Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

John Parashuram Dalvi (3 July 1920 – October 1974) was an Indian Army officer. During the

Sino-Indian War The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tib ...

of 1962, he was the commander of the Indian 7th Brigade, which was destroyed, leading Dalvi to be captured by the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

on 22 October 1962.

Early life

Dalvi was born on 3 July 1920 in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

where his father was serving with the British administration. He returned to India in 1923 and studied at St. Mary's High School,

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. He graduated and joined to study under the Jesuits at St. Xavier's College, Bombay. In 1940 with the outbreak of World War II he joined the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

British Indian Army

Dalvi was commissioned into the Baluch Regiment on 22 February 1942, was promoted war-substantive lieutenant on 1 October, and was promoted substantive lieutenant on 22 August 1943. To the end of World War II he served with the regiment's 5th Battalion. He took part in Field Marshal Sir William Slim's pursuit of Japanese Army. From October 1944 to March 1945 he saw fighting with 19th Indian Division notably at the Crossing of the Irrawaddy. For his services he was mentioned in despatches for gallant and distinguished service. In 1945 he was selected to join the staff of General Sir

Montagu Stopford General Sir Montagu George North Stopford (16 November 1892 – 10 March 1971) was a senior British Army officer who fought during both World War I and World War II. The latter he served in with distinction, commanding XXXIII Indian Corps in t ...

, GOC XXXIII Corps and later GOC-in-C of 12th Army

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. He ended the war a temporary captain.

Post-Independence

In 1947 he was posted as instructor to

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...

. He was then moved to

5 Gorkha Rifles 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), also abbreviated as 5 GR(FF) is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army comprising Gurkha soldiers of Nepalese origin. It was formed in 1858 as part of the British Indian Army. The regiment's battalions served ...

as 2nd in command. In 1949 Dalvi was attached with

Brigade of the Guards The Brigade of The Guards is a mechanised infantry regiment of the Indian Army. It was raised as the first "all India", "all class" infantry unit of the Army where troops from all parts of India serve together, as opposed to other regiments that ...

. In 1950, he was selected for Staff College, which he graduated in 1951. He then commanded the 4th Battalion, Brigade of the Guards and later 2nd Guards. Dalvi was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 13 October 1957. On 2 October 1960 he was promoted acting Brigadier, and appointed Brigadier Administration to XV Corps. In January 1962, he was given the Command of 7th Infantry Brigade in NEFA, with promotion to colonel on 15 March.

Sino-Indian War and prisoner of war

Dalvi fought in the

, and was taken

Prisoner of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

on 22 October 1962; held captive by the Chinese for seven months, he was repatriated in May 1963. Left embittered by the failings of the Indian political and military leadership, he described his return to India as follows:

We landed in
Dum Dum airport Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport is an international airport located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, serving the Kolkata Metropolitan Area and is the aviation hub for eastern and northeastern India. It is located approximatel ...
in Calcutta on May 4, 1963. We were received cordially, appropriately. But the silence there was disquieting. I realized later. We had to prove we weren't brainwashed by Chinese ideology. We had to prove we were still loyal to India. My own army maintained a suspicious distance. The irony cannot be harsher: this treatment from a country, which for more than a decade had brainwashed itself into holding the Chinese baton wherever it went.

Subsequent career

Two months after his repatriation, on 9 July 1963 Dalvi was appointed Commander, Poona Sub-Area. He was promoted substantive brigadier on 13 October 1964, with appointment as Commander, Bihar and Orissa Independent Sub-Area on 4 May 1965. With the outbreak of war with

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

later that year, he was given command of a brigade on 12 September. On 29 September 1966, Dalvi was posted to Army HQ as Deputy Director of Staff Duties (DDSD). He took voluntary retirement from the Army on 3 March 1967.

''The Himalayan Blunder'' and later life

In 1968, Dalvi authored a book about the 1962 war, entitled '' The Himalayan Blunder: The curtain raiser to the Sino-Indian War of 1962''. His book directly contradicted that authored by his erstwhile commanding officer,

Brij Mohan Kaul Brij Mohan Kaul (1912-1972) was a Lieutenant General in the Indian Army. He served as the Chief of General Staff during 1961–1962 and was regarded as a key architect of Indian military response to the Chinese challenge. In October 1962, h ...

.Lt. Gen. B.M. Kaul, "The untold story" aica Publishing House, New Delhi, 1967/ref> Dalvi died of cancer in October 1974.

Bibliography

* Dalvi, Brig. J.P., "Himalayan blunder – the curtain raiser to the Sino-Indian war of 1962" ombay, 1969, Rep. Natraj, Dehradun 1997* Kaul, Lt. Gen. B.M., "The untold story" aica Publishing House, New Delhi, 1967* Maxwell, Neville, "India's China War" ombay 1970, Rep. Natraj Dehradun, 1997

References

External links

''Himalayan Blunder'' by John Dalvi
(free, digitised version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalvi, John 1920 births 1974 deaths Indian Army officers Indian memoirists People of the Sino-Indian War British Indian Army officers Indian Army personnel of World War II Indian prisoners of war 20th-century memoirists Expatriates in Iraq Indian expatriates