Major General AV Natu, PVSM, MVC
A Soldier’s Soldier: Saviour of
Poonch 1971
Brigadier Vijay Natu (Retd)
Introduction
Major General AV
Natu, PVSM, MVC; ‘A Soldier’s Soldier:Saviour of Poonch 1971’ is
an excellent biography written by his son Brigadier Vijay Natu (Retd). In this
inspiring account the author has recalled the important events in his father’s
life and talked about how these impacted him and shaped his personality.
A weak boy at a boarding school in
Akola, Maharashtra, Anant showed signs of leadership at a very young age when
he challenged an older bully at school to a wrestling bout and beat him. He,
thereafter, became fearless in life and this character trait remained with
him. Having joined the Ramakrishna
Mission to be initiated as a monk, in 1945, he could not resist the uniform
calling and left the Belur Math to join the Army. He was then
commissioned into the 13 Frontier Force Rifles in Oct 1946, after passing out
from the Officers Training School at Belgaum. Post-partition General Natu was
transferred to the 9 GORKHA RIFLES and he served in challenging appointments in
operational areas, participated in wars and held important command and staff
appointments.
In the 1950s, he also had two very
fulfilling innings in Nepal that were historic, where he contributed to
reorganising the training of the Royal Nepal Army and in his second innings, he
contributed vastly to the Ex-Servicemen Welfare, which included setting up
seasonal pension paying camps and a hostel for the wards of Gorkha
ex-servicemen at Kathmandu. Students from this hostel excelled and went on to
tenant appointments in the Nepalese Army, administration and other professional
fields.
The
Author
Brigadier
Vijay Natu, the son of Major General AV Natu, MVC did his schooling from Daly
College, Indore and graduated from Fergusson College Pune. Commissioned into 4th Battalion the 9 GORKHA RIFLES in Aug 1975, he
went on to command the battalion, which his father too had commanded and in
which his nephew Major Varun Vaidya is presently serving. He has served in various operational areas
including Sri Lanka and Siachen and has attended the Higher Command Course. He
retired in 2007 and is settled in Chalisgaon, Maharashtra where he has been
involved in Ex-Servicemen Welfare.
About
the Book
The
book can be divided into three parts, the first is his early years and the
second part is General Natu’s service in the army and finally his
post-retirement years. Apart from dwelling on each of these parts of his
father’s life, it is the wonderful manner in which Brigadier Vijay Natu has
captured the effect General Natu had on the various people with whom he came
into close contact with and most particularly the unit bonding and esprit de
corps when he discusses the family ties that existed between him and Colonel
Nasib Singh as well as the ethos of the 9 GORKHA RIFLES.
Since a unit is the most important part
of one’s service there was an instance, when Second Lieutenant Natu was going
on leave from Abbottabad in May 1947. He
had accompanied Captain Usman Shaikh from his battalion, when their bus was
surrounded by an unruly mob of Muslim League supporters at Attock, who wanted
to pull out and slaughter all Hindus travelling to Punjab and beyond. It was at
this stage that Captain Usman kept quiet and did not reveal his religious
identity thus saving him ‘from lynching and certain death’. The ‘camaraderie
and bonding’ endured.
Joining 1/9 GORKHA RIFLES
post-independence, he saw action in 1947/48 in Naushera, Jammu and Kashmir. It
is here that he served with Major Eric Vas, who later rose to be an Army
Commander, whom he described as ‘a straight forward and courageous man’. Eric
once submitted a report to the division headquarter on a ‘chapatti’ and
when asked to explain the unusual behaviour sent a classic retort; he said “I
regret the use of my stationery but atta is the only commodity I have
for fighting, feeding and for futile correspondence”. He was the brainchild
behind setting up the Higher Command Course at the College of Combat; one of
the most incisive courses in the Army. Anant looked ‘up to Major Eric Vas as a
friend, philosopher and guide’ throughout his service and even later in life.
Posted to 4/9 GORKHA RIFLES on the
raising of the battalion in 1960, he was the Second in Command under Lieutenant
Colonel Nasib Singh in Dehradun. In Jun 1962, the Battalion was moved to
Ahlihal in Himachal Pradesh and was later airlifted to Bomdila in Oct 1962.
During the move one aircraft flew a platoon to Bombay which was promptly
deployed for airport security.
Post-war the battalion was involved in a
series of exercises where the commander of 77 Infantry Brigade, Brigadier
Sartaj Singh, was greatly impressed by his professionalism. Incidentally,
General Natu served under him while commanding his battalion when he was
General Officer Commanding (GOC) 5 Mountain Division and later as Commander 93
Infantry Brigade when he was GOC 15 Corps. General Sartaj’s professionalism,
values and conduct left a deep impression on him.
Nasib, who raised 4/9 GORKHA RIFLES had
joined Hodson’s Horse as a Sowar in World War II and General Messervy,
who was their Commandant ‘saw a spark’ in him and groomed him to become an
officer. He laid the strong foundations
for the battalion. General Natu considered him his ‘professional guru’.
Later, Nasib was selected to be part of the raising of Indo Tibetan Border
Police. Incidentally, the sons of the first three Commanding Officers (COs) of
4/9 GORKHA RIFLES, Colonel Rajinder Singh, Brigadier Vijay Natu and Major
General Kishen Singh, the son of Lieutenant Colonel (later Brigadier) Hari
Singh who took over the battalion from General Natu all joined 9 GORKHA RIFLES
while Major General KVS Lalotra, the younger son of Nasib joined 11 GORKHA
RIFLES. As per Lieutenant General Anil Bhatt PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, (Retd)
who also belongs to this battalion, the tradition still endures and, he said
that General Natu’s grandson Varun Vaidya also joined the battalion and was his
ADC.
