Indian Army After Independence

by K.C. Praval

Post-Independence, the Indian Army has been rendering invaluable service to the nation in the sphere of national integration, national defence and national stability. This book is a record of that service from 1947 to 1984. A strong professional army at the command of the Indian Union was an important factor which weighed with many Indian Princes when they chose to sign the Instrument of Accession in 1947. The Army constituted the ultimate sanction behind the great Sardar's wise moves towards the integration of States. Where this could not be achieved peacefully, the Army had to be used as in Junagarh, Hyderabad and later Goa. With its personnel drawn from all parts of the country, belonging to different religious, linguistic and ethnic groups and living together in complete harmony, the Army has been a living symbol of national integration.

National defense is the raison d'etre for having an army. From the morrow of our Independence the Indian Army has been defending our long and live frontiers. It has engaged in four wars to defend the country against external aggression. It fought three wars against Pakistan and one against China. This book gives an admirable account of the battles fought during these wars. It is not a drum and bugle history trying to glorify events and cover up failures. The author has produced an objective account after painstaking research.

This book indeed complements Philip Mason's book 'A Matter of Hounour' on the pre-Independence account of the Indian Army. Major Praval begins where Philip Mason ends.

This book forms part of the "100 golden books' listed by Army Headquarters, India as a recommended reading material for officers.

584 pages, Hardcover

First published August 11, 2009

Reviews

[Alok Shukla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about operational history of Indian Army, so you read it from a very different perspective. I got to know so many nooks and details about how Indian army did or not. More importantly, there are very few books that account for Indian Army operations in a critical manner, accounting for both good and the bad.