Field marshal (India)
The rank of Field Marshal is the highest possible rank in the Indian Army. Only two Army appointments have been made by the Government of India since independence in 1947. An equivalent rank existed in the British Indian Army before 1947. Field Marshal is the only position that one holds for life, with all other ranks retiring following 30 years of service.
The first officer to be appointed to this rank was then Chief of Army Staff Gen. Sam Manekshaw in 1973. A much decorated World War II officer, he was conferred the rank by the Indira Gandhi-led government, largely in recognition of his leadership during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 which caused the partition of Pakistan and the formation of independent Bangladesh. He is the only Field Marshal to have been appointed to this rank while still a serving officer.
Gen. K.M. Cariappa was appointed to this rank in 1986[1], more than thirty years after his retirement from the Indian Army. He was a member of the Army Sub Committee of the Forces Reconstitution Committee, which divided the British Indian Army into the Indian and Pakistani Armies after the Partition of India in 1947. He served as the Indian Army's first Commander-in-Chief, India's first Indian Chief of Staff, and led the Indian forces in Kashmir during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.
The equivalent rank in the Indian Air Force (IAF), Marshal of the Air Force, was conferred on Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh in 2002 in recognition of his service in building the Force, and for his leadership during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. He was also the first officer promoted to Air Chief Marshal in the IAF. All previous Indian Chiefs of Air Staff had been Air Marshals.
The equivalent rank in the Indian Navy is the Admiral of the Fleet, but this has never been awarded.
[edit] References
- ^ "Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, OBE". The Official Home Page of the Indian Army. http://indianarmy.nic.in/coas03.html. Retrieved 2009-01-26.[dead link]