General Natu’s best came when he went on
to win glory for India in Poonch during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. The author
has captured the events and memoirs very well by those who served with him
during the defence of Poonch for which he was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, the
second highest gallantry award in India.
He had prepared the formation extremely
well by not only physically visiting each post since taking over but also by
rehearsing the drills and putting his formation through a two-sided exercise.
In a novel step he ensured that he was ‘party to the process of distributing
compensation to the civilians whose land had been appropriated for security
reasons’, by accompanying the District Collector he instilled a ‘sense of trust
about the Army’.
During the war though attacked by
superior strength, his battalions of 6 SIKH, 1/4 GORKHA RIFLES, 8 JAT and 11
J&K Militia stood firm and repulsed the attacks, 13 MAHAR and elements of 9
PARA (Commando) also successfully counter-attacked Thanpir, a location that had
been captured taking the Pakistanis by surprise by attacking along a
‘precipitous slope’.
He also heeded the advice of his Brigade
Major then Major (later Brigadier) AK Sahni, for not executing an offensive
plan initially and for waiting for artillery build up and for the situation to
stabilise before he launched 21 PUNJAB and C Company 9 PARA (Commando) to
capture a Pakistani post successfully.
His meticulous preparations involved
studying Brigadier Pritam Singh’s battle for Poonch in 1947/48, his
perseverance, diligence and ability to motivate his subordinates and stand by
them. Major (later Lieutenant General) VM Patil, who was posted as his Brigade
Major recalls his initial briefing in which he said ‘his command is based on
team work, trust and transparency’.
No wonder, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw
at the Investiture Ceremony remarked to his wife “Silu do you remember the
young Captain from 1/9 GORKHA RIFLES from our days in Ferozpur in the early
50’s. Here he is, a decorated soldier. I knew he would not let me down when I
selected him to command the strategically important 93 Infantry Brigade at
Poonch”.
On promotion General Natu went on to
command 4 Infantry Division at Babina and here too he left his mark. This is
where he instituted the concept of divisional battle schools which though not
appreciated at that time has gone on to become an ‘important facet’ of most
divisions.
In Dec 1975, he was posted as Chief of
Staff of 16 Corps at Nagrota. The Corps Commander was Lieutenant General KV
Krishna Rao, who went on to become the Army Chief. In this appointment he had
to resolve a sensitive incident that occurred on the line of control in the
Rajouri Sector.
An officer in a unit had overstayed
leave, but the CO had overlooked it. However, a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO)
in the same unit was punished for a similar offence. The company commander of
the NCO protested to the CO for applying two different yardsticks and sought
the intervention of the brigade commander who took no action. Deeply offended,
the company commander asked his company on the post to revolt. The situation
escalated as the company commander refused to back down and a neighbouring
battalion was being asked to ‘assault and capture the post’. General Natu
intervened, and he drove up to the base of the post against all apprehensions
and then walked to the post and with a loud hailer, talked to the officer and
told him that the officer’s elder brother had served with him during his
previous tenure. When the officer admitted that he was ‘fearful that he would
be killed if he surrendered’ he assured him of his physical safety but told him
he would face disciplinary action. The officer and NCO then surrendered. This
‘prevented an ugly scenario’. There are many lessons that stand out in this
episode including the fact that an officer was willing to go to any lengths to
look after his men.
Fond
Reminisces
Major
(later Lieutenant General) YM Bammi, who was a company commander in Poonch
recalls General Natu allowing the officers to speak frankly and give out their
views to the corps commander who was a hard task master
during his visit and operational discussion and recalls that; ‘due to his
initiative the visit went off well’.
Lieutenant General Inder Verma, who
served with him in Kathmandu says; “an important part of his personality was
his humility and kindness, his feet firmly on the ground”. General BA Karriappa
as GOC Maharashtra and Gujarat Area recalls an incident in which General Natu
asked him to help out a widow with her emoluments and once he had got her dues
released, General Natu brought the widow and her children to Mumbai so they
could thank him.
Colonel Balbir Singh Purewal recalls an
incident during grenade training when General Natu was the CO and Havildar Min
Bahadur had passed away. This was due to an ‘innovative method of training’ but
the GOC, General Sartaj Singh, gave a ‘shabash’ for trying this method
of grenade throwing. Such were the
leaders at that time, willing to stand by their orders and for their
subordinates.
General Natu was deeply influenced by Swami
Vivekananda and the Quit India Movement and stands tall as a great patriot and
a brave ‘Soldier General’. He contributed post superannuation to
nation-building through social service.
Conclusion
This
book is remarkable in many ways because it not only talks about the
contribution of General Natu but also throws light on a very important period
of the history of our army from partition to post 1971. How the army was shaped
by the debacle of the 1962 War, and it imbibed the lessons learnt and went on in
1971 to attain a decisive victory in the war with Pakistan by concentrating on
professionalism. The turnaround in those nine years which included the 1965 War
with Pakistan was exceptional.
A large part of this success can be
attributed to the leaders in the army, men of integrity who stood tall and
firm, confident and supportive, some of whose personalities have been covered
in this book. What also stands out in the book is our regimental system, where
‘the unit is a family’, and deep relationships endure. The bonding is
tremendous, and the ties within this family persist.
There is no doubt that this book should
be widely read not only in the forces from a professional perspective but also
by others as it provides an insight into the ethos and values of the army and a
unit which is the foundation and the manner in which it shapes one’s character.
Major
General Jagatbir Singh, VSM (Retd)
Journal
of the United Service Institution of India, Vol. CLIII, No. 634, October-December 2023.