's awareness of Pakistan invasion of Kashmir; question of assessment of relative degrees of guilt of members of Indian National Army fighting for Japanese. REEL 9 Continues: question of assessment of relative degrees of guilt of members of Indian National Army fighting for Japanese; responsibility for military role in funeral of Gandhi, 1/1948; question of welfare role and resettlement schemes for refugees; introduction f new welfare and ceremonial sections; corruption cases resulting in military evacuation of Pakistan and Kashmir operations; question of scale of responsibilities. Recollections of period attending Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Nilgiris, 10/1952-10/1953: entrance examination; combined services nature of college; opinion of Orde Wingate; TEWTS and telephone battles; operation of syndicates; opinion of Commandant W D A Lentaigne; passing out first. Period as second in command of 3rd Bn, Assam Regt, 10/1953-1/1956: background to posting; role on East Pakistan border; opinion of stance of Pakistan and partition of India; situation and question of political problems effect on unit. REEL 10 Continues: situation and question of political problems effect on unit; state of unit and question of maladministration; improvements achieved in unit; illustrations of tense situation and border clashes on West Pakistan border; question of escalation. Period as Military Assistant to Chief of General Staff, GHQ, New Delhi, 2/1956-8/1957: relationship with Generals Wadalia and Verma; duties and role assessing submissions; field visits; question of insurgency amongst Nagra tribes; question of active service experience of Indian units. Period as instructor at DSSC, Wellington, 9/1957-9/1960: question of responsibility for running nuclear warfare element of course; question of not being selected for Staff College, Camberley, GB, 1952; origins and quality of students; professionalism of Indian Army. REEL 11 Continues: combined services nature of college; and influence of Commandant W D A Lentaigne. Period in command of 3rd Bn, Indian Grenadiers in Naga Hills, 10/1960-9/1962: situation and counter-insurgency role; method of re-establishing confidence of unit after prior operational failures; successful defence of village guard post; aggressive patrolling; background to Naga insurgency; control of police battalions; centenary missionary celebrations of US Baptists; question of attitude of Anglican religious community and death of Phizo Angami in GB; question of incompetent officers. Period as Assistant Quartermaster General at Headquarters, Western Command, Simla, 10/1962-9/1964: situation on Chinese border and warnings prior to Chinese attack, 9/1962; strategic problems and loss of disputed territory; question of Chinese attitude to India; air supply routes; question of relationship between India and China. REEL 12 Period as commander of Tactical Wing, Infantry School, Mhow, 7/1964-9/1965: platoon and company level tactical training; outdoor exercises to complement TEWTS. Period in command of 70th Infantry Bde in Ladakh on Tibetan border, 9/1965-9/1968: role countering threat of Chinese attack; composition of unit; effects of height above sea level and necessity of acclimatisation; question of US logistical air support and supply of equipment for mountain divisions; reactions to Chinese concentration and demonstrations on border; nature of defensive positions and bunkers on commanding heights; question of Chinese nuclear capacity and view of missile test; build up of 3rd Infantry Div in sector; relationship with Major Generals George Bharat Singh and Gurbax Singh Gill; value of joint staff college contacts; question of Chinese strategic ambitions. Period as chief operational staff officer at Headquarters, Western Command, Simla, 9/1968-10/1969: role updating training instructions and deployment orders to reflect lessons of Indo-Pakistan War, 1965; strategic situation with regard to US support of Pakistan and India. REEL 13 Continues: strategic situation with regard to US support of Pakistan and India; background to Indo-Soviet Friendship Treaty and purchase of equipment from Soviet Union; moving units and bases closer to threatened borders; question of US support for Pakistan; purchase of T54 and T55 tanks from Soviet Union and importance of testing tanks in varied terrain; increased emphasis on night operations; staff organisation; relationship with Lieutenant General Harbakh Singh; review of operations against India, 1965. Period as Major General in command of 14th Infantry Div at Dehra Dun, 9/1968-9/1971: background to posting; visiting brigades; exercises in Punjab; problems caused by three year rotation system of unit moves; question of growing threat from Pakistan, 1971; political situation between East and West Pakistan. REEL 14 Continues: revolt in East Pakistan and problem caused by mass refugee stream into India, 1971; telephone battle TEWT of Western Command relating to possible threat from Western Pakistan; closure of Indian air space to Pakistan aircraft carrying reinforcements to East Pakistan. Period as Chief of Staff, Headquarters, I Corps on West Pakistan border, 9/1971-6/1972: initial role as CoS and acting corps commander; question of debriefing of defectors from East Pakistan Army; news of imminent attack from Pakistan and consequent move of Tactical Headquarters to Bathankot, 10/1972; preparations and success in anticipating pre-emptive attack from Pakistan; relationship with Lieutenant General K K Singh; defensive dispositions; failure of Pakistan attacks, 12/1972; question of tactical differences with Lieutenant General K K Singh based on differing interpretation and sources of intelligence; restrictions caused by minefields during attacks across Pakistan border; faulty tactical deployment of flail tanks without infantry cover; performance of Indian Army and question of inadequate senior officers revealing faulty selection process. REEL 15 Continues: question of tactical differences with Lieutenant General K K Singh and role as chief of staff; situation on cease fire, 17/12/1971; negotiations with Pakistan over accuracy of demarcation maps showing frontier and disagreement over Kashmir. Recollections of period as Director General Staff Duties, Army Headquarters, New Delhi, 6/1972-9/1973: question of observing manpower ceiling; review of changing reinforcements and supply levels of Field Force Committee since 1945. Recollections of period as Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army, New Delhi, 9/1973-6/1975: promotion to lieutenant general; background to implementation of financial planning and production of five year plan; relationship with Chief of Staff General Maneckshaw; nature of duties; implications of formation of state of Bangladesh from former East Pakistan; Apex planning group to review and reduce defence spending; opinion of Chief of Staff General Bewoor. REEL 16 Recollections of period as in command of IV Corps in North East Section, Tezpur, 6/197507//1978: area of responsibility along borders of China, Burma and Bangladesh; effect of assassination of Mujib-ur-Rahman, 8/1975; Bangladesh historical role in insurgents operating in India; refugees from Bangladesh; opinion of effects of partition; prior introduction of tea planting; border incidents and relationship with China and Burma; question of independence of Nagas and other tribal groups. Period as Vice Chief of Staff, Indian Army, New Delhi, 6/1978-8/1980: nature of role; briefing and accompanying Defence Minister on visits overseas; question of operation of training establishments; question of counter-espionage; question of retirement at 58, 8/1980. REEL 17 Post-service career: period as managing director of Tinplate Company of India, 1980-1983; career as historian and role as member of British Assoc of Cemeteries of South East Asia; role as honorary liaison officer of Commonwealth War Graves Commission to Indian Government.