S. P. P. Thorat

Lieutenant General Shankarrao Pandurang Patil (SPP) Thorat, KC, DSO (12 August 1906 - 10 August 1992) was a General Officer in the Indian Army. He was the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command in the lead up to the 1962 Sino-Indian War.[1]

Lieutenant General S P P Thorat KC, DSO
Born	12 August 1906 Vadgaon, Kolhapur State, British India
Died	10 August 1992 (aged 85)
Allegiance	British India  India
Service/branch	British Indian Army  Indian Army
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Eastern Command
Battles/wars	Burma Campaign, World War II Sino-Indian War
Awards	Kirti Chakra Padma Shri Distinguished Service Order

Early life

Thorat was born on 12 August 1906, in Vadgaon village, Kolhapur State, British India. [2] He studied at S P College, Pune and then at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from where he commissioned into the British Indian Army.

Military career

World War II

By World War II, Thorat was a lieutenant colonel and commanded battalions during the Burma campaign against Japan.[3] He attended Staff College, Quetta in 1941 and after a brief posting to the army HQ, Thorat joined the 4th battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment, which, as part of the 114th Indian Infantry Brigade under the 7th Indian Infantry Division, played a role in clearing Japanese forces from the Naga Hills.[3] He participated in small actions with 4/14th Punjab and after a short stay, transferred to the 9th battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment under the 20th Indian Infantry Division, which was engaged in fighting on the Imphal plains.[3] The commanding officer of 9/14th Punjab went down with dysentery and Thorat temporarily took command of the battalion.[3] Since it was his first time commanding a battalion, he accompanied his troops on a long reconnaissance patrol, which his brigade commander didn't approve of.[3] In November 1944 Thorat received his first official battalion command, and took command of the 2nd battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment under the 51st Indian Infantry Brigade.[3] This brigade became known as the "Indian Brigade" because unlike other British Indian Army brigades which were composed of 2 Indian battalions and 1 British battalion, the 51st Brigade had 3 Indian battalions.[3] Additionally, all 3 battalions in the brigade had Indian commanding officers - K.S. Thimayya, L.P. Sen, and Thorat.[3] These 3 were among the few Indian officers above the rank of major who saw intense action during the war.

Battle of Kangaw

In January 1945 2/2nd Punjab participated in the battle of Kangaw.[3] The 51st Brigade had been assigned the task of clearing strongly fortified Japanese rearguard positions, and Thorat coordinated his battalion's attack with artillery and air support.[3] However, the battalion still took heavy casualties as they advanced through rice paddies to close with the Japanese.[3] At one point Thorat engaged in hand-to-hand combat, during which he killed a young Japanese officer and seized his sword.[3] After his initial attack had succeeded, Thorat limited his battalion's advance and consolidated their position of half of the hill feature.[3] He was fully aware of the Japanese tactic of evacuating a position under attack and then swiftly counterattacking to retake it, thus inflicting maximum casualties on their enemy.[3] When the counterattack came, it was repelled by prepared battalion defences and air strikes.[3]

GOC-in-C Eastern Command

Thorat took over the eastern command in 1957. At the time the headquarters of the eastern command was based in Lucknow. It was only in 1959, following incidents such as the Longju incident, when border defence was shifted to the military. Accordingly, Thorat made an assessment of the requirements needed to plug vulnerabilities and repel an Chinese invasion. In October 1959, Thorat's plan was sent to General Thimayya who in turn showed it to the Defence Minister VK Krishna Menon. Menon dismissed the report.[4][5][6][7] Exercise Lal Qila was conducted on 17 March 1960 at the Eastern Command Headquarters under Lieutenant General Thorat. It was another attempt to show the serious vulnerabilities in the eastern sector. It detailed the threat from China and what India needed to do to plug vulnerabilities.[8]

Dates of rank

Insignia	Rank	Component	Date of rank
	Second Lieutenant	British Indian Army	30 August 1926[9]
	Lieutenant	British Indian Army	30 November 1928[10]
	Captain	British Indian Army	30 August 1935[11]
	Major	British Indian Army	1940 (acting)[12] 18 November 1940 (temporary)[12] 30 August 1943 (substantive)[13]
	Lieutenant-Colonel	British Indian Army	1 April 1946 (war-substantive)[14]
	Colonel	British Indian Army	1 April 1946 (acting)[14]
	Brigadier	British Indian Army	13 June 1946 (acting)[14]
	Major-General	Indian Army	15 August 1947[note 1][15]
	Major-General	Indian Army	30 August 1949 (acting) 1 January 1950 (substantive, with seniority from 30 August 1949)[16]
	Major-General	Indian Army	26 January 1950 (recommissioning and change in insignia)[15][17]
	Lieutenant-General	Indian Army	1 June 1955 (local)[18] 1 February 1957 (substantive)[19]

Works

• From Reveille to Retreat (1986). Allied Publishers. ISBN 978-8-17023-077-9.

Notes

1. 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

1. Praval, Major K. C. (2013). Indian Army After Independence. Atlanta, GA: Lancer Publishers LLC. ISBN 978-1-935501-61-9.
2. "veekay's history book: Biography - Lt. Gen S.P.P. Thorat, KC, DSO". veekay's history book. 3 October 2012.
3. Barua, Pradeep (2003). Gentlemen of the Raj: The Indian Army Officer Corps. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-27597-999-7.
4. Phadke, Ramesh (31 October 2012). "The Two Myths of 1962 | Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses". idsa.in. Archived from the original on 31 August 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
5. Singh, V. K. (4 March 2005). Leadership in the Indian Army: Biographies of Twelve Soldiers. SAGE Publishing India. p. 142. ISBN 978-93-5280-566-2.
6. Mahalingam, V (13 April 2016). "Book review: 1962 The War That Wasn't". Times of India. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
7. Verma, Shiv Kunal (2016). 1962: The War that Wasn't. Aleph Book Company. ISBN 978-93-82277-97-2.
8. Verma, Shiv Kunal (25 January 2016). "1962:The War That Wasn't". The Citizen. "The Citizen brings you extracts". Retrieved 24 January 2021.
9. "No. 33198". The London Gazette. 3 September 1926. p. 5766.
10. "No. 33458". The London Gazette. 18 January 1929. p. 467.
11. "No. 34204". The London Gazette. 4 October 1935. p. 6219.
12. Indian Army List for October 1945 (Part I). Government of India Press. 1945. p. 149.
13. "No. 36290". The London Gazette. 17 December 1943. p. 5497.
14. The Quarterly Army List: December 1946 (Part I). HM Stationery Office. 1946. pp. 220v–x.
15. "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.
16. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 24 June 1950. p. 70.
17. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 11 February 1950. p. 227.
18. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 2 July 1955. p. 130.
19. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 9 March 1957. p. 59.

External links

• "The Two Myths of 1962". Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. 31 October 2012.