Kodandera Madappa Cariappa was born on January 28, 1899, Shanivarsanthe, Coorg district, Mysore and died on May 15, 1993. Cariappa was a Bharatiya military officer and the first chief of staff of the Indian army after Bharat became independent of Great Britain.
In 1923 Cariappa was promoted to lieutenant, captain in 1927, major in 1938, lieutenant colonel by 1942, and then brigadier in 1946. Under the British, he served in many posts, including the Middle East (1941–42) and Burma (now Myanmar; 1943–44).
He became the first Bharatiya officer in 1942 to be given command of a unit. Near the end of World War II , in recognition of his service there, he was inducted into the Order of the British Empire.
During partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, just before independence, Cariappa oversaw the difficult task of dividing the Bharatiya military establishment between Pakistan and Bharat.
After Bharat’s independence, Cariappa was appointed the deputy chief of general staff with the rank of major general. On promotion to the rank of lieutenant general, he became commander of the Eastern Army in November 1947.
Nitin Gadkar tweeted on X, ‘Remembering first Indian commander-in-chief of Indian Army Field Marshal Gen. K. M. Cariappa ji on his death anniversary’.
Remembering first 🇮🇳Indian commander-in-chief of Indian Army Field Marshal Gen. K. M. Cariappa ji on his death anniversary.🙏🏻#KodanderaMadappaCariappa#KMCariappa pic.twitter.com/uNiNpDg62K
— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) May 15, 2024
The following January he was named the army commander of the Delhi and East Punjab Command (now the Western Command). In January 1949 Cariappa was named the first Bharatiya commander in chief of the Indian army, replacing the British commanding general, Sir Roy Bucher.
As army chief, Cariappa had a mandate to transform the army left by the British into a national military force. He established two new units- the Guards Brigade (1949; since 1958 Brigade of the Guards) and the Parachute Regiment (1952) which were notable for being the first to recruit members from all castes and classes. In 1949 the U.S. military award of Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit was given to him by Pres. Harry S. Truman.
Comments